So Simple It's Scary

[UnholyGodn]

I was sitting next to a friend in a lecture today, bored out of my mind, picked up my friends eraser that happens to smell like chocolate and asked "If I squeeze this will it make my hand smell like chocolate?" I was just playing with the thing, then when he turned away for a moment I took it out of my hand and stuck it in my opposite pocket, totally crazily simple. I continued to pretend it was in my hand and started squeezing really hard, and then opened my hand slowly and he was like "wtf".

Now he's too smart to believe it disappeared and started to check all my pockets, however because he didn't even remember taking his eyes off it he didn't even think I could have put it anywhere but up my sleeve or something. Then when he was listening to the lecture as I should have been, I took it out and put it back in my hand. I sat there for a few mins when he needed his eraser and started looking through my pockets again. (I should mention I was wearing a jacket, he wasn't putting is hands down my pants ) Anyway, I'm just like "Wait a second, I need to unabsorbed it" did a really over dramatic arm movement and opened my hand, he was totally lost.

To me it seemed ridiculous that he was fooled, and he knew it didn't really disappear but he still couldn't give a plausible explanation for when or how the change took place. By abusing a simple fact that people forget when they stop paying attention gives you a free moment of distraction that they won't even remember. Nothing special, just thought I'd share since simple juvenile stuff like this can confuse people just as much as a card trick with 1000 sleights, the fact my friend wasn't expecting anything to happen, I think, is what truly added to it.

 

[Amane]

Thats very true.
Very often we forget what it's like to see something from the laymen's point of view. All we're seeking seems to be harder and harder stuff to fool others with but when it really comes down to it, magic is all about entertainment and it doesn't have to be hard.
We're always thinking like a magician, how can we do this and that, because we have lost a bit of the feeling we had when we first saw that magic trick that pulled us in.

Keep that in mind and you'll be great~!@

 

[phore]

Just yesterday I watched some parts of Blaine's Street Magic DVD again. And I was amazed how he played the ACR. The guys were totally freaking out at the standard, easy, sleights. It's all in the presentation..

 

[Deryn]

i don't know how many times I've done an ACR and while they're reacting, place their signed card in my back pocket and hold another card face down as if it were theirs hahaha

 

[baskitboy5]

It's very true, sometimes the simple things cause the largest reactions! Last year I had a starburst in CP, and had one resting on the back of the same hand. I had just put the starburst into CP after playing with the other one, thus my friend assumed my hand was empty. I pushed my hand up and the starburst from the back of my hand went into the air, as it came down i turned my hand over and it landed right next to the other one...making it look like it split into two. My friend was dumb-founded, and I was just confused as to how he was confused =p

Adam

 

[APassivePoke]

it's amazing what happens when the spectator was paying attention

I was doing a trick for my friend and legitimately messed up, so i turned the deck face up and asked what their card was so i could make a joke about finding it, and when they told me someone else started talking to them. when they looked up i quickly riffled through the cards, found it, tapped them on the shoulder and did a pass to bring theirs to the top. They forgot they took their eyes off the deck for a minute and thought I had it under control the entire time

 

[orchestrion]

I love it when simple things like this simply amaze people.

opne day in the cafeteria line at school, there was a dime on the ground. Me and my friend were just kinda kicking it around idly. When he wasn't looking, I hid it under my left foot. Pretending it was in my right, I said "hey man watch this." and rubbed my right foot on the ground.

He freaked out, it was hilarious.

 

[The Dark Angel]

It's all in the presentation..

David Blaine is the exception to that rule.

 

[baskitboy5]

Haha Dark Angel...I chuckled a little bit! =)

 

[ep1c]

Yeah, I'm always surprised at how easy it is to get away with things like this and pull them off as tricks. I think it has something I think it may have something to do with a magician's just being able to detect this kind of thing. . .after playing off of misdirection for a while, one starts to notice when people aren't paying attention to what they should be. Thanks to this little principle, I rarely find myself admitting a mistake to spectators. . .I love it. =P

 

[DannyT]

We magicians think we have to use some sort of misdirection when doing tricks to make it all fancy. When all we really have to do is say, "Hey look over there". lol

No but seriously, I think sometimes we get a little too deep into what seems hard to do, but really couldn't be done any easier.

I think it's because we think too much and OVER analyze everything so it's all perfect.

 

[ep1c]

We magicians think we have to use some sort of misdirection when doing tricks to make it all fancy. When all we really have to do is say, "Hey look over there". lol

No but seriously, I think sometimes we get a little too deep into what seems hard to do, but really couldn't be done any easier.

I think it's because we think too much and OVER analyze everything so it's all perfect.

Pssh. . .Even less, all you really have to do is look up. . .the spectator's eyes follow you. . .Really, so many lay people complain about that kind of stuff (if you know them well enough that they complain about you rather than praise you =P) but they make it far too easy for us.