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 "Mirrors! You used loving mirrors!" If you're like me, you may have grown up catching the occasional television special featuring Lance Burton making a dove appear out of goddamn nowhere, or David Copperfield walking through the Great Wall of China. If you're older, you may have caught a performance by Dai Vernon or Slydini in their prime. Maybe you've been to Vegas and checked out Penn & Teller or Siegfried & Roy. Whatever the case, at some point you've probably watched a professional perform a magical feat and realized you had a stupid grin on your face. Well, this is a thread for those moments. RULES ♠ Lets try and keep "magic exposure" to a minimum. In most cases magicians guard an empty safe when it comes to their "secrets", but lets try and keep the thread free from too much exposure. It's fun to discuss how something might have been done, the history surrounding it, or the mechanics behind it - that's only natural - but lets try and hold back on blatantly calling out how a trick is performed. With that being said: Please no Masked Magician. ♣ Keep it tasteful and interesting. There is a seemingly endless ocean of bad magic, bad performers, and bad performances out there and thanks to the internet it is all at your fingertips. Use discretion when posting content that might show something embarrassing, awkward, or just bad. Sometimes that sort of thing can be funny and entertaining but more often than that it's just painful to watch. ♥ Leave your hatred for <insert mainstream magician> at the door. Blaine, Angel, Dynamo: They all use camera tricks and in some cases shills/stooges. They are talented entertainers and magicians and do a decent job at entertaining most people. Lets just leave it at that. Feel free to post performances by them. ♦ Pictures, videos, links, stories, experiences, history - all are welcome here as long as they relate to magic. Stage magic, close-up magic, mentalism, black art, whatever! Post 'em here. CONTENT In 1856, French magician Robert-Houdin was sent by Napoleon's III's Second French Empire to Algeria to counter the magic being performed by the marabouts; these wandering holy men sought to bring about a revolt against the French by performing false miracles and getting the population into a superstitious frenzy. Robert-Houdin was considered the greatest magician in Europe at the time, and had been entertaining courts and royalty all over the continent before this point in his career. The French decided to pit magician against magician in an attempt to downplay the marabouts and prove to the superstitious population that French magic was more powerful than what the marabouts had. Here's one of the many insane feats he performed during his travels in North Africa: quote:...While the Frenchman was stopping in a native village a marabout drew two pistols from his burnoose and challenged Robert-Houdin to a duel in which the marabout claimed the right to the first shot! Robert-Houdin protested but finally agreed to fight the duel under the marabout's conditions at eight o'clock the following morning. Since I am on Robert-Houdin, here's a piece on his exceptional orange tree illusion, which he invented: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ht_afydffk Moving onto more modern performances, here's a really great cups and balls routine by Yann Frisch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsY7fqfKwAk
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 11:38 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 12:15 |
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In Sweden we have outlawed sorcery like this. Here is a somewhat amusing albeit rather cheesy presentation of Sweden from some conference. It is a little unusual atleast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-GZqni4IfA
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| # ? Mar 28, 2013 15:03 |
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I'm always amazed by slight of hand. Not just the skill of doing it, but at just how our brains accept it. I used to do this card trick where you stack two cards together to look like one card show them the "one" card and so on. I practiced forever getting those two cards together smoothly. But soon realized, if you say "I take this ONE card" you can practically put them together in front of the persons face and they still see it as one card. Misdirection, I guess. Check this guys slight of hand madness. http://youtu.be/03HootEmDac
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 05:19 |
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schwenz posted:Check this guys slight of hand madness. This motherfucker could steal the fillings out of my teeth and I would be none the wiser.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 06:41 |
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schwenz posted:Check this guys slight of hand madness. Why's that guy dancing around to the X-Men cartoon theme?
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 10:08 |
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That's a really slick presentation, Mgant. What they are discussing could have easily been presented in a boring PowerPoint presentation, so that was really cool. And yeah, on sleight of hand: The overdone phrase "The hand is quicker than the eye" really isn't all that accurate, but it sounds impossible and people like that. It's really all about controlling the attention of your audience throughout your performance. You can be as slow as molasses but as long as you can effectively direct someones attention you can get away with almost anything. While we're on sleight of hand I think we've gotta mention Ricky Jay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LYjMHzQ_oU Here's an excerpt from his show Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants, demonstrating card control. Pretty sure you can find the whole show floating around on YouTube somewhere if you're interested. He's a good storyteller and magician.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 12:59 |
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Wait...wait. That story in the OP. What!? Is there a book about this guy's life or all of the crazy things he did, preferably with explanations of some of his tricks? I have never been more interested in reading about a person's life. That's the most insane "magic trick" I've ever heard of.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 15:18 |
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His autobiography The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, first published in English in 1859, is your best bet. I haven't read it yet, but I hear it's very good.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 16:25 |
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Penn and Teller had a series in the UK recently, wherein they invited magicians to fool them. While many of the illusionists and sleight of hand masters were called out on their deceptions, one man, Mathieu Bich performed an astounding card trick. Teller's face tells the whole story at the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2t44ZRpb84
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 20:27 |
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The best part of that video is the  Mathieu does at the end.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 20:58 |
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I watched all of the episodes of that Penn and Teller show and that trick does stand out. I wish more magic was on TV like that.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2013 23:37 |
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I enjoyed this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJurN3YDdIw John Archer fools Penn and Teller on that show as well. I like it more for the story and comedy than the actual trick, though it was good. I found a website showing all the tricks and explaining them and I can't find it anymore  . It was an old geocities looking site.
