gregory wilson Archives - Stone Cold Magic Magazine

Grab It and Go

Jeff Stone — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:03:46 +0000

Some Dude: You’re a magician . . . do a trick.

You: Ok. See this magazine on your coffee table . . . Open it to any page you want. Then stare at the page while my back is turned . . . I see an image of fried chicken and another of Rachel Ray . . . then about half way down I see a headline . . . “The Perfect Mashed Potato Recipe.”

That sounds like an impossible effect, and maybe it is . . . but maybe it isn’t. After all, you’re a magician, and you shouldn’t be caught not being able to do magic. I’m not suggestion that everytime someone says jump monkey boy that you jump. You don’t have to perform magic everytime someone asks. However, your reason for saying no should NEVER be because you “don’t have anything on you” or that you aren’t “ready.” It should be simply because you choose not to, not because you’re forced not to due to the environment (or lack of it).

I’ve written about this in the past, and it seems to be a subject that people can relate to, so I thought I’d talk a bit more about it in this month’s Roots and Branches.

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root is . . . be prepared . . . you know, the Boy Scout motto. Let’s learn how to be Boy Scouts (even if you’re a girl) or at least live up to their motto. There are various ways to prepare yourself for this type of situation. First, just knowing some basic sleight of hand and simple magic principles (timing, misdirection, etc.), you can pick up just about any small object and do “something” with it . . . whether it’s a simple vanish or transposition or whatever.

That’s one way to prepare. Another way is less improvised than this, but is still effective. Maybe you know that a certain friend of yours subscribes to Time magazine. Go purchase a copy in advance and memorize a few key elements on a few pages. Then when you go to your friend’s house next Friday, if the opportunity presents itself, force a page on someone . . . another page on someone else . . . etc. You get the idea.

A third way to prepare is to just know a lot of tricks with a lot of ordinary items: keys, coins, rubber bands, silverware, salt shakers, pencils, dollar bills, straws, etc. There are plenty of great resources for this kind of stuff. Here are a few of my favorite options:

Off The Cuff By Gregory Wilson
On The Spot By Gregory Wilson
Amazing Magic & Mentalism Anyone Can Do Vol. I By Jay Sankey
Amazing Magic & Mentalism Anyone Can Do Vol. II By Jay Sankey

I’m not suggesting anything revolutionary here, but rather, just reminding you of some classic principles and ideas that you should be thinking about.

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. Here’s your assignment for the next few weeks . . . start right now. Look around you. What do you see. I just looked around and instantly saw my iPhone, a bunch of loose change, my Little Caesar’s rewards card, a binder clip, a straw . . . a bunch of other stuff, but not what I would consider things that you’ll likely find kickin’ around when someone asks to see some magic.

Next step, ask yourself what you can do with this stuff. I see four quarters. I can do a four coins across routine. Or I could just do a simple coin vanish. Maybe Miser’s Nightmare (from my DVD, Gemstones, and a ton of other things. I’m sure you can think of a bunch of easy coin effects. What about the straw, the iPhone, etc.? I’m not gonna give you all the answers. You need to figure this out yourself. Your goal is to be ready (without having to carry anything on you) to impact people with the simple props found in the environment. Next month we’ll talk about the other extreme.

Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.

The post Grab It and Go appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

Imprompt-true

Jeff Stone — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:45:37 +0000

Party Goer: “Hey Jeff, show us a magic trick!”

Jeff: “Oh . . . I can’t.”

Party Goer: “Why Not?”

Jeff: “Because. I don’t have my Svengali deck, my sponge balls or my thumb tip . . . duh!”

Party Goer: “Um . . . what are sponge balls? Is that anything like Tennis Elbow?”

Jeff: “Um . . . No”

Hopefully, I’m the only guy in the room who has experienced this. Unfortunately, I know that this just isn’t the case. Obviously nobody expects us to be real magicians and wield real powers. However, even an entertainer/fake magician with fake powers shouldn’t have to be in that situation. Don’t get me wrong . . . I have no problem with keeping a few things handy (thumb tip, etc.) on my person for seemingly impromptu moments. In fact, there are plenty of great tricks out there that seem impromptu to the spectator, but in reality are not – by any stretch – impromptu to the performer. I want to discuss true impromptu magic. Of course, it depends on your location. For example, if you’re at a restaurant, it’s completely legit and “imprompt-true” to use stuff from the table . . . silverware, napkins, salt shakers, etc. If you’re at the beach or a park or something, then it’s “imprompt-true” to use the sand, the grass, the rocks in the environment. I would argue that keeping a gimmick or something in your wallet is impromptu, but not imprompt-true. It’s impromptu, most of the time. However you may not always have your wallet on you. I was talking to a magic friend of mine, and he asked this question:

