Card to *really* impossible location

Discuss the latest news and rumors in the magic world.
User avatar
Tom Stone
Posts: 1521
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Tom Stone » May 4th, 2018, 2:16 am

My young buddy Isidor Olsbjörk from Gothenburg, Sweden, just debuted a new take on 'card to impossible location'. The 'Pocket of Mystery' idea, taken to the next logical step.
It is in Swedish, but the only thing that might need translation is the bit from 1:16 to 1:30, which goes:

-"And it is from this point that card tricks tend to become really boring, because it always goes 'shuffle-shuffle-shuffle' and then the card is always found on top of the deck... but that didn't happen now; this isn't your card, right? Because today, dear audience, I will attempt to take it a bit further. Okey!"
(The selected card is a tad hard to make out, but it is the Two of Diamonds.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWucFFwQAKM

Brad Henderson
Posts: 4548
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: austin, tx

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Brad Henderson » May 4th, 2018, 8:09 am

i don’t know if ‘logical’ is the word i would use, but it certainly is a next step.

mazel tof.

qkeli
Posts: 42
Joined: June 4th, 2011, 9:48 am
Location: France

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby qkeli » June 4th, 2018, 3:11 pm

The clip posted is digusting and i didn’t see any magic in it, that’s my thought
chacun de nous est magique, combien le realisent et combien partent trop vite...

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27058
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 4th, 2018, 7:05 pm

I agree that it's not going to be to everyone's taste. Cutting off your testes to reveal a chosen card is never going to be widely performed.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Roger M.
Posts: 1598
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Roger M. » June 4th, 2018, 10:08 pm

I suppose it depends on your audience.

Listening to the crowd, they seemed to either be on the borderline of tears of laughter, or already shedding tears of laughter.

Personally, I found it interesting, entertaining, and a very funny take on an ancient card plot. I admire "new" thinking in magic.
Again, for the right crowd ... this routine would obviously be a reputation maker.

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27058
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 4th, 2018, 10:44 pm

Roger, then you might enjoy a version of Chinese Sticks that I once devised at the age of 14.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Edward Pungot
Posts: 925
Joined: May 18th, 2011, 1:55 am

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Edward Pungot » June 4th, 2018, 10:51 pm

"Do you know how a man makes his way here? By brilliant genius or by skilful corruption. You must either cut your way through these masses of men like a cannon ball, or steal among them like a plague."
--Balzac

Brian Hebert
Posts: 48
Joined: August 3rd, 2008, 7:18 pm
Location: nova scotia

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Brian Hebert » June 4th, 2018, 11:02 pm

Was the routine a sight gag or did he just mess up? The card that was revealed at the end was the three of diamonds and not the signed card. He did seem to get off stage quickly. I'd have to agree no magic took place.
Perhaps you had to be there.

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27058
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 4th, 2018, 11:08 pm

You missed the ending. The wrong card was from his scrotum, while the chosen signed card was revealed to have been on top of the deck (after an indifferent card was shown there prior to putting it down).
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Roger M.
Posts: 1598
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Roger M. » June 5th, 2018, 12:13 am

Richard Kaufman wrote:Roger, then you might enjoy a version of Chinese Sticks that I once devised at the age of 14.


.... Dare I ask? :o

User avatar
Tom Stone
Posts: 1521
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Tom Stone » June 6th, 2018, 7:57 pm

Brian Hebert wrote:Was the routine a sight gag or did he just mess up? The card that was revealed at the end was the three of diamonds and not the signed card. He did seem to get off stage quickly. I'd have to agree no magic took place.

It is a brilliantly structured piece.
In the set-up he explains that at the end of all card tricks, the selected card is always found on the top or the deck.
Then, to battle this inherent fatalism in card magic, almost like a martyr, he goes through this rigmarole of self-sacrifice in an attempt to push the art of card magic forward.
...But it is still a card trick, and as explained in the beginning, at the end of all card tricks, the selected card is always found on the top or the deck, and the whole self-sacrifice was for nothing.
A sublime and wonderful piece of magic.

Denis Behr
Posts: 416
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Munich
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Denis Behr » June 7th, 2018, 2:18 am

I absolutely can see this work in the right venue, but not because it is "brilliantly structured" or "sublime". It is a brute force joke on the infantile side, and either you're in the mood and find it funny, or not.

(Even the premise: "at the end of all card tricks, the selected card is always found on the top or the deck." I hear this and think: "Nope, that's clearly wrong.", so the self-sacrifice was already for nothing before it starts.)

Bill Mullins
Posts: 5914
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Huntsville, AL
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Bill Mullins » June 7th, 2018, 8:10 am

Denis Behr wrote:I absolutely can see this work in the right venue, but not because it is "brilliantly structured" or "sublime". It is a brute force joke on the infantile side,


Yes. It is pretty much the opposite of sublime.

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27058
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 7th, 2018, 1:04 pm

I would be hard pressed to think of an audience where cutting open your scrotum would be appropriate other than a strip club.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

Brad Henderson
Posts: 4548
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: austin, tx

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Brad Henderson » June 7th, 2018, 1:19 pm

medical school events

Jonathan Townsend
Posts: 8705
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Westchester, NY
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Jonathan Townsend » June 7th, 2018, 1:33 pm

Brad Henderson wrote:medical school events
Not for reality TV show, magic related medical incidents, or psychic surgery gone wrong :D
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

User avatar
Tom Stone
Posts: 1521
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Tom Stone » June 7th, 2018, 4:15 pm

Denis Behr wrote:Even the premise: "at the end of all card tricks, the selected card is always found on the top or the deck." I hear this and think: "Nope, that's clearly wrong.", so the self-sacrifice was already for nothing before it starts.

Well, yes, if seen as a report on reality, it is clearly wrong.
Even "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." would make you go "Nope, that's clearly wrong." No work of fiction becomes compelling if its central premise isn't accepted.

But assuming the initial premise is accepted, you seldom see work where the initial premise of the piece also becomes its punchline.
There are several good examples of work where a lot of humor is derived from closely adhering to the initial premise in a similar way, yet doesn't quite manage to make the initial premise its punchline. Pit Hartling's "Back to the Future" is one good example:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLpHBe3QV4

Brad Henderson
Posts: 4548
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: austin, tx

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Brad Henderson » June 7th, 2018, 4:28 pm

the premise is best appreciated by those who know it to be inherently false.

User avatar
Ryan Matney
Posts: 978
Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Abingdon, Va
Contact:

Re: Card to *really* impossible location

Postby Ryan Matney » June 9th, 2018, 4:09 am

Could you even perform this in public in America? If you whipped out your balls at a comedy club , you might go to jail. Or does the fact that it is obviously fake keep you safe?

I think it would be funnier if the dangling balls were two diamonds.
Get the Dirty Work - Available now at http://www.ryanmatneymagic.com


Return to “Buzz”