SomethingClever
-
Posts
142 -
Joined
Content Type
Blogs
Gallery
Downloads
Discussion
Posts posted by SomethingClever
-
-
So, here's where I am on the Josh Jay trick. I've considered the possibility of palming in a card from an index. That's originally what I assumed it would be. The problem is with how he knows what the card is. Josh has an earlier version of this trick where the card at the end is a blank card, and the whole thing is a completely blank deck. The way the card is found in that trick is by using very subtle pencil markings on a couple cards that are positioned to let him know what card they selected. I'm assuming that he's doing the same thing here, but by feel instead of by sight. So he'll have two cards that are crimped, punched, daubed or something that he can feel to indicate which card was selected. You can see him do this when he breaks the cards into piles. He's left with 8 cards, which is what you would have if you were using the method described above (4 for the value, 4 for the suit). So that's the moment he knows what the card is. From there we have a couple camera cuts, but there don't appear to be any gaps, and his hands never leave the deck.
Now, it's possible that he switched up the method and had someone signal him the card, or discerned it in some other way, and then went through the motions of feeling for the cards anyway for the few people familiar with the earlier incarnation of the trick, but that seems unlikely to me.
-
1
-
-
Great, great show, maybe the best of the season.
Blake Vogt's trick was fantastic. I have a small sense of what's going on, but the thinking that has to go into that trick to make it work is more than I can wrap my head around right now. His presentation was a little stiff, but the routining was very good.
Vogt's trick was a head scratcher, but Joshua Jay's destroyed me. I've seen him do this trick before. I've stood 5 feet away and watched him do it, and it totally fooled me. I could think of ways it could be done though, so I was excited to see it again on video. I watched closely and...still no idea. I know part of it, but if there's no deck and he can truly hand that deck out at the end, I'm stumped. Outside of how fooling it is though, it's a great trick. It's direct, motivated, and super magical. I loved it.
Really enjoyed Levent. It is an old-fashioned trick, but he kept it moving and humorous, and the productions at the end were great.
Ben Seidman might have been the weakest act for me, but that's just because I know the trick already. It's a great trick, and I really enjoyed his sense of humor.
Not my favorite P&T trick. Honestly, the best part was maybe Teller pretending to talk as Penn talked for him.
-
There's a discussion in the episode thread about whether or not Kostya Kimlat used a gimmicked deck to accomplish his effect where cards mixed face up and face down all straighten out (a class of effect referred to as "Triumph"). In the other thread carruth00 implied that half of the cards were normal (the half he hands to Teller), and that the other half are gimmicked (the ones he and Penn mix face up on the table). I assume that what he's thinking of is that those cards are double facers (DFs), they have a face on both sides of the card. This accomplishes the triumph easily, because even when you mix them, all you have to do is turn the deck over and they're all still face up. There are several things that make this impossible though. First, Kostya immediately follows the first shuffle by mixing the cards again by just dropping them onto the table. This is probably too fast for anyone sitting there to see if the cards flipping over are DFs, but if you slow it down you can clearly see face up cards turning face down. But then he lets P&T handle the cards and flip them themselves. They're almost certainly going to notice gimmicks at this point, particularly DF cards. More importantly, even if this is some sort of incredible, undetectable gimmick, Kimlat no longer knows which are the gimmicked cards and which are the regular ones. It's a true mix that is out of his hands. Lastly, there's the selection and return procedure. P&T can select any card (if there are DF gimmicks, the gig is up if they grab one) and return it either face up or face down. If they return it face down, this is a problem for a DF method, as the card will be oriented the wrong way. He would have to secretly flip the card in that case. On top of all that, the cards are left sitting there at the end, and Teller gets to examine them at length. I can think of no card gimmick that stands up to that kind of scrutiny, and surely not one that accomplishes this trick.
The actual explanation is much simpler, if much, much harder to actually do. There's a technique that Kimlat is well-known for, and he simply executes it at an extraordinarily high level.
