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FredNarlo Loyal user Been waiting for John Dough for the last 282 Posts |
The subscription will allow you to secretly text your accomplice to their phone giving them the info needed to do the reveal. This is done before the audience sees the dial pad and you explaining to them what will happen next, being calling The Stranger. Is that correct?
And, is this limited to cards? With the app and the subscription, could one modify it to communicate other reveals? Is it customizable for that? Last question: After the app purchase and then the auto/secret text app and subscription, is there going to be other items one can purchase? Will there be in-app purchases? |
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jlevit Regular user 141 Posts |
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On Jun 29, 2019, saysold1 wrote: Brett, I'm not seeing it. Can you send again? |
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Lonnie_Lyerla Special user 508 Posts |
Jonathan, I’ve also sent you a message on FB
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jlevit Regular user 141 Posts |
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On Jun 29, 2019, FredNarlo wrote: Fred, the texting takes place at the perfect moment, yes. And it will communicate the name of the card. |
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FredNarlo Loyal user Been waiting for John Dough for the last 282 Posts |
Ok. What about the other questions?
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jlevit Regular user 141 Posts |
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On Jun 29, 2019, FredNarlo wrote: Yes, I'm planning for other items in the future to expand the app. |
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pegasus Eternal Order United Kingdom 10537 Posts |
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On Jun 30, 2019, paperinick wrote: I can’t remember. |
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tgold65 Regular user 194 Posts |
I have purchased this and have it on my phone. The effect itself seems impossible to the spectators but is incredibly easy to do. It can be done with literally no sleight of hand but the impact is still huge. It is so simple that your focus will be 100% on the performance. If you like knuckle busting sleight of hand, this is not for you. If you like completely frying peoples brains with an impossible mentalist effect, this is for you.
The trick is exactly as Jonathan performs it in his trailers and as it is described in the Apple store. If you like what you have seen in the performance videos, then you will love this trick. Plus, it plays huge. You can do it for a few people, but it would work just as well for a an entire auditorium. There is one downside which is that to perform it without any verbal code between you and a live stranger, you need to purchase a subscription to send a text with the selected card number. Jonathan does let you try this for free for one month. Jonathan also provided a very simple and effective method if you don't want to pay for that service that I have tried, is easy and works. The non-texting approach with the verbal cue to the stranger just flies by the audience but I would only use it if you have the card selected and revealed to the audience but not to yourself, in which case you need to get a peek, use a force or use a stacked deck to know the card. I have PM'd Jonathan about having to pay for the service, and he explained that there is a technical issue that he could not overcome which forces the use of a texting service that he has to pay for, so he has to pass that cost onto the users. But once again, there is an easy workaround. Also, he provides several very effective methods to perform this without a live person on the other line. If you really don't have any friends at all, and want to perform this with a live person, there is a facebook group and there are a lot of people who are volunteering for the opportunity to play the role of your "stranger". Playing the role of the stranger would definitely be fun and you can help your fellow magicians out. I have to admit that I am surprised Jonathan released this to the magic community and didn’t keep it to himself. This is a reputation maker and a truly professional level piece of magic. Congratulations and Thanks to Jonathan Levit for sharing his magic genius with all of us. |
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Illucifer Inner circle 1403 Posts |
Thanks for the very thorough review. Here is my question (and it’s no slight to this app or Jonathan - kudos on a very successful product; far be it from me to argue with the very positive results of this thing): how would you say this is superior to having audience members apparently conceive a random number, dial that number (on their phone or the magician’s), and have any piece of information (card, word, number, etc.) revealed by a ‘stranger’?
