--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <snip> > > That's actually why Doug was so good at close-up magic. > > There was no "other hand." In the trick I'm thinking about, > > he was sitting cross-legged with both bare arms stretching > > out in front of him, palms down, hands closed. Then he'd > > turn both hands over, slowly. In one hand would be a gold > > coin, in the other, none. Then he'd just turn his hands over, > > the coins would switch places, And various permutations > > on this. It was cool *because* there was no distraction. > > He was so good at this stuff he didn't *need* distractions. > > Misdirection is how close-up magic is done. (Unless, > of course, one is doing *real* magic.) People who are > really good at it are really good at it because they're > really good at the misdirection--so good you can't pick > it out even when you're looking for it.
Someday you should actually learn something about the subjects you spout off on before you do so. :-) *Some* close-up magic requires misdirection. Many tricks do not, and depend solely upon the expertise of the magician. Doug very kindly "walked up through" a few of his most interesting close-up tricks in slow motion. They required no misdirection, only expertise. He had the expertise. Lesser magicians need the misdirection to cover their lack of skill. Once, one of the times Doug took us to the Magic Castle in L.A., he ran into *his* mentor as a magician, Dai Vernon. We got to sit and watch Dai do some of the same tricks that Doug had walked us through. It was like seeing a whole other level of the same expertise. Dai was as much better a magician than Doug Henning as Doug was than a kid performing in his back yard. As an example of something that requires no mis- direction, imagine one hand holding a large gold coin. The other hand doesn't enter into the equation in any way. The trick is to turn one's hand over, palm up and show no coin. Then to turn it over again, palm down, and still see no coin. Doug was so good at this that he could do it with three coins, and while allowing you to look at what he was doing from almost any angle. Then I got to see Dai Vernon doing the same thing...mindblowing. Misdirection is what mediocre magicians do, the ones who never put in decades of daily practice to gain the appropriate skills... To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