-
2
-
-
As for Kostya, -if- the deck wasn't gaffed, and I still believe it was, it was a wonderful cull.... The only thing that makes me think it wasn't was Teller picking up some of the cards after the effect was over and having a hard look at them back at his chair..
I'll move any further discussion to the spoiler thread, but there are several reasons why it had to be a normal deck.
-
A normal deck? Not quite... Think more along the lines of a half normal deck. Note Teller got to shuffle his half.. and Penn never got to actually shuffle HIS half.. Kostya did it for him.. for a reason.
Nope. I know what you're thinking, but I'm 100% sure it's a normal deck.
-
Falk's trick was the weakest I agree, and it felt like he was trying to get a win on a technicality. Still, it was a good way to clear up the rules a bit for people who might suspect more shinanigans going on.
I kind of get why he was hemming and hawing, since there's a little bit of ambiguity there as to what, exactly, constitutes a "gimmick". He's gotta know that P&T know the general idea of what he's doing though, it's not like it's a particularly original act.
Kimlat was fantastic, and watching Penn's reaction to it made it even more fun. It's one thing to pull off a trick and fool them. But to pull off a trick that they know HOW it's going to end, and STILL pull off a switch right under their eyes is even more impressive. At least that's the only way I can think of how it was done, but I have no clue one way or another.
It's not a switch. It's a normal deck of cards and it's the same deck of cards all the way through.
-
Loved this ep. Three very strong performances.
I knew Kostya Kimlat was going to be good, but that was fantastic, and I loved seeing Penn react so strongly. To give you an idea of how impressive that was, P&T knew exactly where that trick was going to end up from the moment he mixed the cards face up and face down, there's no surprising them on that. And he accomplishes that with pure, hard core sleight of hand, no gimmicks. To do that with them sitting right at each of his shoulders and have them not see what he's doing is simply magnificent. It's a great trick, and done beautifully, but it's one that magicians can probably enjoy even more than laymen because of the skill required to pull it off.
Frederick Falk was the weakest trick of the night, which makes it a shame that they pulled Pegg up on the stage for this one. It's a little unfair, since I think Pegg's presence clearly rattled him, but I also think it wasn't a very good choice of trick for the venue. He struggled with the looking away part (you know there are going to be screens there, you should have something ready for that), and the real kicker of the trick, the watch hands being gone, we didn't even get to see. It's a fine trick, but the execution was poor.
Loved the presentation for Chris Funk's trick. He took a classic piece of magic, the rising cards, and gave it a really nice framework. It was elegant, magical, and flowed nicely.
I'm a real sucker for a mime act if it's done well, and Nate Dendy did it really well. Humorous, energetic and fun, and the orange at the end is a perfect little moment. I loved, loved, loved it. I could watch that 10 more times and still be entertained.
-
1
-
-
They've still got a ton of unique material they've done over the years, even if we've already seen a lot of their more iconic stuff. I'm just hoping that at one point we see the shadow rose.
-
1
-
-
I still really enjoy the show, but I feel like the overall quality of the acts is definitely down from the first season.
Sankey was solid, but it felt a little disjointed to me, and I know he's got better material than that.
Greg Wilson was the best act of the night. I'm not much for stage illusions, but this one was well-conceived, direct, and the multiple kicker endings were both entertaining and impossible. It was fun seeing Mark Wilson too, since I've got his book on magic.
Didn't like Trigg all that much. I've seen much better versions of McCombical deck. Honestly, I thought his first trick, the production with the tablet, was his strongest trick.
Jen's trick has a clever method, but the presentation itself was severely lacking. If all you're doing is finding a card, it's not enough to just make it seem impossible, it also has to be entertaining, and this wasn't. Also, her handling of the cards, as Penn said, was kinda sloppy.
-
Ross is terrific. He's entertaining when he needs to be and unobtrusive when he doesn't, and he always looks completely befuddled by the tricks.
