Randi was interviewed for the UK magazine Skeptic, and they’ve released a two-minute teaser video:
That trick cracks me up; it’s the very first one I ever saw Randi do live — it was at TAM 1, IIRC — and I remember doing it for my daughter when I got back. Hard to believe it could fool anyone, but there you go. People almost seem to want to be fooled sometimes.
The Skeptic interview will go up sometime in the next month or so. Stay tuned!
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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July 9th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Ah, the old man is becoming quite popular outside North America!
July 9th, 2009 at 8:34 am
As soon as he put the matchbook on the back of his hand I knew what was coming as I learned this trick when I was just a kid. I like that he hasn’t lost his touch because although I know how he made the box disappear he did it quite adroitly and perfectly. Applause for Randi!
July 9th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I don’t get it. Can anyone explain the trick, or is it a secret.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Yes, it’s a secret. That’s why he told us how to do it. Sry. Snark.
July 9th, 2009 at 8:52 am
So Phil, when ya going to start doing Magic tricks like ol’ Randy, uh?
July 9th, 2009 at 8:53 am
I love magic! James Randi is one of my inspirations for learning how to be a magician (that and I run a quick mentalism routine when I do my lecture on research methods…and more importantly because my boys love coin tricks).
July 9th, 2009 at 9:08 am
@ Jeff,
Dude, “embiggen” the video to full screen and watch closely at around the 2:30 minute mark; then you will see that the end of the upside-down matchbox, nearest to Randi’s left wrist, is pinching the skin on the back of his hand.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Forget the trick, the old man is a delight to watch and listen to. He could be reading the dictionary, or the back of a cereal box, aloud and he would be fun.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
I watched it full screen, frame by frame, but could not see how he made the matchbox disappear. Perhaps because the resolution is not very high and the frame is not wide enough.
So, how did he do it?
My hypothesis is this:
- Before opening his left hand where the matchbox was supposed to be, he had put it there from the right hand. But that gesture was fake. He did *not* actually transfer it from the the right to the left hand.
- But was the matchbox really in his right hand then? It was supposed to be there because he had taken it from the back of his left hand a bit earlier. I think that gesture was *also* fake, though the video is not very clear.
So when did the match box leave the left hand and where did it go? This is where the video fails: it seemingly happens off-screen.
But of course, I’m no magician…
July 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Heh – the standing matchbox trick was one of many classic illusions in a magic book I had as a child, and which still sits on my bookshelf. It’s not the same book Randi refers to in the clip, but may well have drawn on it for source material, and there are some wonderful impromptu tricks in there; dancing handkerchiefs, self-linking paperclips, levitating cutlery, all really simple to do and very entertaining.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:49 am
That’s a nice little trick, and that’s a great story to go with it.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I still marvel and how quick and accurate his hands are. With that many years of practice, it becomes just second nature to make the slights. Oh, how I wish I was at TAM this year just to tell him how much joy he has brought me over the years.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
I couldn’t figure it out either, Jean-Denis. It seemed that something funny might have happened at the bottom of the screen. Maybe he dropped the matchbox in his lap where we couldn’t see? But if so, that would be a lousy trick in-person, and did he know precisely where the camera’s screen would cut off? Anyone else, ideas for how he made it disappear?
July 9th, 2009 at 10:30 am
He is wearing long sleeves. Just sayin’….
Yes, that’s my idea of a joke. For people who want to know how it probably disappeared, look up “palming”. It’s a simple technique, but powerful when used with misdirection. It’s basically as Jean-Denis said, but as to the question of where it went…probably a pocket, in the elbow, the possibilities are numerous.
It’s funny he mentions Xerox in the context of brand names, since it’s a specific instance of a genericized trademark (look it up in wiki).
July 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I can’t get the stupid matchbox to pinch enough of my skin. I guess I need looser skin?
July 9th, 2009 at 11:04 am
The ditch is to his right thigh – very probably his pocket.
1) Show the matchbox flat on right hand
2) Fake the pass to the left and palm with right hand
3) Look at left fist and move left fist upwards while dropping right hand to right thigh (pocket – can’t tell, off-camera)
4) Bring right hand back up while still pattering to left fist
5) Open both hands.
This misdirection works well in person also because of the second part of stage 3 – your eye follows the focussed hand upwards because of the sell in stage 2. If you don’t sell stage 2 well, stage 3 is tough. If his interviewer was in on the trick then there’s no real reason to do a full ditch. – Chances are it’s not in his sleeve (unless he’s using a pull) because of the sound of matches rattling when he moves his hands after the disappear.
