6 ms·

Lovely article, quick, to the point, and actually applicable outside of Magic as well. Think of some of the strategies employed in Magic as correlating to Adver

Lovely article, quick, to the point, and actually applicable outside of Magic as well. Think of some of the strategies employed in Magic as correlating to Advertising. There are techniques in each to serve goals, and, fundamentally speaking, they're both exercises in manipulation. As a Writer, these are the tools of the trade when put into words (see also: O. Henry). It took me a while to find it, but I loved reading this article in the New Yorker about a pickpocket - goes great with this one! >“Come on,” Jillette said. “Steal something from me.” Again, Robbins begged off, but he offered to do a trick instead. He instructed Jillette to place a ring that he was wearing on a piece of paper and trace its outline with a pen. By now, a small crowd had gathered. Jillette removed his ring, put it down on the paper, unclipped a pen from his shirt, and leaned forward, preparing to draw. After a moment, he froze and looked up. His face was pale. “Fuck. You,” he said, and slumped into a chair. Robbins held up a thin, cylindrical object: the cartridge from Jillette’s pen. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/07/a-pickpockets-tale http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/07/a-pickpockets-t...

jtraffic 9y ago
Fascinating. That article held my attention all the way through. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but it's probably the longest article I've read 100% of for months.
- neaden 9y ago
  And now where is your watch?
  - 6stringmerc 9y ago
    On his shoulder, no doubt! Glad to have shared some great literary journalism. Seeing other people enjoy something I find of high quality is encouraging to say the least.
williw 9y ago
TED talk with Apollo Robbins is very interesting as well. https://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirection https://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirec...
- baby 9y ago
  Anything with Derren Brown in it is fascinating as well. He's done pickpocketing, but he's also given orders to people to give him stuff.
  - criddell 9y ago
    Derren Brown isn't as interesting (IMHO). He doesn't mind using camera tricks (e.g. his lotto prediction) and for me, that doesn't feel very clever.
    - baby 9y ago
      I'd have to agree with you about his magic tricks. He doea blur the lines a lot and it's hard to see what he really did. In that sense all of his act is a huge demonstration of misdirection. But when it comes to hypnosis, I've never seen anything more impressive
      - criddell 9y ago
        That's because some of the people he hypnotizes are just stooges. Ever see his show where over weeks he hypnotized and conditioned normal people to rob a bank (The Heist)? They were actors. :(
        jacquesm 9y ago
        What gets me is that anybody would even believe something like that was real.
        baby 9y ago
ballenf 9y ago
That article made pickpocketing feel ever so slightly like running a debugger on code and halting execution, inspecting values, etc. Robbins freezes his mark's mind or attention and then make changes to their state. And they keep going oblivious to it all. Like the article stated, it feels like he can freeze time at will.
jhallenworld 9y ago
>“When I shake someone’s hand, I apply the lightest pressure on their wrist with my index and middle fingers and lead them across my body to my left,” he said, showing me. “The cross-body lead is actually a move from salsa dancing. I’m finding out what kind of a partner they’re going to be, and I know that if they follow my lead I can do whatever I want with them.”" Oh wow, maybe Donald Trump is a pickpocket!
- drumttocs8 9y ago
  Until I looked it up I definitely assumed you were quoting Art of the Deal.
  - tempestn 9y ago
    Actually, Trump is checking how firmly the person's arm is attached. If he can manage to rip it off, they'll put up less of a fight with only one remaining.
    - 6stringmerc 9y ago
      "Your bloody arm is off!" "No it isn't!" - Monty Python
harryh 9y ago
Another really great New Yorker on the topic of Magic is this profile of Ricky Jay: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-...
amygdyl 9y ago
Edit to replace first sentence: This is what I feel I really need, having just read your comment, and realised just how valuable is the filter here, to me personally. This is what I want, and what I think many would come to find they need: Paid subscription to HN curated pay walled content. Edit add: This by no means has to dilute the HN culture or forum, because you can handle a separate discussion system around the curated content, to keep a clear water between HN proper, and HNdigest/talk. I think the "brand" can handle it, out there in the wild world. My background is in magazine publishing, incidentally. I'm professionally confident could brand and sell a glossy tech + curated digest of the MSM. Even newsstand. I would gladly pay say twice or thrice what a newsstand glossy magazine costs, so ten to fifteen pounds a month is not unreasonable. Cannot someone figure out a deal WSJ, Conde Nast, Murdoch et.al, will accept? Practically just how hard is it to have a different referrer and link to paid articles, and authenticate against a HN login? If anyone is doing this or similar, please please also develop a pdf bundle delivery / digest I can read on my ride home from work. I cant help thinking how easy if would be to pitch the adverts in that.
- amygdyl 9y ago
  Sorry for the ninja editing I had to clarify the above. I just thought to add, even if reading such predigested content is not for you, having a small but dedicated media operation, could do projects like accumulating the "best of" discussions, but set against a tech dictionary format a to z. I would love to have a reference to pass around for work, to current tech, with full entries listing examples of important debates for e.g. language design directions, or the systemd lark illustrated (for benefit of client management) with recent from the trenches debate. Would anyone not like to have their comment "immortalized" in a annual HN cyclopedia? (sorry again for edits, phone not helping)
- 6stringmerc 9y ago
  I'm a top Writer on Medium for Music and Social Media. They are trying a pivot into a subscription service and solicited me for an article pitch. If you like the kind of work I do, I do it because I love it and I only hope that monetary rewards can be tangential to the rewards I get from my work. Yeah it's high minded but I got this far by myself in a lot of ways and I like to think I've earned my standing. HN is, like it or not, a sketchpad for me when it comes to thoughts and ideas to test on a specific market. That's why my original comment went 80+ up. Wise man once say, people read things and invest when they believe they can learn something. Trust is earned.
jacquesm 9y ago
That's a fantastic article, thank you. Favorite bit: "He is probably best known for an encounter with Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service detail in 2001. While Carter was at dinner, Robbins struck up a conversation with several of his Secret Service men. Within a few minutes, he had emptied the agents’ pockets of pretty much everything but their guns. Robbins brandished a copy of Carter’s itinerary, and when an agent snatched it back he said, “You don’t have the authorization to see that!” When the agent felt for his badge, Robbins produced it and handed it back. Then he turned to the head of the detail and handed him his watch, his badge, and the keys to the Carter motorcade. "