What if you were an actor who was an amateur magician . . . you were on David Letterman (Leno, etc.) promoting your latest movie. You weren’t there for magic . . . just your movie. But Letterman knows you’re a magician and he asks you on the spot to show him a trick. What would you do? You didn’t come prepared with anything (you weren’t expecting to perform). What do you do?

My answer was to look on his desk and try to find a rubber band or borrow a bill from him or some change and go from there. What would you do?

This question got me thinking. What is truly impromptu and what isn’t? If you have to borrow something, is it impromptu? Honestly, I don’t know if I have an answer. What I do know is that having to make sure you put that extra something in your pocket before leaving the house (e. g. thumb tip, sponge ball, etc.) is not impromptu. Having a gimmick on your key chain or having something in your wallet . . . that’ probably impromptu, maybe even imprompt-true.

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root: Be ready to perform at a moment’s notice. The question we must all answer is what is the definition of impromptu for me (for you)? I would argue that if you’re at work (or school) and someone says, “show me a trick” and you do something – say Gregory Wilson’s Recap with a pen that was sitting on the desk, then you’ve pretty much achieved imprompt-true-ness. I think, for me that true impromptu (imprompt-true) is not being limited to your own “stuff.”

To do magic, there are always other things involved unless you do Meir Yedid’s Vanishing Finger stuff . . . or Paul Harris’s ridiculous Biological Vanish. Otherwise, you need some object to act upon whether it be a borrowed ring, coin, pen, lipstick, a wandering salamander, etc. So, my contention is that if you can perform a trick in any environment using things native to that environment, you have achieved imprompt-true-ness. The only caveat I would add is that you must be able to perform the trick without having to have brought with you anything extra.

Some examples:

Outdoors: pick up some rocks and do two-in-the-hand-one-in-the-pocket.
Beach: classic-palm vanish a sea shell
Swimming Pool: vanishing nose-plug (I’m serious)

Obviously the ultimate imprompt-true state is basically impossible (other than vanishing your own fingers as mentioned. There are other effects (e. g. Balducci Levitation) that meet the perfectness I’m theorizing about. However, were I truly a master of the unnatural and I were at a beach and someone told me to “do a trick,” I’d likely part the ocean or cause a small wind storm to blow sand all over the place. So barring real magic, I want to get as close to that illusion as possible. Let us attempt to approach a state of imprompt-true-ness.

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. For the next 30 days, I want you to consider 5 or 10 effects that you could do without having to carry anything with you. What could you do on the spot with no preparation with something in the environments you spend the most time. If you never go to the beach because you live in Montana then don’t think about the beach. Think of the places you frequent and imagine what you would do if you were put on the spot to perform an effect. This month, I reviewed Max Maven’s Nothing, Steve Gore’s Trick Photography and Paul Harris’s SuperSlim Hip Pocket Mullica Wallet. Each of those products demonstrate a different level of what I’m offering you as a challenge. The Harris/Mullica wallet is something that I carry with me everywhere I go. It has about a 25 minute show packed into it. As long as I have my wallet (which I pretty much always do), I’ve achieved a fair level of impromptu-ness.

The Nothing DVD is more about putting together a complete formal show (or at least the hypothetical challenge of it) by stopping at a drugstore on the way to the show . . . sort of. That again is a level of impromptu-ness – nowhere near the Harris/Mullica level, but still a level. Finally, the Trick Photography effect – this one can be done using 100% borrowed items as long as one of those items is an iPhone. In my opinion that’s pretty darn impromptu.

My challenge to you is to come up with at least 5 effects that you can do in an effort to approach the highest level of imprompt-true-ness. They don’t have to be effects you invent. For example, I would seriously consider the Balducci Levitation. Obviously the angles are an issue. However, this effect can be done buck naked. Based on the places you frequent and the things native to those environments, come up with those five or so effects that do not require you to have any extra stuff with you. Good luck!

Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.

