Sunday, 17 February 2013
I am currently reading through volume 1 of the Magic of Ascanio books - The Structural Conception of Magic. It is a thoroughly inspiring read.
Today I came across this quote in an interview between Docampo and Ascanio (Page 101 - 102):
"What challenges does a magician encounter with books?
To start with, you have to overcome the all too common lack of faith in the tricks explained in books. The reader learns about the secret and the effect at the same time and doesn't know how to put himself in the spectators position... It has happened to me often that I borrow a book, learn a trick from it and baffle the owner of the book, who had overlooked that wonder."
Essentially i guess he is saying that tricks can come across as rather flat when read in description, especially combined with reading the method.
I know that I have overlooked many tricks because i didn't like the way they sounded when reading about them. I wonder how many wonders i have overlooked.
I plan on looking back over my books, at the tricks i haven't bookmarked and trying out some which don't appeal to me in flat text form.
Which wonders have you overlooked, but upon second (third or fourth) look actually turned out to be incredible effects?
Friday, 15 February 2013
Fooled by an Inanimate Object - Experiments
Please read my previous post on how I was fooled by a cash machine. The experience got me thinking on certain ideas.
These ideas were on my mind often enough that when the opportunity arose I acted on them without even realising until afterwards.
The key idea here is that if I perform magic without the audience perceiving my intention to deceive then the magic experience will be stronger.
Below are the results of these accidental experiments
1) I was at a house party with some friends, one friend in particular is rarely fooled by my magic, we consider him an honorary magician even though he doesn't perform magic. He is a performer and film maker so has a lot of insight into magic.
There were several fridge magnets on the fridge, each depicting a different vegetable. I took one with my left hand and then (false) took it into my right fist, holding it in front of me. My friend started guessing what kind of vegetable was on the magnet - at this point I realised he was already fooled. I allowed him to keep guessing, with my hand held clearly in front of his eyes. Meanwhile I ditched the magnet into my pocket and slowly lifted the other hand up to be in sight, open and empty.
Wen he gave up, I opened my fist, the magnet was gone. The reaction was one of the best I've ever received.
I am a card guy, I don't do coin (or object) vanishes very well (at all). I think this one worked so well because it was a game rather than a trick, my friend was enjoying guessing the vegetable and so didn't even consider the idea that I was deceiving him in any way.
2) With this one I was just messing around. There was a penny on the table, I rubbed the coin on the table mysteriously, then turned my hand over - the coin was still there. I was just messing around and didn't realise anybody was watching. A friend (not the honorary magician - someone else) laughed and told me he thought the coin wasn't going to be there when I turned my hand over.
I laughed too, and said "no, I was just doing this" and then I rubbed the coin again. This time I lapped the coin, when I turned my hand over the reaction was stronger than any time I've ever vanished a coin in this way before. In fact normally when I lap the coin people quickly jump to the method.
I think the reason this time worked so well is because the spectator thought I was trying to deceive him, when I didn't he relaxed and presumed I wasn't. So when I started to demonstrate what I was doing he presumed I was doing exactly the same thing again - therefore he perceived no intent to deceive.
Now I need to figure out how to apply this intentionally, and how to apply it to card magic - the stuff I normally do.
These ideas were on my mind often enough that when the opportunity arose I acted on them without even realising until afterwards.
The key idea here is that if I perform magic without the audience perceiving my intention to deceive then the magic experience will be stronger.
Below are the results of these accidental experiments
1) I was at a house party with some friends, one friend in particular is rarely fooled by my magic, we consider him an honorary magician even though he doesn't perform magic. He is a performer and film maker so has a lot of insight into magic.
There were several fridge magnets on the fridge, each depicting a different vegetable. I took one with my left hand and then (false) took it into my right fist, holding it in front of me. My friend started guessing what kind of vegetable was on the magnet - at this point I realised he was already fooled. I allowed him to keep guessing, with my hand held clearly in front of his eyes. Meanwhile I ditched the magnet into my pocket and slowly lifted the other hand up to be in sight, open and empty.
Wen he gave up, I opened my fist, the magnet was gone. The reaction was one of the best I've ever received.
I am a card guy, I don't do coin (or object) vanishes very well (at all). I think this one worked so well because it was a game rather than a trick, my friend was enjoying guessing the vegetable and so didn't even consider the idea that I was deceiving him in any way.
2) With this one I was just messing around. There was a penny on the table, I rubbed the coin on the table mysteriously, then turned my hand over - the coin was still there. I was just messing around and didn't realise anybody was watching. A friend (not the honorary magician - someone else) laughed and told me he thought the coin wasn't going to be there when I turned my hand over.
