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djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
I have an idea for linking a series of tricks/effects, which I will henceforth refer to as a routine (not a trick but a series of tricks)
The patter / postulate All intelligent beings like to travel, but what denotes intelligence...perhaps it is the brain....but the brain is just atoms. In fact atoms themselves like to travel, scientists have teleported electrons (true btw), so maybe it is not intelligence that likes to travel but subatomic particles and intelligence is not required. (sponge ball routine with all the usual 2 in hand one in pocket, fly to spectators hands etc) And in fact objects can be so keen to travel they can be hard to pin down (ring on rope ending with ring in sealed envelope from wallet, envelope has a post card with a message from the ring). Now as intelligent human beings we can ask ourselves, inanimate travel, is it science, is it magic, or is it coincidence? Perhaps it is just coincidence....(Thom Peterson's ESP your pants -ESP cards are shuffled by magician and spectator and are laid face down on the table. When turned over they are shown to match..)....guess it is coincidence.. Thank you and goodnight |
The Burnaby Kid Inner circle St. John's, Canada 3158 Posts |
The effects all sound strong. If you do this, report back on whether or not they proved to be in the correct order, or if you had to tweak it.
Patter-wise, it seems to be a bit of a jump to go to coincidence for the third effect. How does one explain magical travel through coincidence? Perhaps better to just show the magical travels of the objects, and then talk about how information can also travel magically, from one mind to the other. Experiments in quantum teleportation have had success showing that information, rather than matter, is capable of teleporting from one spot to another. This might explain how the subconscious decisions made by one mind might be detected and repeated by the other, thereby creating the coincidence. That's a highly specific claim to make, though, and you might need to have test conditions in there to back it up. That might hamper your presentation of the effect. Keep in mind that you don't HAVE to find a unifying patter-line throughout the entire set. Better to not risk insulting their intelligence by forcing an interpretation of the phenomenon behind the magic, and just do the magic itself. Over-presenting is a tempting thing to do for magicians because we've frequently seen so many performances of a trick that we feel it must be done so as to be better than all the bare-bones presentations out there. The thing is, a lot of the time, this risks putting the magician between the audience and the effect, obfuscating it. By modern scripting standards, David Blaine's presentational style has awful patter... but it works, because he chooses good effects and then gets out of the way. If there's going to be anything that they walk away from the show remembering aside from the individual effects, let it be you... the way you interact with people, the way you present yourself, your own spirit, etc.
JACK, the Jolly Almanac of Card Knavery, a free card magic resource for beginners.
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djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Dear Andrew,
Thank you for putting in the time to really think about this. I really appreciate it.....I am so new to this I can use all the help I can get. I take your point about the coincidence bit, so I have had a think and come up with an alternative, though as you say it may be running the risks of the patter getting between the audience and the effect. The patter could go something like this: Has anybody been on holiday recently? Did you have fun? We all like to travel, everyone of us, but most especially my dear friends Fred and Wilma (bring out sponge balls from empty purse frame) say hello (squeeker), Fred and Wilma are inseparable (travel to magicians hand, travel to spectators hands, two in hand one in pocket, ending with them both gone). Hmmm they have left....how odd. never mind I am sure we will hear from them again. In the meantime has anyone got a ring I can borrow? (go into ring on rope, ends with ring in envelope, envelope also contains a "marriage certificate from Vegas, in the name of Mr Fred and Wilma Ball" and a thank you note for the loan of the ring). Hmmm guess they put the ring to good use. You know after several years my wife and I have a very special connection, it didn't come instantly, oh no, but now thanks to that special special connection I now know when to duck! But special connections, where you feel as if you know a person's very thoughts do not have to take years, they can happen in a moment, and it is easy, easy to test I'll show you what I mean....(Thom Peterson's ESP your pants). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is certainly more me.....but as you say, I wonder if I am trying too hard. Hmmmm I do like a good story though. Thank you again, Danny |
djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Actually thinking about it I think the order should change. Sponge balls, ESP, end on Ring and Rope since ring on rope is arguably the strongest effect and it brings everything full circle.
D |
The Burnaby Kid Inner circle St. John's, Canada 3158 Posts |
Danny,
Try the effects out live, and figure out the relative strength from your audience's responses. We're still in the theoretical realm at this point, so it'll be hard to know where to put what. The only thing I'd caution against is sincerely anthropomorphizing objects. If you're doing it tongue-in-cheek, then good on you, but anything that seems remotely sincere is probably going to get people rolling their eyes. Can you describe the ESP trick in more detail? Not the method, just the effect and presentation.
JACK, the Jolly Almanac of Card Knavery, a free card magic resource for beginners.
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djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Hi Andrew,
The Magician shows two sets of ESP cards on red one blue (circle, cross, square etc). Audience member is asked to pick a set, the magician takes the other and both sets are shuffled. Magician lays his/her cards face down in a row and invites the audience member to lay their cards face up on top of the face down cards. They can change the order of their cards any time they like. The magician then picks the pairs up in a random order and lays them back on the table. Despite having been shuffled by magician and spectator and the spectator putting the cards in the location of their choice when the pairs are placed back on the table and turned over all the pairs match (blue circle with red circle etc). I take your point about it being theoretical...I'll try it and get back to you Many thanks, Danny |
djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
I also take your point about anthropomorphism.....Steve Dakri uses "Martians" but he doesn't give them personalities. Eugen Berger uses a squeeker, but they remain sponge balls.
I'll try it tongue in cheek and see how it goes. Danny |
djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Tried it, don't like it. Too fussy!
I think it will be best without trying to create a story around it all to link it. It gets in the way of "If there's going to be anything that they walk away from the show remembering aside from the individual effects, let it be you... the way you interact with people, the way you present yourself, your own spirit, etc." Well the experience was useful Thank you again and best wishes, Danny |
djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
The new plan is sponge balls Fred and Wilma....nothing about travel or relationships really.
ESP cards, talk about relationships magic and coincidence. Ring on Rope...tank you letter with marriage cert from Fred an dWilma |
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