Christ, Nathan, this was such a riveting read. I devoured each video, and I thank you for bringing these fabulous magicians to my attention. I don’t know much about magic, though I’ve always enjoyed watching it. Now I’m getting the urge to find a local show ASAP. Beautiful, illuminating, compelling piece about a very interesting subject. Brava!
Nathan, it occurs to me that if you went for a Tarot card reading, and the person you saw was (a) skilled at sleight of hand and (b) a bad actor, they could cause you to feel optimistic or pessimistic about the future. I've no idea why anyone would want to do that, but do you think it's theoretically possible?
There's an American magician who does an incredible routine using Tarot cards and a splash of cold reading and though he makes it clear that it's all trickery, I'd still be wary of the impact it might have on some people depending upon their beliefs.
A slower routine, so for a certain setting of course. You can see there's even a few misses in the performance, but I would imagine this still feels quite powerful as the spectator.
How delightful! “Jazz magic” reminds me a bit of running role playing games, that ability to adapt quickly and still end up where you intended without losing the surprise and wonder. I am also excited to check out the book on the neuroscience of illusion. I listened to an Ologies podcast interview with David Kwong (a magician and crossword puzzle designer), and he commented that the skill of misdirection involves giving the audience something more interesting to look at than whatever it is you’re trying to hide. I’m curious to see if that matches up with brain science, but I suspect it’s not far off.
I'm sure it must do Renee. I'm a lover of cryptic crosswords, and the whole point of the clues is to mislead the solver. I've written about it, with examples of misleading clues, here: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/cryptic-crosswords
Argh, great point! I've seen examples of cryptics, they are devilishly difficult. Definitely a different mindset required for those, on both the designer and solver sides of the coin.
Some are virtually impossible, but most normal ones are good fun and quite solveable, if you're in the right frame of mind and on the compiler's wavelength 😂
Ah, the magic of magic! Such a great post - I really enjoyed it. Sadly I haven't got enough signal today to be able to play the videos - so I'm hitting 'save' to come back to this later - that'll be such a treat!
I love card games, and just handling the cards is something I really love. Shuffling (no, I can't riffle shuffle, ho hum) is a mesmerising thing - it zones me out, somehow. Fanning my hand at the start of a card game is something that I really struggle to do the right way up - perhaps it's a left-handedness thing, I wonder? - instead, I fan them upside down, and then turn them the other way up afterwards. I'd be laughed out of any casino!
My husband has never worked out exactly HOW I do the one card trick to my name that I do at the start of every game we play. This girl keeps her secrets..... 🤣
Thanks so much Rebecca. Hope you get to enjoy the videos when you get some signal and a chance.
Yes, a left handed (well, in the right hand but fanning with the left, I assume?) thing will be doing that, but I love that you found a solution and turn them upside down. That's so great.
There are some wonderful card sleights all based on the principles and mechanics of fans.
You have me intrigued re: your trick. Was it something someone taught you or you read somewhere? I love that you've kept it a secret from your husband. 😉😄
Let's think about the fanning thing - I'll just grab some cards and have a go - okay, so I held them in my right hand and fanned them upside down with my left, and the all-together-bit of the fan was at the top, and the open fanned-out bit of fan was the part at the bottom of my hand, towards my wrist. Of course I also needed to remember to put the cards in REVERSE order, so that they're the right way up when I turn them round!
Now that I've read that again I sound utterly ridiculous! 🤣
Re the trick - it's soooo not a trick in terms of what an accomplished magician would do! Put it this way: I simply ask him what he thinks the top card is. He'll tell me some random card, and then I'll tell him what the top card ACTUALLY is. Simple but elegant, no? One day it'll occur to him to pay more attention to my shuffling... 😉 Until then, I'll win every time!
I'm embarrassed to even claim that as a trick in such illustrious company! I'm clearly no magician! 😳
Nonsense. Somewhere here I have a stand alone webcam that you can move into any angle and which connects to computer via USB. Also, you've got Jim. No more excuses! 😎
This made my day. Whisked away by magic. And ordered some books, too, not for me but for someone who loves doing card magic. Dani DaOrtiz is so hilarious it's beyond wonderful to watch him. Everyone needs a little magic in their life every now and then. Thank you, Nathan and Terry!
How wonderful! Nathan, I loved your original magic post & I love your summary of it here (though it doesn’t do it Justice!) loved learning a bit more here!
Thanks for commenting, Jillian. I agree with you, but one has to hope that people will be fascinated enough to want to go back to the original and read it.
Christ, Nathan, this was such a riveting read. I devoured each video, and I thank you for bringing these fabulous magicians to my attention. I don’t know much about magic, though I’ve always enjoyed watching it. Now I’m getting the urge to find a local show ASAP. Beautiful, illuminating, compelling piece about a very interesting subject. Brava!
Thanks so much, Andrei. It's a whole rabbit hole to explore, of course. I'm glad to have brought some of that to you here :)
persiflage eh? Nice vocab there Mr Magician. Great article, just as well I put a ring on it. xx
Hehe, Terry's vocabulary. I get all my vocab from him ;)
It's copyright. Cough up 😆
I'll buy you a coffee 😅
wot, from Australia?
