It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call!

Today I have two things to talk about:

• Single Handed
• Unliftable: The Light-Heavy Deck

Both of these were what I like to call pseudo-impulse-purchases. The impulse part is, I "had to have them right away", and so I bought them. The pseudo-part is, I didn't need a lot of convincing that these would be tricks I would use.

For Single Handed, this trick just vibes really well with my style and normal audience. The premise of the trick is that you're going to perform a card trick with only a single hand by keeping one of your hands behind your back for the duration of the trick. The spectator selects a card, signs it, shuffles the deck, and even after all of this fairness, their selected -- and signed -- card is found in the hand behind your back!

Before I continue too much, if you do want to buy this trick, it's on Ellusionist and you can save 10% using the code BABBITS10: Single Handed!

A gimmicked deck is used for Single Handed, but the selection and all that jazz is completely fair. I've thought of a way, after finding out how the trick is performed, to do it without a gimmicked deck, but it's more sleight-intensive and error-prone (but hey, how killer would it be to do it with a borrowed deck!). If you've bought the trick and want to chat about it, reach out and let's jam!

That said though, using the gimmicked deck -- which I'm 100% fine with in this case -- actually makes the trick extremely close to self-working. I've been practicing the movements during meetings while at work last week, and I think I'm ready to perform this one now!

Now... Unliftable: The Light-Heavy Deck.

I've always been in love with size-weight illusions -- also known as the "Charpentier illusion", according to Wikipedia. And... also known as "De Moor's illusion". Regardless of what it's called, it's the idea that something that is perceived as a certain weight ends up being radically different. Either it's really large and unnaturally light, or it's small and unreasonably heavy. In magic, my favorite application of this is making a small object impossible to lift.

When Vanishing Inc shared the product info out for Unliftable, available on VanishingIncMagic.com, I was a little skeptical at first thinking that maybe it is just a little heavier and it shocks folks. According to the trailer for it though, and comments on the page, folks really just can't lift the deck off the table!

I haven't received my order for it yet and the instructions for it "come in the box", so I don't really know anything about how it works yet. From what I've gathered, based on Vanishing Inc's comment replies, the gimmick itself is attached to the outside of the box, but is fairly examinable. I could see this being a trick done later in a set, even after something like "card to box".

One immediate dislike I have of Unliftable, already... even though I don't have it yet, is that it's very clear that there is something fishy going on -- from a spectator's viewpoint. In the trailer, when you see people trying to lift the box off the table, it slides around. If the thing was really "that heavy", it wouldn't budge. In this case though, it almost looks like they're just pulling it around the table like a toy truck. We'll see what's up when I receive it in the mail though!

One week and two new tricks! Well, I have one and the other's still in the mail, so I guess it's really two weeks and two tricks... but you get the point. It did give me time to focus on practicing one of them though, so I think it all worked out in the end.

Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!

Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.

I apologize in advance if the title is misleading, this post is not sharing a magic tutorial or anything like that. However, it is dropping the news that I will be starting magic tutorials!

Excellent question! I actually mean I'll be starting magic tutorials on YouTube.

I have always planned to do tutorials there, but until now I've only posted reviews of playing cards, and a few books and tricks. This has been entirely on purpose, trying to get a feel for how the platform works, how to film and edit videos, and if I'd be able to build an audience naturally. Well, it's worked! I mentioned once that when I hit 500 subscribers on YouTube I would start doing tutorials. I haven't crossed the 500-subscriber mark yet, but by the time I film and edit a video, I should have!

What Kind of Tutorials?

Card magic! I've been planning a lot of content, so there's going to be no shortage of videos for a long time (pending I actually film them all). The things I have in mind are everything from the fundamentals of sleight of hand to trick breakdowns, and even performance theory. I likely won't focus directly on mentalism itself, but there are plenty of "mentalism" style card magic tricks that may be taught too.

Magic is my primary hobby, and has been for years. I'll never be a professional magician -- by choice -- but that doesn't mean I don't want to be as skilled as one. In my actual career, I teach a lot. Teaching, as I discovered a very long time ago, has the reverse effect of leading me down a path of creativity, skill expansion, and better understanding of the topics I'm discussing. By me teaching you, I'll become a better magician myself!

Respect and Ethics

I want it to be clear, I will not be premiering magic tutorials on YouTube by teaching Clip Shift. No, everything I teach will fall into these categories:

• Public domain
• Personal creation
• Collaboration with the original creator (including permission from the original creator)

As I mentioned above, I'm not a professional magician -- but those who are rely on discretion in magic for their livelihood. I have a deep respect for the art, and while I do feel that the "never reveal your secret" motto is taken a little too strictly sometimes, I won't violate someone else's.

