🧵 View Thread
🧵 Thread (105 tweets)
okay, let's see where this goes. 100 opinions about magic https://t.co/R1zNOZWm7E
2/ many roads lead to being a shitty magician depending on who you perform for, you can easily fool yourself into thinking you're way better than you are lot's of people are polite, and won't actually let you know when you fucked up and gave away the trick
3/ Even if someone doesn't know how you did it, you basically still fail if leaves with "he did something fishy with the deck after I gave it back to him" knowing that **something** happened is as bad as knowing **what** happened
4/ A puzzle is something you plunk in front of someone and go "bet you can't figure out how the hell this works, huh?" a magic trick that is a puzzle isn't inherently a bad thing. never figuring out how to do anything besides present puzzles, that IS a bad thing
5/ the "21 card trick" is the patron saint of Boring Puzzles if someone does it for you, you probably won't be able to figure out how they did it..... but that's mostly because you killed yourself half way through watching because of how boring it is https://t.co/xoNeQleq9C
6/ yes, some spectators are pathologically incapable of thinking of anything other than "how did he do it?" but many magicians just can't make their tricks fun or interesting, so even a good sport will converge on "how did he do it?" u never gave anything else worth thinking
7/ magic has a weird spot in terms of popularity even if you aren't into music, you've heard lots of music most people haven't seen live magic, and many haven't seen ANY magic this is another reason shitty magicians can proliferate, public hasn't learned standards
8/ ^THIS IS CHANGING Shin Lim tearing up AGT. Now when you do magic for someone, they have him as a reference point. You better up your game. https://t.co/8A9N0BCtnl
9/ that was in 2018 (lim first went on AGT in 2017) compare that to 2014, when Smoothini went on the dude isn't bad at magic, he's a working professional, but there is a WORLD of difference between what he did, and what Lim did https://t.co/TG2bTSvo9T
10/ intellectual property in magic is weird You can copyright tricks, presentations, effects, and I haven't had to deal with this in detail, but some people have gotten into nasty legal spats over this shit but also.... everyone copies the shit out of each other
12/ some "families" of magic tricks have been around for literally thousands of years (cup and balls) some are sorta "public domain" and M's have been doing the shit out of them since the 1930's some are "I, [big name magician] am finally publicly releasing all my material"
13/ most magicians are happy to teach anyone who wants to learn all the basics of "public domain shit" but people get more cagey about stuff they personally have developed this produces the "I've milked this set for 30 years, now I'll give back and release it all"
14/ magician stereotypes lag about 120 years behind reality 🤣🤣🤣 "pull a rabbit out of a tophat" that shit fell out of style with the 19th century here's Penn and Teller lampshading this https://t.co/MBSeErkMCx
15/ but there is a "modern tacky magic show" if you hire a random magician, especially an older dude, they'll tear a newspaper in half, change the lengths of rope, and make an egg vanish 1930's-1960's material Pop Haydn makes it fun though https://t.co/NDLbhR8lXY
16/ lets talk about Pop Haydn the old classics are shitty because people got comfortable being shitty with them. Magic isn't the most competative, people are lazy Pop brings a fuckton of personality, and turns "boring classics" into a fun show https://t.co/YGUpZh4ziu
17/ let's talk sleight of hand.... laymen have no clue wtf SoH is dude1: "how'd he do that???" dude2: "it was sleight of hand!" dude1: "ooooooooh" as if it makes any more sense now. it's a toooootal Fake Explanation https://t.co/DGkeueJEef
18/ my guesses at reason for this phenomena: 1) purely social. Don't look dumb, act like "sleight of hand!" makes sense 2) it serves to say "society has an approved slot for impossible shit, the keyword is sleigh of hand. don't worry about actual witchcraft"
19/ it's CRAZY how many people are THIS close to believing you have literal wizard powers I don't deal with this much, but mentalists get this nonstop I want this to be less "ha, outgroup belief!" and more "you really think I'd be an entertainer if I could read minds?!?"
