Idiosyncratic legerdemain blog.

  • Justifying the Vanishing Deck’s Leftover Joker

    Drew
    Category: ,

    We all know and love Paul Harris’s Vanishing Deck. A true modern classic. I’m a big fan of it because it’s cheap and easy to set up, and once you know how to make one, you have a very versatile and powerful gimmick for life. I’ve been fooling around with it again lately and I wanted to share how I’ve been presenting it.

    When I first read Paul’s standard presentation for his Vanishing Deck, I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I mean, having them think of a card, saying it vanished, then vanishing the whole deck (but not the Joker for some mysterious reason) because “you take no chances”? Eh. Mr. Harris, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry and I love you… but no, just no.

    In the book I really enjoyed the alternate idea of pushing the deck through the box, and making it be a visual moment. What follows is my tiny presentational tweak on Paul’s effect, born from trying to justify that pesky leftover Joker at the end.

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  • I Hate “In & Of Itself”

    Lisbeth
    Category: ,

    And it’s not for the weird stolen valor of the brick. Nor the strange exploitation of having someone read a surprise intimate letter on stage. Nor is it for the fact DelGaudio’s voice sounds like he’s a Muppet about to cry the whole show. No, I don’t really hate the special: I hate us.

    In the years since it debuted, first on stage and then on Hulu, In & Of Itself has been a staple in the conversation about what magic is and means in the 21st century. It is, for many people, the pinnacle of what magic can do. And, for someone used to a typical magic show structure, I can see how that special might be somewhat mind-blowing. It handles its magic in a fundamentally different way than the specials that came before, for the most part, and is a work of very successful storytelling. I get it.

    But now, almost a decade after it was performed, and half since it came out on streaming, have we really got nothing to replace it with? Is this really supposed to be all magic can achieve artistically?

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  • Rich Man’s Which Hand

    Drew
    Category:

    For those who are fortunate enough to have a Real Die (or a Mental Die if you have the inferior Murphy’s knock off), here’s a way to perform a Which Hand routine under impossible conditions. This wouldn’t be my predominant reason to buy a Real Die, but it’s certainly a great little bonus if you already have one. The presentation I’m building this off is an impossibly accurate body language reading demonstration, but you can ultimately make it whatever you want (as you should)! Let’s jump into the handling.

    After explaining the Which Hand game, I first prep them by saying I want them to try not to react to anything I say. I ask them to keep a complete poker face, and even to close their eyes at any point if they feel like their body language could give it away.

    I also tell them to make sure both fists look the same. I tell them the tip we all learn as magicians, to make sure the fist that’s not holding anything isn’t clenched too tight, or else it’ll give away that it is in fact, not holding anything. I think this makes the feat a bit more impressive. After they hide the die in one of their closed fists, have them extend both arms straight out (see illustration below).

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  • Hanging for Later

    Lisbeth
    Category:

    I’m admittedly not much of a restaurant worker (I’ve done it a couple times, and it went… fine? I’m much better on stage), however I’ve shared this idea with a few experienced restaurant magicians and they seemed to like it, so y’all get to have it.

    I love incidental magic. The kind of magic that isn’t meant to be focused on or acknowledged, but clearly still happens and is impossible. It brings a fun vibe to any performance, this sense of casualness that makes the world feel magical for a moment. A deck production is a classic example of this, in certain presentations. I need a deck of cards, I don’t have a deck of cards, I make a deck of cards appear, problem solved. But what can be done with the end of a set to bring about this feeling?

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  • Stop Shtooping Steve Sheraton (or, A Joyful $1)

    Jerry
    Category: ,

    Editor-in-chief’s note: Now presenting our first interview feature!

    verb shtooping (Jewish, US, slang from Yiddish) – to screw

    It’s been just over a month since Yigal Mesika doubled down on his plagiarism of Steve Sheraton’s idea with a lawsuit against Craig Petty for daring to talk about it. Allegedly. (Yeah, I’m sorry, it’s back. We can’t afford any legal trouble, we can barely even afford to exist in this weirdly often extravagant form. I assume. The editor-in-chief beat me soundly when I tried to liquor him up and check our finances.)

    You’d think the universe would give Mr. Sheraton a break. But perhaps he’s already had all his breaks in life, because people keep on fucking him without his consent. Good thing he’s got his wits about him!

    It’s the same in music: everyone operates with the same limitations of scales yet some produce chords and melodies that are unique and thus original.
    ~ Steve Sheraton, pull quote found below in our sexy feature article.

    This time around, the fucking is allegedly being done by someone by the alleged name of Robin Matrix, a professionele goochelaar and now alleged ripoff artist. Why the fuck does every other Dutch word look like English but the word for magician sounds like someone obsessed with vaginas? I guess it checks out. Wait, our website’s own title kind of sounds like — you know what, let’s move on from this alleged train of thought.

