Lior Schard - how does he do it?

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#3
Yes, blast mucking the name up - but I think people who are interested in such would have worked it out. The physical stuff is not so special, a good magician can always work out an alternative way - but the mind reading and future predictions are quite amazing, unless the "subjects" are totally in the spiel then it's quite impossible. How about working out the very strong password of a mobile phone, just handed to him by a morning show presenter, within about half a minute - you could see him having to "reach out" and work harder to pick up an unusual, non alphanumeric character ... I would be interested in what a Randi would offer as explanations ...
 
#6
They aren't especially easy to find, but publishing houses that specialize in magic will sell their books and videos to ANYBODY. You don't need to send them a scan of your International Brotherhood of Magicians membership card before ordering.

Here are a few instructional DVDs which feature Mental Magic professionals demonstrating an effect ("trick") and then explaining how they do it, and then explaining how YOU can do it. Of course each video covers quite a number of different effects, not just one. Although I do not own any of these DVDs, I have bought other items from L&L Publishing and I've always been pleased with their publications.

Banachek's PSI Series - Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 - DVD [bpsisetdvd] - $135.00 : L&L Publishing, The best in magic dvds, books, props and magician's supplies

Falkenstein and Willard: Masters of Mental Magic DVD Set [fwmmmvsetdvd] - $99.95 : L&L Publishing, The best in magic dvds, books, props and magician's supplies

13 Steps To Mentalism Starring Richard Osterlind [13StepsDVD] - $119.95 : L&L Publishing, The best in magic dvds, books, props and magician's supplies



And since you asked: yes, they also sell books covering this same material. And yes, the books are considerably less expensive than the videos!
 
#8
A smart skeptic enlists the aid of a skilled conjurer. As Mark points out, there's a lot of books and videos teaching the tricks. If you're genuinely curious, read a few of them.

My parents were close friends with a very skilled magician. One night, the phone rang, my mother picked it up and it was Howard. He was clearly on a speaker phone with a large crowd there, probably a party. He said, "Charlotte, would you please name a card?" She said, "Queen of diamonds," then heard gasps, laughter, and applause. Howard said, "Thank you very much!" and hung up.
 
#9
My gripe with the Penn and Teller crowd is that they explain the easy tricks, but very carefully ignore, don't comment on the heavy duty "magic" that occurs - the showy items can be explained, but many of the simple, casual, almost throw away parts of the "act" are those that are the most baffling.
 
#12
fas42 said:
My gripe with the Penn and Teller crowd is that they explain the easy tricks, but very carefully ignore, don't comment on the heavy duty "magic" that occurs - the showy items can be explained, but many of the simple, casual, almost throw away parts of the "act" are those that are the most baffling.
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I caught their show here a few years back. One bit had Teller off-stage, voicing the 'computer' that could magically discern the serial number of of a dollar bill from the wallet of the audience member. Penn very transparently telegraphed the first couple of digits ("What, what, what is the first digit?" "Three"!) to make sure that the crowd knew how the trick was done. After maybe three digits with roars of knowing laughter from the crowd, the 'computer' then rattled off the rest of the serial number. Sure, we know that Penn's patter gave it all away, but just what the cues were for the rest of the digits I couldn't say. Without the jokes up front it could have passed for real telepathy. As presented it was a very nice lesson in how the fakery is done.
 
#13
I pulled a coin out of Teller's ear.
 

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#16
Yes, but this wasn't the case. My mom really did just make something up. There's lots of ways a magician can get a random card named, but I think Howard used a speakerphone and a call to someone everyone knew as naive and honest (that's my mom!) for the effect. Showmanship!
 
#18
I guess "speakerphone" rules out the Howard being Thurston.
fas42 said:
My gripe with the Penn and Teller crowd is that they explain the easy tricks, but very carefully ignore, don't comment on the heavy duty "magic" that occurs - the showy items can be explained, but many of the simple, casual, almost throw away parts of the "act" are those that are the most baffling.
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There's always the magicians' creed of not revealing the secret. Penn & Teller do violate that rule to an extent. Sometimes to throw a spectator off from the true secret, and sometimes just to throw them off. The latter is what I wanted to point out here. The "easy trick" explanation can be the entire explanation. The spectator can fool himself into thinking, "That's too easy. That can't be how it all was done." Yes, showmanship!
It's been said (I forget by whom, maybe Robert Harbin) that there are only about a dozen "secrets" and all tricks are based on those few principles.
 
#19
Yes, Teller did a demo of lighting a cigarette which displayed all of the basic tricks used for close-up magic. Very educational.

Let me tell you a trick I learned from P&T and pulled on some unsuspecting colleagues. We were visiting a customer in another part of the country. We asked if they wanted to go to dinner and they agreed. We asked for suggestions, and they had a favorite restaurant nearby where they were regulars. We went there and were shown to a table.

When the waiter came back to take our orders, I asked one of the folks we were visiting if I could borrow his watch. I asked him how time was set on it, and he demonstrated a couple of button pushes. I tried it myself and showed everyone. I then wrapped it in a napkin, handed it to the waiter, and asked him if he had ever met me or seen me here before. He replied, "No sir, but I certainly know these other gentlemen." I then asked him to go back to the kitchen and set the watch for any time he wished, then bring it back to the owner of the watch. The waiter departed.

I took a piece of paper, wrote a time on it and handed it to the owner. "Hold on to this until the waiter comes back." The waiter returned, handed him the watch, and it read 8:15pm. He opened the piece of paper I had previously given him, and yes, it said "8:15pm."

It was an embarrassingly easy trick, but the effect was stunning.
 
#20
If someone told me to perform that illusion for customers at dinner the next evening, I would have done a wee bit of preparation beforehand.

I would have used a black felt tip pen ("Sharpie") to write a 50mm x 50mm self adhesive reminder sticker ("PostIt Note") saying "PLEASE SET THIS WATCH FOR 8:15 PM".

Then when tying the watch up with the napkin, I would have secretly slipped in the PostIt note and a ten dollar bill.

But hey that's just what I would have done. I have no idea what SY actually did.
 
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