Dustings #86
/Supporter Ricardo D. sent along this video which could serve as a great back story for any strange object you want to exhibit to your spectator.
Your friend in Japan has sent you this mystery box from a Japanese vending machine. Let’s open it up together…
It wouldn’t take much to replicate something similar to those packages. Put the unusual object inside and include some roughly translated instructions.
The fact that you can point to this video or other references to these packages online gives the presentation some real-world weight.
This obviously has a lot in common with my Yento presentation. But it’s different enough that you could use both with enough time between.
When the pandemic happened, Marc Kerstein add an auto-pair functionality to his Xeno app. Xeno is an app that allows someone to go to a site that you direct them to—say, for example, a site of 100 movies—look at anything listed on the site, and you’re able to tell them what they’re thinking of. It’s just that straightforward. The only semi-tricky part was the process involved in syncing things up so you could get your peek. Auto-pair made that part of the effect simple and close to automatic. At the beginning of the pandemic, I used it quite a few times. But when I went back to performing in person, I completely forgot about it, like a dingbat. So this is a reminder for myself, and anyone else reading, that Xeno with auto pair allows for some of the most straightforward mind reading experiences possible.
One of the joys and frustrations of being off social media is being out of the loop. It’s nice not to have to be privy to every dumb fucking thought some casual acquaintance or distant relative has. But then again, when something important happens in the life of an old friend I’ve lost touch with, it would be nice to find out about that in a more timely fashion than being told 4 months after the fact, “Oh him? Yeah, he died.”
On a similar note, not being immersed in the social media aspect of magic has been a huge boon to me as far as creating my own material and ideas. But it does leave me out of the loop at times.
While I get a lot of emails saying, “I bought this trick and it kind of sucks, can you think of a way to make it better?” I don’t get too many people raving to me about some particular trick/product/or download out there that they love. Perhaps it’s because people assume I’ve already heard of it. Or perhaps they think, “Well, if he wants other people’s opinions, he can go on the Cafe and Facebook like everyone else.” But I’m just not interested in that scene. However, if you ever find something you love, I’m always interested in hearing recommendations if you’re so inclined to pass them along. Just send me an email.