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pegasus Eternal Order United Kingdom 10537 Posts |
I agree Kaliix. Google is our very worst enemy. What you must consider is that there are hundreds of websites trying to sell the exact effect that we're trying to perform.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cross+......ie=UTF-8 |
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James Warren Loyal user 241 Posts |
Kaliix, actually, I am convinced that the 12 year old kid had no access to a smartphone or laptop. He didn't run off immediately after seeing my trick, borrow a phone (he wasn't carrying one), and google the trick. I mean, let's face it, anyone who thinks about it will realize that the only possible explanation is that the magician secretly marked their hand. Which, by the way, is why I totally agree with those who have said that an X in permanent ink is more deceptive than ashes, because it is more difficult to figure out how the magician could have secretly done this. I did the trick for my own 13 year old son this morning. His immediate reaction was utter disbelief and astonishment. Then, about 15 seconds later, he started blurting out, "You drew it on my hand when you had me hold my hands out!" Now, if it had been ashes, there's not much I could have said to dissuade him of that opinion; but because it was a sharply defined X, I could say to him, "How could I have drawn on your hand with a pen without your knowing it?" And that brought him back to befuddlement. Granted, the immediate reaction to the ashes trick is no doubt everything that could be desired. But if you are concerned about how transparent the method may be to those who continue to think about it later, the inked X is certainly harder to explain. (Though maybe not all that unlikely, given my experience with the 12 year old boy.)
Anyway, Google is part of the reason at least 80% of my close-up magic is cards. (The other part of the reason is that I simply love card magic.) Secrets are hidden deeply in expensive tomes, and even those secrets that are out and about will be difficult to discover, since I don't do "Cardtoon" or other popularly marketed card effects that could easily be Googled. |
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pegasus Eternal Order United Kingdom 10537 Posts |
I hear you James. I only buy effects that cannot be traced back to the Internet, which are getting few and far between.
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SleepyMagic Inner circle Hopefully I'll pass my exams with 1646 Posts |
I guess maybe to help your situation James maybe do a trick before double cross and transfer the X then...and then when you come to perform double cross say something om the lines of "OK from now I'm not going to touch you..place your hands out for me like this..." And since the X is already planted you don't need to "adjust" their hands..
I was thinking doing a card trick before and telling them okay place your hand out (demonstrate it palm up)...and after they place their hand out palm up...you turn their hand over so its palm down (this is where you plant the X) and then you ask them to make a pointy finger..as in curl all their other fingers except the pointy one so they have a pointer... Go through the deck and ask them to touch a card with their finger...do a card trick..then move onto double cross. Of course with this you've got to be careful your spec doesn't see the cross prematurely... But it can be done I think Sleepy |
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James Warren Loyal user 241 Posts |
Sleepy, see my original post on the previous page. There I mention that after my experience with the boy (which was only the second time I had ever done the trick), I started doing Ring Flite first. This is a perfect routine for this purpose, because you can have the spectator hold out their hands, palm down, under the pretext of seeing whether they are wearing a ring. You can even move in for a closer look at the ring, make a comment about how lovely it is, or use some other such excuse. I found after four or five performances that no one ever noticed the X on their palm, even when I returned the ring and they slipped it back on their finger. Some guys might think that's a bit gutsy, but I trusted in the power of misdirection -- or, better, "directed attention." The spectator is already blown away by the Ring Flite effect, and their mind is performing two tasks at once: trying to take in the amazement of what they have just witnessed, plus the motor action of putting the ring back onto their finger. I think they could have an elephant drawn on one of their palms and they would not notice it at this moment. Now you now back away a good distance from the spectator to begin the Double Cross routine, stressing, as you mentioned, that you will not approach the spectator at any time. That really does compound the mystery.
I suppose it's like any trick where a signed card or ring ends up in a box or sealed envelope. The audience knows, obviously, that you "got it in there" somehow -- but that's not really an explanation. And doing Double Cross the way I described it above, they have no clue how you could possibly have marked their hand, even if they will know that somehow you did. Having said that puts me in mind of what, to me, is an important distinction in magic. Some tricks fall into the category of "they don't know HOW you did it, but they know WHAT you did." Other tricks are of the category: "they don't have any idea WHAT you did or HOW you did it." The whole thing is just a total mind-screw. I am willing to do a few effects in the former category if they are fun and have great entertainment value, but I prefer most of my magic to fall into the latter category. Double Cross does not qualify, IMO, for the latter category, because spectators who think about it later will know WHAT you did, even if they have no precise idea as to HOW you did it. This distinction is important to me because I want to blow away even the tough-minded thinkers. For example, I once showed two of my favorite effects to a friend. He had accompanied me to the Magic Castle one night, and after each show he spent a long time analyzing certain tricks, trying to figure them out. He just couldn't stand not knowing. (His father had been a California Supreme Court Judge -- he certainly inherited an analytical mind!) Anyway, the two tricks I did for him were Chicago Opener (Whit Hayden's version) and ring in sealed envelope in wallet. The ring trick is a go-to effect for me when I really want to blow people away and getting them to remember me. I have had a few occasions where someone has run into me 5, even 10 years later, and brings up the ring in wallet/envelope moment in their life. As for Chicago Opener, it was indeed my close-up opener for 15 years at strolling gigs, and after performing it people would regularly say, "Wow, you're good!" So I show these two routines to my friend. His reaction? Chicago Opener absolutely slayed him -- probably kept him up half the night! -- because he had no way to explain how I could have turned the card under his hand into the card that he had just "freely" chosen from the rest of the deck. (In Whit's routine, you actually show the spectator the FACES of the cards and let them take whatever card they want. So the force felt 100% free to my friend. He had no possible way to explain: (1) how the card under his hand could change (since it was obviously under his hand from the beginning; and (2) change into the card he just freely selected from the rest of the deck. In other words, he had no idea WHAT I did, and therefore no idea HOW I did it. And he was visibly shaken by the experience. His reaction to ring in wallet was quite different. He didn't react nearly so radically, and that surprised me. When I asked him why, he replied, "Well, with that trick I know what you did -- you secretly got my ring into a sealed envelope. I don't know HOW you did it, but obviously you had some way to do it. It was a very clever and skillful thing to do, but it's not magical because I know what you did, even if I don't know how." "But with the other trick," (Chicago Opener) he said, "I don't even know where to start! You couldn't possibly have known that I would pick the Queen of Hearts, and I know I picked that card freely: I saw the Queen of Hearts in the deck, and I deliberately reached for it. So even if you could somehow have switched the card under my hand, you wouldn't have known what card to switch it for." He had no idea WHAT or HOW. This is similar to Erdnase's famous line, about executing skills that "the most critical observer would not even suspect, let alone detect." Don't think Double Cross falls into that category. But I'm still going to play with it for a while, and see what happens. Sorry for the dissertation, guys. I hope some of you find it interesting. |
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baronrittl New user 3 Posts |
Thanks James , I'm new in Magic and buyd Doublecross . You rly help me out .