Attribution and acknowledgement for content that's not originally mine, even the use of a sleight or idea in a trick that I've created, will be shared. Doing full due diligence for everything would be quite a daunting task, especially since I wouldn't have full access to all of the necessary resources the majority of the time, so I can only promise that I'll do my best. I think that, for "credits", these would be shared both in the video itself, and the video's description. All of it would be self-contained on YouTube too, that way the person learning wouldn't have to jump to too many other sources.

Also, and this is more about "respect for the art" and less about ethics (though maybe it's both?), I want to focus on the education value of what I teach. Yes, some of the fundamentals and tricks I'll go into may be basic, or may already have two dozen other tutorials on YouTube, but I won't be churning out content just to post a new video every other day.

What About Your Other Platforms & Media?

This blog's not going anywhere anytime soon. I'll still be posting regularly, and I was actually thinking that once I get a few tutorials posted, I can start organizing them here in a new "Learning" section on the site. That might make it more accessible and easier to find what you're looking for, pending I actually teach what you're looking for!

I've kind of slowed down on the other platforms (i.e., Instagram) as it is. I still go there, almost daily, and view others' posts, but it's been a little while since I've posted myself. Since I started focusing on YouTube videos, I've lost interest in photography a bit. I still like it, I just don't have the time to split between so many things.

Speaking of Instagram and YouTube though, I will be doing more Reels and Shorts! I had a really fun idea recently. I was flipping through all three volumes of The Definitive Sankey and in the first one, there's a quote that says that it would be impossible for anyone to master and perform all of the tricks in the volumes. Well, challenge accepted! I'm going to learn and perform all of them, and do them as short-form video.

The caveat here is, not all of them can be performed in under 60 seconds. And, some of them require props or materials that I simply don't have, and won't be able to acquire. So, I'll either need to modify the trick, or -- and this is very likely to happen a few times -- skip the trick. My kids actually suggested that, for the tricks that take longer than 60 seconds, to film a few of them together as a longer "magic show" episode to share on YouTube. Definitely an idea!

Oh, and I'll still keep doing deck and book reviews. I was actually thinking of changing up my book review format a little too and making it more of a "magic book club" type of thing. More to come on that though!

This past weekend, "spring cleaning" was in full effect in my house and my home office was not omitted from the fun. Ignoring my mountains of books for a moment, I'd like to focus attention on the stack of nearly 50 Genii magazines.

I've been subscribing for a few years now and have kept every issue that's arrived in my mailbox. Each issue is full of articles to read -- and I've read all of them -- but I keep the magazines for a different reason: the tricks. In addition to the articles, every issue has several tricks, some of which may be exclusively printed there!

On more than one occasion, I've actually found myself grabbing a deck of cards and practicing the latest trick from the latest Genii issue. Some of these tricks are real keepers. Others are fun to practice, and of course some are good to skip right over. This is something true true with any source, not just this magazine. However, the fact that some are worth keeping has caused me to, well, keep the magazines. Unfortunately, I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone back to any of these magazines to re-read a trick. So, are they worth keeping?

The tricks themselves, I think they're worth keeping. But the whole magazine? It feels like a waste of space honestly.

I could just tear out the pages for tricks I'd like to keep, but that seems like too much management and hassle. Alternatively, I could scan them and put them on the computer, but once they're compiled into a digital book this way, would I actually get back to them?

One thing that I do want to point out, and this is true with Genii, is that there's also a digital version of the magazine. Every issue that's ever been printed is also available online. So technically, I already have them each stored and can just toss the physical magazine once I'm finished with it... however, even though that solves the storage problem, the real problem is: how to store the reference itself?

For me, I have this blog. Not the part that you're reading right now, but my Library. The way I've built the database, which only a tiny fraction of it is visible on the site itself, I have the ability to enter in data at the level of Conjuring Archive for every book, trick, video -- and magazine -- that I own. But that doesn't store the reference material itself... just information about it.

Since Genii does have the digital version available, maybe I'm overthinking things a bit. But, what about the video instructions for a new trick I just bought? In a year or two, if the website hosting the instructions goes away, am I stuck without a guide? What about that one book that has 20 tricks in it and I only use the 1? Do I keep the book, or pass it along to someone else who may find something in it that they love? If I do pass it along, how do I keep a reference for the 1 trick that I use? Or, in magic, is that the idea -- it's only yours so long as you own it?

I haven't tossed any of the magazines away yet, but I likely will soon. If you've read the blog in the past, you'll know that I don't like reading magic books on a screen (so the digital version of the magazine isn't my favorite). It's nice to still have it available though, and the frequency that I'd go back to the tricks, well, it makes sense to use it. That, or I wait until the next volume of Magicana comes out!

