Mailbag #129
/(This won’t make sense if you’re not a supporter. You can skip to the next section.)
Yesterday’s newsletter was missing a link on page 18. I resent the link to everyone, but .mac and .me email addresses rejected that email for some reason (they don’t allow Notion links??). At any rate, here’s the link.
A couple of people wrote in to suggest I number the steps. I intentionally didn’t because I wanted it to feel “glitchier.” But I think they’re right. I think numbering the steps make it seem more clearly glitchier.
CC writes: Also, as a wacked-out set of instructions, it reads like something ChatGPT would produce. If I were to do this, that’s probably where I’d go. “I asked AI to explain how a particular trick was done, and this is what it gave me. But it still works somehow.”
I think that’s a good idea too.
Any thoughts on Ellusionist’s How To Read Minds kit for kids? I don’t want to be a gatekeeper but putting mentalism in the hands of kids feels like a bad idea. Your thoughts?—LO
An average 9-year-old can perform many magic tricks and most mentalism tricks. There’s nothing to prevent them from technically performing a strong trick. So why shouldn’t kids get good tricks too?
This logic is like saying, “My neighbor’s 10-year-old has started menstruating, so why shouldn’t she get impregnated and raise a kid?”
Oh, Andy, you’re being ridiculous. There’s no comparison.
No, I’m making a pretty direct comparison here. Just because someone is old enough to technically do something doesn’t mean they’re capable of doing it well, competently, or in a manner that contributes something to the world.
What if I said, “I have a kit to teach kids how to cook. But we don’t use simple meals like grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. We have kids cook scallops and Wagyu beef.” You’d (correctly) think I was an idiot because it doesn’t make a ton of sense to waste quality “ingredients” with someone who hasn’t mastered something simpler first.
The magic in kid’s magic kits shouldn’t be good.
Why?
Because kids aren’t capable of presenting magic well.
But, Andy, I saw this 10-year-old on America’s Got Talent and—
Bup-bup-bup. Yes. I’ve seen kid magicians. They’re terrible. They are, at their best, as good as average adult magicians. And average adult magicians are terrible.
That’s okay. I’m not trying to be mean or condescending. Kids aren’t good at magic just like they’re not good at most other things. Why would they be? They’re kids. This is the point in their life when they’re learning and growing.
Do we want to watch kids mumble and muddle their way through good tricks?
A “professional level” trick won’t elevate a kid’s magic performance. The kid will just drag the trick down. People will think, “Oh, it must be some dumb thing even a kid can do.” What else could they think?
Also, what will they think if they see an adult do a similar trick in the future? “Oh, I remember that trick. That kid at the bowling alley showed it to me before he ate his boogers.”
It’s not that kids are being held back by the shitty tricks in kid’s magic kits. There’s just little point in wasting good tricks on a population who generally:
Would be just as happy with a floating matchstick or a ball and vase.
Might not even be that interested in magic or only have a fleeting interest.
Has not yet developed the skills to disguise and elevate powerful methods.
Think of effects like stories. A good magic trick is like a story with a strong twist at the end. Kids are notoriously bad storytellers. Do you think the answer is to give them better stories to tell when they don’t have the understanding, nuance, emotional intelligence, and life experience to tell them effectively? Is that good for the kids, the audiences, or the art of storytelling?
“No, I don’t need to see The Sixth Sense. Timmy here just told me about it. So, like, the doctor guy was dead and stuff? That’s neat.”
I’m sure there are some precocious kid magicians who could make the most of stronger magic tricks, but that’s not who magic kits are made for. They’re made for your typical dummy.
And this kit, in particular is feeding off a parent’s fear that their kid is a total loser with no friends. “Watch your kid transform into the coolest kid in school,” the ad copy says.
Ah yes, what’s do kids find “cooler” than walking around with a copy of the 130-year-old Rudyard Kipling classic, The Jungle Book. Kids today just can’t stop reading it between sessions of pushing a hoop around with a stick.
(Look, I get it, you needed something in the public domain to create a gimmicked book out of. Just take an afternoon and use AI and write one that sounds like something a modern kid might be interested in, like Ghosts Don’t Text Back; or The Weird Kids Club; or Chrono City: The Town That Time Forgot, the first book in the Secret Files of the Nexus Voyagers series.)
Look this kit isn’t going to make your kid popular. Sorry. Your kid is a dork. And no amount of magic pencil cases is going to change that. In fact, this kit might get his ass kicked more than it was already.
To wrap this up, while I feel the idea for this kit is based on a false premise (that a kid’s magic kit needs to have professional level tricks), I’m not overly concerned about the impact it will have. Hardly anyone will buy this garbage and it will be forgotten about in months.