talkmagic.co.uk

Ok a small rant coming here. I do apologise in advance, but I'm ever so slightly peeved at this guy. Right here goes:

I was in my last lesson of the day ( a free) and this guy came up to me asking him to perform a trick that one of his mates had told him about. I say no. He nagged me for 5ish minutes before I finally gave in (probably wrongly). Anyway the effect basically uses a k** c***, but I use a psychology/mind-reading patter to explain the discovery and it honestly blows people away (if I do say so myself). Anyway, card is selected, then he cuts deck, asks me turn away (which I didn't think was strange at the time...) I see him complete the cut after I see his card has been replaced, and I go into a long drawn out thing of the location with about 9 people watching. I finally spot the key card after staring into his eyes and making sure no-one saw me look at the cards. I confidently turn over his card without looking and say "that one". He laughs. I look down. What do I see? A JOKER. He pulls his card out of his pocket, puts it on the table, and grins. Everyone sniggers quietly apart from one girl who was next to me. HE SWITCHED THE DAMN CARDS. Now I'm no stranger to performing, but I've never had someone come up to me with the sole intention of getting one over on me. Perhaps I shouldn't have given in to start with, perhaps I was stupid to turn away... Who knows? But I was embarrased. I'm still embarrased...

If you've got to the end of this, thanks for reading, and sorry. I just had to let some steam off somewhere.

As the old saying goes... "Dust yourself down.." etc.

People like that are horrible, but don't let you down. People like that are best ignored

This kind of thing will happen when performing magic and unfortunately you discovered this first hand, my advice to you is just ignore them, dont give them the attention as thats what they want you to do and make sure you make them know that your not annoyed even if you are as this is the kind of thing they are looking for. Hope this made you fella bit better.

you can always be politely forthright and say "no, I'm conducting the experiment...these are the rules..."

otherwise, you can just say "well done...you must feel alot better for doing that, if i can help you overcome your psychological need to feel superior over anyone, please let me know...i understand how scared you must feel inside..."

or just carry an ID

Och, there's nowt as queer as folk my friend.

My guess is he was jealous of you and wanted to prove his superiority, the thing is he could only achieve this by putting you down, so in the end he loses. The study and practice you're putting into your magic will serve you far better in the years to come than his hollow victory will serve him.

I had a similar thing happen to me at an audition once, it smarts but you learn from it. One thing I can see that you've identified is that you let him dictate the conditions of the trick to you and this gave him the opportunity to get one over on you. All I can say is learn from this, you are the magician, if he wants to see the magic it should be on your terms, not his (especially if he's not paying you for the pleasure).

Still, no lasting damage done old bean, as you say dust your self down and clamber back on your bikes!

oh and as its at school...you could always just force a card on him with a rude word on it...

Atleast you have learnt to be more careful in the future...i had a similar incident once, but got out of it nicely

I wouldn't feel embarrassed - he intentionally sabotaged your work, not one thing went wrong as a result of your actions. As for not doing it in the first place - not your fault. How are you to know he would try a stunt like this?

Here's what I would do...grab him and a few lovely young ladies and ask him to allow you to redeem yourself with a wonderful new concept you've just come across.

Have him select and sign a card (learn your absolute best, sure-fire force). Perform a very simple ACR routine, short and sweet. At the end - say it's not really magic or anything supernatural. Slip his card into the middle of the deck as you explain the reason you are able to perform this effect was because the card he selected was actually MADE JUST FOR HIM.

With one final "flare" turn over the top card to reveal his selection has jumped back up on top. Show the world "his" card. Smile and say - It's easy to spot your card, because "Joe" (or whatever his name is - say that pointing at the signature), then turn the card over to reveal it has an odd-back - and in nice bold black marker it reads...

"has a small penis"

He can keep the card if he likes.

If you're interested in a way to work this, pm me. It's very simple.

iv'e had this done to me in my formative years at school, so i just said you got me, your the man.
fortunatly for me i peed on that card this morning so thanxs for taking the *.
i got a slap for my troubles but the lad had the stigma of being known to have takinen the * out of himself for the next three weeks a lot longer than my part in the whole affair.

Haha...i love it! You guys are all soo evil

That takes me back to a schoolfriend of mine, whose father had told him to always take two cards.

My mother always thought the guy (my friend's father) was a tool. My choice of word, rather than hers, but apt.

This thread also reminds me of something I read in a Walter Gibson book. The story (possibly apocryphal) was a magician doing a version of the genie vase effect, but using cones of paper with a hole in the centre. He was having fun fooling some kids and getting them to try. One child simply tied a knot in the string, when the magician was looking elsewhere. Cue one confused and embarrassed performer!

The lesson, said Mr Gibson, is to always watch the audience as closely as they watch you.

If I'd known that when my friend was asked to pick a card, I might have noticed him taking a pair.

One way to handle this kind of difficulty (other than identifying idiots and not letting them interfere in the first place) is to counter their suggestions. If they want you to turn round, say, "I'd love to do that, but the last time I did it, the guy thought he was being clever by hiding his card." Kenton Knepper's 'Wonder Words' may be very helpful to you (but fairly expensive and not to everyone's taste).

Cymru,1991

The post by Flash hits the nail on the head; it's worth re-reading (and certainly worth heeding!)

abraxus wrote:oh and as its at school...you could always just force a card on him with a rude word on it...

i was actually in bits laffing at that HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA thats so genious

Don't worry about it. Although you would not meet a lot of people like that, just say no and go about your way when it happens. At that moment, he is a step ahead of you, and we know that we always need to be a step further to our specators.

Next time, try to do a card trick with flash paper, something that they won't expect at all. That's a step ahead of them

Thanks guys for all of your kind words. I feel a lot better because of them. Flash, thanks for that post, I've re-read it a couple of times and will heed the advice.

As I said originally, I'm no stranger to performing, but looks as though I got lumped with an idiot.

I'll learn from that experience and move on...

Once again, thanks everyone