I laughed too, and said "no, I was just doing this" and then I rubbed the coin again. This time I lapped the coin, when I turned my hand over the reaction was stronger than any time I've ever vanished a coin in this way before. In fact normally when I lap the coin people quickly jump to the method.
I think the reason this time worked so well is because the spectator thought I was trying to deceive him, when I didn't he relaxed and presumed I wasn't. So when I started to demonstrate what I was doing he presumed I was doing exactly the same thing again - therefore he perceived no intent to deceive.
Now I need to figure out how to apply this intentionally, and how to apply it to card magic - the stuff I normally do.
Confidences by Roberto Giobbi - A Review
From the Hermetic Press website:
You Can Have Full Confidence in These Confidences
Drawn from a Master's Repertoire—Taught with a Master's Ability
Roberto Giobbi, recipient of the Academy of Magical Arts' Literary Fellowship of 2012-2013, is known worldwide as the preeminent teacher of card magic. He is also one of Europe's most sought-after performers of close-up magic. In Confidences, he opens up his professional repertoire to teach eight of his prize routines. Each receives the in-depth, insightful coverage for which Giobbi is known. He seasons this generous selection with three impressive essays, one on the art of controlling cards, another on the correct approach and understanding for vanishing coins and small objects, and a third on Erdnase's classic, The Expert at the Card Table. In these essays, Giobbi reveals numerous insights and shares personal handlings and strategies for sleights, with practicality and deception being his highest priorities. Here is a sampling of the riches disclosed in these pages.
An unsent letter from Albert Einstein proves to have a strange connection with a freely named playing card.
Playing-card manufacturer A. Dougherty leaves explicit cues on his cards and card cases that lead to spectators locating the four Aces in a shuffled deck.
Giobbi explains his masterly opening sequence for the Cups and Balls.
The guarantee card in the deck assures, in surprising ways, that chosen cards will be located—even in the most difficult circumstances—not just by the magician but by spectators as well!
A chosen card materializes in a mirror—a very eerie and unusual effect.
Dai Vernon's “Trick That Cannot Be Explained” is given the Giobbi treatment, which produces a tremendously entertaining and impossible result.
This and much more is taught along the way. Each trick, routine and essay is a vehicle to share numerous lessons that contribute to expert, professional conjuring. Those familiar with his acclaimed Card College series and Secret Agenda will know what to expect: one of the finest and most revealing texts ever written on the subject of card and close-up magic. Reading Confidences is like having an ear next to Giobbi's lips as he whispers some of his deepest secrets to you. These are true confidences. Read them and be ushered through the closed doors of professional magic.
Confidences is a 275-page hardcover book, produced to bibliophilic standards, with color artwork, marbled endsheets, book ribbon, sewn binding and acid-free paper. A pleasure to hold, a revelation to read.
Cost
£32.99 from Alakazam (http://www.alakazam.co.uk/product-Confidences-by-Roberto-Giobbi.html)
View on the Hermetic Press website for previews of several full pages:
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=71
Review
Never Judge A Book By Its Cover... – I do! This one is just the sort of cover I like, hardback without a dust jacket, and most importantly it has a ribbon. I really like ribbons in books.
When I received the book I was very surprised by the actual size of the book, a lot smaller than most magic books, probably smaller than most paperbacks too, this made it seem more personal – like Roberto was sharing his secrets with me. It also made it a lot easier to carry around.
Contents – There are 12 items in the contents page, all detailed essays or descriptions. I will detail some of them.
Preface – An enjoyable and intriguing preface that made me think about the importance in being concise and economic in magic, but equally consider the risks of not being too concise. Also reminded me of “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” – The longest grammatically correct sentence in the English Language using just one word.
Deck of Missed Opportunities – A presentation for a well-known trick. Giobbi includes his method which is very good but most important is the presentation which is beautiful and could be applied to any method. There are many other interesting points discussed during the very detailed description of the trick.
I have an issue with the idea of telling my spectators that while looking through a flea market I found an old letter addressed to me... but if you can adapt or get past that then you have a great presentation.
Giobbi talks about adding substance to the effect – he inspired me to go away and look at my favourite effects and tried to work out ways to add more meaning and substance to those.
Essay on Card Controls – This essay was the highlight of the book for me. It is a wonderful, intriguing essay on how to have a card selected and to control it. Giobbi breaks the control down into seven steps and then provides a detailed analysis of each stage. This will take some time and study to fully make use of the huge amount of information and advice given here.
