I was on YouTube last night and saw something that made my brain melt. There’s a bunch of videos, but I like this one the best. It’s short, sweet, and to the point.

I need to know how this is done. I love it so much. It’s the cleanest and most visual change I think I’ve ever seen. I played with a deck of cards all night and most of today trying to come up with something, anything, that’s even remotely close.

Ultimately, I’ve decided the secret is yelling “Change, damn you!” in a voice forceful enough to cause the card to change. Either that or it’s real magic.

Enjoy the video. I hope you’re as fried as I am. And if you’re not, in the name of all that is good and pure, explain to me how that change is possible. ‘Cause from where I sit, it’s simply not.

Andster

Update: First things first: I always knew what it was called. I just wanted to know if it was published somewhere. Many Google searches gave me nothing, which is why I brought it to the table here.

I’ve heard that this change is very similar in style to the Buck twins’ unpublished G.O.A.T. change. I’ve also heard rumors that they’re going to be releasing it sometime in the future. Might have to look into that.

Andy, I don’t know what happened to your video of the Midnight Shift. I’ll keep an eye out for a video of it somewhere. I’ve heard about it before, but never seen it in action.

Something finally clicked, and I think I found a method for this. It’s incredibly knacky, I’m not entirely convinced as to the practicality of it in a real world routine, and it kinda hurts sometimes. But damn, does it look good when it does work. I’ll keep working with it and hopefully have something I can actually use.

So about a week ago I finally signed up for a Twitter account. At the moment, I’m only following Andrew Mayne, Justin Robert Young, and an internet author I find amazingly funny. I have no followers, but I’ve been updating off and on. If you’ve got the means, go follow me because 1) I’m lonely and 2) I’d like to start using it more often, and if I’ve got somebody reading it, it’ll make me more apt to actually update.

Anyway, go follow me.

Andster

Last week my friend Jim Coles of the Unexpected Wonders blog sent me a copy of his new effect Under Cover to look over. In short, a borrowed signed quarter is caused to penetrate the cellophane on an unopened pack of cigarettes. Yes, everything’s examinable and no, there are no switches.

Two things stand out to me that make this .pdf a very refreshing change from most magic I’ve seen. First and foremost, Jim comes out and says this is not real magic. There is a trick to it, and therefore there will be strengths and weaknesses. Keep in mind, this is not someone who is releasing a substandard product and then making excuses for it. Instead, it is a creator who realizes that many people buy an effect expecting a miracle and has no problem saying, “This isn’t a miracle, it’s a magic trick.”

The second thing I absolutely love is that it’s priced at only $6.50. Too many other creators decide to take their one trick, teach it poorly, slap it on a DVD, and sell it for 30 bucks. You end up with poorly produced, untested expensive magic. Not here. For less than the price of 2 gallons of gas (depending, of course…) you get an effect that’s been used and tested and honed to perfection.

Now for the caveat: This has only been designed and tested to be used on a pack of cigarettes. Don’t think that “under the cellophane of cigarettes” necessarily translates to “under any cellophane packaging” because it doesn’t. In theory, you could make it work with other things. In theory. But you’ll have to take the principle described in Under Cover and adapt it and work with it yourself. Personally, I don’t think it would be all that hard to make this work with a deck of cards, but I haven’t tried it. I could be way wrong. So if you’re under 18 or don’t smoke, realize that getting this to work for you is going to take just that: work.

Also, this is not a trick with an instant reset. It’s best to use this for either impromptu settings or when you’re trying to impress someone. I know those criteria don’t usually apply to the same trick, but hear me out. It’s perfect for impromptu magic (if you smoke) because sooner or later you’re going to have to open a new pack around friends. Why not show them the trick while you’re at it? It’s also great for a reputation maker, because you’re literally making a signed coin pass through sealed cellophane. It’s visually impossible, but clean and stunning.

I want to take a moment to go on a brief side track about the use of the term “reputation maker.” I want to say that I’m aware those words get tossed around a lot, and I don’t use them loosely. I have no doubt that when performed for the right people at the right time, this trick will garner you a reputation. However, don’t fool yourself into thinking that this is some mystical thing that will allow you to start your own religion and get a show following Criss Angel’s. Jim said it himself, it’s just a magic trick. A very strong and hard hitting magic trick, but a trick nonetheless. Use it wisely, and you will be pleased with the results.

If you’re a smoker, if you are friends with smokers, or if you don’t mind being inventive, this is a neat thing to do. It looks amazingly visual, and it really is as clean as it sounds. I’ve thought of a couple things I’d like to try with it, and it’s something I’ll definitely keep in reserve for when the time is right.

Andster

Last night Andrew Mayne presented an online lecture on creativity. Words can’t do it justice, you really had to be there. That’s not a cop out, trust me. It was really that damn good. The lecture had the tone of an informal jam session, which I personally loved. It felt like a bunch of guys in the back room of the magic shop, or a Denny’s after a show.

I really learned a lot, and I’m purposefully not going to go into everything we talked about, because I’m selfish and want to keep it for myself. I will say he told us a little bit about two new releases you can expect to see, one rather soon the other in the near future. He also told a lot of stories that had me laughing out loud. It made me glad I’m the only person living in this house anymore.

