I have figured out the perfect misdirection. Hire a woman to stand next to you with her child and every time you have to do that tricky move have her beat the kid. No one will see how clumsily you did that pass or bottom deal. I prefer watching a magician who can do the moves so skillfully that even while watching his hands closely I don't see them or who can misdirect so subtly and skillfully that I don't realize I have been distracted.

Now for tattoos. Mystical symbols and strange writings give mystery to a magician but I have seen magicians with tattoos all over their hands make a coin appear but I was so distracted trying to figure out what the symbols meant that I didn't see when the magic happened. They may have just pulled the coin out of their pocket. Many popular magicians today are covered with tattoos but I think young magicians should seriously consider whether they want these permanent distractions or want people to see the magic happen. Let me know what you think.

I'm all for tattoos as a form of self expression. Unfortunately, I have yet to see any magicians use them in a non-"hacky" manner. Done right, I think it could be quite effective, though-- I just haven't seen it.

The problem with a tattoo is its permanency.

Getting tattooed means you're supremely confident that all future versions of yourself will think that the specific tattoo you got in the place where you got it was a good idea.

Did you know -I think it was in Japan, that when a tattoo'd person passed away they would make a lampshade out of the tattoo skin. ugh

I don't remember hearing about this happened in Asia but I often heard there was a guy in Nazi Germany doing this and there was a guy in Wisconsin 100 years ago named Ed Gein who was digging up corpses and making skull cups, lamp shades and clothes from human flesh. I believe the movie Psycho is partly based on him. There are even pictures of some of his stuff on the internet. There are crazies all over the world.

I have both my hands and fingers tattooed I love them and feel it helps with my over all look when doing close up magic, kind of a Daniel Madison vibe, each to there own tho 🙂