CanUSayGym fucked around with this message at Mar 30, 2013 around 00:06 |
| # ? Mar 29, 2013 23:57 |
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I remember Penn mentioning a magician he enjoyed and I checked some videos of the guy out on youtube, one of them had him take a volunteer and put a coat hanger into the closed loop of her arm while allowing the rest of the audience to see how it was done quite blatantly, the point being to show how the illusion is more of a thrill when you don't know how it's done. Does anyone know who I'm talking about?
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 00:04 |
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CanUSayGym posted:I enjoyed this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJurN3YDdIw That seemed less like a magic trick and more like a kind of group psychology sort of thing. He rehearses a routine and writes key words on envelopes and basically just charms the audience into behaving exactly how he wants them to. The only problem is, that leaves an awful lot up to chance. 
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 00:17 |
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By far my favorite performer is Derren Brown, he is just so fun to watch, very charismatic and funny too.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 00:22 |
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Medieval Medic posted:By far my favorite performer is Derren Brown, he is just so fun to watch, very charismatic and funny too. Derren is amazing. Here's him in America paying for things with blank paper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w But his straight up mentalism is just the best. He has a really good sense of drama and theater.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 00:53 |
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I really like this performance, also from that Penn & Teller show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ2ebs9F1ek A signed card into a sealed box in new deck order where the card originally was, and the box is examinable. What. the. gently caress.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 12:48 |
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NWS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA0G3A__sDw I am just gonna post this here. I guess its not some astonishing technical trick, but it is really really drat funny. Also, on a more serious note, Teller did an interview with Esquire a few months ago that you guys should check out. http://www.esquire.com/features/tel...-interview-1012
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 15:42 |
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CanUSayGym posted:I enjoyed this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJurN3YDdIw I don't get how this show works. Like.. couldn't the magician just lie to them? Or do they have a secret explanation back stage or something?
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 16:16 |
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I never really saw Fool Us as an actual competition, I think it was more of just a magic show with the concept of a competition built around it. So I don't think they'd lie about anything because I think everyone is in on it. Maybe that's just me though. Edit to add: That Esquire article is really good reading. It's unfortunate that Teller had that stolen from him, but that poo poo has been going on since forever. I mean you had magicians in the 19th century at war with each other trying to steal each others illusions. You had magicians like Harry Kellar that couldn't figure out the Maskelyne family secret of levitation effects and ended up just bumrushing the stage during a performance in London to figure it out. Then he went back to America and tried to build it himself. pixelbaron fucked around with this message at Mar 30, 2013 around 16:43 |
| # ? Mar 30, 2013 16:31 |
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TShields posted:I don't get how this show works. Like.. couldn't the magician just lie to them? Or do they have a secret explanation back stage or something? Well it's not like these performers are just walking in off the street, I think that they break down the trick for the producers or one of P&T's magical associates beforehand (and possibly Ross for the tricks that won't involve him), so as to prevent cheating. A number of the tricks involved a great deal of setup or equipment and probably rehersal. It's just the hosts who are in the dark. I think Chris Dugdale had my favorite act from the whole Fool Us show; it's not the most impressive technically, but it has the best payoff. Ixjuvin fucked around with this message at Mar 30, 2013 around 16:50 |
| # ? Mar 30, 2013 16:42 |
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Ixjuvin posted:Well it's not like these performers are just walking in off the street, I think that they break down the trick for the producers or one of P&T's magical associates beforehand (and possibly Ross for the tricks that won't involve him), so as to prevent cheating. A number of the tricks involved a great deal of setup or equipment and probably rehersal. It's just the hosts who are in the dark. Yeah the trick has to be explained and shown to the producers before it's performed to Penn and Teller. This prevents the magician from being able to lie to them.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 20:02 |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Ya2ofLWxQ The Great Cardini from 1957. Not as clever as the more modern performances, but I like the charm of the routine. -Zydeco- fucked around with this message at Mar 31, 2013 around 19:11 |
| # ? Mar 31, 2013 19:08 |
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I've been more partial to the guys that use sleight of hand and other things to distract you while they take things you shouldn't be able to lose. Apollo Robbins demonstrates on the hosts of Today (watch Lauer's reactions as Apollo goes after the second guy's watch): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG2HPtbV-80 And then, the absolute master, Bob Arno manages to steal suspenders, glasses, a SHIRT (!) and UNDERPANTS (!!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5SeoY-mOtk Grinnblade fucked around with this message at Mar 31, 2013 around 19:31 |
| # ? Mar 31, 2013 19:29 |