One thing I’m very excited about is the possibility for more of these lectures. They mentioned many times that the handful of people that got an invite to the lecture were being used as test subjects to see how well the format works. They’re considering making it a regular feature on iTricks, bringing in special guests, opening it to a broader audience, the whole deal. Unfortunately, the upcoming video chats probably won’t go on for 3 hours like this one did. Shame, really.

I gotta say thanks again to Andrew for taking the time to do the lecture, and also Justin for sitting there and running it the whole time. Like I said before, it was a hell of a time and I can’t wait for the next one.

Now I gotta go move a bed.

Andster

Yesterday while working, I spent much of the day texting my buddy Chris who works with me, but had the day off. Lucky bastard. He and I have a running joke of coming up with horrible Yakov Smirnoff-esque jokes (In soviet Russia, bathroom clean you!) and also kicking things in a way reminiscent of Leonidas in 300, but coming up with a funny twist at the end (This…is…overrated!) The night before, I watched The Aristocrats again and was therefore in the mood to tell the joke. Now that you know the backstory, here’s what came out:

Me: In soviet Russia, this joke would make sense!
Chris: In Russia, unfunny jokes are punishable by kicks into a large hole.
Me: In Russia, metronome keep time with you!
Chris: And with that you are kicked into a hole.
Me: In Russia, “large hole” really isn’t. More like a shallow ditch. Communism really screwed with the ability to determine size. I climb out easily.
Chris: Thus begins the epic Sparta-Russia war.
Me: This is turning into an RPG. Boris picks up vodka and offers the bottle to Leonidas.
Chris: Leonidas declines and stabs both of Boris’ bodyguards.
Me: The guards are too drunk to realize the seriousness of their wounds and begin fighting back. Boris retreats to a safe distance to watch.
Chris: Leonidas ‘ trusty captain, Testiceles, comes to help. Both guards are dispatched.
Me: Boris raises Lenin from the dead. The zombie eats Testiceles’ brain. Russian troops appear on the horizon and molotov cocktails rain down like hellfire.
Chris: The zombie is defeated by the returning 300. He eats many but in the end they prevail. Leonidas, aided by the terrorist V, rush the Russian soldiers.
Me: Boris begins masturbating furiously.
Chris: The resulting explosion of jiz disintigrates the remaining 50 Spartans. Leonidas and V however moved to safety before the cock went off.
Me: Leonidas and V are turned on and begin jacking each other. V takes Leonidas in his mouth, choking to death on the resulting explosion of cum. As Leonidas basks in the afterglow, Boris decapitates him and fucks the bloody neck hole.
Me: As he shoots his load, he yells “In soviet Russia, Sparta fucks you!” He pisses and shits on the corpses then rolls around in the bloody shitty mess drinking vodka and fingering his asshole.
Chris: As he is doing this Tyler Durden snaps his neck and yells “In America, penis splice you into kids movie!”
Me: Tyler surveys the scene. He sees the piss and shit and cum and vomits all over the bodies. He gets hard looking at boris and fucks the corpse’s ass. He eats his vomit, cums on the Shroud of Turin, and says “I love being an Aristocrat!”
Chris: Perfect way to end.
Me: Agreed.

For those of you who’ve seen the movie, I imagine Tyler doing the Drew Carey finger-snap. I just can’t think of the proper combination of symbols that would express that in a text message.

Andster

Wow, that was a long time down. I know I’ve probably gone for longer without posting, but it’s usually because I’ve got nothing to say or because I’ve got my head up some girl’s ass. This is the first time the blog’s ever gone down, and I’ll admit it, it was pretty scary. Of course, when I couldn’t post I had a lot to say. Now that things are up and running, we’ll see how quickly the writer’s block returns.

So what caused all the trouble? According to John, my database limit is 100MB and at the time everything shut down, I was nearing 150MB because of all the spam comments. John got into the database, deleted several thousand spam comments, updated, added plugins, and did a bunch of other awesome stuff for me, and now I’m up and running again.

So first and foremost, I’d like to thank John LeBlanc, for not only getting this thing up and running again, but for starting and maintaining it these past three years. Without him, this blog wouldn’t be around, and without the blog, my life would be a whole lot different. I am eternally greatful.

I’d also like to thank Sanders the Great for helping me troubleshoot this thing early on. Although we didn’t get it fixed, he still spent a lot of time with me and I appreciate it.

Thanks are also due to b d erland who sent up a flag for me on his blog that I eventually ended up seeing. Also, thanks to noobini for the threads in the Wordpress forums for me to look over.

I’ve gotta thank my good friend Peter McKinnon for the new header. He sent it to me a long while ago, I just never had the means to put it up until now. I must admit, I like it a lot.

Thanks also to Justin from iTricks for the kind words, support, and offers of help. I may be calling on you one day.

Finally, a shout out to Sam Blankenship for being a hell of a guy and a great friend.

Well, the orchestra’s playing me off now. I think I thanked everyone I needed to thank. If I missed you, I’m sorry.

Wait, I did forget one! Thanks Jen for being my shoulder to cry on, someone to vent to, and personal psychiatrist. You’re always there when I need you, and you can always get my head on straight. You rock, and I owe you a thousand cakes.

I’m taking my Emmy and going away now.

Andster

I’m back, baby!