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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

#91

Post by tralarpa »

gkoberger wrote: post #26
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…

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

Nice, I didn't know Teller writes package.json files.

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

#92

Post by schlauerfox »

thehappypm wrote: post #28

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a video to watch of their magic? Preferably something that’s a longer form, like something on Netflix or prime video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2souL3UxLtg This is a pretty good example of their prime. They play in Vegas, so in person is always worthwhile.

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

#93

Post by IAmBroom »

Fezzik wrote: post #57
khazhoux wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Ricky Jay was legendary, on the level of Houdini, and a gift to Hollywood as an adviser and occasional (but good) character actor. As good as he was at cards, he admitted others were better - but none beat him at throwing cards into targets. The man could probably have assassinated with a poison-laced deck, no lie.

He took on a young "partner" (mentored a student, but without admitting it), and presumably taught him much in his last years. Hopefully nearly all.

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

#94

Post by lisper »

zvr wrote: post #88
lisper wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so much of it boils down to “I practiced for years and developed a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate this object”. Amateur magician here (but a magician member of the Magic Castle, so I know a few things). Manual dexterity is certainly a useful skill, but it's just a tiny part of the art of magic. You can be a consummate sleight-of-hand artist and still be a mediocre magician, and conversely, some of the b…

You are absolutely correct. When teaching this whole routine, Dani spends much more time on the psychological background and nudges that are used, rather than the physical card manipulation techniques.

Yep. I am blown away not just by Dani's execution of this routine, but also by its design. It is a true thing of beauty, with layer upon layer of subtlety that most audience members will never appreciate because they don't know it's there. It is deliberately hidden. It has to be. Being hidden is an essential part of its function. Which is why I always try to seize the opportunity to raise awareness of this sort of thing among muggles.

BTW, if you are a Castle member, Carl Hein is currently doing a routine in the Library Bar that is IMHO in the same league Dani's Fool Us routine. We took some friends of ours to the Castle a week ago and Karl absolutely melted their brains. They're still talking about it. :-)

(And if you're not a Castle member but are in the LA area, contact me privately and I can set you up with a guest pass.)

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

#95

Post by iambateman »

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.

I have young children and this is a sweet idea. Thanks!

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

#96

Post by vanderZwan »

simondotau wrote: post #59
vanderZwan wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So? It's still similar to meeting the actor playing a favorite character in a movie or series. Some people prefer to never stop suspending their disbelief and that's also fine.

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

#97

Post by brutal_chaos_ »

x______________ wrote: post #83
the_af wrote: post #13

Penn and Teller: Fool Us is amazing. I went on a binge a year or so ago, watching everything there was to watch on YouTube (which is a lot). I love how genuinely enthusiastic and encouraging of lesser known magicians they are. Always willing to celebrate their strengths instead of mocking them for their failures. And they are excellent magicians, too. My respect for Penn also went up after he realized his hardcore li…

>I went on a binge a year or so ago I did the same a few years ago and it was one of the few series that kept me hooked, trying to figure out how the contestants try to fool Penn and Teller. I'll need to revisit for some newer episodes that I may have missed.. A bit off topic but no one else brought up Penn's great acting as Hal the system admin in Hackers (1995), a classic movie that everyone should be familiar with…

I think we gotta hacker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2OYNMO_mNw (first 20-30sec)

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

#98

Post by em-bee »

schlauerfox wrote: post #92
thehappypm wrote: post #28

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a video to watch of their magic? Preferably something that’s a longer form, like something on Netflix or prime video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2souL3UxLtg This is a pretty good example of their prime. They play in Vegas, so in person is always worthwhile.

watching this particular episode one might get the impression they are just trying to make fun of other magicians...

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

#99

Post by the_af »

purpleidea wrote: post #70
larrymcp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fantastic. Another great one that blew my mind (and P&T's) is Nick Einhorn from the first season, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma-S9-bgvlg&t=77s

Nah this trick is crap, it's just stooging. Kind of disappointing they let it on.

They don't allow stooges in the show.

And the magician cannot lie, since he/she has to convincingly explain how the trick works to the producers, beforehand.

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

#100

Post by the_af »

em-bee wrote: post #98
schlauerfox wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2souL3UxLtg This is a pretty good example of their prime. They play in Vegas, so in person is always worthwhile.

watching this particular episode one might get the impression they are just trying to make fun of other magicians...

On Fool Us they do their own acts as well.

And what's remarkable to me is how nice they are to the other magicians, how willing to help and celebrate them, never heckle them. These are genuinely cool guys.

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