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  • Hey, Doxxing Isn’t Cool, Actually

    Lisbeth
    Category:

    In case anyone hasn’t seen it, a few days ago, Mishaal Khan posted a video exposing the true identity of (or doxxing) “The Mask Magic,” a content creator who’s made his name exposing magic tricks to his audience on various social platforms. To be clear, I’m not stating that I’m in favor of The Mask Magic’s style of content. While I don’t have any problem with “exposure” overall (a subject I will probably discuss further in the future), I do find his style of content, where the creator shows secrets to their audience in an attempt to let said audience act smug and superior, to be shitty and unhelpful to anyone. Exposure for the sake of lauding power is a bullshit thing to do, and I ultimately don’t think The Mask Magic is doing much to help magic grow.

    However. He’s also not hurting it. If exposure of any kind could kill magic, none of us would be doing this right now. People wouldn’t be increasingly seeking magic in the age of the internet if access to information was enough to destroy our lives. And yet, once more, all the magicians see a guy doing what is, ultimately, an annoying but compared to what happened to him quite neutral action, and treat it like it’s the coming of the magical Antichrist, screaming and kicking like children at the thought that someone who didn’t pay $500 for the secret to their favorite card trick might learn it (as if we don’t freely share ideas and secrets at our own jam tables).

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  • Get Rid of the Get-Ready

    Drew
    Category:

    I wanted to share a principle I try to keep in mind when I practice and perform sleight of hand magic. I don’t mean to be boastful, but this tip really took the moves that I do to a whole new level. I thought to write about this concept when I came across this video on Instagram. Give it a watch before you continue reading.

    I really don’t mean to pick on this magician; he seems like a perfectly nice, friendly guy that performs some stellar effects (hell, even David Blaine commented “Incredible” on it). He just did something in this video that we all do, a bad habit we all have. You might’ve guessed already knowing the title of this post, but it’s the little repositioning he does with the coin before he gets into the effect. It’s what I (and many others) call “the get-ready”. It’s that little action that puts the object in one’s hands into the needed position to execute the sleight of hand.

    The get-ready move could be an array of different actions, depending on what effect you’re performing, what sleight you want to do and what object you’re using. That repositioning, although very subtle, is a tell. Another example where you’ll usually see the get-ready is for any false deal.

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  • An Actual Hello From the New Girl

    Lisbeth
    Category:

    Oops! I started posting shit on the blog (The “Creativity” Discourse) without saying anything first, didn’t I? Oh well.

    Anyway, I should introduce myself. I’m Lisbeth (she/her), the new writer for the Oval. I’ve been involved in magic to varying degrees for 15+ years, but made it a central part of my output about 3-4 years ago. Outside of magic, I make a lot of art in different media (seriously, I have too many projects going on right now, someone stop me), and generally bounce around doing what I can locally.

    I was scouted for the Oval at a convention by the Editor, whom I initially brushed off as another ill-fated suitor trying to woo the hot, smart woman in a sea of magicians who embody none of those descriptors. But once I understood that what I was being offered was not a ring, but a chance to write for the most prestigious publication in the history of magic, I joined immediately. I’ve been here at the compound office for a little bit now, and it’s starting to feel cozy. I’m even starting to like the off-brand instant noodles we get fed every day. (Anne’s note: The ramen I mentioned in The Annual Company Picnic (In Lieu of Bonuses) declined in quality severely after the two Mystify sponsorships. Oh, was I not supposed to mention we’re sponsoring Mystify again? If we had some Shin Ramyun up in here again maybe I would’ve held my tongue.)

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  • The “Creativity” Discourse

    Lisbeth
    Category:

    Editor’s note: This isn’t about saying “fuck beginners”; rather it’s about saying “stop pretending intermediate and advanced magicians can only handle beginner talk.” So if you’re on page one of your magic journey, relax: this is about how bad we are at page ten and onward.

    I’m the kind of magician that most would call “creative”. I create constantly to a fault. I rarely perform material that isn’t mine or that I haven’t put my spin on. I create heavily scripted theatrical pieces about dense subject matter, etc. For better or worse, my work is violently original. And so, naturally, when people hear of this or see my work, they ask me about creativity or the creative process. Sometimes these discussions are lovely and productive, and I’m happy to engage in them. But, much of the time, both in conversations I’m in and, especially, in popular magic media, the questions are… severely lacking.

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  • Commenting Works Again!

    Editor-in-chief
    Category:

    Update: It seems that all comments ever made have disappeared. We’re hoping to be able to restore them. We also don’t know why the hell that happened. The comments have been saved in their entirety by the marvelous Franklin.

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