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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
O.K. Here's the scenario: You walk into a store, like you normally do to buy whatever, you walk up to the cashier to pay for your purchase, and you open up your wallet and pull out..Ta Da! Magazine pieces cut to the shape and size of dollar bills. Of course, the cashier does not yet know it, but you are about to give those pieces a quick flik, and they will turn into real American currency, with which you will pay for your purchase.
The challenge is to come up with a good line to say here. A couple suggestions: "Have you seen the new currency the Government is printing up? It looks like magazine pieces, but that is a theft deterent, because if you give them a flick..." OR, "I found a great new use for the old magazines that my wife was about to throw away..." OR "Do you accept magazine currency? NO? I didn't think so..." Those are a couple suggestions to get started. Anybody here think of more?
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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The Mighty Fool Inner circle I feel like a big-top tent having 2140 Posts |
Like these magazine clippings? Know which magazine I cliiped 'em from? "money" magazine!
Here you go. What...? Oh, the money is uhm....(flipflipflipflip) dang it....NOBODY ever falls for that one!
Everybody wants to beleive.....we just help them along.
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EvanSparts Veteran user Michigan 333 Posts |
Why use a line, just flick pay and walk away. a line might tip the cahier of to something is going to happen. or worse cheapen the effect.
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meilechl Special user 657 Posts |
I fully agree with Evan. Just go up, ask, 'Can I pay with this? No? Why, just look....'
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EvanSparts Veteran user Michigan 333 Posts |
Cool some one agrees with me I didn't think that would happen. I just think that sometimes silence can be the best patter
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
I've considered the silence possibility, and often DO it that way, but at other times, I just love a witty line. depends on the mood I'm in, knowhuImeen?
Anyway, I was just interested in hearing what clever, humorous, cool lines others could could come up with in this scenario. Wanted to find out what I may have missed in my own thinking, and was also hoping to see if someone could come up with a million dollar line that would just absolutely take the cake. After, all, it's really not that EASY trying to justify carrying around dollar bill shaped magazine pieces in your wallet! People don't do that every day, but then again, they are not MAGICIANS like us, either. So the bottom line, I guess, is trying to come up with a half a*** reason why you carry your cash in another "form". Of course, the real reason is so that I can make someone's eyes bug out when the change occurs, subsequently giving me that magical thrill and "high", that sense of satisfaction, that rush I feel when someone stands there with there jaw dropping down to the floor, while I maintain my cool and affect my best "doesn't everybody?" expression. But, of course, I'm not letting on to my vic..., er, ahh, I mean, spectator.
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Eight Spades Elite user Ohio (northwest) 482 Posts |
I can see where you're going, but I guess I'll never understand why "witty line" are so appealing to magicians. Understandably, the spectator may be very confused as to why you carry magazine pieces, but letting them create their own reasons for it in their mind promotes more mystery, which is what magic is all about....NOT just entertaining people.
So instead just don't give them all the pieces of the puzzle. -Christian
"Tricks are only the crude residue from which the lifeblood of magic has been drained." -S.H. Sharpe
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
I guess witty lines appeal to certain folks just like a good punch line to a joke appeals to certain ones. Not everyone is a Rodney Dangerfield, or can view the world in that kind of light, but others see it in a different perspective, and thus, wit appeals to some, and not to others. Their is no right or wrong, just different tastes. Whatever floats your boat.
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Eight Spades Elite user Ohio (northwest) 482 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-07-29 17:16, daffydoug wrote: Yeah you're right. We can't all be the same, that'd be boring. Nicely put. -Christian
"Tricks are only the crude residue from which the lifeblood of magic has been drained." -S.H. Sharpe
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Open Traveller Inner circle 1087 Posts |
I'm surprised that this plays very well. I would think that magic isn't always appropriate or comfortable for people in certain circumstances. Doing money tricks at a cash register isn't necessarily entertaining to the cashier, because her immediate concern often isn't "My god, how did you do that?" but "Can I accept this money?" In other words, she'll be more concerned with whether you're trying to rip her off than amusing her, and then you find yourself trying to convince her that the money is good currency, and any "magic value" you might have wished for has gone out the window.