I feel like less of the acts this year are actually trying to fool P&T and more that are just there to showcase themselves on TV, which bums me out. You still get to see a lot of good magic, but that drive to fool two masters leads people to do unique tricks with unorthodox methods, which is more exciting. It doesn't bother me when you've got guys like Mac King, Michael Vincent or David Regal, who are top-level entertainers regardless, but I'd much rather watch Mathieu Bich than Bill Cook, and I feel like we've gotten a lot more of the latter this season.
I was a little disappointed by the Bill Cook routine, since I know he's got some really creative stuff. This was just kind of vanilla, and I prefer it when Wayne Dobson does it. Also, felt he showed his display of the empty purse a little too long, but that's pretty nitpicky.
Wes Barker was a very entertaining act, and though P&T weren't "fooled" by it in the same way as they are with some acts (they would've gotten there if you'd given them 3-4 guesses, it's not like they don't know the method), it's not like he faked them out to try and cheat his way to victory. His method was direct and bold, and I think there was enough to pick up on to differentiate it if they'd been watching really closely.
Matt Holtzclaw was fine, but again a bit vanilla (I say as someone totally immersed in the world of magic, I suppose most people wouldn't feel the same). Again, wasn't ever going to fool P&T.
Loved David Regal. Perfect example of how presentation elevates a simple trick. I've seen essentially that same effect done 100 times. 95 of them would bore you to tears. Great trick, great performance.
-
2
-
-
See, that's an interesting reaction to that trick. If you could actually do magic to restore a card (which is what we're trying to simulate), wouldn't you expect it to look like a manufactured card? Would it be more "convincing" if it was restored, but had some evidence of a tear? Also, remember that Jonathan tore up the card, and Jonathan gets to hold and examine both the torn piece and the card with the corner torn out of it right before it restores. Also, if the trick is done properly then even if you were right on top of him like Jonathan was, you would swear up and down that the torn card and piece never leave your sight. If you're watching it on video and can rewind it a bunch of times and reconstruct it, then sure, you can maybe backtrack from the card to how he might have been able to do it, but that's not most people's experience of magic. If you're holding a torn card and torn piece in your own hands, and then all of a sudden I restore it backwards and hand it back to you, you don't really have anywhere to go. You may go "this card must have been specially made up", but the moment you start to backtrack (without the aid of video), you go "but wait, I was holding the torn card". Given all that, you absolutely give the card away. It's a terrific souvenir. There's nothing to find on it (there certainly won't be any sticky residue), and it will look and feel just like a normal playing card, only with the torn corner reversed. To me, it's much more of a red flag if you can't give the card away at the end. Then the spectator's brain can just jump to "oh, he just stuck it on there somehow," whether that's the actual method or not.
-
If Raven King isn't a band name yet, I call dibs.
I always like to name my mage characters in video games John Uskglass
-
2
-
-
Probably my least favorite episode so far, despite having one truly exceptional performance. Even the P&T trick at the end, though a lot of fun, wasn't up to the same level as things like the bullet catch or the red ball.
Austin Janik - He was very confident for a 16 year old, and his trick was fine. The mismade card is a really strong effect, but it isn't an original take on it, and it plays a whole lot better to a table of 5 than it does to a theater of hundreds. Some of his sleights were a little stiff as well. Good for his age, but not up to the standard of a good act on this show.
Amazing Allison - I hate almost all mentalism. Unless it's in the hands of someone really, really good, I almost always feel that it's either hokey, boring, or obvious (and often all 3). The magic square is probably my absolute least favorite magic trick ever. It's SO dull. Even if it's incredible, after the first few reveals it just goes on and on. Maybe some people like it, but it bores me to tears, especially because it wouldn't have tricked me even before I got into magic. The second trick was a little better, but people have been doing drawing duplication for centuries, and this brought nothing new to it. In fact, the thing that made it entertaining was how funny Teller is.