It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call!

Last year, at Magifest actually, I say Michel Huot perform his Socks routine live. It was really fun to watch, but I also didn't think much more of it other than I really enjoyed it. I had no interest in looking for the trick to learn, or performing it myself. In fact, I had already come up with a way to perform it on my own without needing to buy anything, but that wasn't really "my type of magic."

By the end of Magifest last year, however, something changed in me. I determined that I did want to branch out from card magic and get into other things. But, Socks still wasn't on that list. Until a few weeks ago, that is.

I up and decided that this trick is, at least now, something I would love to perform. I placed and order for it so I could get well-made cards, and some crazy looking socks. I just received it this past week and already watched the tutorial -- the kicker ending of which I didn't figure out on my own! I haven't had an opportunity to perform it yet, but it's on my plan for this week =]

Speaking of Magifest and branching out from card magic...

At the Vanishing Inc booth at this year's Magifest, they had three very large books, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of The Definitive Sankey featuring over 500 effects by Jay Sankey!

I didn't buy them.

Rather, I didn't buy them at Magifest. My queue of books to read, that I currently own, is enormous. I think I have at least 100 in my library, for card magic alone, that I haven't read past the introduction, so I've become a bit more selective in my purchases. When I looked at these huge books, which were discounted at Magifest too, I decided not to pick them up because it was too much money for books that I likely wouldn't get to for a very long time. That, and I wouldn't have room in my suitcase for them.

Well, a week or two ago I caved and bought them online (for the same price as they were at Magifest!). I have opened Volume 1 and have read a little into it already and I have to say, I'm going to really like these books. I will be adding more to this site about them soon -- there's a lot to enter, and I want to make sure I have actually had a chance to read through them first though. I'll be publishing a blog post more specific to these books in about a week too, I have some exciting plans!

Oh, oh! And in direct conflict with what I just said about having too many books and being more selective in my purchases, I also received Nick Trost's Subtle Card Creations books, Volumes 1 through 6. I think there are 9 in total, but there was an auction at a super great price on eBay for the first 6 so I jumped on it.

Unlike Sankey's books, I haven't opened these yet. I don't have an ETA on when I'll do that since I have a lot of other fun plans in the pipeline, but hopefully it's sooner than later.

Nine books and a pair of socks. That's what arrived in the mail this week. No decks of cards, unless you count the ones from Socks (which I don't), but let's be honest, I don't really need more cards =P

Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!

Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.

I've mentioned once or twice lately that I've been watching Bill Malone's video series Malone Meets Marlo, but I wanted to call out one of the sleights that he uses in several of the tricks. It's not one that's unique to Malone or Marlo, in fact a lot of magicians do it. It's lapping.

The name and concept go pretty much hand-in-hand; it's when something is put into your lap. I know of dozens of routines, likely more but let's round down, that require the use of lapping, several of which also require bringing the card(s) back into play. I sit at a desk for work all day, so be sure when I say that I've practiced it my fair share. And yet, I've never once performed it.

I'm titling this post "The Confidence to Lap", because like many sleights, it takes a certain level of confidence to pull this one off. If your cover or misdirection isn't great, you'll flash. If the audience is to your sides or behind you, you'll flash. If you stand up, cards will fall everywhere -- even after the trick is over! And yet, it's such a versatile ability that offers a lot of different possibilities.

In my situation, I really do have a bunch of routines I've practiced, and even still practice, that require lapping cards. These are routines I want to perform, but I haven't. Unfortunately, it's not always confidence that is the issue. For me, it's situational.

When I'm performing for family at home, we're either on the couch just hanging out, or at the dining room table and they're all around. In neither of these situations can I take advantage of lapping. Well, technically at the table I could, but I would have to direct everyone to be across from me, which would yield suspicion.

At friends' houses, whenever I'm asked to show something off, we're always standing in a group. The reason I can't lap in these situations should be fairly obvious. But, it's a good thing I practice palming more than lapping! Performing at my work office -- when I actually visit there once every few months -- is the same; standing around in a group.

Even at Magifest, when I would be at a table that is suitable for lapping cards, I'd be fully surrounded on all sides. In this specific scenario, maybe it would've been okay to flash to the magicians behind me or to the sides. They're there to enjoy magic and learn new things, so maybe they'd be empathetic with the situation and know that I'm only performing for the spectators in front of me. Regardless, I didn't dare try to find out.

It may sound odd, but this is the one sleight that I'm really itching to use during a performance. Normally, at least the way I think about it, most people would want to try out a new routine, or some new story or patter. I... want to try to lap a card during a performance. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I can treat it like the classic force and just do it during other tricks that don't require it. Well, as long as it doesn't mess up the actual trick.