Hello friends,
The longer you are around this fascinating hobby/profession, the more knowledgeable you become. So when you read about that hot new effect that sounds too good to be true and can’t envision a reasonable method on your own or you find the description is vague and you feel you should be let in on what exactly the audience experiences, or worse yet you try to fish for the real inner secrets. The truth is, while you might have a lifetime of experience it doesn’t necessarily entitle you to any additional information.
Believe it or not, there are quite a few things that I would like to know. And I know the right people. Do I get special treatment? In some cases the answer is yes. In other cases, the answer is a flat out NO. Does it make me feel bad, no. The truth is, I know I have no business “knowing” some of these things (performance rights are not available, exclusive items that only a select few can and should know). And in my case as I am not a professional performer, the “want” to know is just not a good enough reason and I accept that.
Do I get to learn everything we stock here? Well yes & no. We buy it so the secret is “ours”. The sheer amount of stuff, is overwhelming and the access to all this knowledge is shadowed by the fact that I am pretty much set in my ways, have “my pets” and leave it t that, with the exception of the handful of thing I feel overly drawn to and I must learn.
You may feel like you as a consumer should have the right to know more information about a product. I feel that the seller should only tell you as much as they want to. This may deter you from purchasing it, what ever it is.
Additional information is provided when it is absolutely necessary and in some cases, where a special bond is created and trust is shared.
The truth lies within some of these descriptions and is omitted on purpose so as not to expose the method. There are many reasons why an effect can be seen live but not written about. It is all how it it perceived and not what has actually taken place. The act of writing about it may allow an individual to replicate a routine without the creator or the dealer being rewarded for their hard work with manufacturing it and stocking it.
Hot Rod - “It becomes the chosen color.” A flat out lie… so to speak. A color is never actually chosen, yet a color is chosen and more importantly perceived as a chosen color. What? That doesn’t make any sense! It would if you had one and it wouldn’t be a lie! This is not exposure but I have told you too much! I hope you are getting the point I am trying to make.
Mother of All Book Tests “Any word on the page is thought of.” It is written this way because it is perceived this way. But this is not exactly what happens. So if this is not what happens, then what does? Well unfortunately all I am going to give you is how the audience as a whole and the spectator who picks the word understands what is happening.
Social Distortion- “You reveal a thought of word, a name and a two digit number.” That is pretty much the whole description. So how do YOU reveal these things? Well if I told you, you could recreate this effect. So how can the audience then be fooled? So how can you as a performer be assured you are not being ripped off? These are valid questions. The audience gets fooled because of what they experience as an audience. This experience can not be written about properly without giving too much. Ripped off? While the growing magician is trying to find out what fits his/her needs somethings will feel right others will just not. There is no way around that you will either like something or you won’t. But you are not being ripped off if you trust the dealer and/or the creator. Know that thi8s is a pro effect and just is not for a hobby guy looking for a cool prediction.
Please ask us questions, we’ll give you an legitimate answer as best we can.
There are factors like Multiple Outs, Dual Reality, Perception and Blatant Exposure.
For the card trick Vanished & Gone the big ending is described as he selected card is Gone from the deck. Which doesn’t tell you much. Our online description now has added info but it is still unclear. I will tell you in more detail because I think it merits it. This effect is unique because it only instance that I can think of where you start the effect and you as a performer don’t actually find out the effect that you are performing until you are midway through the routine. You could classify this as a multiple out effect, I would personally call this two independent effects of which you have no control over the one you want to perform. Does this make any more sense to you? I hope so. And now I’ve told you too much!
The list of skewed information is almost as long as the list of magic is. It goes with the territory. Embrace the hazy descriptions and instead of being frustrated you’ll learn to enjoy just how sneaky our craft really is.
Take care,
Pete