I also don't get this need to "do magic" everywhere we go. |
daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
Well, like I said earlier, whatever floats your boat. Whatever flips your trigger. Whatever crumbles your cookie. Whatever turns you on. Different strokes for different folks, and all that rot.
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Open Traveller Inner circle 1087 Posts |
I would guess that -- at the most -- you're in your early twenties. I just say what I say because I've been there.
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
Early twenties? I'll be fifty next April. I'm an OLD man. Did my first magic show when I was a five year old snotty nosed kid, grew up on the east coast, been married twice, got five kids, served my time in the "war", worked every job under the sun, traveled the country, and just generally been there, done that.
But, hot dang! I WISH I could be back in my twenties!
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Open Traveller Inner circle 1087 Posts |
Jesus, that's even worse.
Okay, I'll defer to your greater (and obviously radically different) experience. |
EvanSparts Veteran user Michigan 333 Posts |
What doesthe early twenties have to with anything? Yes I'm in my early twenties I'm 24 but what is your point, if your going to tell me I don't know whatim doing because of my age then "your like totaly mistaken dude." I do have the experience. Daffydoug I have a new apprication for you now knowing alittle bitmore about you, and if earlier post by me on this thread offended you I apologize, and I didn't mean for it to come across that way.
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Open Traveller Inner circle 1087 Posts |
It's not that people in their twenties "don't know what they're doing," it's that people in various age groups tend to think in certain ways. We're speaking very generally here, of course, and no individual needs to feel offended because someone points out something about the group. The truth is that younger people tend to not be nuanced or think in terms of subtle effects (meaning: the often subtle ramifications of what they do). This has nothing to do with you; it's a fact of life.
So, it's an observable fact that it tends to be young magicians who want to show their neat effects to pretty much everyone who comes along -- the lady at the cash register, the old man greeter at Wal-Mart, the newspaper guy on the corner -- and to them their magic is something that not only should be shared at every opportunity, but MUST be. As one can imagine, this leads to some inappropriate exhibitions from time to time, but most young performers don't care about that because they don't perceive anything inappropriate about what they do. All they can see is the next magic trick. Most older (and experienced) performers, on the other hand, don't seem to exhibit this kind of behavior very much. They don't feel a need to display their talent at every opportunity. They've "been there, done that." Many follow Leipzig's advice to never perform until you've been asked twice. It's a difference in approach and attitude that normally comes about after years of dedication. The younger performers who exhibit this tendency of reticence are often regarded as being wise or mature beyond their years. The older performers who still thrust themselves upon others in every manner are usually thought of as having never grown up. There's certainly no need for you to apologize about anything. In part, I envy your youth; there are many things I wish I could have done differently, including having shown off a little less. |
EvanSparts Veteran user Michigan 333 Posts |
I guess I misinterpreted what you meant, but me personaly don't feel the need to share magic with everyone actually I'm quite selective on who I show things too, but still everyone once in while like to catch people by surprise. I agree with you about the showingoff part I try not to because the arrogance of some magicians **** me off, if you want a good story pm me and ill tell you one, I just think if you are arrogant inperforming it will come back to bite you in the ass.
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Patrick Differ Inner circle 1540 Posts |
Ok the item costs $1.92.
Lesse...that's page 1, page 9, and page 2... (Stunned silence) No? But these are from Money magazine...Oh...Only US currency...sure? (Flip) Thank you, Mr. Mighty Fool, for the Money magazine line. Patrick
Will you walk into my parlour? said the Spider to the Fly,
Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy; The way into my parlour is up a winding stair, And I've a many curious things to show when you are there. Oh no, no, said the little Fly, to ask me is in vain, For who goes up your winding stair -can ne'er come down again. |
daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
I enjoyed Doug Henning's patter when he performed the effect for his last T.V special for Anne Jillian. As I recall, it went like this: "We all know magazines make money. But you've probably never seen a magazine that makes money like this!( Flip)" That's as close to the perfect quote as I can come, because it has been many many years since I saw the special, back in the late seventies, if I'm correct. But that effect still sticks out in my mind as one of the more salient features of that particular special.
Yeah, I know it wasn't really clever, or witty, but it was just his way of saying it that made it special. Doug had a way with his voice. He embodied his magic. It seemed to exude from his every pore, knowhutimeen?
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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