Nathan, it occurs to me that if you went for a Tarot card reading, and the person you saw was (a) skilled at sleight of hand and (b) a bad actor, they could cause you to feel optimistic or pessimistic about the future. I've no idea why anyone would want to do that, but do you think it's theoretically possible?
Heh, that's an interesting scenario.
There's an American magician who does an incredible routine using Tarot cards and a splash of cold reading and though he makes it clear that it's all trickery, I'd still be wary of the impact it might have on some people depending upon their beliefs.
sounds interesting. Do u recall the person's name?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eetvU4l9mhQ
Ben Seidmen.
A slower routine, so for a certain setting of course. You can see there's even a few misses in the performance, but I would imagine this still feels quite powerful as the spectator.
ta!
How delightful! “Jazz magic” reminds me a bit of running role playing games, that ability to adapt quickly and still end up where you intended without losing the surprise and wonder. I am also excited to check out the book on the neuroscience of illusion. I listened to an Ologies podcast interview with David Kwong (a magician and crossword puzzle designer), and he commented that the skill of misdirection involves giving the audience something more interesting to look at than whatever it is you’re trying to hide. I’m curious to see if that matches up with brain science, but I suspect it’s not far off.
That's so good. I hadn't thought of DMs being so fluid and adaptive, but you're totally correct.
I'm sure it must do Renee. I'm a lover of cryptic crosswords, and the whole point of the clues is to mislead the solver. I've written about it, with examples of misleading clues, here: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/cryptic-crosswords
Argh, great point! I've seen examples of cryptics, they are devilishly difficult. Definitely a different mindset required for those, on both the designer and solver sides of the coin.
Some are virtually impossible, but most normal ones are good fun and quite solveable, if you're in the right frame of mind and on the compiler's wavelength 😂
Ah, the magic of magic! Such a great post - I really enjoyed it. Sadly I haven't got enough signal today to be able to play the videos - so I'm hitting 'save' to come back to this later - that'll be such a treat!
I love card games, and just handling the cards is something I really love. Shuffling (no, I can't riffle shuffle, ho hum) is a mesmerising thing - it zones me out, somehow. Fanning my hand at the start of a card game is something that I really struggle to do the right way up - perhaps it's a left-handedness thing, I wonder? - instead, I fan them upside down, and then turn them the other way up afterwards. I'd be laughed out of any casino!
My husband has never worked out exactly HOW I do the one card trick to my name that I do at the start of every game we play. This girl keeps her secrets..... 🤣
Thanks so much Rebecca. Hope you get to enjoy the videos when you get some signal and a chance.
Yes, a left handed (well, in the right hand but fanning with the left, I assume?) thing will be doing that, but I love that you found a solution and turn them upside down. That's so great.
There are some wonderful card sleights all based on the principles and mechanics of fans.
You have me intrigued re: your trick. Was it something someone taught you or you read somewhere? I love that you've kept it a secret from your husband. 😉😄
Let's think about the fanning thing - I'll just grab some cards and have a go - okay, so I held them in my right hand and fanned them upside down with my left, and the all-together-bit of the fan was at the top, and the open fanned-out bit of fan was the part at the bottom of my hand, towards my wrist. Of course I also needed to remember to put the cards in REVERSE order, so that they're the right way up when I turn them round!
Now that I've read that again I sound utterly ridiculous! 🤣
Re the trick - it's soooo not a trick in terms of what an accomplished magician would do! Put it this way: I simply ask him what he thinks the top card is. He'll tell me some random card, and then I'll tell him what the top card ACTUALLY is. Simple but elegant, no? One day it'll occur to him to pay more attention to my shuffling... 😉 Until then, I'll win every time!
I'm embarrassed to even claim that as a trick in such illustrious company! I'm clearly no magician! 😳
i can't envisage this, Rebecca. Can you video it?
I only have the two hands though, Terry....! 😉
In all seriousness, I would like to do a follow-up to my previous left-handedness post sometime - card-fanning will be covered (with pictures!) 😁
Nonsense. Somewhere here I have a stand alone webcam that you can move into any angle and which connects to computer via USB. Also, you've got Jim. No more excuses! 😎
🤣
This is great. You're actually accomplishing something termed "a peak". You can now call yourself a magician ;)
I just grabbed some cards and did the same and yes, lovely. :)
Here's a cardistry fan technique to move onto next ;) https://youtu.be/wNL7Vsw2L2A
🙌
Becks is a woman of mystery
🤣
This made my day. Whisked away by magic. And ordered some books, too, not for me but for someone who loves doing card magic. Dani DaOrtiz is so hilarious it's beyond wonderful to watch him. Everyone needs a little magic in their life every now and then. Thank you, Nathan and Terry!
Thanks, Alexander
So pleased you enjoyed.
There's a whole slew of other videos of Dani out there. He's something else. In a league of his own.
ditto
How wonderful! Nathan, I loved your original magic post & I love your summary of it here (though it doesn’t do it Justice!) loved learning a bit more here!
Thanks for commenting, Jillian. I agree with you, but one has to hope that people will be fascinated enough to want to go back to the original and read it.
Thanks Jillian. Wasn't sure if it was too many videos, but I hope you get to watch a few and find some mystery in them 🪄
Also hope the trip is going great!
The videos are great, and thanks for including the video of Olivier Newton John <drool>!
You're welcome. (I thought it best to omit our email exchange on that bit though 😉)
🤣
LOL Very sensible!