For me, it seems a lateral move at best, and one that limits the possible revelations. I’m very curious to know what the feedback is from spectators for different people using this. Not the initial reaction, but the discussion and thought process following. I welcome this speculation from spectators, but I want my method as bulletproof as possible. A lot of this will be down to convincing acting on the part of the performer and the stranger, but the moment someone conceives of a special phone app or “something tricky about the phone”, it’s sufficient for them to explain away the entire thing. If that one foundational layer crumbles, the whole house collapses. That’s not to suggest that the same can’t occur with the non-app approach I’ve outlined above, but I think the possibility of using the spectator’s (or anyone’s) phone builds in another fortifying layer.
It's all in the reflexes.
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tgold65 Regular user 194 Posts |
Regarding Illucifers comments below. There is no reason someone would be suspicious that the phone call was done from an app that is masking the actual phone app. How it is superior to other methods, which Jonathan Levit has published publicly is that :
1) The audience choses a random number, on person provides an area code, the next person the next 3 numbers, the next person 2 numbers and the last person 2 more numbers and they see the magician enter that phone number into the phone. Other methods require the random number to be created by doing complex math to force the phone number. If you use the complex math approach, you would not want to use the convincers that are in the app (point 2 below) because it would take too long. 2) The app has a number of "convincers", like the call going to voicemail or the call being a non-working number. 3) I don't believe that most audiences would like you to use their phone to dial a random number. 4) After dialing the phone number of the other person, the magician can hand the phone to the audience member and have them explain what is going on to the stranger on the phone. So it appears as if it is impossible for the magician to have communicated the card to the stranger. 5) Even if there is no one who is available to take your call, Jonathan has provided some very convincing outs via recorded responses that require a little practice, but I just tried them on my wife and adult child, two people who have seen a lot of magic, and they couldn't believe I wasn't talking to a live person. They asked me how did I get someone to take that call from me. 6) As for communicating some other piece of information than a randomly selected card, that is not a feature of the app, at least not yet. However, it is such a strong piece of magic, that I don't see that as a drawback. You should look at this trick for what it is, which is a very strong piece of performance art that lets the magician focus on the performance. I happen to think that a trick that I can perform in 3 minutes or 10 minutes, depending on how I manage the audience is extremely valuable. As noted, Jonathan did publish how he did this trick before he had an app. And while it would work, as he described how he used to do it, I would say the non-app approach does have some limitations, most of which have to do with the way the card has to be communicated to the confederate and the app based approach is completely hidden and incredibly strong. I would say that a trick that would top this would be having an audience member open their phone, call someone they knew personally, have that person name a card, and have that card match the previously selected card. I have a method for doing this, but it is not practical for most situations. Quote:
On Jun 30, 2019, Illucifer wrote: |
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saysold1 Eternal Order Recovering Cafe addict with only 10795 Posts |
Just got this and I am excited to play with it.
I think that even more so than with most effects - the choice of the right spectator to play along and speak to the stranger will be the key to a powerful performance. And of course your "live" stranger who receives the call - must play well too. That said I think this app seems live an evolutionary game changer. Congrats to Jonathan Levit.
Creator of The SvenPad Supreme(R) line of aerospace level quality, made in the USA utility props. https://svenpads.com/
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MarianoG Veteran user SPAIN 336 Posts |
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On Jun 27, 2019, Mark8infiniti wrote: You will soon discover the hard reality of Apple. Android (google) is a much open system for magicians. |
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videoman Inner circle 6732 Posts |
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On Jun 30, 2019, tgold65 wrote: I see this mentioned from time to time in this thread and others. Assuming there is no cost incurred in making the call, could someone educate me as to why I should be concerned letting someone dial a call on my phone? The only thing I can think of is that they could secretly install some nasty spyware or something, or simply run off with my phone. But for the sake of argument let’s give me the benefit of the doubt that I can read a social situation well enough to determine whether or not I would feel comfortable enough with letting a stranger use my phone. So is it now considered good practice not to let anyone use your phone? If so, why? I’m genuinely interested in knowing more about this. |
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Illucifer Inner circle 1403 Posts |
Brett, yours is certainly an opinion I trust, so I’m leaning towards this more.