20/ I love the variety of learning curves. Some moves have linear practice~quality relation. Others are months of no progress, and then linear. Others are months of no progress and then PERFECT draw any graph you want, there's a move with that curve
21/ magic was my first interaction with "if I just practice this, I can get really good at it" each sleight and each trick is a new "I'm starting off shit, and working to become great" sometimes I wonder if bad-assery just depends on how early you get this experience
23/ fam bought me a magic book again, first chapter "this is bullshit!" and ignored magic till 15 funny enough, the first chapter was "Bar Bets" (and tacky ones at that) the rest was legit card magic sleight of hand. I just never read past the dumb bar bets oops 😅
24/ "i'll learn one good piece of magic as a party trick" while researching that, I watched an old David Blaine street magic special and was BLOWN the FUCK AWAY it was the first time magic had ever been remotely cool/fooling/magical/impressive that's when I dived in
25/ re: variety of learning curves some moves get called "knacky" which basically translates to "fuck If I know how to teach it" you get general instructions to get in the right city, and then have to find the street address yourself one handed shuffle https://t.co/k8KGYfWZGj
26/ magicians could do with more "embodiement" training learning advanced sleight of hand is often hard because you aren't able to grok your own movement with sufficient granularity sometimes the difference between do or die is your pinky being 1cm off
27/ I actually hate how people talk about learning sleight of hand "wow, how does you double turnover look so good?" "5 years of no friends" okay, yes it does take lots of practice, but I also think you SUCK at practicing
28/ like, I've never heard anyone tell me "do the move in SUPER slow motion, and note exactly where each finger is going. Repeat, and draw inferences about what residual movement is getting in the way. Sloooowly redo being very intentional about doing the proper form"
30/ again, shitty miracles thing is, magic tricks can often stand on their own, and people make the mistake of letting them. and when you do that.... YOU don't matter, and people can tell. if you pay attention, you'll notice, and "doing magic to be cool" is all for naught
31/ I don't like being the center of attention in "civilian mode", but I LOVE doing it in magic mode :) performing is a mask that lets me activate a shared script of "for this small chunk of time, you have given me charge of your attention, and I promise to make it amazing"
32/ there's so much gold in thinking of "performance" as a type of relationship/contract/agreement between people the size of a group affects what sorts of relationships you can have with the spectators 1 consequence: the smaller the group, the hard to have a "big" persona
33/ this is Dan Sperry. dope dude check the difference between how he dresses for Big Broadway Production and a magic show at a university performance has a ritual aspect, and you have to match you fantastical to the level of buy-in you've earned https://t.co/5AMkuVCA35
34/ You shell out $100 to see The Illusionists on broadway, they can do whatever the fuck they want. You are here to see The Show you're at a friends wedding and they hired Goth Lord to do strolling magic. Unless he's inhumanly suave, it's not going to vibe right
35/ ^ that's mostly about expectations and "did I sign up for this?" the smaller the group (magic for 2 people), the harder it get's to typical performer/audience relations, because it's way more obvious that you're just a person, and they're just a person
36/ Make the first part of your Set/show something that clearly communicates "This is actually going to be quality, you're in good hands" If you reeeeeaally want people to buy into your shit, you need to give them a reason to trust you.
37/ I'm with Penn in professing "The audience isn't stupid" he was talking more in terms of the "figuring out how you did it" I'm talking in terms of relationship. They can tell if you're nervous. They can tell if you doubt yourself. They can pick up if you don't like them.
39/ Watch this video, David Blaine at his finest. This a setup for another tweet down the road. https://t.co/3eo4K4UPMt
40/ Magicians Guilt: when you're unpracticed, you're nervous about getting caught doing something sneaky. this nervousness is telegraphed audience notices, you get busted doing something sneaky More than anything, naturalness and "chill" are qualities you want to achieve
42/ Penn and Teller quote that just extra clicked for me: "the truth behind your magic should be ugly" Aim for magic that forms a complex web of interlocking deception, not something that can be toppled by one well timed "it's in his pocket!"
