chetday wrote:I almost always have a forced card with a lot of white space signed in a specific manner in a specific place when I'm doing a bit of magic for family or friends. I'll do a trick that's totally unmemorable with that signed card and then quickly move on to something more interesting.
Now for the devious part...
I keep these signed cards at home for months (sometimes years).
Then, when I know I'm going to be asked to do a trick or two, I'll dig out one of his/her previously signed cards and then secretly put it in a freezer, stick it to an outside window, attach it to a dog's collar, place it under the Thanksgiving pie, and so on. Then it's a simple matter to force an unsigned but same card, have it signed again in the same manner as done months or years before, disappear it from the deck, and then, kaboom, casually suggest the signer open the freezer, check out the living room window, see what's on the dog's collar, etc. To date I've never had anything but a wholly satisfying "Wow" reaction to this little bit of magic, even though several of the reveals have flown in the face of the too perfect theory. I think part of the success of doing this lies with the fact that the person who signed the card is the one who retrieves it. I pretty much stay back and out of the way, letting them do the real magic when they find their signed card.
I have more fun doing this than I did the night Raquel Welch asked me out for a date right after she starred in "One Million Years B.C." back in 1966.
I wanted to dicuss this great idea when I read your post, Chetday, but the thing is that I had a trauma regarding it, so at first I didn't want to comment anything, however, on second thought, we are here to talk about our experiences in magic, so what the hell...
I did it, but the result wasn't as I expected:
At Christmas party of 2001 I did a signed card trick and kept the signed card. It was the signature of a cousin of mine. The next year, at Christmas party of 2002, I thought about to do the best card trick in my life... you know. I had a good presentation ready. However, when I forced the card that was going to be signed by the same person, he said something that spoiled everything:
"Hey! wasn't a 3 of Spades the same card I signed last year?"
So, my world was crashing down on me.
So then, I had another card signed and improvised something...
Obviously it was too early; so, to make the idea worked I had to let some years go by, not only one, so I committed the mistake of not having enough patience.
I didn't tried that idea again, but I didn't give up regarding other ways to get a signed card IN ADVANCE. I thought about falsifying a signature. It would be about getting the signature of some relative in some piece of paper, and keeping it secretly. So then, we could practise and practice it until getting our version looks like the original one. The next step would be to "false-sign" any card of the deck...
I did that once and I got a great effect, but that is another story...
Regarding the "Too Perfect Theory" with this wonderful idea, I would say that even in this case the solution is not definitive; spectators can think about a stooge or collaborator that signed the card, but also about a falsified signature, or maybe real magic! The thing is that this trick is an example of perfection since its effect is really killing and it is not totally effected by the Too Perfect Theory.