Mac King - That, folks, is a world class entertainer. I knew we'd be getting something great from Mac King, and he certainly didn't disappoint. What's more impressive is that he was basically putting on a clinic in how to handle a spectator as well. That guy did not volunteer, he did not want to be up on that stage, and he was not going to play along any more than he had to. Magicians hate guys like that, and part of the skill of being a performer is not picking out guys like that, and King didn't even care. Didn't phase him in the slightest. He was playing jokes off the guy whether he was playing along or not. And because the guy was so clearly reticent, the moment where he reacts to the guinea pig showing up makes it so much stronger (and it's damn strong already). And that moment...Oh man, so good. Totally took me off guard, totally shocking. Amazing, fantastic act. I also loved his interplay with Penn. So much fun.
Norman Ng - Very clever take on the standard silverware bend, and I loved how he tweaked a classic method to make it work. I liked it, didn't love it.
3 acts that honestly had no real chance to fool P&T. The first and last were never ever going to fool them. The drawing duplication maybe could have, but only because there are a variety of different devices she could have used, and they might have guessed the wrong one (though Teller was holding onto the pad, so there wasn't much chance of that). I don't think King really expected to fool them either, but he at least had a chance.
-
3
-
-
It's been so long since I read the novel that I didn't remember all the plot details, so I got to be kind of surprised by it. That was an awesome finale. Maybe my favorite TV episode of the year. Nearly every character gets an awesome moment, and all the Strange & Norrell interplay is so, so good. They get to be funny again (Norrell finding the joy of old magic and dancing in fairy land is so delightful) and the respect and friendship they find is genuinely heartwarming.
"I am not about to stand here and summon the most powerful magician who has ever lived and say to him 'I offer you all of English magic apart from, I am sorry, Gilbert Norrell's books!'"
"...Half of them."
"Mr. Norrell, we will both soon be dead! There will be no leisure for reading."
"...Two-thirds"-
9
-
-
-
Leon and Romy were fine, though I thought the trick dragged a little, and the ending really wasn't all that spectacular. They also did the thing that irritates me most on Fool Us. They faked a move to throw P&T off. It's bad magic, and it's fooling them in bad faith.
I liked Mike Hammer. He's obviously done that act a million times and does a great job of keeping it entertaining, and the blow up doll rising up out of the bag to reveal the prediction is a great way to finish it. Wasn't ever going to fool P&T, but I enjoyed the act.
Peter Boie was alright. I'm not much for spiriualist acts, but his presentation was very classic and atmospheric. Again, he wasn't going to fool P&T with that, and I think he had to know it, but it's a good act.
Shin Lim. Man...that was good. I'm going to have to watch that about a dozen more times. I'm a close-up card magician. It's what I do. There's a lot of stage magic that I don't really know the concepts for, but it's really hard to fool me on close up. Even if I can't see the move exactly, I know what's going on. That act floored me. I have a few thoughts, and maybe when I see replay I'll be able to dissect it, but in the moment it was absolutely stunning. That's one of my favorite things I've seen on the show. Also, just two days ago, Shin won the Close-Up Card Magic title at FISM (basically the Olympics for magic), so the guy really is world class.
-
2
-
-
Solid start to the season.
I really like Jon Armstrong's magic. He has clever presentations and he's a really engaging presence. The Tiny Plunger is a great trick, it's one that's in my repertoire. You could tell that it totally caught Penn off guard, but I had a feeling watching Teller that he knew what was up. Still, a really fun trick.
I was so excited to see Xavier on there because I think his mirror act is just fantastic. I don't think he had any illusions (heh) that he would actually fool P&T, but the act itself is so entertaining I'm glad they had him.
Honestly, I thought "The Shocker" was pretty bad. The magic was the sort that you can find from any of hundreds of mentalists around the country, and his persona was not my bag. And again, there's no way he was going to fool P&T with that act.
