Recently I am seeing many new magic subscriptions popping up: one of which seemed very interesting: Magic Monthly by Christian Grace. Some of the items have too much setup for my liking, but I loved three of them, which I am adding to my repertoire.
HC On the fly: The spectator puts the deck behind their back, burns the top and the bottom card, cuts half of the deck, and reverses it. The first card face down is forced.
This is incredible, I was completely fooled by it, and I have been using it quite often.
Drunk Prediction: A routine using a card switch by Marlo. Can be seen on his instagram account here:
Cross Cut Considerations: A different handling of cross cut force using multiple outs. Not impromptu, it uses a prepared card you can keep in the deck all the time. I think it is very good, but I don’t think it will replace completely the normal cross cut force.
Is it worth it? Yes, for around 15 euros you get access to all of his material for a month. You can consider though that the archive will grow over time, so it may be worth waiting a few months before getting it.
Being comfortable in a state of tension
I feel like some magicians, but also normal people, are incredibly uncomfortable when they feel pressure. It is what happens during awkward silences, or when they feel like they have to say a joke during the crescendo of a trick.
If you want some people to look up to, I think David Blaine is really good at managing the tension. He doesn’t talk much and just lets the spectator react and release all the tension that the trick accumulated.
There is one key stage in which you need to withstand the pressure, which is just before the reveal/magical effect. You need to let them feel the pressure as well, by creating silence, making eye contact, and making sure they are focused on the trick.
Do not allow pressure to be released (having faith that the trick is a good one helps), try not to react much if they tell a joke (sometimes you will have to, in that case just amp the tension back up again). Maybe recap what has happened… and then… Release!
With the reveal all the tension can be released. They will start reacting. Now you can either react with them, if you are also seeing something magical, or just stay silent as Blaine does.
Now the most important thing is to give them the space to react, you don’t want to distract them from the experience by immediately saying something like : “Do you want to see another one?” or disregard it with a “it’s just a trick”. Just let them react until they get back composure.
An idea for social media magic
Now that things are getting better, here is an idea to mix social media magic with traveling.