I've recently become addicted to watching magicians of all nationalities performing amazing tricks. My kids saw me watching this video:
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and now they are just as addicted as I am.
The psychology of sleight of hand, illusions, etc. is the most interesting part for me. I told my kids that there's no such thing as real magic and that all of these magicians have a secret that allows them to look as if they are doing something impossible, when really there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of it. But when I do a simple French Drop and make a coin disappear, they're still convinced that I can actually do magic. Penn & Teller, regardless of your opinion on their brand of politics or atheism which they seem to feel compelled to point out constantly (no we are not talking about that in here please), have done more for this side of magic than anybody else I can think of off the top of my head besides James Randi, who was an amazing magician himself.
One of the tricks in the video above is a Penn & Teller trick where Teller gets run over by an 18-wheeler driven by Penn, and it looks and sounds and seems very real, but Teller is completely unharmed. It's the only trick in the video which is explained. I won't spoil it for you here, if you want to see how it's done go to the video and it's one of the later tricks. But the method by which the trick is performed is so astoundingly simple and boring. As Penn says (paraphrased), anytime you have a trick where the secret behind the trick is more interesting than the illusion itself, you have a very bad trick, because it shouldn't be more entertaining for you than it is for your audience.
There's another video on YouTube called Teller Talks, where he goes into some of the psychology of magic:
![image]()
The most interesting parts of this, to me, being that 1) we naturally assume that a magician doing a trick many times in a row is doing it the same way every time, which allows the performer to change it as he goes to show you that your notions are wrong one by one (even though he's doing it a different way each time and you may have been right about it for part of the trick); this makes them seem as if every time they show you nothing is up their metaphorical sleeve that there never was anything in there, and more importantly 2) we are complicit in the trick. We want to be fooled. Our brains enjoy what is happening and we don't want the mystery to be solved by something boring. Obviously that's not true for everybody, and sometimes I really get a kick out of figuring out how a trick is done.
There are many kinds of tricks.
Sleight of hand
![image]()
Probably the most impressive kind of trick to me, because some people (like Paul Daniels) are so good at it that you know what you should be looking for and you still can't see it. Essentially using your hands to misdirect and mislead, move so quickly the eye can't follow, etc. Cards, balls, coins, and so forth are common in these tricks because they can be easily manipulated by quick fingers and palms can hide small objects for a moment, making it seem as if something magic has actually occurred.
Illusions
![image]()
These tricks might use fast talking or misdirection to accomplish some things, but in the end it's usually about preparation, making them the Batman of magic. Good illusions can still be performed without props or a lot of prep work, but for the most part they involve some kind of choreography. Sometimes (like the disappearing bridge trick in the first video above) an illusion can take a ridiculous amount of prep time for just a split second of effect.
What the Fuck Just Happened
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Then there are tricks which I just have to assume are done with math. Seriously, that's the only way I can explain this one. He must have some sort of system in place where the cards spell out a different thing depending on their position in the deck and he knows based on what he asks the audience members how many cards to move/remove/whatever.
Every little thing this thread does is magic.
and now they are just as addicted as I am.
The psychology of sleight of hand, illusions, etc. is the most interesting part for me. I told my kids that there's no such thing as real magic and that all of these magicians have a secret that allows them to look as if they are doing something impossible, when really there is a perfectly logical explanation for all of it. But when I do a simple French Drop and make a coin disappear, they're still convinced that I can actually do magic. Penn & Teller, regardless of your opinion on their brand of politics or atheism which they seem to feel compelled to point out constantly (no we are not talking about that in here please), have done more for this side of magic than anybody else I can think of off the top of my head besides James Randi, who was an amazing magician himself.
One of the tricks in the video above is a Penn & Teller trick where Teller gets run over by an 18-wheeler driven by Penn, and it looks and sounds and seems very real, but Teller is completely unharmed. It's the only trick in the video which is explained. I won't spoil it for you here, if you want to see how it's done go to the video and it's one of the later tricks. But the method by which the trick is performed is so astoundingly simple and boring. As Penn says (paraphrased), anytime you have a trick where the secret behind the trick is more interesting than the illusion itself, you have a very bad trick, because it shouldn't be more entertaining for you than it is for your audience.
There's another video on YouTube called Teller Talks, where he goes into some of the psychology of magic:
The most interesting parts of this, to me, being that 1) we naturally assume that a magician doing a trick many times in a row is doing it the same way every time, which allows the performer to change it as he goes to show you that your notions are wrong one by one (even though he's doing it a different way each time and you may have been right about it for part of the trick); this makes them seem as if every time they show you nothing is up their metaphorical sleeve that there never was anything in there, and more importantly 2) we are complicit in the trick. We want to be fooled. Our brains enjoy what is happening and we don't want the mystery to be solved by something boring. Obviously that's not true for everybody, and sometimes I really get a kick out of figuring out how a trick is done.
There are many kinds of tricks.
Sleight of hand
Probably the most impressive kind of trick to me, because some people (like Paul Daniels) are so good at it that you know what you should be looking for and you still can't see it. Essentially using your hands to misdirect and mislead, move so quickly the eye can't follow, etc. Cards, balls, coins, and so forth are common in these tricks because they can be easily manipulated by quick fingers and palms can hide small objects for a moment, making it seem as if something magic has actually occurred.
Illusions
These tricks might use fast talking or misdirection to accomplish some things, but in the end it's usually about preparation, making them the Batman of magic. Good illusions can still be performed without props or a lot of prep work, but for the most part they involve some kind of choreography. Sometimes (like the disappearing bridge trick in the first video above) an illusion can take a ridiculous amount of prep time for just a split second of effect.
What the Fuck Just Happened
Then there are tricks which I just have to assume are done with math. Seriously, that's the only way I can explain this one. He must have some sort of system in place where the cards spell out a different thing depending on their position in the deck and he knows based on what he asks the audience members how many cards to move/remove/whatever.
Every little thing this thread does is magic.