greets from Germany |
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videoman Inner circle 6732 Posts |
James, I very much like your idea of using Ring Flite as a lead-in to Double Cross. My only concern with your presentation as you described it is if you only have time to perform those 2 effects for a group then you will have involved only a single person, using the same person for both effects.
I'm wondering how it would play if you perhaps had more than one person hold their hand out and look at a couple rings and secretly mark a person and do not use their ring but someone else's instead, at least whenever this is possible of course. This may also help improve the odds of the person not noticing the X prematurely, although I understand that this has not been an issue for you so far. |
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leosx1 Veteran user 337 Posts |
Concerning google and magic tricks : at the very moment of his performance the magician puts the spectators mind in a state of astonishment. should the spectactor decide to google the effect afterwards therebye diminishing his experience, this should not be the concern of the magician.
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funboy247 New user 64 Posts |
Hi,
I`m from germany and I perform double cross every time. I have really good reactions. ONE QUESTION: Where can I get this sticking puddy from? Kai |
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Nikki78 Special user I impaled Dracula with 511 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 14, 2016, funboy247 wrote: Hi Kai, Try this stuff (although it's not black I never had problems) : http://zauberdiscount.de/Zubehoer/Dexter......913.html
I'm no native speaker - please ignore the mistakes
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JasonL2112 Regular user 169 Posts |
The whole thing around google and spectators looking up tricks etc... While this is certainly real, it often makes me wonder why, at least to some degree, some don't feel like this can be controlled... There are several things we can do to make this far less likely.
First, make the routine your own, and NEVER actually refer to the effect by name. Granted, googling "x on hand trick" would get you down the path on this one, but as a better example take Little Door. I've seen some performances online where the performer stated several times "I'm going to draw a little door on the case". Which is essentially feeding the spec exactly what they would have to search for. On the other hand, changing slightly and using the words "small window" instead would make things harder. This is all IF someone actually goes to look... Second, it always seems FAR less likely to me that a spec would search for a routine if you truly make it your own. This isn't the latest "trick" I added to my repertoire, its more of a - hey, lets try this... An example for Double Cross may be - "You know, I've noticed a funny thing lately. I've been eating more (insert random food) lately, and I've noticed a few strange things. For one thing, my skin acts odd (explained when you can easily pick up the "permanent" marker you draw on yourself) - Check this out... Now it doesn't feel like a "trick" so much as something that's happened to you. On the off chance they do go off and search something anyway, maybe they'll google carrots and sharpie's, who knows. I've personally had nothing but great reactions to double-cross using various different presentations / stories to go around it. This is one I use casually as opposed to a part of an act. For some reason it sticks with people and many mention when I see them again, none have ever come back having looked for it or having figured it out.
GLOMM
http://www.theglomm.com/ |
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codydavismagic Veteran user 362 Posts |
Double Cross is still one of my favorite tricks, and have always got stellar reactions. Like nobody even questions what happened, it just happens and they are mind blown, or sit there for like 5 minutes trying to get the x off there hand. Highly recommend this, as if you do any close up or walk around, I believe this will go straight into your repertoire.
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tophatter Inner circle connecticut 3329 Posts |
I just got this yesterday at Tannen's in New York I can already tell it's going to Kill ! I can't wait to perform this . I just read the entire thread just start with the gimmick on already ! Magick the demonstrator at Tannen's did it that way so much easier .
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Alan Rorrison V.I.P. 2494 Posts |
Its been a while now and this is STILL in my etc. You see " I don't leave the house with out it" in a lot in loads of promos etc but this is something I actually rarely leave the house with out.
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RSchlutz V.I.P. 512 Posts |
Alan I completely agree. I usually leave home with a few tricks at first and then stop. Double Cross is an effect I have with me at all times. Since I do a lot card magic it gives me a much needed balance and for me is my closer.
Ryan |
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MagieLucas New user Netherlands 93 Posts |
I agree too about this. I bought mine 2 years ago and still good. I use all the time
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bluesmagic Loyal user 245 Posts |
Same here. Always with me and it just kills.
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funboy247 New user 64 Posts |
Hi guys, any hints how to refill the sharpie? My "vanishing ink" is drying out.
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Xcath1 Inner circle 3052 Posts |
MagicSmith sell refills on his website and I beleive instructions are with device.
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PRINCE Inner circle 1448 Posts |
Hi all, can someone please tell me if there is any slight residue (even the slightest) left on your finger after you perform the effect? Not the ink but from the putty?
Many thanks |
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