As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Oh oh it's magic, you know. Suspend your disbelief and go.

joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
edited August 2013 in Social Entropy++
I've recently become addicted to watching magicians of all nationalities performing amazing tricks. My kids saw me watching this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcLsS_idliY

and now they are just as addicted as I am.

The psychology of sleight of hand, illusions, etc. is the most interesting part for me. I told my kids that there's no such thing as real magic and that all of these magicians have a secret that allows them to look as if they are doing something impossible, when really there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of it. But when I do a simple French Drop and make a coin disappear, they're still convinced that I can actually do magic. Penn & Teller, regardless of your opinion on their brand of politics or atheism which they seem to feel compelled to point out constantly (no we are not talking about that in here please), have done more for this side of magic than anybody else I can think of off the top of my head besides James Randi, who was an amazing magician himself.

One of the tricks in the video above is a Penn & Teller trick where Teller gets run over by an 18-wheeler driven by Penn, and it looks and sounds and seems very real, but Teller is completely unharmed. It's the only trick in the video which is explained. I won't spoil it for you here, if you want to see how it's done go to the video and it's one of the later tricks. But the method by which the trick is performed is so astoundingly simple and boring. As Penn says (paraphrased), anytime you have a trick where the secret behind the trick is more interesting than the illusion itself, you have a very bad trick, because it shouldn't be more entertaining for you than it is for your audience.

There's another video on YouTube called Teller Talks, where he goes into some of the psychology of magic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5x14AwElOk

The most interesting parts of this, to me, being that 1) we naturally assume that a magician doing a trick many times in a row is doing it the same way every time, which allows the performer to change it as he goes to show you that your notions are wrong one by one (even though he's doing it a different way each time and you may have been right about it for part of the trick); this makes them seem as if every time they show you nothing is up their metaphorical sleeve that there never was anything in there, and more importantly 2) we are complicit in the trick. We want to be fooled. Our brains enjoy what is happening and we don't want the mystery to be solved by something boring. Obviously that's not true for everybody, and sometimes I really get a kick out of figuring out how a trick is done.

There are many kinds of tricks.

Sleight of hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSMppfXpDmg

Probably the most impressive kind of trick to me, because some people (like Paul Daniels) are so good at it that you know what you should be looking for and you still can't see it. Essentially using your hands to misdirect and mislead, move so quickly the eye can't follow, etc. Cards, balls, coins, and so forth are common in these tricks because they can be easily manipulated by quick fingers and palms can hide small objects for a moment, making it seem as if something magic has actually occurred.

Illusions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsmdnr8a3Oc

These tricks might use fast talking or misdirection to accomplish some things, but in the end it's usually about preparation, making them the Batman of magic. Good illusions can still be performed without props or a lot of prep work, but for the most part they involve some kind of choreography. Sometimes (like the disappearing bridge trick in the first video above) an illusion can take a ridiculous amount of prep time for just a split second of effect.

What the Fuck Just Happened

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpthjI1z2FM

Then there are tricks which I just have to assume are done with math. Seriously, that's the only way I can explain this one. He must have some sort of system in place where the cards spell out a different thing depending on their position in the deck and he knows based on what he asks the audience members how many cards to move/remove/whatever.

Every little thing this thread does is magic.

joshofalltrades on

Posts

  • godmodegodmode Southeast JapanRegistered User regular
    edited August 2013
    Illusions, Michael!

    This one is my all-time favorite:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFG9VFweBlE

    godmode on
  • SnowbeatSnowbeat i need something to kick this thing's ass over the lineRegistered User regular
    I told my kids that there's no such thing as real magic

    pfffffffffffffft

    Q1e6oi8.gif
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    godmode wrote: »
    Illusions, Michael!

    This one is my all-time favorite:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFG9VFweBlE

    The real trick is making it disappear once the kitten turns into a cat

  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    I fucking love magic - it was a magic show where I first fell in love with my girlfriend, though, so I might be biased. We're going to see Penn and Teller in October, and I can't wait.

    The Penn and Teller special they did on the cup and ball trick was really interesting. There's a magician who has a variant that's only effective on other magicians, because they think he's pulling off one trick poorly when in fact he's pulling off a totally different trick. Teller went from, "Oh, he's trying hard, so I'll be polite at the end," to "Holy shit that's amazing".

    I know about half a dozen card tricks, but mainly using card forcing and fast talking as I'm not that dexterous. They're always fun to pull on people at parties when they're all a bit drunk. I wish I could do more impressive stuff, but I'm too lazy to practice.

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    criss-angel-123.jpg

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    I fucking love magic - it was a magic show where I first fell in love with my girlfriend, though, so I might be biased. We're going to see Penn and Teller in October, and I can't wait.

    The Penn and Teller special they did on the cup and ball trick was really interesting. There's a magician who has a variant that's only effective on other magicians, because they think he's pulling off one trick poorly when in fact he's pulling off a totally different trick. Teller went from, "Oh, he's trying hard, so I'll be polite at the end," to "Holy shit that's amazing".

    I know about half a dozen card tricks, but mainly using card forcing and fast talking as I'm not that dexterous. They're always fun to pull on people at parties when they're all a bit drunk. I wish I could do more impressive stuff, but I'm too lazy to practice.

    Is this the P&T trick you mean?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osRaFTtgHo

    The cups are clear plastic and I still have to very carefully study it over and over to see what happens. Shiiit.

    I know how to do a couple tricks too, mostly sleight of hand and very simple card tricks. The weird thing though is that simple tricks, done right, are almost as effective as the big expensive illusions. Just not as flashy. I wish I could learn some more though.

  • Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    edited August 2013
    No, it was in Egypt. I think it might be somewhere in this show, but I'm at work so I can't check:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWaE5vROvs0

    Edit: from the preview picture I'm almost sure of it.

    Rhesus Positive on
    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    Yeah, looks like around 19:15

  • godmodegodmode Southeast JapanRegistered User regular
    criss-angel-123.jpg

    Pictured: The one thing I hate about magic

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    criss-angel-123.jpg

    I'm holding this guy personally responsible for the unnecessary (yet still kind of fun at times) reimagining of Fright Night

  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    If there were one skill that I could spend an uninterrupted year of my life learning it would be sleight of hand. That shit is too crazy.

    Also best Penn and Teller:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7mBC9nZtiw

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    I really do like this P&T trick just for its HOLY FUCK moment. Whenever I show this to someone I can predict their reactions.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytIUgB2jpos

    MMmmmhmmm, I've seen this trick done before... oh they're going to explain it, neat... oh! So that's how they do it. Well that was inter--OH MY GOD OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK HOLY SHIT

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    A while back in the youtube thread someone posted a video of a very disheveled-looking man performing an amazing slight of hand with several cups and some balls. It was uploaded by some Japanese person so I don't know how to track it down, since searching for kana is a fool's errand.

    Anyone know what I'm talking about?

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    A while back in the youtube thread someone posted a video of a very disheveled-looking man performing an amazing slight of hand with several cups and some balls. It was uploaded by some Japanese person so I don't know how to track it down, since searching for kana is a fool's errand.

    Anyone know what I'm talking about?

    I don't, but is *this* your video?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gzYVkgCLMc

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Lovely, thank you!

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    You had a free choice of video which I had never seen before, nothing up my sleeves, and I still made it appear. How apropos.

  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    when do we learn how to do the prestige?

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    KalTorak wrote: »
    when do we learn how to do the prestige?

    I dunno, ask Bug Boy.

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    I still haven't seen that movie, I probably ought to fix that

Sign In or Register to comment.