jtraffic 9y ago

Fascinating. That article held my attention all the way through. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but it's probably the longest article I've read 100% of for months.

neaden 9y ago
And now where is your watch?
- 6stringmerc 9y ago
  On his shoulder, no doubt! Glad to have shared some great literary journalism. Seeing other people enjoy something I find of high quality is encouraging to say the least.

williw 9y ago

TED talk with Apollo Robbins is very interesting as well. https://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirection https://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirec...

baby 9y ago
Anything with Derren Brown in it is fascinating as well. He's done pickpocketing, but he's also given orders to people to give him stuff.
- criddell 9y ago
  Derren Brown isn't as interesting (IMHO). He doesn't mind using camera tricks (e.g. his lotto prediction) and for me, that doesn't feel very clever.
  - baby 9y ago
    I'd have to agree with you about his magic tricks. He doea blur the lines a lot and it's hard to see what he really did. In that sense all of his act is a huge demonstration of misdirection. But when it comes to hypnosis, I've never seen anything more impressive
    - criddell 9y ago
      That's because some of the people he hypnotizes are just stooges. Ever see his show where over weeks he hypnotized and conditioned normal people to rob a bank (The Heist)? They were actors. :(
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        What gets me is that anybody would even believe something like that was real.
        baby 9y ago

ballenf 9y ago

That article made pickpocketing feel ever so slightly like running a debugger on code and halting execution, inspecting values, etc. Robbins freezes his mark's mind or attention and then make changes to their state. And they keep going oblivious to it all. Like the article stated, it feels like he can freeze time at will.