I was a bit surprised on how they didn't even have a guess for Brundage's act, but I'm really glad he fooled them. It's a terrific piece of entertainment.
-
3
-
-
The season 2 trailer has been posted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZy5oPasn2I
I'm really excited to see this return. I recognized 2 of the magicians, John Lovick (the bald guy) and Simon Pierro (the iPad guy). Pierro's stuff isn't my favorite style of magic, but he does some really clever stuff with technology, and you can see a performance of his from Ellen earlier this year:
-
1
-
-
That's Mathieu Bich's trick, "Spreadwave"
-
1
-
-
I've been reading X-Men Legacy recently, and Mike Del Mundo's covers are some of the best I've ever seen.
-
1
-
-
Kromm is right. I've heard of at least half of the competitors on each episode of Wizard Wars. They may not be big names, but they've been around in magic circles. The fact is, you need to have a huge knowledge base to do the kind of impromptu innovation that they're doing on that show, and you have to be comfortable enough with your performing persona to pull off an act you haven't rigorously rehearsed (and with a partner you have no history with). You've gotta know your stuff.
-
I believe what you're talking about is known generally as "Dual Reality". It's a risky trick for small audiences because they'll talk and everyone will know. It's risky for a TV audience because you're betting on some random guys not to misread and screw it up. But to me it sounds like a great method when your goal is to fool Penn & Teller. Provided you're willing to do such a huge gamble.
Just to clarify, Dual Reality is any time the volunteer perceives the trick differently than the audience. That is always the case with an instant stooge (and so would certainly be the case here), but there are ways to do Dual Reality that do not involve what would be called an instant stooge. In fact, in the best cases of Dual Reality, the volunteer is still fooled, they're just fooled in a different way than the audience as a whole is fooled.
Good catch on the different phrasings. Honestly, that makes the instant stooging even more difficult to pull off if they've got three different messages on there, and kind of makes me think he must have had a different method, even though I've got absolutely no clue what that could possibly be.
With M&W, P&T guessed deck switch and were told they were wrong, because it wasn't a deck switch it was a top stock retain, or so I understand it. "All the cards Jonathan shuffled were there in the order he shuffled them" or some such being M&W's refutation to the deck switch suggestion.
A top stock retain is keeping the top packet of cards unchanged during a shuffle/cut (which is what Ben Earl did), and since Jonathan was doing the shuffle, that's clearly not what they were doing. They just did a packet addition instead of a full deck switch, which is how they cheated their way to a win on a technicality.
-
I think you're referring to Ben Earl, who did the top stock retain in his ace-cutting trick. With M&W it was a deck switch.
-
I love the Brynolf and Ljung trick. It's beautifully choreographed (the music they put behind it for the American airing was terrible though). They definitely threw the fake switch in there just to fool Penn and Teller. You can see them do a much more edited version of the trick on Britain's Got Talent, where there is clearly no switch.
There are a lot of cuts during Pradier's act, so it's tough to tell when he does things like loading the card in bottle or locating Penn's selected card. The method he uses to get Penn's card is pretty genius though.
-
1
-
Season 2: Back in Vegas
in Penn And Teller: Fool Us
Riley did well for a kid his age on national television, even if he was a little rushed in his presentation. That's a great trick, one I do all the time. Blows people away in person.
Jade's act was a lot of fun, and very fooling. Lots of fun interplay, and flawlessly executed.
The trick Ran'D Shine (heck of a name) did looks like an absolute miracle the way it played out. I'd be interested to see what is other out was if he'd had to resort to it. I can think of a few ways to do it.
Watching David Roth was a real treat, even if it's obvious on camera that age has caught up to him a bit, and his hands are a little shaky. The spellbound routine with the Chinese coin was great. The complete vanishes were even better. That one made me sit up straight and watch closer.
Best P&T trick in a while. It's not the most fooling thing, but it's the kind of premise that they do so well.