43/ Pop Haydn talks about designing your magic in a way that leads one to being trapped in a logical paradox "We want them to be stuck on the horns of a dilemma: 'There is no such thing as magic/There is no other explanation.' This is a creative and disturbing place to be."
44/ "The magician is trying to trick me into not paying attention" NOOOO!! If you don't pay attention to me, you won't experience magic. If you are "sorta" paying attention, and I produce a dove, you'll be surprised, but then go "I guess he snuck it in when I wasn't looking"
45/ The dopest magic is the magic that goes "fair... fair.... fair.... fair.... WTF?!?!?" the only explanation is "magic", but "magic isn't real" aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Some people, in an attempt to do this, end up creating puzzles, but it doesn't have to be that way
46/ remember David? I love this trick. The dissonance of "You can't shove an ice pick through your hand!!!" and "Holy SHIT it reaaaaaally looks like he's shoving an ice pick through his hand!" turns out.... he's actually shoving an ice pick thru his hand https://t.co/xiXHmGdMw4
47/ "It looks like you're doing X, but X is impossible!" master level shit is when you figure out how to do something people thought was "impossible" to the point where people won't even consider the real method because, well... it's "impossible"
49/ It's harder to get this experience as a magician. It's still not too hard for a good magician to surprise or fool me, but it's only once in a blue moon when I go "fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck man, that's not allowed! You can't actually do magic!"
50/ Remember this? How do you make an impossible trap? Well, what is one doing when they try to "figure out" a trick? Actually, step back. What is someone thinking as they are watching a magic trick? 1) They're trying to predict whats happening next https://t.co/hDkgxfEKPc
43/ Pop Haydn talks about designing your magic in a way that leads one to being trapped in a logical paradox "We want them to be stuck on the horns of a dilemma: 'There is no such thing as magic/There is no other explanation.' This is a creative and disturbing place to be."
51/ so the first step is to surprise people. Once you've surprised them with magic, they are going to "play back the tapes" and see if they can find something to explained what just happened DOPE magic happens when you're good enough to control the tapes, i.e a spectators memory
52/ Lets say I do "the move" when the spectator hands me the deck after shuffling 1) I make sure "the move" is invisible but ALSO 2) I make this a "non-moment", something that doesn't leave a memory imprint then you can't even think "maybe it happened when it was in his hands"
54/ this is why Naturalness is important. If something feels unusual, the spectator will form a clearer memory of that moment, and it will be harder to tamper with This is why surprise is important. If they can guess where the action will be, they'll be primed to remember better
55/ "It's a perfectly normal deck of cards" "As you can see, my hands are empty" it's always more effective to let the spectator comes to these conclusions themselves. Get them to conclude something falsely, then they forget that it was a conclusion, and it just becomes reality
56/ "Motivation" is a big concept. If you make a movement with no clear motivation, it sets of peoples alarms. People are micro predicting every little thing that is happening, when you cause predictive error, attention flares up
57/ Something that's really hard to do is give people a good reason to care about the magic trick. David Blaine's ice pick is great tension Here's another great example of a magic act that keeps you on the edge of your seat https://t.co/pajKy2wOLg
58/ You don't need threat of violence for tension. This act is super fun, because with each envelop you've got the tension of "did it work? did they pick another empty?" the $100 doesn't really matter, as much as the wager of the magicians pride https://t.co/TBjC5ADGAf
59/ Some magicians are too high on their own supply “All magic is ‘Here’s a quarter, now it’s gone. You’re a jerk. Now it’s back. You’re an idiot. Show’s over.’” - Seinfeld John Archer does an awesome job of making a trick that was explicitly a competition, fun and enjoyable
60/ Secret: everything I've said about how magicians fool you applies to how you fool yourself. everything I've said about performing magic applies to performing anything also real wizards exist, are typically named "Kent", and live row houses by the freeway
61/ I love performing for medium sized groups of highschoolers. It's a context where people play up their reactions to everything as part of relating to each other, so when you come in with magic they will SCREAM and freak the fuck out
62/ I did table hopping (do magic before they get their food) at a TGIF for two years. You'll do the same 3 effects 10-20 times in an evening. It's INCREDIBLE practice I'd highly recommend getting a restaurant gig if you're an up and coming magician
64/ Apollo Robbins is one of my heros! He's a pro pickpocket Pickpocketing is the big leagues of misdirection and direction. This dude works by completely Hijacking your OODA loop https://t.co/YbgOkDvmXT
65/ I'm enamored with the Con Man character. The pickpocket is an adjacent archetype. There's something very steampunk about it. Being so in tune with others minds that you can rob them blind without them noticing. One day, I will learn this.
