Web host issues (July 28)

July 29, 2008 · Filed Under sitenews · Comment 

Ok, so somebody spilled beer on the servers or something, and now it looks like the database is gone. Thankfully, I’ve got backups, but it may be a while before the search function works again and I can add new stuff.

Very sorry about that. Will let you know when things improve (some functionality has already started working again).

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Free Magic Trick: “The Ghost Card, Revisited”

July 26, 2008 · Filed Under tricks · Comment 

I had to think a long while before adding this trick, for a couple of reasons. First, to be honest, I’ve almost always done the impromptu version of this trick, but I feel that it’s a far-better trick if you do it the non-impromptu way. That said, I’ve only ever performed that non-impromptu version once. It played great, but as I’m moving towards FASDIU effects and away from this overall genre of magic (pretty close to mentalism), I’ve not been able to give that non-impromptu version the effort it deserves. So, keep that in mind. The second version of the trick is the one I’ve got more experience doing and, at the very least, I can attest to its effectiveness in practicing the specific method to be talked about today. The other reason that I was hesitant to add this trick is that, if I were to continue to do this trick today, I’d probably use a slightly different method, which I’ll talk about at the end of the blog entry. Still, the context of the trick is suitable to practice this method.

I hope that doesn’t turn anybody off. Hopefully the fact that I went ahead and added it will tell you what a huge fan I am of the effect, so if you’re willing, let’s get going.

THE GHOST CARD, REVISITED: A trick to practice (from S.W Erdnase’s Expert At The Card Table) the Last Shift in the Opening Legerdemain Section, as it relates to the Royal Road to Card Magic VII (hereafter LSVII).

Introduction: If you don’t know the plot of Theodore Annemann’s “The Ghost Card” included in Expert Card Technique, it’s this… A deck is borrowed from a spectator. A single card is chosen from the deck, and then isolated in an envelope, which is sealed and left in the spectator’s care. The magician then says what’s about to happen is very strange. Another card is selected by the spectator, and this one they can look at. It’s replaced into the deck, which is then shuffled. The magician then asks the spectator to name their card. They do, and then the magician deals each of the cards in the deck face-up, asking the spectator to say “stop” if they see their card. The spectator never does. The magician then prompts the spectator to open the envelope. They do, and it’s the card that the spectator apparently saw a moment before.

I love tricks like this. The effect is in the same strange realm of tricks like Brother John Hamman’s “Your Signed Card” or Alex Elmsley’s “Between Your Palms”, in that the more they think about it, the more paradoxical it is. In this trick, you’re essentially claiming that you can force the spectator to hallucinate, in a manner where they feel perfectly sober and not under the influence of anything. Also, for anybody watching, there’s very little in the way of apparent sleight-of-hand to explain the method.

Unfortunately, if you do it Annemann’s way, you’ve got to cheat, and without going into the specifics of the trick, the way it’s described above is exactly as clean as it is… and if you can’t think of a method that’s truly FASDIU to match it, it’s because there isn’t one yet that doesn’t introduce moves or take away conviction, the sort of thing that would compromise the effect and make it less clean.

Now, that said, I’ve got two alternate versions of the trick to offer here, one of which cheats in a different manner than Annemann’s original version, and another of which that allows you to function with a borrowed deck. The tradeoff in the former version is that it’s not impromptu, although you do get much better conviction in the effect. The tradeoff in the latter version is that you don’t get to build the same degree of conviction in the effect, although you do get to work impromptu. Life is compromise.

Here is ultimately your claim to power. You are going to be able to make a spectator see something that isn’t there. It won’t feel like they’re being coerced, it will feel perfectly natural, actually, but in the end they’re going to have a difficult question to answer — how could they have seen a card that was never in the deck?

Regarding the LSVII, there are so many versions of Erdnase’s book that offering a page number for the sleight is out of the question, and the table of contents in my version isn’t nicely enumerated the way Royal Road To Card Magic is, so I can only say this… Go to EATCT, turn to the Legerdemain section, look at the opening section on Shifts, and look at the last shift described before they go onto the next section. It’s a move that’s been called one of the more difficult card moves out there, although John Carney described it as something that tends to work by itself once you get the mechanics of it right, and that the key is to just pay close attention to detail. I will say that I believe Carney has good work on the move (as well as how it applies to the more general classification of the RRTCM VII), and that if you try this move out, I think you’d get a lot from studying Carney’s teachings of it (which should be easy to find if you know which move I’m talking about — again, sorry for all the coding, but it’s a publicly viewable blog…).

Now, if I put a card into the center of the deck, execute the LSVII, and then reach in my pocket to show that it’s jumped there, that’s a pretty direct and rather obvious application of the move. We’re going to do something that’s a lot more subtle.

VERSION 1, NON-IMPROMPTU

Effect: The magician brings a spectator to sit in a chair on his right. He hands a deck of cards to the spectator and asks them to examine it to make sure it’s a regular deck of cards, and to shuffle it as much as they please. While they do this, he patters thusly: “I’m going to try an experiment in coerced hallucination. I don’t want to give the game away just yet, but I will say this. The experiment involves three things. First, a regular shuffled deck of cards that’s free from guile. Second, this envelope.” The magician produces a simple envelope. “It’s a perfectly normal envelope and you’ll be able to examine it to your heart’s content once the effect is over. Finally, I have something else… Here, please pass me the cards.” The spectator passes the magician the cards, and he places the cards and the envelope off to the side. “Finally, I have this pendulum.” He reaches into his left pocket to pull out a pendulum. “I’m going to be using this pendulum to both start and stop the hallucination.” He puts it back into his left pocket.

“First, before we begin the effect, will you testify to the fact that this is a perfectly normal deck of cards that you’ve shuffled to your heart’s content? It’s a regular deck of cards, yes?” The spectator says Yes. “Great.” He has a card selected. “Now, I’m not going to show you this card. I’m not even going to look at it myself. The rest of the audience, however, is going to be able to see it. Can everybody please remember this card, and, for the sake of the experiment, please keep the value secret?” The card is flashed towards the audience for a few seconds (we’ll say it’s the Nine of Diamonds), before he takes the envelope from the table, and openly inserts the card into the envelope face-down, and then seals it, and hands it to the spectator. “Please place your hand on this but don’t do anything with it. Just keep it out of my reach.”

The magician then pulls out his pendulum. “At this point, I’d like you to please stare at the pendulum, because we’re about to begin this experiment. I’m going to count down from five to one, and at the end of that time, you’re going to be in a state whereby I’ll be able to coerce you to hallucinate.” He twirls it around five times. “Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Now.” He waves his hand. “How do you feel?” The spectator should respond that they feel fine. “You don’t actually feel any different than before, correct?” The spectator should agree.

“Excellent.” Another card is selected from the deck, and is handed to the spectator face down. “This card is for you, and for you alone. Please don’t say what it is or show it to the audience. When you are ready, pass it back to me.” He spreads the cards out, and the card is inserted into the spread. The spread is closed, and the card left outjogged a little. He flashes it at the spectator one last time. “Now, you see this card clearly, correct?” The spectator says Yes. “This card, from this d