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After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

nytimes.com

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Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#51

Post by fenomas »

ohyes wrote: post #24

The thing I really love about magic is that so much of it boils down to “I practiced for years and developed a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate this object”. I really relate to this because despite being at least ostensibly “gifted” my entire academic career, almost all of my professional success has been because I have been willing to climb steep learning curves at the expense of hours of my life and extre…

A good specific example of this that isn't widely known is the "muscle pass".

It amounts to holding a coin in a classic palm position (dead center of the palm), then spending several months strengthening the palm muscles and developing a callus, until you can propel the coin a foot or so without noticeably moving your hand.

Random video demonstrating:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sJJNULXJT0Q

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#52

Post by hibikir »

iambateman wrote: post #27
gkoberger wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you never want to practice magic, I highly recommend buying a few Dani DaOrtiz lectures. The way his mind works is phenomenal, and the things he talks about (psychology, how people think, crafting experiences) are applicable across the board. (I rarely perform his tricks... they're brilliant, but they're so perfectly suited for his style that I can't even come close to pulling them off without seeming like a…

I’ll check it out! I’ve watched hundreds of tricks on Fool Us and the moment I watched his act I was stunned. Just absolutely beautiful performance.

He has a youtube channel where he performs most of the tricks in his courses (just not how to do them). After you watch for a while, you realize that he can get great effects out of moves that don't even take significant sleight of hand: He might be doing the most blatant manipulation in the middle of some comedy bits that make it invisible to anyone engrossed in the performance.

Now, that specific Fool Us performance has moves most magicians cannot pull off, but still, a large percentage of the act involves his standard slew of tricks to put a lot of randomness where it doesn't matter, while there is no randomness near the cards that matter.

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#53

Post by CSMastermind »

khazhoux wrote: post #31
ohyes wrote: post #24

The thing I really love about magic is that so much of it boils down to “I practiced for years and developed a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate this object”. I really relate to this because despite being at least ostensibly “gifted” my entire academic career, almost all of my professional success has been because I have been willing to climb steep learning curves at the expense of hours of my life and extre…

Jason Ladayne is a great example. His card control is unreal: https://www.youtube.com/user/CardMagicByJason

Saw him live in person and I couldn't see a thing, no clue how he was doing it.

I've seen other famous magicians live and up close you can catch move or notice things but he was pure skill.

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#55

Post by onlypassingthru »

7thpower wrote: post #35
iambateman wrote: post #15

The show Fool Us is wonderful…and this clip in particular is my favorite: https://youtu.be/5_KcQt0z-eE?si=xO5gTByzV0spzS2e

I was only half way paying attention because I was enjoying the joy of everyone around him. I wonder if it will hold up the next time I watch. I keep notes for my daughters to read some day and wrote about this tonight (it’s been too long since I wrote them), I hope this video will still be around when they are ready to read the notes so they can experience it too.

May I suggest a little yt-dlp and an external HD to go along with those notes? A digital archive doesn't have to be restricted to family photos.

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#56

Post by mock-possum »

ongy wrote: post #54
owlninja wrote: post #42

Good for them! They bucked plenty of the "rules of magic", but no doubt inspired another generation somewhere. I hope the craft never dies.

What does 'bucked' mean in this context?

Like a ‘bucking bronco,’ a horse kicking high and trying to throw off its rider - you ‘buck’ something to get it off of you, to get it off your back, to shake it off, to get out from under it. You might also see it in ‘bucking a trend.’

So it means “to act against” / “to escape from” the rules.

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#57

Post by Fezzik »

khazhoux wrote: post #31
ohyes wrote: post #24

The thing I really love about magic is that so much of it boils down to “I practiced for years and developed a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate this object”. I really relate to this because despite being at least ostensibly “gifted” my entire academic career, almost all of my professional success has been because I have been willing to climb steep learning curves at the expense of hours of my life and extre…

Jason Ladayne is a great example. His card control is unreal: https://www.youtube.com/user/CardMagicByJason

Feels like the perfect thread to re-link to my favorite card-trick movie - Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants. Not only is he a deft card manipulator, but he is a great story teller with a vast knowledge of magic history.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z7InE1zXAY4&pp=ygUfcmlja3kgamF...

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#58

Post by pklausler »

ohyes wrote: post #24

The thing I really love about magic is that so much of it boils down to “I practiced for years and developed a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate this object”. I really relate to this because despite being at least ostensibly “gifted” my entire academic career, almost all of my professional success has been because I have been willing to climb steep learning curves at the expense of hours of my life and extre…

A learning curve is a model for how much you can learn over time. A subject with a steep learning curve is actually one that doesn’t take much time to reach a high level. It’s the subjects with shallow slopes that take more work to raise up to proficiency.

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#59

Post by simondotau »

vanderZwan wrote: post #43
danpalmer wrote: post #18

Great to hear. I'll never forget running into Teller in the lobby of a small show I went to that he was also in the audience for. I sheepishly asked for an autograph and he was very friendly and gracious (and spoke!).

Did the speaking ruin some of the magic, or did it make the experience even more special?

There's plenty of video of Teller speaking. Being mute is a stage performance thing, not a mystical lifestyle choice.

Re: After 50 years, The Magic Circle finally inducts Penn and Teller

#60

Post by troupo »

JdeBP wrote: post #37
gkoberger wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” - Teller

Kostya Kimlat comes to mind.

Those beady little eyes! https://youtu.be/SCFXV6o7cro?si=T7TCSHAkHvkcI2SX
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