What The Audience Sees:
"This Jamie cat needs his own T.V show man! C'mon people, I'm serious! This guy does stuff that can only be done in movies! And he's doin' it for real! Take this Friday, the dude walked into our space and said he was going to show us a simple card trick. Simple, my !##! These two cards switched places before our eyes. Then he says, in a low whisper, that he wants to show us something he's never shown anyone before...something really crazy. And @^%@^ @$%@$ was it ever! He levitated a card right off the top of the deck. Are you listening to me? He can make objects move with his mind, I'm tellin' you! This card just floated up off the top and came back down! And I took it dude, and it was normal! Unlike this Jamie character... Caaaaraaaaaaazy!"
How It Went:
You know, thank goodness for Magic Friday. I'm a real lucky guy. Not only do I have an active (and potentially huge) weekly audience, but I'm forced to try things I might not otherwise. And I'll be honest- If I didn't have to perform Magic Friday, I might have passed on Enlightenment. And that would have been a real shame.
First of all, I have the Enlightenment Deck, which is awesome, and I have the Paradigm Shifter, so I basically have the Enlightenment set. That made it a lot easier for me to go out and start trying it out. If I didn't, I might not have taken the trouble to make the deck which, I think, is brilliant. If you have Enlightenment sitting on a shelf, do yourself a huge favour and give yourself a night off and make the deck. It's worth it, trust me.
Okay, so my set up for the day was to start off with a simple two card transpo and hope they said the words "That's incredible!" which surprisingly happened more times than I thought it would. I would then say, "Thanks! Hey, are you old enough to remember that show called "That's Incredible!"? Because they had this guy on this one time that could move objects with his mind. No kidding. He would dress up in this Karate outfit and use his energy to move phone book pages and things. And here's something I've never told anyone. I can do it too... Watch."
And away we would go. And make no mistake, it was powerful. You would think I was knocking spectators over with my energy, this played so well. I don't know what to say about it, really. It just killed. They would look at it floating up and have no reaction whatsoever, and then you'd see their faces melt like the first Indiana Jones movie ending. It was just shocking.
My other premise, if I didn't play out the James Hydrick story, was about how in the olden days, all magicians wanted to be able to float a lady. And I would use the Queen and go from there...
To be honest, though, the Hydrick (sorry, that's the name of the guy from "That's Incredible!" show) premise was the best. Probably because I'm giving this sort of Realty TV power to myself for a moment. I'm telling them that I, too, can do something that made someone famous. It's almost like, if someone asks you if you can float like David Blaine and you say, "Sure" and then fly around the room. For the people that remembered Hydrick, and there was a couple, it was a moment they'll never forget.
Best Lines:
"That's Incredible!!!
-Bing! Thank you, you win a prize!
"Nunh unh. Nunh unh. That did not just happen. Nope. It did not."
-Lol, it sure did.
Angry Bob Rating:
For those of you reading this article for the first time, Angry Bob is a co-worker who has an understanding of some magic because his uncle was a magician. Angry Bob knows that TT’s exist, for example, but he has no desire to become a magician himself. He also has an anger management problem that can be experienced first hand if he can’t figure out how a trick is done. A high rating means he has no idea.
Lol, the thing about Angry Bob is that he has a magician's "Second Sight". Laypeople only have "One Sight" (I'm making this up as I write this, by the way). Let's see if I can explain what I mean...
A layperson will think up an explanation immediately (sometimes a few explanations simultaneously). I.e. He put the card in his wallet when I wasn't looking. Until they realize (if you've done your job properly) that you eliminated that possibility. I.e. No, wait, I was looking the entire time.. They then, hopefully, believe that you did it magically. They've used up their One Sight.
Magicians, however, or someone with a knowledge of magic (and as a side note, I find that computer programmers fall into this category) will immediately go through their One Sight (I saw the wallet the entire time) and go through to their Second Sight which enables them to brainstorm ridiculous ideas that, occasionally, are right. I.e. There was that flock of birds flying overhead and one of them did land near him. Now, if that bird had some thread attached to his left wing, and that was going to his wallet. Then, maybe...
Normally, for those people, we have all sorts of weapons at our disposal (time, reason, etc.) to eliminate their Second Sight as well. But, if you know someone long enough, then they can get the jump on you.
Angry Bob: "Give me that top card, m*&^%^&* *&*&!*& !" (First Sight)
Me: "Knock yourself out dude."
Angry Bob: "Give me the deck then." This is his Second Sight coming into play. Often times, Second Sights are simply lucky guesses. You have to, occasionally, call their bluff.
Me: ( I move my hand forward with the deck while, intentionally, putting the box into my pocket.)
Angry Bob: The box, too ^%#^@^ @&@!!!!
Me: "Now you're being too demanding." (And I take everything back, except the queen he was actually holding, lol.)
So, after all that, did Angry Bob know how it worked? Not a chance! 5/5. But, did he know that I can't make think things float with my mind? Uh, yeah. But, and here's why we're in business- most people want to believe. And, lucky for us, they will.
My Rating:
Is this something that I would recommend? Absolutely. Is it, however, something that people will use? If they're smart, they will. But I think some people won't take into the world. I think you need the place for it. You need the guts. And by that, I mean, the courage to take something out that you normally wouldn't. If someone told me to take a deck and accessories like this to a gig, I'd probably say they're crazy- I can do a lot of other magic with a regular deck. But I'd have missed something really special. Something... incredible. 9.5/10.
The JDG Tip:
This was thought up by my good friend Dave Moses:
Put a bottle cap into your rear pants pocket. It works like a charm! Brilliant- and that's exactly how I got in and out.
Closing Thoughts:
Don't be afraid to show people only one thing. Change their lives and move on!
Have a great week!
~jamie d. grant
http://www.whatizit.net/
(click to see an unaltered deck of cards inside a bottle!)
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