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Act Accordingly

Oliver Meech — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:08 +0000

Introduction
by Jeff Stone

I became aware of Oliver Meech early 2009 when he sent me a copy of his book The Plot Thickens to review. I was immediately impressed with the quality of the book as well as the material. What follows is a segment from his latest book, Plot Twists. I felt that the content was perfect for the Roots and Branches section of the magazine. After all, isn’t that what this column is ultimately about . . . taking a concept or principle and learning to apply it? Because we’re hearing it in Oliver’s own words, taken directly from his book, we won’t be following the typical format of Roots and Branches Column.

Without Further delay, here it is in Oliver’s own words: Act Accordingly . . .

This is not a trick as such but rather an interesting way to link together other tricks into a routine that stands out from the standard card trick crowd. In other words, it’s a way to do card tricks without them feeling like card tricks.

There’s a burgeoning genre of magic effects which could be described as ‘art imitating life’. These are tricks where images of objects act as if they are real.

In Sankey’s “One-Car Garage”, for example, a drawing of a garage door opens to reveal a drawing of a car.

In many of these tricks the identity of the cards doesn’t matter, they are merely conveniently-sized pieces of thin cardboard. So why not do away with the faces altogether and develop a presentation about living drawings? Now you’ll no longer be remembered as someone who did card tricks but as someone who drew pictures that came to life. The drawings also provide an automatic internal logic to your effects, which should make them more memorable. Should you require a card to be signed for identification, you can just have the spectator draw the appropriate image instead.

Replace your usual deck of cards with a blank-faced deck of cards. Write ‘REJECTS’ on the card case and introduce them to the spectators by saying that since you go through hundreds of packs of cards you’re always on the look out for cheap packs. Bring out the cards and show the faces to be blank as you say that you wondered why they were so cheap.

Tell the spectators that since there are no faces to the cards you’ll just draw things on them instead.

You can now perform a set of ‘art imitating life’ card tricks. Some suggestions for tricks follow.

“Mr. Stickman” by David Acer: a stickman jumps around the backs of cards. Similar effects have also been published by Mark Mason, Jay Sankey and Richard Sanders.
“Close’s Clones 2” by Michael Close: pictures of clowns multiply. This could be adapted by drawing the clowns.
“Measles” by Jay Sankey: spots on cards multiply.
“One Car Garage” by Jay Sankey: a drawn garage door is opened to reveal a car.
“A Stronger Magnet” by Jay Sankey: a drawn magnet attracts another card.
“Fragile Harbour” by Jay Sankey: a drawn ship is put into a drawn bottle.
“Tenacious Climber” by David Regal: a drawn puppy is repeatedly called to the top of the deck.

And a few by myself:

“Ambitious Balloon”: a drawn balloon repeatedly rises to the top of the deck.
“Handy Ring Transpo”: a picture of a ring changes places with a picture of a hand.
“Flip A Card”: a drawn coin is flipped and lands the other side up (originally published in Online Visions).

You could also adapt existing tricks and their methods to the living drawings. Here are some other possible plots for which you can work out methods with a little thought. You can always create more by listing objects and thinking about what they would do if they were real.

Superheroes who fly from one packet to another (a la Cards Across).
Acorns which turn into oaks (using any Colour Change).
Lions that eat gazelles (a la Cannibal Cards).
Cards marked left and right which always stay on their correct side (a la two card transpositions).
Wallets that travel to your pocket (a la Card to Pocket).
Coasters that end up under their drink (a la Card Under Drink).
Frogs that jump from card to card.
Nails which bend when the card is bent.
Glass which shatters when the card is hit.
Shy stickmen who stand with their back to the audience until made to turn around.
Soup that you slurp up.

Since most spectators have never seen a blank deck of cards before, you should probably let them examine it before you start doing tricks. Otherwise they may think it’s a trick deck. You can always palm on any prepared cards you need after they’ve returned the deck.

Alternatively, you could use double-blank cards and refer to them as index cards (or just use index cards!)

N.B. Obviously I’m not the first person to think of using blank cards. Gregory Wilson has done it (see “Point Blank” on his Pyrotechnic Pasteboards DVD), Arthur Tivoli has done it, etc. These are just my thoughts regarding the blank card idea.

As there are no card indices to remember, these tricks are good for children.

Give it a try. It’s a small change that can make a big difference.

Plot Twists is available at Oliver’s Store.

Now go study the classics, and go discover your true magical self.

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