jhallenworld 9y ago

>“When I shake someone’s hand, I apply the lightest pressure on their wrist with my index and middle fingers and lead them across my body to my left,” he said, showing me. “The cross-body lead is actually a move from salsa dancing. I’m finding out what kind of a partner they’re going to be, and I know that if they follow my lead I can do whatever I want with them.”" Oh wow, maybe Donald Trump is a pickpocket!

drumttocs8 9y ago
Until I looked it up I definitely assumed you were quoting Art of the Deal.
- tempestn 9y ago
  Actually, Trump is checking how firmly the person's arm is attached. If he can manage to rip it off, they'll put up less of a fight with only one remaining.
  - 6stringmerc 9y ago
    "Your bloody arm is off!" "No it isn't!" - Monty Python

harryh 9y ago

Another really great New Yorker on the topic of Magic is this profile of Ricky Jay: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-magus http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/secrets-of-the-...

amygdyl 9y ago

Edit to replace first sentence: This is what I feel I really need, having just read your comment, and realised just how valuable is the filter here, to me personally. This is what I want, and what I think many would come to find they need: Paid subscription to HN curated pay walled content. Edit add: This by no means has to dilute the HN culture or forum, because you can handle a separate discussion system around the curated content, to keep a clear water between HN proper, and HNdigest/talk. I think the "brand" can handle it, out there in the wild world. My background is in magazine publishing, incidentally. I'm professionally confident could brand and sell a glossy tech + curated digest of the MSM. Even newsstand. I would gladly pay say twice or thrice what a newsstand glossy magazine costs, so ten to fifteen pounds a month is not unreasonable. Cannot someone figure out a deal WSJ, Conde Nast, Murdoch et.al, will accept? Practically just how hard is it to have a different referrer and link to paid articles, and authenticate against a HN login? If anyone is doing this or similar, please please also develop a pdf bundle delivery / digest I can read on my ride home from work. I cant help thinking how easy if would be to pitch the adverts in that.

amygdyl 9y ago
Sorry for the ninja editing I had to clarify the above. I just thought to add, even if reading such predigested content is not for you, having a small but dedicated media operation, could do projects like accumulating the "best of" discussions, but set against a tech dictionary format a to z. I would love to have a reference to pass around for work, to current tech, with full entries listing examples of important debates for e.g. language design directions, or the systemd lark illustrated (for benefit of client management) with recent from the trenches debate. Would anyone not like to have their comment "immortalized" in a annual HN cyclopedia? (sorry again for edits, phone not helping)
6stringmerc 9y ago
I'm a top Writer on Medium for Music and Social Media. They are trying a pivot into a subscription service and solicited me for an article pitch. If you like the kind of work I do, I do it because I love it and I only hope that monetary rewards can be tangential to the rewards I get from my work. Yeah it's high minded but I got this far by myself in a lot of ways and I like to think I've earned my standing. HN is, like it or not, a sketchpad for me when it comes to thoughts and ideas to test on a specific market. That's why my original comment went 80+ up. Wise man once say, people read things and invest when they believe they can learn something. Trust is earned.

jacquesm 9y ago

That's a fantastic article, thank you. Favorite bit: "He is probably best known for an encounter with Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service detail in 2001. While Carter was at dinner, Robbins struck up a conversation with several of his Secret Service men. Within a few minutes, he had emptied the agents’ pockets of pretty much everything but their guns. Robbins brandished a copy of Carter’s itinerary, and when an agent snatched it back he said, “You don’t have the authorization to see that!” When the agent felt for his badge, Robbins produced it and handed it back. Then he turned to the head of the detail and handed him his watch, his badge, and the keys to the Carter motorcade. "