66/ There's a fun and wild book i'd recommend, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi. Autobiography of a jack of all trades conman in the 1800's this motherfucker was known for ending bar fights with a single well placed head butt https://t.co/xpT4lR4kiK
67/ there's an old saying "You can't cheat an honest man" Many cons work by getting the mark to think he is cleverly taking advantage of the conman or others You can't complain to the police that the guy you were trying to cheat people at cards with cheated you out of your cash
68/ in case you missed the memo, you'll never win three card monte. If you see someone win cash, they're a shill. but damn, they've got some diabolical ploys to rope you in the true skill of monte is that theatrics that convince you it's a good idea to play
69/ nice Let me treat you to Lioz he's the most refreshing comedy act I've seen in a long time. A lot of comedy magicians are basically the same person. https://t.co/p37xKHom9F
70/ This is Lioz 3+ years earlier It's so cool, you can see he's got a sense of what his character and game is, but he's not quite there, and he's not quite committed He smiles more, whereas on AGT he's 100% deadpan https://t.co/zn0VmzrUUC
71/ If you have small hands, don't worry! So did Max Malini. As usual, strong character and quality timing + misdirection can smooth over technical difficulties https://t.co/wT9OFG0lC3 https://t.co/WozLaj0HNm
72/ I love magic because you can get away with soooo much bullshit :) People have a slot for "someone is going to do a magic trick!" but they also don't have strong opinions about what magic is supposed to be I get to be incredibly goofy and playful :)
75/ "The best endings are surprising, yet inevitable" True for magic. I love designing patter than foreshadows the final surprise, but doesn't make sense till the surprise has happened. "The cards did switch, but it's just a whole lot of nothing" (they switched to blank cards)
76/ A reason I keep coming back to magic is because of it's freedom. You can basically do standup during it if you want. You can tell a heartfelt story. You can work in some dance and movement. It's an excuse to pull together everything that I love :) https://t.co/PBBllOPBbL
77/ There's been an explosion of magic innovation over the past 15 years. Also, people are getting better. I shit on Move Monkeys earlier, but kids these days have some technical chops that are completely leapfrogging the abilities of the past generation
78/ "It was horrible. He did 12 'pick a card' tricks in a row" How do you add variety to your magic? One way is to create magic with Unique Interesting Objects. Rubix cubes look cool and are intriguing on their own. What might magic with them look like? https://t.co/uqaVVtwZSG
79/ When designing magic tricks, you can forward or backwards chain. Forward: "What do I know how to do? What effects might I make with these skills?" Backward: "What magic effect do i want to happen? How do I learn/create the techniques needed?"
80/ ^ Backwards is almost always more likely to produce magic that feels more real, because the "plot" is less contrived. This is my fav example! Quickly he establishes the rules of this magical universe. Then he delivers, again, and again, and again https://t.co/gybCzwqRnW
81/ Another great example of working in multiple objects. Plus the sound of the coins in the mug is amazing (I secretly want to be a spanish magician) https://t.co/upKLIskhpW
82/ There's a type of plot where the magician is a normal person who lives in a confusing world and is beseiged by magical objects. Yann Frisch does this beautifully. I've set to see someone do a great one of these that wasn't a silent act. hmmmmm... https://t.co/2M9goCffgB
83/ ^ I take it back Mario Lopez is the true king. This is my favorite 5m of magic. HE'S DOING EVERYTHING PERFECT! He's funny, he makes us care, the plot is simple and clear, it's surprising, it's unique, just *chefs kiss* https://t.co/9kpxz3Qr3b
84/ Tom Mullica wins the "what the fuck did I just watch?" award. You think he's just going to be your typical cheesy uncle magician. But then..... he transcends. RIP Tom https://t.co/9U2XSiDDBd
85/ Tom Mullica used to own a magic bar in Atlanta where he'd do a show every night. That's a life I could go for. Maintaining and nourishing a public hangout spot that's also a theater, sharing what I love and making people laugh.
