The Magic Whack

Monday, February 07, 2005

Off by one.

Why do so many magicians and mentalists rave about the work of Kenton Knepper? He sure puts out a lot of over-priced crap and most of it isn't even usable.

One of his worst ideas must be 'off by one'. It's ridiculous to play the part of a magician or mind reader and then show a prediction that is wrong and then follow it up by showing a piece of paper that says "I will be off by one". Surely if you knew you'd be off by one you'd have put the eight of hearts as your prediction instead of the seven.

Here's an idea, stick a ten of clubs in an envelope, ask someone to name any card. If you hit it then you have a miracle, if you don't then pull out a piece of paper, have them open it and read what it says. "I will be wrong." Taaaa-darrrr.

Better still, throw down any card at random from a deck (don't even look at it yourself), have someone name any card, and turn it over. Again if you hit it then take a bow. If you're wrong then just hand them a piece of paper that says "I am a shitty magician."

As magicians we have dozens of ways of producing an accurate prediction. A pocket card index and palm into a Kaps wallet would work great for example, but a lot of magicians can't be bothered to learn such as an advanced technique as 'palming'. But even if you're scared of palming there are still lots of ways to achieve a spot-on prediction which is what a magician or mentalist SHOULD be able to do. So why then do so many bow down and worship Kenton for coming up with one of the most piss poor ideas ever?

MW.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home