Saturday, July 27, 2019

Working for a small audience







I need a volunteer.






Excellent.

My favorite magicians are Penn and Teller. I've read their books, seen a great cross section of their many shows, and I've even done weak versions of some of their easier, but still terribly clever, tricks. But I never thought I'd come up with a professional quality, truly mystifying magic trick of my own. 

I am going to blow your mind, right here, in the most unlikely of venues known to magic: a blog. Yes. I am going to perform a magic trick, and you are going to be bedazzled and flabbergasted. I'm that confident.  I've practiced. I've tested it. And I was lucky to come up with such a dynamic trick that suits my narrow range of magical skills.

This trick comes from the field of magic known as Mentalism. I will be appearing to read your mind!

I want you to pick a number.

No, not three (Ha, how did I know that?)! I want you to pick a very complex, many digited number of any size, but try and make it good. Take your time. Go ahead and write it down if it's too long to remember.

Got it?

Now concentrate on it.



Concentrate.





Concentrate.






Concentrate.







Concentrate.






Excellent. I've got it.





Your number is 52,363!



No, no, not your number. That's the volunteer's number. Naturally I could only do this trick for one of you out there. 

One of you who is amazed.


Er, you might want to mention it in the comments though. Otherwise I might look a bit silly to everyone else.















2 comments:

  1. The three choice worked!

    Hey, was it you who shared the P and T trick with the steamed carrot? For those of you reading this, it's just a jolly trick, especially when you're at a large family dinner. These are the steps I took when I tried it, but the trick can be applied in a variety of ways with a variety of audiences.

    Step 1: Get thumb-sized carrot (sized to *your* thumb).

    Step 2: Steam carrot just enough so it gets thumb-soft.

    Step 3: Customize carrot so that when you bend your thumb joint, it can rest on top and suggest the rest of your thumb.

    Step 4: Get napkin or dish towel ready.

    Step 5: Set all these items aside.

    Step 6: Sit down at dinner table and mingle.

    Step 7: Excuse yourself and go to the kitchen.

    Step 8: In the kitchen, put carrot on top of bent thumb, then wrap napkin over it.

    Step 9: Scream OWWW!!!

    Step 10: Come into the room and say you burnt or otherwise injured your thumb.

    Step 11: Answer questions about how it happened. Improvise answers.

    Step 11.5 (optional): Have someone squeeze your carrot-thumb (with napkin on it!) and say "OWWW!" when they do.

    Step 12: Go back to kitchen and get a large knife.

    Step 13: Return to kitchen table with knife by your side and say something like, "This is too painful! I can't bear it!"

    Step 14: Set you carrot thumb on dinner table and say, "It's gotta go!"

    Step 15: CAREFULLY! hack the carrot off!

    Step 16: Adjust to responses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, sure, I can do the one to ten for everyone all at once. It's just the big numbers I can only do one at a time!

      I am familiar with the carrot trick, though don't know if I brought it to your attention as I usually focus on the pizza trick. The carrot's a beaut though, and I really like your phrasing "This is too painful! I can't bear it! It's gotta go."

      Delete

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