"Time spent with cats is never wasted"
Sigmund Freud
Those of you lovely readers who
happen to be in the luck of calling yourselves friends of yours truly are aware of
at least one of the following two things:
First of all, I am a devote
student of Darwin Ortiz and what I call the "Strong Magic paradigm"
named so dearly after Darwin's stellar book on the theory of magical
presentational strategies. However, there is a newer book on construction of
the magical effect considered to be the underdog of Darwin's vast contributions
to this craft we all know and love and that is the book entitled
"designing miracles". While this second book is recent and
considerably shorter than what Ortiz has us used to, I think it really
encapsulates the real work on the subject in hand.
In both “Strong Magic” and “Designing
Miracles” Darwin explains his approach to methodology by posing an interesting
axiom that constitutes one of his so called "Darwin's laws", it goes
something along the following lines:
"If the spectators cannot
figure out the when, they will never spot the how"
Keep this in mind for before I
forget I shall address the second fact about my persona that one must be aware
of if it is one's desire to be a reader of this fantastic blog of the modern shenanigans
of card artifice
On a more philosophical note, I
do not fear a blank canvas but I do not seek inspiration either, I honestly
enjoy waiting for an idea to click into place and construct itself in the most
perfect of manners.
On the other hand, that may be
the reason why I chose not to keep a regularity of any sort when it comes to
posting things on this platform. It is my game and therefore I play by my rules,
however egotistical that shall sound.
Precisely it was yesterday when
that sweet epiphany I was longing for came to me and I decided to begin writing
the present essay.
Have you ever heard of a Goldberg
machine? Well, allow me to retort:
"…A Rube
Goldberg machine is a contraption, invention, device or apparatus that
is deliberately over-engineered or overdone to perform a very simple task in a
very complicated fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named
after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg (1883–1970)…"
It is not by mere chance that I
first teased you with the quote from Darwin's book. You see my lovely pilgrims,
it refers to methodology in quite a revolutionary and one could also admit
controversial way.
What is really fantastic about
Darwin is that he thinks from the spectator's point of view when creating an
effect and from a magician's when technique is concerned. I truly believe this
to be the reason why he is quite simply the best effect constructor at present,
especially but by no means exclusively when it comes to gambling flavored
routines
Spectators have a rather linear
way of solving problems or seeking plausible explanations to a seemingly
impossible effect, Darwin states. In order to prevent the spectators from
finding said solutions he employs an indirect methodology in the form of
various devices of both manipulative and psychological nature. This change of
paradigm demands a higher level of technical ability from the performer which I
personally find quite convenient since I absolutely love difficult and
unorthodox sleight of hand, even more so when I can properly apply it to my
magic.
Magicians often opt for a direct
methodology resulting from their inability to differentiate the effect from the
method.
Having clarified that I do think
that the best Effects are often simple and direct while having quite indirect
inner workings, just like the Goldberg machine! Magic is wonderful, is it not?
In an attempt to wrap up I would
like to mention one of Darwin's most controversial statements about the
methodological directness of Vernon's travelers and Michael Vincent’s solution
to the problem entitled "the ultimate travelers". In this routine,
Mike manages to get to the true meaning of Darwin’s law and use time
displacement to achieve a cleaner version of the effect that ends up with the
deck in the box and the magician reaching with empty hands in order to remove
the four aces from the pockets, because they are already there.
However, I would feel guilty
without mentioning an exception to the previously exposed thesis.
I am of course speaking about my
friend John Carey, who manages to fool the spectators by using amazingly simple
and direct methods and still keeping that nice balance between smoothness and
Spanish influenced psychological ploys.
I hope that trough the use of the
comparison between the Goldberg Machine and Darwin’s approach to methodology I
may indirect you to a better way of thinking about methods when it comes to
constructing a magical effects and ultimately fooling the pants off of the audience.
Cheerio lovely readers, Professor
Moriarty checks out
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