Dustings #102
/If you do some random tricks for people, they generally enjoy them and forget them over time. The disconnectedness of most magic effects is a big issue when it comes to creating moments that stick with people.
Here’s a structure for a memorable evening of magic.
You invite some friends over for an old-fashioned fondue party.
After dinner, you admit to your real motivations here tonight.
“I definitely wanted to see you guys and spend the evening together. But I had an ulterior motive bringing you here tonight as well… Tyromancy.”
You then explain to them the ancient art of predicting the future with cheese. And, via a few demonstrations, you show them their fondue-induced abilities that allow them to do some simple but impressive predictions of the near-future.
“I have a another confession,” you say. “I’ve been eating nothing but cheese for eight days.” And you draw their attention to the sealed crystal box that’s been hanging from the ceiling above the dining room table. (Or the sealed envelope you mailed to one of the guests to bring with them before the party. Or whatever.) And you open it up to reveal a description of tonight’s party written (apparently) days ago. Including what people would wear, conversations they would have, who would spill a drink, etc.
Now, instead of just plying them with random tricks, you’ve given them this story, this event, this experience that’s going to stick with them. No human is going to forget the time they got together with some friends, had a cheese party, and then were able to “predict the future.”
And for anyone who is new here… NO… I’m not suggesting you can convince your friends to believe they were able to predict the future after eating cheese. It’s a framework. A story for the evening. An immersive fiction that exists somewhere between a casual dinner with friends and a murder-mystery dinner-theater show.
And yes, I read the article I linked above. I know the “real” Tyromancy involves looking at the physical qualities of the cheese. But it’s much more fun to imagine it’s about eating nachos and fried mozzarella and that you can gain the prediction powers yourself.
(Thanks to Cary S. for the link.)
In Tuesday’s post about the three effects that work together to make it seem like you can transmit a touch sense to someone, I wrote this:
I also like to include other little touch-based “experiments” in the mix.
Soon after that post, Tomas B. sent me the following video, wondering if maybe it could be used as the foundation for a PK Touch style of effect. I don’t think the illusion is strong enough or predictable enough to be used in that context, but this is the exact sort of little experiment I would pepper into the Touch Triptych series of effects to flesh out the experience even more.
UPDATE: It turns out Raj Madhok has already played around with using this illusion in a magic context. Check out his book Mysterious and Mysteriouser and the trick Fossa Nature for his take on it. The whole book is worth your attention.
A few people have asked me if I’ll kick Copperfield out of the GLOMM if he’s convicted of a sex crime stemming from the stuff that’s coming out regarding a possible connection to Epstein.
Of course! I’ll kick out anybody. I don’t have allegiance to, or reverence for, any of these folks.
At the moment, though, it’s not much more than a rumor.
We’ll keep our eye on it.
