| Archive for The Magicanada Project A Place For the In-Depth Discussion of Magic By Magicians Worldwide! |
| Michael Kras |
Shoving One Arm Through The OtherThis is a very weird idea, but it intrigues me and I have been fighting to come up with a working method with some sort of gimmick.Basically, the effect I have in mind is to reach through your left forearm with your whole right arm! Almost like Andrew Mayne's Gutbuster effect... I am looking for some form of idea by any means possible. It can be long-sleeve or short-sleeve, I don't care! I cannot think of anything. Do you have any small ideas to get this going? By what means could it be accomplished? Thank you! |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
This is going to sound rude but it just begs the question, "Why?" Besides "it's cool," what is the motivation for shoving your right hand through your left arm? | ||
| Michael Kras |
There is no motive, as with any geek magic effect. | ||
| BrianMillerMagic |
That's a major problem in my opinion. If there is no justification for the effect, people might freak out in that moment, but they will not care about it ten minutes later, and probably won't even remember it in a week. If that's the case, then why are you wasting your time performing the effect?
I genuinly would like to hear your opinion on this and everyone else's as well. |
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| Reuben The Great |
well come on brian, i mean half of the magic tricks we all know we can ask why. why stick a needle through your arm, why swallow a sword? why stick a nail up your nose? why make a card appear in a timhortons bag down th street? but in a way i agree, unless you can create a routine, there will be no such effect any time soon. also, both of your arms are about the same width, so how would it VISUALLY look? weird. | ||
| BrianMillerMagic |
Yes, the question is why do any of those things? Unless an effect has a purpose and rings true with your character and the way your character views the world with respect to magic, you shouldn't be performing it. If you'll performer any trick just because it's cool, then you're just a trickster with no substance. There are tons of terrific effects that I would love to perform, but they would simply be out of place with the character I've created and honed through years of scripting and performing. So even if you figure out a way to shove your arm through the other, the question becomes "Why can you, or why would you even do that?" Does it make sense? If I ask you, "Why do you do that?" and your only answer is "Because I can." or "Because I'm a magician.", then it's not good enough in my opinion. |
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| Reuben The Great |
well whats a trick you like to perform? anything you say, i can ask "why?" and there can't be a plausible answer for it, theres no real answer. i mean, we could ask people like derren brown, jay sankey "why do you do the tricks you do?" and they will probably say either a) entertaining people b)personal satisfaction c) impressive, all are bad bad answers according to what you are saying. but i understand about why, but in my opinion, its not asking why (because you just CANNOT ask that about ANY magic trick), its what is the POINT, if theres no routine, no patter and its just hey look i can shove my arm through my arm! then its a waste of time, yes. | ||
| BrianMillerMagic |
Yes, you can ask why, and I can tell you why I perform it, but first I would have to give you a complete description of my character and all the beliefs attributed with that character. There is, in fact, a plausible answer if you've put enough effort into crafting your character and your performances. If you ask Derren Brown 'why,' I can guarantee he has very particular answers. In fact, I can give them to you. Have you read his books? If you haven't, then you should try to get your hands on at least Pure Effect. Read up on some theoretical and philosophical approaches to performing magic. | ||
| Michael Kras |
Actually, yes Reuben, there can be a plausible, although likely fabricated, answer. Why does he turn those blank cards into genuine printed cards? So he doesn't have to buy new cards. Why did he shove one arm through the other? To prove his pain threshold? To prove he can? There are many, take your pick. |
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| Liam |
i would really like to hear an example brian!
why would you find the specatators card other than to amuse your spectator? why would you take three ropes of different sizes and make them all the same legth? when I preform magic, i preform so as to entertain. Is that a good enough reason? I would stick one of my arms through the other in order to show the audience something cool i can do. To show the audience something impossible, something neat looking, something amazing. Is that not reason enough? |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
It's enough to amuse the audience for a few minutes. Then later that day, perhaps by a week later, they will have forgotten about it. Magic done for pure amusement with no substance is easily forgotten. If that's all you care about, then by all means stick with it. The point is that if you want to truly connect with your audience and give them something that they will remember for a lifetime, there has got to be something behind it. You're correct Liam - why would anyone find a spectator's card other than for sheer amusement? It's simply arrogance. The very notion of, "Let me show you something that you can't do" is arrogance, plain and simple. Even if you don't intend it to be that way, that is how it comes off. If you're going to do a 'find a card' trick, you have got to wrap it in a presentation that gives some sort of justification or purpose. It's a classic magician thing to say, "I am about to show you something that can't be done." Do you see how arrogant that premise is? Not only is it arrogant, but it's a balls out lie! Again, my point is that if you want to reach your audience in a way that truly means something, rather than just an amusing few minutes to pass the time, you need to find a purpose. It starts by creating a character and deciding what it is your character believes about magic. |
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| Dbaker |
Well, I'll give posting a method a shot since no-one's brought that up yet.