There was one piece of information that I found very easy to start considering and to apply – the idea of the “Law of Degrees of Freedom”. This was something I was already aware of, it is discussed in Card College and I had considered it from time to time but never applied it to my own controls. Now with a further understanding of it I have begun altering my control procedures to meet this idea.
Giobbi details some of his favourite card controls and breaks them down. I was lucky to discover a control very similar to my favourite control but with a closer “Degree of Freedom”, I have started to experiment with this.
Overture For Cups and Balls – I am probably not the best person to comment on this as I do not perform the cups and balls. I will share my thoughts anyway... Reading this was so fascinating, I really felt like I gained so much insight into Giobbi’s mind. I felt that I learned some important lessons on making a trick logical and how to use the logic of an everyday object to avoid suspicion etc. I’d like to try and apply some of the ideas explained in this trick to other areas of my magic.
The routine itself is essentially a way to introduce the cups and balls routine, Giobbi says that you can go into most cups and ball routines after this but he recommends Dai Vernon’s routine.
Coin Vanish Essay - There is an essay on vanishing a coin that was inspired by Giobbi’s cat. However this essay completely disagrees with my experience performing vanishes for my sisters dog... of course my experiments were probably biased by the fact that I was vanishing a biscuit (which she could probably smell) rather than a coin – the dog wasn’t interested in coins...
Erdnase - For any Erdnase fans there is a long essay on Erdnase which is very enjoyable and easy to read. Lots of information here, and hints at some of the hidden gems in Erdnase.
Giobbi also explains a lovely control that was seemingly lost in history but rediscovered recently. Will Houston recently demonstrated and taught this at The London Festival of Magic, I’ve been having fun with this control ever since, now it should reach a wider audience.
There are several other card tricks including Giobbi’s handling of The Trick That Can’t Be Explained. Most of the tricks don’t require advanced card technique and rely on subtle technique.
There were some tricks that didn’t appeal to me, however when I read every single section of the book I felt like they had at least one lesson that stood out to me as important for my magic. I learned something from each section.
I always read a magic book in one of two ways, and for the good books I use both ways:
1. I read them like a novel
2. I read them like a text book
Ideally for me I would read them like a novel and then later read them like a textbook and sit down to properly learn.
This book was different, I read it like a novel, but felt like I learnt more in this first reading than in any other book I’ve read this way. I think it was because I couldn’t stop thinking about each section throughout the following day. I also made lots of notes – I normally don’t make notes during the “novel” stage of reading... but this book really seemed to sink in.
Giobbi provides lots of details for each effect but also explains the reasons behind his choices, allowing you to apply the same logic to your own performances.
Overall
Highly Recommended.
You Can Have Full Confidence in These Confidences
Drawn from a Master's Repertoire—Taught with a Master's Ability
Roberto Giobbi, recipient of the Academy of Magical Arts' Literary Fellowship of 2012-2013, is known worldwide as the preeminent teacher of card magic. He is also one of Europe's most sought-after performers of close-up magic. In Confidences, he opens up his professional repertoire to teach eight of his prize routines. Each receives the in-depth, insightful coverage for which Giobbi is known. He seasons this generous selection with three impressive essays, one on the art of controlling cards, another on the correct approach and understanding for vanishing coins and small objects, and a third on Erdnase's classic, The Expert at the Card Table. In these essays, Giobbi reveals numerous insights and shares personal handlings and strategies for sleights, with practicality and deception being his highest priorities. Here is a sampling of the riches disclosed in these pages.
An unsent letter from Albert Einstein proves to have a strange connection with a freely named playing card.
Playing-card manufacturer A. Dougherty leaves explicit cues on his cards and card cases that lead to spectators locating the four Aces in a shuffled deck.
Giobbi explains his masterly opening sequence for the Cups and Balls.
The guarantee card in the deck assures, in surprising ways, that chosen cards will be located—even in the most difficult circumstances—not just by the magician but by spectators as well!
A chosen card materializes in a mirror—a very eerie and unusual effect.
Dai Vernon's “Trick That Cannot Be Explained” is given the Giobbi treatment, which produces a tremendously entertaining and impossible result.
This and much more is taught along the way. Each trick, routine and essay is a vehicle to share numerous lessons that contribute to expert, professional conjuring. Those familiar with his acclaimed Card College series and Secret Agenda will know what to expect: one of the finest and most revealing texts ever written on the subject of card and close-up magic. Reading Confidences is like having an ear next to Giobbi's lips as he whispers some of his deepest secrets to you. These are true confidences. Read them and be ushered through the closed doors of professional magic.