tgold65, is Toxic something you’d describe as complicated? I think it’s quite simple and straightforward. And since the numbers chosen when using toxic are just as free, I’d say multiplying them together to get a ‘random’ result is an added layer of mystery. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the directness of simply inputting the chosen numbers and dialing (I do), but it’s very easy to give a presentational justification for multiplying them (numerology, truly random final number, etc.). I’d argue it makes things more interesting. And I do think there are much more interesting things to reveal than cards (a freely thought-of word, for example). Cards are great - I use them all the time - but to go from ‘randomly-called-stranger-guesses-freely-thought of-word’ to ‘randomly-called-stranger-guesses-playing-card’ feels like a step backwards to me. But the operative phrase here is ‘to me’. That’s not necessarily the case for some others. As I said, I’m not one to argue with people’s successes, and I may just get this now to see how it plays in comparison to my preferred approach. And, certainly, it’s never a bad thing to have more arrows in one’s quiver. 🏹😎
It's all in the reflexes.
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CopperChopCup Loyal user 213 Posts |
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On Jun 30, 2019, videoman wrote: Presumably, since you’re calling a stranger, you are potentially transmitting the phones phone number as well. Someone could potentially use this information, if they were tech savvy enough, to get more information about you. Lots of weirdos out there. Let your imagination run wild as to why you wouldn’t want to just reach out to a stranger and contact them. Obviously, in this case, you aren’t really contacting an actual stranger, but if there was anyone wanting to do this with my phone or my wife’s phone in public, it would be met with a ‘hard no’. |
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barts185 Inner circle Can you believe I've been wrong on 1355 Posts |
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On Jun 30, 2019, tgold65 wrote: I feel like that's a big concern. In the current situation of spam calls, where if you don't recognize a phone number, it's very likely a spam call, how likely are you to pick up a call from a number you don't recognize? And bear in mind that if you're a performer, you're much more likely than the average person to pick up a call since it could be a potential customer calling. How likely is a random number to be an actual phone number? What happens when someone gives numbers that are not valid area codes or phone numbers? Does the app actually check this? When doing a presentation for a group, someone is likely to know, for example, that an area code or phone number can't start with the number 1. I also find it somewhat amusing that they are making efforts to have strangers available, and the assistant version is what's generating the majority of the hype, while saying this: "Normally—for an effect to be THIS powerful, you need the help of a secret assistant—and often, a secret ‘code’ too. But ask anyone who’s worked with these types of tricks before and they’ll tell you: secret assistants can be frustrating. Either you can’t find a friend to help when you need one, or they forget what to do—or some other inconvenient thing gets in the way." |
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jlevit Regular user 141 Posts |
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On Jun 30, 2019, saysold1 wrote: Thank you! |
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jlevit Regular user 141 Posts |
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What happens when someone gives numbers that are not valid area codes or phone numbers? Does the app actually check this? When doing a presentation for a group, someone is likely to know, for example, that an area code or phone number can't start with the number 1. You are right about calling numbers that are clearly not valid numbers. When I ask someone for the first three digits after the area code, and if they say "1", I always say, "Well that won't be a valid number. Let's try something real." As for using the live stranger (your accomplice) vs. the recordings, they are both in there for a reason. They enable the performance to happen, with success, in any situation. If you don't have a stranger available, or something happens in the moment where they can't be available, you always have the recordings (phone calls) that work beautifully. It's the combination of both methods that makes this such fun to perform. |
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paperinick Inner circle my faro is starting to look nice after 1177 Posts |
There is also the possibility that the spectator might try to call someone they know. I would prefer that the “stranger” is a phone number you give to them in advance so that the possibility of a code is precluded
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death my right to say "scr*w you" if you persist. [Voltaire ]
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jlevit Regular user 141 Posts |
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On Jun 30, 2019, paperinick wrote: This is why I prefer to ask several people to provide numbers to construct a random phone number. |
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