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Wayne Houchin is a classy guy. Here he is doing the Invisible Palm: http://vimeo.com/3049796 And here he is doing Thread, which you may have seen Criss Angel performing some years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUNOpw84oDc I love Thread, but it's truly a bitch to perform.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2013 20:21 |
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I really enjoyed this video, not only because you get to hear Teller speak, but because it features a magician performing a trick that only another accomplished magician would get a kick out of. So he's not performing the magic trick for anyone else watching - just the person he's across from. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgtgOs_OkTU
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| # ? Mar 31, 2013 22:46 |
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pixelbaron posted:
My dad showed me that article, and he actually thought that Teller was kinda 'working' the interview at that part to set up some big meta thing, given how dedicated he can be. I hope for Teller's sake that's what's going on, but I don't know if anything ever came up with that thief. I hope at least it was some kind of PSA type thing Teller set up to let people know about theft in the magic community.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2013 01:56 |
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Yeah, it could just be a very elaborate way of incorporating something new into his show, and it's all just an act to get more people interested. Then again he might just be fed up with it. I know for the past couple of months one of the magazines dedicated to magic (Genii) has been publishing articles discussing copyrights and patent law as it pertains to magicians, so it's definitely something that seems to be a problem for people. Edit to add some more content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCQiocETD9c A really cool illusion that was probably a bitch to choreograph. pixelbaron fucked around with this message at Apr 2, 2013 around 13:40 |
| # ? Apr 2, 2013 10:35 |
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Lennart Green at TED http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_oa8m5Oq00 e. also does anyone have that video where they change the scene while you're watching it without you really noticing at all? Elohssa Gib fucked around with this message at Apr 3, 2013 around 18:32 |
| # ? Apr 3, 2013 18:24 |
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pixelbaron posted:Since I am on Robert-Houdin, here's a piece on his exceptional orange tree illusion, which he invented: Reading the comments on that video is a mindfuck, people coming up with all sorts of outlandish explanations for how it's done.
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| # ? Apr 3, 2013 19:13 |
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The New Yorker did a profile on Apollo Robbins a while back, focusing on his insane career path from criminal to stage magician to crime fighter.
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| # ? Apr 3, 2013 21:42 |
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SheepNameKiller posted:Reading the comments on that video is a mindfuck, people coming up with all sorts of outlandish explanations for how it's done. "As for the Orange Tree, its anyone's guess, but I suppose he has found a way stop the growth of an orange until the very last step which is sprout. Once the tree figures it has enough fluids to produce the oranges, which is when the box is turned, it sprouts." I had to read that a couple of times. I would say it's a joke but this is YouTube. 
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| # ? Apr 3, 2013 22:39 |
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Maybe magic actually exists and the real trick is making us think it's all an illusion. 
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| # ? Apr 3, 2013 22:49 |
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Elohssa Gib posted:e. also does anyone have that video where they change the scene while you're watching it without you really noticing at all? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iPrBrGSJM This one?
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| # ? Apr 4, 2013 01:53 |
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Could be I could've sworn the one I'm thinking of had more people and changes, but I may be misremembering.
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| # ? Apr 4, 2013 23:10 |
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Elohssa Gib posted:Could be I could've sworn the one I'm thinking of had more people and changes, but I may be misremembering. Are you talking about that Test Your Awareness video? Watching them replay it at the end with all the changes they do in one take is incredible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA
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| # ? Apr 5, 2013 03:14 |
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Here's a cool tutorial for a simple card trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WchiVRO51k He did a thing where he'd record a video of himself doing magic for 365 days, was pretty cool and this video is apart of that.
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| # ? Apr 14, 2013 12:51 |
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Grinnblade posted:And then, the absolute master, Bob Arno manages to steal suspenders, glasses, a SHIRT (!) and UNDERPANTS (!!): How is the shirt and underpants possible? Your arms and legs kind of block the material. I don't get it.
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| # ? Apr 14, 2013 13:29 |
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The obviousness of the gimmick reminds me of this REAL MAGIC: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZqazVa9RoZs
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| # ? Apr 14, 2013 14:10 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 12:15 |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz02_HaOEW8 The Curisodades 2010 team (bunch of magicians from America, few other places, who perform a special in the Dominican Republic) stop all of the clocks in the Dominican Republic. The action starts at 2 minutes in (unless you want to watch some busty ladies participate in a card trick, I guess). All the action afterwards is people calling in and reporting to the station how their clocks and watches and what have you stopped.
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| # ? Apr 15, 2013 01:20 |
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