My idea is basically gut buster on an arm, except your sleeve does the covering instead of your shirt. You can pull this off easily if you're wearing a long sleeve with botton fasten wrists. Due to size restrictions, the actual pierce would need to be done by your fingers and the location would need to be at your wrist. I also have an idea for a much more gimmicked version if you care to hear it. That idea would work on your forearm, allow all 4 fingers to be shown pierced through, and would cost about $30 to build. |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
Dbaker - Yeah, I guess my initial posts ran this thread quite off topic. Apologies for that guys. | ||
| Michael Kras |
No problem, valid points have been made. I never wanted to actually use this, just trying to get creative juices flowing! Let's see what bizarre ideas we can come up with methods for. | ||
| Liam |
yes, lets get back on topic.
I have a very odd method to compleat this goal. Well, not quite a method yet, more of blue prints. now you all get to witness my mad skills with microsoft paint 
k, so it would look like this: http://i212.photobucket.com/album...0/arstuff/Armthroughotherarm2.jpg its 2D, so it doesnt look very cool but heres how: http://i212.photobucket.com/album...70/arstuff/Armthroughotherarm.jpg |
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| Dbaker |
My arms don't bend like that. 
So, velcro holes in your sleeves? |
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| Ethan the Emazing |
Wouldn't you have to pull your arm in your sleeves, making the effect look pointless? | ||
| Liam |
ya, i have know idea how you would get into that position 
and Dbaker, although the pictures are poorly done, its suposed to be bent at the wrists |
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| Michael Kras |
At least the creative juices are flowing! I like that idea! | ||
| Liam |
i think it would look pretty cool if you could somehow get into the possition | ||
| Dbaker |
METHOD BELOW: HIGHLIGHT TO VIEW
Well, here's the more gimmicked idea: Materials: 4 thumb tips wooden shim or popsicle-stick glue (E600 suggested) 2inch thick elastic strips 1/2in ch diameter dowel 1: Put one TT on each of your fingers till your fingertip touches the end. 2: Put a dab of glue between each TT and wait till dry. 3: Cut a 3 inch section off of the dowel. 4: Dump glue into the TT representing your middle finger and rest the 3in dowel inside (when it dries, you should have 4 fingers on a stick). 5: Glue the end of the dowel to the center of the popsicle-stick (with the stick parallel to the width of the fingers). 6: Wrap elastic bands around the popsicle stick to both sides of the dowel, this facillitates strapping the gimmick to your arm. 7: Strap the gimmick to your left forearm. 8: To act like you've pierced your arm, you'll perform an old "psychic healer" move folding your right hand fingers into your palm while simultaneously jutting your hand into your arm. 9: Switch angles by lifting your arm up and showing the gimmick, which has pierced your arm (beneath your sleeve). You may now "wiggle your fingers" by gently tugging on the elastic with your right hand. 10: Reverse angles (showing your right hand), and remove your hand from your arm by doing the "psychic healer" move in reverse. You can now roll your sleeve up to show that you are healed (sliding the gimmick to your upper arm while rolling up your sleeve. Tips: If you want, you can cut the backs off of the TT's so that the backs are all even. This will make the gimmick smaller. However ,a smaller gimmick creates a less convincing illusion but it IS easier to conceal. Secondly, you could hide a blood capsule in your right hand before the perfomance, crush it when you do the penetration, and show blood spatter upon removing your arm. By the way, if you move the gimmick to the back of your upper arm, it will be less noticable. Issues: Why isn't my sleeve cut where I penetrated? Shouldn't it be? That depends where you want to go with it. You can say that you fixed that as well, or you can do a little extra prep and leave a hole in the sleeve (premade hole temporarrally secured by double stick tape). |
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| Liam |
thats a pretty good idea
but i've seen "finger tips" before, and they might work better the thumb tips |
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| Dbaker |
Yeah, but if it's under your sleeve, what difference does it make? | ||