Dustings #111
/Just a heads-up. I’m in Toronto where we’re doing some focus-group testing for a future release. This is one of our only times trying this outside of NYC and it’s taking a bit more time than we had anticipated. I’m way behind on emails, so if you emailed me in recent days and I haven’t gotten back to you yet, that’s why. I’ll catch up early next week.
In the ad for Craig Petty’s Infinity Deck, it’s repeatedly suggested that it can be used for a “full act.”
“a powerhouse 10-15 act”
“A fully customizable act in one deck of cards with infinite possibilities.”
“[T] his deck ALONE could be your WHOLE close-up act.”
Similar things are said about other special, non-playing-card decks.
While I’m sure it’s true you could do a full act with these cards, I don’t recommend it.
For two reasons:
First, it lessens the novelty of the deck and the trick. I want the person to leave with a specific moment of magic crystallized in their mind. I don’t want them leaving saying, “He did a bunch of stuff with a deck of cards with pictures on them.”
Second, I’ve had David Jonathan and Dan Harlan’s Snaps for years, and the only time people have openly asked whether the deck is legit is when I’ve done multiple tricks with it. So I think doing multiple tricks with an unusual deck raises the suspicion, as opposed to normalizing the deck like you might hope.
I can understand the other argument—that you might want to portray yourself as someone who can do lots of magic with any type of deck—that makes sense intellectually. But in my experience it lessens the novelty and impact, while raising the suspicion on the cards. So my philosophy is to find the strongest thing you can do with the deck and just do that.
While it’s not an official GLOMM booting until conviction, let’s just say I highly recommend you not hire Scott Morley, owner of Morley’s Magic Shop in New Jersey to perform for your kid’s kindergarten graduation.
This first paragraph of this article is about all you need to know.
“A pair of children's underwear and a slew of photos depicting preadolescent children engaging in sexual acts were all part of magician and theater owner Scott Morley's ‘fantasy,’ the Butler resident allegedly told authorities prior to his arrest earlier this month for possessing child pornography.”
This one is particularly sad to research, because if you look for pictures of Scott, you get a bunch of him with his wife and two little girls.
That’s right, Scott, it is. Perhaps start your math journey by learning to count up to the age of consent.
If you open up a magic shop in a small town, there’s no way you’re doing it because you think it’s a good money making proposition. There’s must be something else driving your actions. What could it be…? 🤔
I’m not saying we should toss all small-town magic shop owners in jail preemptively. But maybe before getting a permit to open such a store, we could strap them to a tumescence monitor and have them watch an episode of the Suite Life of Zach and Cody or something? Anything?
I wonder what exactly Walmart was trying to offer me here?
