Mailbag #106
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Your recent post about "Psychcrypt Imp" and attached video got me thinking to try something out.
I briefly explained to my unsuspecting but willing participant that, as a graduate in psychology, I always look for interesting new applications. I came across a bootleg old video showing how the Soviets communicated with US-based spies during the Cold War. Aside from codes in correspondence and embedded in newspaper ads, they used 8mm home movies to embed photo-cryptic message instructions.
I showed them about 30 seconds worth of your 50's video, and asked them if they saw, or thought that they say a number in the video which was to be their next mission as a spy. Between 1-25. (If not, I mention that it could be subliminal and to try to guess a number). "17" they say. I am shocked, and show a (DFB Bard-generated) list of potential Soviet-era missions on my iPhone and ask them to look at #17.
"Expose a CIA safehouse" is the order.
I then show the spectator a sealed envelope encrusted with the Soviet flag. Inside is the typed instructions: "привет [Greetings], Comrade, your next mission is to identify and expose a CIA safehouse in Mother Russia. Удачи {Good luck] Comrade!"
"Amazing, I say. You could have been a Soviet spy in a prior life during the Cold War".
Naturally, all 3 of my guests wanted to look at the video again. One was a denier but the other one saw #17 too! —A
That’s a good backstory for the video. Thanks for sharing the idea.
If you wanted to take it further, you could add a Kurotsuke type element to the effect. Stay with me.
Imagine you had three stones or crystals. One of which “emits a certain frequency that unconsciously descrambles coded messages.” You drop the three stones in a bag and secretly learn who removes which stone via whatever method you have.
(The easiest method for this is an impromptu Kurotsuke type effect I’ve done for a while. It works well for three items. It’s not strong enough to be done on its own, but it would work well in this context. You drop the two non-target stones in first. Then apparently drop the target stone, but actually keep it in your hand holding the lip of the bag. Shake up the stones. As you finish up the mixing, allow the two loose stones to gather in one corner of the bag, then drop the target stone so it rests on the opposite corner. Hold the bag from the bottom to allow for a selection of stones, and just sort of hold the target stone in place with your pinky. You’re not trying to keep it from being selected, you just want to make sure you feel it when it’s removed. If you tell people to go in and grab the first stone they feel, you should have no issue knowing when they take it out.)
The stones are placed in their pockets unseen. Everyone watches the video. Names the number they “see” (or feel). And you use DFB to show that the person with the decoder stone received the correct target message.
Now you can have them swap the stone with someone else openly (you’ve already proved it works “double-blind”) and let someone else experience it.
You've talked before in Monday Mailbag #64 about doing Industrial Revelation, and strengthening it by eliminating the surprise or having them film it for evidence. Industrial Revelation is now available for sale again at Vanishing Inc., and I was wondering if you thought it might have any potential as a Mr. Yento trick?
The instructions could say that one person must stick a folded bill they provide through while the other films the entire thing, etc etc.
Do you think it's examinable enough for this? Do you think it's interesting enough?
I'm of two minds, I think it might not be interesting enough, but I also think the excitement of the presentation might amplify the intrigue of the trick considerably. —CF
Is it examinable enough?
I can’t say, because I don’t own one. The Magic Cafe thread on this has varying levels of how happy people are with the gimmick, which makes it sound like you can get a good one. So if you don’t, take it up with Vanishing Inc.
Is it interesting enough?
In my experience, these types of penetrations tend to not get as good a response as I would hope. Likely because it’s an effect that happens in retrospect. They’re not seeing the penetration. They’re seeing an object that shouldn’t be able to be there given what they saw previously. It’s not a bad trick, it just has that limitation.
I think doing it as a “third-party” effect, where someone has mailed something to you, is a good idea. I would ditch the card box. Don’t make it a “card” effect. I would have the block in a sealed small envelope with a circle on the outside with instructions telling you to push something through the middle of the circle. Or maybe wrap it in wrapping paper with a ribbon tied around it and a needle threaded on one end of the ribbon. The instructions tell you to undo the ribbon and push the needle through the middle of the present and drag the ribbon through.
After you push the needle through, you can close the gimmick and set it down as you continue to read the instructions. At this point, the present is still wrapped. So it’s still in the condition that it originally arrived in. Then the spectator would be the one to unwrap it.
As I said above, the problem with these tricks is that people need to go backwards to appreciate them. And depending on your handling, it can be easy for them to think you snuck the block in to the card case or matchbox somehow because they didn’t know what to look for. Having the penetrated item perfectly sealed via an envelope or wrapping paper eliminates the “the block wasn’t really in there earlier” explanation.
The only issue is that you wouldn’t want pieces of the envelope/wrapping paper to get caught in the workings. So you’d want to use something made of thick paper and unlikely to fray. Or maybe you put the gimmick in a card-sized box, and then wrap the box or put it in an envelope. It could even be a small padded envelope it was supposedly mailed to you in. In other words, you apparently never even open the package they sent you until the reveal. You say you got this thing in the mail from this strange puzzle company (or whatever). The first thing the instructions they emailed to you said is that you’re supposed to push a nail through the circle drawn on the outside of the envelope. And go from there.