Of course – there are myriad ways of doing this sort of trick, but the method above is the simplest and requires least prep. (Occam’s razor and all that you know)
July 9th, 2009 at 11:05 am
@ rhett,
When you get to be Randi’s age, you will then have no problem.
July 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
13. rhett:
Try flipping your hand upwards. That should present a fold of skin to which you can attach the matchbox.
Randi palming the matchbox is just so classic.
Phil, next time you see Randi, thank him for me. I laughed my butt off,,,
The very first “magic” trick I was taught (at seven years old) was by a Dr. Ghabra in Abqaiq in 1950.
It involves using 21 cards, chosen at random from a standard deck.
1)LAy the cards out in three columns of 7 cards each.
2)HAve your audience choose one card to be identified and keep it in mind
3)They must only tell you which column it’s in.
4)Collect the cards such that whichever column has the card is the second column picked up.
5)Then lay the cards down,going from left to right, building your columns by rows(this is the important part).
6)This must be done three times, each time only identifying the column in which the card resides.
7)After the third lay down, the correct card will be the fourth card in the center row.
It’s an old Indian trick, dating back over a thousand years.
(Love those crazy, Indian mathematicians)
Gary 7
July 9th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I’m thinking he dropped it in his lap, both from the sound of rattling you can hear at that point and from the laughter of the interviewer. I tried without success to follow it on the awful-quality video, but I have a feeling that even if my laptop could cope with HQ (and even if the clip had been supplied therein
I would not be able to spot it, even in slow-motion!
(and yes, that’s a lot of evens, but I guess with Randi to fix the odds, I’m allowed
July 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Phil…Keith Obermann called the 6,000 year old lady…The state Senator from Arizona the world’s worst person in the world last night…
Someone pointed out he used all your counterpoints without giving credit to you…. Charles Johnson publically called him a scumbag.
Good work Phil
July 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
You just got a brief shout out on The Ed Show on MSNBC. While discussing the crazy State Senator, Ed named your blog as pointing out the uranium irony.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
But he coughed into his hand, yuk. Don’t shake hands with him, he might palm you something you don’t want!
July 9th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
@ rhett
I think that the skin on my hand is a little too similar to the skin around my gut, so I can pinch my skin thinly enough to pull off the trick. Some people might not be able to pinch their skin for the trick for whatever reason.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
DAMMIT RANDI! stop being so damn awesome!!!
Thanx for posting this <3
July 9th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Never underestimate the power of misdirection!
I once saw a street magician tormenting a victim… He was making sheets of Kleenex (TM) disappear. The magician and his victim were sitting on the sidewalk facing each other and 20-30 people (the audience) were standing in a circle around them. We could see everything that was going on. The magician was taking the sheets one at a time, crumpling them in his hand and tossing them over the shoulder of his victim while distracting him to looking the
wrong way each time. There was a large pile of crumpled up Kleenex on the ground behind the vic, and the look on his face was absolutely priceless. No smoke, mirrors, strings, trap doors, etc.; the magician just used clever patter, hand gestures and nods which were hard to ignore even when we (the audience) knew what was going on.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
A true magician of science has a birthday today yes?
Nikolai Tesla’s. Woot for coils and all their magic.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:57 am
@TheMightyMetheglen (post 16):
Since you already did the reveal…yes, that is most likely how he did it. Since he’s sitting and it’s not clear that there’s a table, he probably slipped it under his right thigh. It’s a nice effect.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I love magic tricks. Randi is great. Thanks, Phil.
July 10th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Still Amazing after all these years. Wonderful.
July 11th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I VIEW’D THE RANDI-VIDEO: EXCELLENT !!
SINCERE-LY, MARK “TRUTH-SEEKER” CREEK-WATER
July 11th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
BTW: I FOUND A BOOK, “BEFORE THE BIG BANG” BY ERNEST J. STERNGLASS,
WHICH SEEMs TO BE A BELIEVE-ABLE “GRAND-UNIFICATION-THEORY” —–AKA A “THEORY-OF-EVERY-THING” …
HOW DO FOLKs FEEL ABOUT THIS POSSIBILITY ??
PERHAPs, MORE TO THE POINT, ARE FOLKs AWARE OF PROFESSOR STERNGLASS’s WORK ??
SINCERE-LY,
MARK “TRUTH-SEEKER” CREEK-WATER
MARK.CREEKWATER@GMAIL.COM
July 14th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Get well soon Randi!
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
“I watched it full screen, frame by frame, but could not see how he made the matchbox disappear. Perhaps because the resolution is not very high and the frame is not wide enough.”
I filmed the video and it’s just as bizarre and impressive in person. The matchbox completely disappeared from two cameras mounted at two different angles.
The really weird part is how JR produced it from behind my ear after the cameras were turned off. Freaky.