Confidences is a 275-page hardcover book, produced to bibliophilic standards, with color artwork, marbled endsheets, book ribbon, sewn binding and acid-free paper. A pleasure to hold, a revelation to read.
Cost
£32.99 from Alakazam (http://www.alakazam.co.uk/product-Confidences-by-Roberto-Giobbi.html)
View on the Hermetic Press website for previews of several full pages:
http://www.hermeticpress.com/product_info.php?products_id=71
Review
Never Judge A Book By Its Cover... – I do! This one is just the sort of cover I like, hardback without a dust jacket, and most importantly it has a ribbon. I really like ribbons in books.
When I received the book I was very surprised by the actual size of the book, a lot smaller than most magic books, probably smaller than most paperbacks too, this made it seem more personal – like Roberto was sharing his secrets with me. It also made it a lot easier to carry around.
Contents – There are 12 items in the contents page, all detailed essays or descriptions. I will detail some of them.
Preface – An enjoyable and intriguing preface that made me think about the importance in being concise and economic in magic, but equally consider the risks of not being too concise. Also reminded me of “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” – The longest grammatically correct sentence in the English Language using just one word.
Deck of Missed Opportunities – A presentation for a well-known trick. Giobbi includes his method which is very good but most important is the presentation which is beautiful and could be applied to any method. There are many other interesting points discussed during the very detailed description of the trick.
I have an issue with the idea of telling my spectators that while looking through a flea market I found an old letter addressed to me... but if you can adapt or get past that then you have a great presentation.
Giobbi talks about adding substance to the effect – he inspired me to go away and look at my favourite effects and tried to work out ways to add more meaning and substance to those.
Essay on Card Controls – This essay was the highlight of the book for me. It is a wonderful, intriguing essay on how to have a card selected and to control it. Giobbi breaks the control down into seven steps and then provides a detailed analysis of each stage. This will take some time and study to fully make use of the huge amount of information and advice given here.
There was one piece of information that I found very easy to start considering and to apply – the idea of the “Law of Degrees of Freedom”. This was something I was already aware of, it is discussed in Card College and I had considered it from time to time but never applied it to my own controls. Now with a further understanding of it I have begun altering my control procedures to meet this idea.
Giobbi details some of his favourite card controls and breaks them down. I was lucky to discover a control very similar to my favourite control but with a closer “Degree of Freedom”, I have started to experiment with this.
Overture For Cups and Balls – I am probably not the best person to comment on this as I do not perform the cups and balls. I will share my thoughts anyway... Reading this was so fascinating, I really felt like I gained so much insight into Giobbi’s mind. I felt that I learned some important lessons on making a trick logical and how to use the logic of an everyday object to avoid suspicion etc. I’d like to try and apply some of the ideas explained in this trick to other areas of my magic.
The routine itself is essentially a way to introduce the cups and balls routine, Giobbi says that you can go into most cups and ball routines after this but he recommends Dai Vernon’s routine.
Coin Vanish Essay - There is an essay on vanishing a coin that was inspired by Giobbi’s cat. However this essay completely disagrees with my experience performing vanishes for my sisters dog... of course my experiments were probably biased by the fact that I was vanishing a biscuit (which she could probably smell) rather than a coin – the dog wasn’t interested in coins...
Erdnase - For any Erdnase fans there is a long essay on Erdnase which is very enjoyable and easy to read. Lots of information here, and hints at some of the hidden gems in Erdnase.
Giobbi also explains a lovely control that was seemingly lost in history but rediscovered recently. Will Houston recently demonstrated and taught this at The London Festival of Magic, I’ve been having fun with this control ever since, now it should reach a wider audience.
There are several other card tricks including Giobbi’s handling of The Trick That Can’t Be Explained. Most of the tricks don’t require advanced card technique and rely on subtle technique.
There were some tricks that didn’t appeal to me, however when I read every single section of the book I felt like they had at least one lesson that stood out to me as important for my magic. I learned something from each section.
I always read a magic book in one of two ways, and for the good books I use both ways:
1. I read them like a novel
2. I read them like a text book
Ideally for me I would read them like a novel and then later read them like a textbook and sit down to properly learn.
This book was different, I read it like a novel, but felt like I learnt more in this first reading than in any other book I’ve read this way. I think it was because I couldn’t stop thinking about each section throughout the following day. I also made lots of notes – I normally don’t make notes during the “novel” stage of reading... but this book really seemed to sink in.
Giobbi provides lots of details for each effect but also explains the reasons behind his choices, allowing you to apply the same logic to your own performances.
Overall
Highly Recommended.
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