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Great article.

If you find magic interesting, I highly recommend you search YouTube for Penn & Teller's material. There are not only a lot of tricks to be seen, but also plenty of speaking appearances where they talk about their philosophies and their art (and yes, some where Teller speaks!).[0]

One thing that is special about their approach is that they like to make the audience aware that it is a _trick_. In fact, in some instances, they repeat a trick two times, revealing how the trick was done in the second go-around[1]. My very favorite P&T trick actually shows how the trick is done the first time![2]

What's amazing is, the second time you watch it is no less fun. And they know that. They have the firm belief that magic is entertaining because it is an intellectual exercise. It's not that you think magic is real. Rather, you know you're being tricked, but you can't quite figure out how they've done it. Showing how some tricks are done keeps that awareness alive.

This is in contrast to some magicians--David Blaine being a famous example--who believe it is their job to convince the audience _they are actually doing impossible things_. If you watch some of the P&T talks, you'll see that they discuss that quite often.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5siSa4A9M_Q

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PoDhuIp3I0

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbDYjAeXMK4




(You can tell you are on HN when people number their references from zero instead of from one)


I love the Cup and Ball trick, where they repeat it again with clear cups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osRaFTtgHo


Adding to that, if you like card tricks (magic?) you should check out the movie Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants. It's on Youtube, and is one of the most mind-blowing bits of slight-of-hand I have ever seen. It helps that Ricky Jay is also a stupendous performer, and very well versed in the history of card tricks.

I think I first heard of the movie from someone here on HN, and I have shared it with all my friends, who all agree it is amazing. Even people who have no (initial) interest in magic are captivated.


There's also a good Ricky Jay documentary called "Deceptive Practice" that used to stream on Netflix, but now is DVD only, Amazon, etc.

http://www.rickyjaymovie.com/#see-film-page




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