I didn't want to give it away in the comments.... I felt it was still great showmanship, and worth watching even though it turned out not to be true.

TRICK SPOILER:
At :54 he sees the top two and the bottom card of the deck. At 1:04 he moves the bottom card to the top, so he now knows the top 3, with the 3rd being what will become Will's card. His shuffles don't have an impact on the top 3, and the middle pile he places down comes from the top of the deck. When he looks through the cards later he puts the ace where he wants it, and the rest is just careful manipulation to keep it hidden while showing a bunch of other cards. He definitely has solid showmanship though!

I was providing a more "technology tailored" way to fool us and how it might create a great magic trick. I also love magic tricks that make use of self-created "magical" devices (his vest counts towards what I'm talking about).

As I mentioned there are probably quite a few ways to do this trick and I wholeheartedly agree with you that the most likely way the majority of this was done was via misdirection and cues. As it is true with almost everything, the simplest answer usually is the truth.

I however, became interested with he kept moving his hands (and the "cards") to the same spots or moving them, repeating, the same movement over and over again right before the "change" or flip occurred (with other things as well like the smoke--and yes, I know it was more than likely misdirection--but, sometimes smoke is just smoke ).

That is what made me think of a scanner (mostly because I'm a computer/engineering/physics hippie and I have seen scanners that can be made to look exactly like that mat; but I also have learned a bit of magic, with that instead of becoming an amateur magician I instead learned about magic and it's history instead). But, like you said and I also said above in my comment, this all can/could be done through many various schemes. Using differing ways of that same scheme/idea, the same mechanics and/or devices, with sleight of hand and a lot of misdirection (very well done too, simply because there was so very much of it needed--which Penn & Teller commended him on in their own way).

His jacket for example is obviously HIS engineered creation. It has a lot of hidden and secret functionality; in fact it may have been the underlying foundation that allowed the whole trick to work so well (you never know just what exactly is the magician's biggest helper in many tricks). That is what I love, personally, about magic is the engineering and love--the workmanship--that can go into it. Every great magician definitely has that engineering facet to their personality; they all know how to create a device that gives them just what they need. I've seen so many magical devices and how they were used and how they're made as well and I must say, it is a terribly interesting thing to learn about and see done. Sometimes you have devices made just to perform one extremely small function, just to add that little bit of "panache" to a trick...

Every magician--good and average--however do have or need one thing in common no matter what, and this refers to what you talk about (and this magician may be leagues ahead of others, making all tricks completed in that same manner seem simple and mundane compared to what he can accomplish with the exact same, extremely fundamental, aspect to magic; pulling off tricks that almost all magicians would believe to be impossible using such a standard fare of abilities and methods): agility and sleight of hand. With this comes the uses for that "god-like" speed and manipulation. Use that with engineered tools (not necessarily what I mentioned--the scanner, printer, and ink method--but, things easier to craft and more likely to be used like his vest) and it can suddenly make any of the simplest tasks (or even tricks that other magicians perform) we do everyday, extraordinary if not miraculous.

I thought I'd add my idea, because I like to figure these tricks out as well; as I'm sure many of you are as well.

Overall, if I was Penn and Teller, I'd be most impressed with his ability to keep his showmanship intact while obviously needing great concentration on the trick at the same time--not to mention he keeps showing superb sleight of hand the whole time.

So many magicians are just amazing to watch. The tools they create (which can be so complicated that you'd never believe that someone would create such a thing or something fairly complicated to complete one very easy task) sometimes never let their presence be known--if done right. But in other cases you know there is "something" helping the magician, but you can't begin to imagine what exactly he has created or what exactly it is accomplishing for him.

I do wish they'd give us a general idea how these tricks are performed, without destroying the "magic" involved. Just tell us general things, like "misdirection and a magical device", etc... They don't need to explain it into it's minutiae.

I'll always love magic and the amazing use of the mind and the body to create illusions grand and small (or "magic" that just tests the limits OF the mind or the body; feats, as it were).

When the body and mind work together in perfect unison to create such wonderful uses of sleight of hand, feats, and "magical" devices...these are the type of people that will continue--hopefully for as long as humans exist--to create magic as real as it can get. Waking up the child inside us all!

/length

I can see that there's a market for this kind of craftmanship / showmanship, but if they waste anymore time on "weeaboo," they will be bankrupt by the end of the month!

Whenever I go to Benihana's I end up with rice in my hair. I approve of this ladies tastefully restrained food preparation showmanship.

A more subtle point is the fact that they played a clip of the offending song, they placed him on a bed of (one might argue) comical rubber nails, the audience laughter, and the general showmanship of the hosts tell me that Islam is slowly headed in a healthier direction.

Good for the guy, talk about a lucky break.

The illusions were great but the guy could use a lil more showmanship.

In so many ways, they remind me of "Art of Noise", with improved showmanship.

Sweet act, never seen anything quite like that.

I do wonder if he added weight to the feather; wouldn't be hard to stick something in the shaft of it. Great showmanship though, could have done it with a little twig, but a feather is way more interesting and gives the crowd something to focus on.

Ice Cream Vendor has some Showmanship! has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals on that post.

>> ^EvilDeathBee:

Kylie Minogue has a fantastic arse


Was thinking the very same thing about every five minutes ago which brings me to the POINT:
Madonna bared her withered stank-ass nipple in Turkey (irreverent cunt) on this same tour and now her schtick it seems is to exhibition her wares throughout the remainder of her talent-less career. Proof positive here though that she still has few years stripping for change.

Kylie?? She's of another realm altogether. Showgirl. Talented. Stylish. Hard and soft, fierce yet fragile. Minogue embodies the essence of showmanship and decorum. No compromise, unchanging. One of the shining gems of stardom that we are fortunate to have been witness to.

Madonna?? You may benefit from the part of the recluse for the rest of your tenure. Or else grow the fuck UP! Oh, you suck at acting as well. Try some lessons.

Well said!

>> ^therealblankman:

I don't think it would be a stretch to compare Earl Scruggs to Jimi Hendrix. Like Hendrix, Scruggs literally changed how his instrument was played- changed it forever. Also while both Hendrix and Scruggs may not have invented the techniques and styles they used, they certainly both popularized and perfected them with a combination of virtuosity and showmanship.

I don't think it would be a stretch to compare Earl Scruggs to Jimi Hendrix. Like Hendrix, Scruggs literally changed how his instrument was played- changed it forever. Also while both Hendrix and Scruggs may not have invented the techniques and styles they used, they certainly both popularized and perfected them with a combination of virtuosity and showmanship.

>> ^lucky760:

Very cool, no doubt, and I'd love to see it in person, but I recoil a little when I hear this technology described as a hologram. It's not a 3D rendering, as far as I understand it. It's just a life-sized projection onto a really large semi-transparent surface. Right? Or am I missing something?


Yeah I think it's the same technology that they use for that japanese anime popstar Hatsune Miku.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI

While this is a definite +1 for technology and showmanship, it's a definite -1 for the legacy of your favourite musicians. If this becomes a trend prepare to see your favourite dead rock stars back on stage, and re-purposed, re-voiced and re-scripted to suit the the requirements or agenda of whoever's pulling the strings.

New Michael Jackson stage musical anyone?

>> ^reiwan:

FUCKING AUDIO JESUS CHRIST ARE YOU TRYING TO DESTROY MY SPEAKERS?


That's unnecessary.