86/ Weirdest magic compliment: me: *magic* dude: wow... that's some 9/11 shit right there me: ....(?) dude: you know, that conspiracy theory shit 1) he thinks 9/11 was an inside job 2) he thinks I am sneaky enough to have pulled it off myself .... thanks?
87/ Met a card mechanic named Sal Piacente. I could not tell his false shuffle from a real shuffle. He was SCARY good It was the only time I've completely gone "Okay, clearly I have NO ability to discern what is or isn't real, I give up"
89/ Idea: renovate a school bus. 1 half is living space, the other half is a fold out stage. Tour the country, performing anywhere I can park. Invite people on to enjoy the show. Yes, I want you to hop on the magic school bus 😎 (credit, this was my moms idea)
90/ I want to do this in a show. Play with multiple contradictory back stories. Play with the how performance and magic is allowed to lie, but we still sorta want truth.... but do we really? Maybe we just want fun and people are bad at making shit up. https://t.co/Xh0d3mcRaK
91/ I'm gonna busk this summer! This excites and terrifies me! One reason I'm so attracted to this is because of how much of an "unhackable test" it is. Many agree, if you can make it on the streets, you can make it anywhere https://t.co/9o5XYs2fIl
92/ "how do you recover from fucking up a magic trick?" You're biggest advantage is that the audience has no idea what is supposed to happen. If you completely change plans on the fly because something fucked up, they might never even notice
93/ Some moments are so strong you need to let them breath. After one trick I do, I avoid eye contact and pretend to look for something in my pocket, so that they can have the space to freak out without me going "That was crazy, right, right,right?"
94/ you: The cups and balls have been around for thousands of years, there's no way you could do anything new with it— jason latimer: YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE ME MORTAL!?!? https://t.co/KPJxv8IPf8
95/ If you're gonna be weird, you have to play it serious. Boldly stride forth and be the most confusing entity that these poor suckers have every encountered. Let Jonathan Burns be your guiding light https://t.co/Ar4dKh3KP3
96/ ("we just had a fight" 69) The CIA once brought on magician John Mulholland to teach their agents how to be sneaky, spiking drinks and whatnot There is an official government document title "The CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception" https://t.co/aQx4lR25VA
98/ The most powerful of dark wizards disguise their powers. They bumble and fumble, hem and haw, dawdle and dwindle Lennart Green is the supreme buffoon god of magic https://t.co/2p9nZRWs5l
99/ Sometimes the greatest magic is that which is not planned https://t.co/9MJ6okufdW
A was doing street magic at the world scout jamboree in Japan. Someone was like "Yeah, but you can't guess my birthday" I then guessed her birthday and she ran away screaming Another girl said "well it can't work twice" I the guessed her birthday and she also ran away
100/ Magic can give and experience that you can't get anywhere else. When magic lands just right, your whole understanding of reality crumbles around you in a safe, and thrilling way. If you're out their performing, keep spreading that mindfuck been a pleasure yall :)
I saw a video a while ago, a weird nlp guy on scam school who had a thought-of-card forcing thing. I'll prime you with a poem, and as long as nothing interferes with the priming, people always think of the same thing. Here comes the poem .../
"The woods are lovely dark and deep and I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep" I can only do this with one person, otherwise your guesses will fuck each other up. 1st reply, what card are you thinking of?