Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

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Joe Pecore
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Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Joe Pecore » September 16th, 2016, 8:23 am

I just looked at some MagicPedia traffic history and there seems to be a correlation with people finding magicpedia articles doing google searches after the Penn & Teller Fool Us show (not surprising).

After Mac King performed last week, there was a spike on the google users finding http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Gold_Fish_Trick

After Penn mentioned the "Too Perfect Theory" this week, the was a spike on http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia ... ect_Theory

What I thought was interesting is that there seems to be more people searching and finding MagicPedia articles after a Penn & Teller Fool Us then some of the other current magic show. Mostly likely because of the cryptic clues Penn likes to give.

There was a slight increase in http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Second_Sight (maybe from the The Clairvoyants appearance on AGT, but Penn and Teller Fool Us also just had The Evasons on.)

Just found it all interesting.
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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Michael Close » September 16th, 2016, 1:19 pm

Any action at all on the topic "How to Escape from a Washing Machine?"

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Joe Pecore » September 17th, 2016, 10:27 am

Michael Close wrote:Any action at all on the topic "How to Escape from a Washing Machine?"

LOL That was an awesome act!

You guys are doing an awesome job on that show. Hope it goes for many more seasons!
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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Ted M » September 17th, 2016, 2:20 pm

Very interesting. What kind of volume are we talking about?

Thousands of hits for the goldfish trick? Hundreds? Dozens?

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby erdnasephile » September 17th, 2016, 2:56 pm

On a somewhat related note, I'm sure traffic also increased at this site: http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/7000 after the Wednesday episode this week. ;)

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Joe Pecore » September 17th, 2016, 9:19 pm

Ted M wrote:Very interesting. What kind of volume are we talking about?

Thousands of hits for the goldfish trick? Hundreds? Dozens?

Hundreds
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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby JFox » September 18th, 2016, 7:23 pm

Selfishly, I wish that some of Penn's "clues" would be more subtle.

i.e. The other night, he could have just said "Mercury" or "Planet Mercury"...instead of him actually saying "Mercury (card) FOLD".

I like when the clues aren't overtly obvious, such as when a performer used a remote-control prop, and Penn's clue was "Thumper" (the rabbit from "Bambi")....and then Penn starts "thumping" his foot on the floor. :-) Subtle enough, that a laymen wouldn't catch on.

Performing on "Fool Us" is obviously great TV exposure...but is it a trade-off & risk that the national TV audience will catch-on about how your act was generally done....

i.e. The Evansons: Penn's clue was "Code", which they readily acknowledged.
(I can hear people thinking: "Oh I thought that was it, I wasn't sure...but now I know!")

Is the national "TV Exposure" worth the "Method Exposure" of one's act?


That being said, I am a fan of the "Fool Us" series, and love that it showcases ALL genres of Magic & shows a vast array of performing styles.

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 18th, 2016, 7:48 pm

It depends what happens if people Google "Mercury Fold." It shouldn't matter anyway, should it? It's an invisible sleight that is over before anyone sees the folded card.
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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby erdnasephile » September 19th, 2016, 2:53 am

JFox wrote:Selfishly, I wish that some of Penn's "clues" would be more subtle.

i.e. The other night, he could have just said "Mercury" or "Planet Mercury"...instead of him actually saying "Mercury (card) FOLD".

I like when the clues aren't overtly obvious, such as when a performer used a remote-control prop, and Penn's clue was "Thumper" (the rabbit from "Bambi")....and then Penn starts "thumping" his foot on the floor. :-) Subtle enough, that a laymen wouldn't catch on.

Performing on "Fool Us" is obviously great TV exposure...but is it a trade-off & risk that the national TV audience will catch-on about how your act was generally done....

i.e. The Evansons: Penn's clue was "Code", which they readily acknowledged.
(I can hear people thinking: "Oh I thought that was it, I wasn't sure...but now I know!")

Is the national "TV Exposure" worth the "Method Exposure" of one's act?


That being said, I am a fan of the "Fool Us" series, and love that it showcases ALL genres of Magic & shows a vast array of performing styles.


You know--I was thinking the same thing when he used the term "double lift". Sure, it was kind of subtle, but since the double lift is pretty much the foundation of much of modern card magic, I'd prefer that potential audience members not be pointed towards it. (Yes---I know---excellent technique, misdirection and presentation will help mitigate the knowledge and No, it's not going to "harm magic", but why give away clues about technique when it's not necessary?).

Then again, P & T have been exposing the double break and thumb tip for years, and we still fool folks with this stuff, so perhaps it doesn't matter much at all.

Come to think of it: a lot of us love performing those gambling demonstrations where we describe false deals, false shuffles, etc. Isn't that similar to Penn's statements in terms of getting audiences to think in terms of methods instead of magic?


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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Brad Henderson » November 29th, 2016, 4:42 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:It depends what happens if people Google "Mercury Fold." It shouldn't matter anyway, should it? It's an invisible sleight that is over before anyone sees the folded card.


except it becomes an all purpose explanatory crutch that gets in the way of the audiences experience of magic.

I recall a magic duo that was working kid shows in the north east for a while. They exposed a trick in their show, referencing 'the double flip'.

for at least three summers I encountered people who would dismiss any card trick as resulting from this 'double flip' even if a 'double flip' would in no way explain how the trick occured.

of course there were ways to work around this - but the issue to me is it became an unneccesary obstacle on the path to their experience of magic. Of course the biggest obstacle is their misguided idea that magic is meant to be a contest, that their job is to 'figure it out'. I don't care for fool us because I feel it reinforces that notion. Having said that, I feel that the format is handled well and minimizes that aspect - not the least of which being that knowing that p and t are 'on the case' may allow the lay person to relax tneir diligence and perhaps experience the magic more readily.

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby performer » November 29th, 2016, 4:57 pm

I expect all laymen have to do is read this thread to find out how everything is done.

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Gordon Meyer » November 29th, 2016, 5:52 pm

JFox wrote:Selfishly, I wish that some of Penn's "clues" would be more subtle.


The word "subtle" in reference to Penn is oxymoronic. :)

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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Joe Pecore » August 11th, 2017, 8:13 am

Got an alert that "Seven Keys to Baldpate" was spiking in traffic on MagicPedia.
Then I watch the latest Penn and Teller Fool Us and found out why..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pma_NXa ... u.be&t=607

:)
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Re: Spike in magicpedia traffic after Penn and Teller episodes

Postby Joe Pecore » August 11th, 2017, 8:21 am

Also, usually a spike is typically in the hundred of visits. This spike was over a thousand .
Show must be getting more popular!
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