Fuck you.
You are not welcome here. Go back to Fresno, or whatever shithole you came from. The only people who want you here are the casinos, no one else. Take your colors, your bikes, and your bleach blond, saggy titted whores and just fuck off.
You were never liked, ever. Another dipass event that closes our streets, creates noise, and now gunplay. Find someplace else to shit in...how about Sturgis? Those retards just LOVE you losers. "Oh, it's too far, and I'm just a pussy wannabe!" Really? I have a suggestion for ya: find a big horse cock and suck it until Sea Biscuit spurts it's rancid cum all over you and your girlfriend's face.
Stay away from Reno/Sparks...WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!
Oh, and did I mention Fuck You? I did? Well, it bears repeating:
Fuck you.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
The Real Work
Wow, it's been awhile...2 months? This will be a long one, so you won't be lonely for the next 2 months. I will try to keep a better posting schedule, besides, it's not like I don't have anything to post about.
This one might not appeal very much to you, but I was thinking about this, and thought I would lay it down, for good or ill.
**
I have been, and still am, a cardman. I loves the cardz. Card magic, that is. Now I understand that most people, hereafter known as "laymen", think of magic as the stuff they see on TV. Guys like Doug Henning, or Dave Copperfield. Maybe a Vegas style show, like Lance Burton, Siegfried and Roy...that kind of thing. This stuff is called "Stage Magic", or Illusions. Well, we also have coin magic, dove magic, card magic, parlor (also known as Platform Magic), mentalism, all kinds of stuff.
Now, in the world of card and coin magic...which is basically sleight of hand magic, there is a thing called "The Real Work". This is a difficult concept to explain to laymen, as they pretty much just see the trick...you know, the coin vanishes, or the tiger appears in a box that was seconds ago shown to be empty. The same goes for coins and cards...they see the blow off without really knowing how it's done. Decades ago, a fellow named T. Nelson Downs was well known to laymen, and magicians alike as a top flight coin and card man, but mostly coins. He had a bit where he made 40 silver dollars vanish from his closed fist. That's what the laymen saw. Now, what if I told you that he accomplished this feat by palming the whole stack of 40 in his other hand? Noiselessly. Right under your nose. This is The Real Work.
With cards, it's the same thing. But it's really more than that. I guess that, with enough practice, and dedication, anyone could pull off palming 40 silver dollars without making a sound. I guess. But Downs was a special case in that he didn't really work on this too much, he just did it. I mean, of course there was practice involved, but only as far as the routine goes. He didn't really need to sit in front of a mirror for years perfecting it...in his hands it just sort of happened. With cards there are things that are really not possible to do...but there are some cardmen who do them anyway. Here is an example:
John Scarne, an east coast card guy published a book called "Scarne on Cards". He was a noted gambling expert who was hired by the US government to travel around teaching service men how to spot cheaters and not get swindled...this was during WWII. Anyway, in the book, he tells of a performance he did for some mob guys, and some very, very knowledgeable mechanics (card cheats). The highlight of this gig was Scarne opening a sealed, brand new pack of cards, shuffling them, and then cutting the 4 aces. Sounds simple, right? Think about it: sealed deck of cards, no false moves...just a shuffle or 2, then cut out the aces. When asked by the cheats how he did it, he told them that during the shuffle he would sight the aces in the deck, and count the number of cards that fell on each ace as he shuffled. Then he simply cut the proper number of cards to get to each ace. Now, there is some controversy over whether he actually did this as described. But if so, this would be a case of The Real Work.
The controversy is that Scarne appeared on The Tonight Show and performed this for Carson, who is an amateur magician himself. Well, Mr. Scarne did this using crimped aces, that is, the aces were bent a bit to facilitate the cutting. Carson, in reference to the rather large crimps, said to Scarne "boy, you could drive a truck through those!". So we will never know if Scarne really did the routine the way he says he did. Now, I am not really qualified to comment on this, as I didn't see him on the Carson show, but I know Scarne's work, and he was no slouch. But the Real Work? Only Scarne knows...or knew, he is no longer with us.
The point of this is that in my opinion, The Real Work does not exist. It is an ideal, a target that we continually shoot for, but never hit. We always can improve a move, or simplify it, or manage it better. But as far as attaining the Real Work...it's a pipe dream. We are limited by our own shortcomings, and our own level of skill, and no matter how much time and effort we put in, there will always be that Real Work lurking, and laughing at us. We all know this.
But we will keep chasing after it, not even stopping for breath.
This one might not appeal very much to you, but I was thinking about this, and thought I would lay it down, for good or ill.
**
I have been, and still am, a cardman. I loves the cardz. Card magic, that is. Now I understand that most people, hereafter known as "laymen", think of magic as the stuff they see on TV. Guys like Doug Henning, or Dave Copperfield. Maybe a Vegas style show, like Lance Burton, Siegfried and Roy...that kind of thing. This stuff is called "Stage Magic", or Illusions. Well, we also have coin magic, dove magic, card magic, parlor (also known as Platform Magic), mentalism, all kinds of stuff.
Now, in the world of card and coin magic...which is basically sleight of hand magic, there is a thing called "The Real Work". This is a difficult concept to explain to laymen, as they pretty much just see the trick...you know, the coin vanishes, or the tiger appears in a box that was seconds ago shown to be empty. The same goes for coins and cards...they see the blow off without really knowing how it's done. Decades ago, a fellow named T. Nelson Downs was well known to laymen, and magicians alike as a top flight coin and card man, but mostly coins. He had a bit where he made 40 silver dollars vanish from his closed fist. That's what the laymen saw. Now, what if I told you that he accomplished this feat by palming the whole stack of 40 in his other hand? Noiselessly. Right under your nose. This is The Real Work.
With cards, it's the same thing. But it's really more than that. I guess that, with enough practice, and dedication, anyone could pull off palming 40 silver dollars without making a sound. I guess. But Downs was a special case in that he didn't really work on this too much, he just did it. I mean, of course there was practice involved, but only as far as the routine goes. He didn't really need to sit in front of a mirror for years perfecting it...in his hands it just sort of happened. With cards there are things that are really not possible to do...but there are some cardmen who do them anyway. Here is an example:
John Scarne, an east coast card guy published a book called "Scarne on Cards". He was a noted gambling expert who was hired by the US government to travel around teaching service men how to spot cheaters and not get swindled...this was during WWII. Anyway, in the book, he tells of a performance he did for some mob guys, and some very, very knowledgeable mechanics (card cheats). The highlight of this gig was Scarne opening a sealed, brand new pack of cards, shuffling them, and then cutting the 4 aces. Sounds simple, right? Think about it: sealed deck of cards, no false moves...just a shuffle or 2, then cut out the aces. When asked by the cheats how he did it, he told them that during the shuffle he would sight the aces in the deck, and count the number of cards that fell on each ace as he shuffled. Then he simply cut the proper number of cards to get to each ace. Now, there is some controversy over whether he actually did this as described. But if so, this would be a case of The Real Work.
The controversy is that Scarne appeared on The Tonight Show and performed this for Carson, who is an amateur magician himself. Well, Mr. Scarne did this using crimped aces, that is, the aces were bent a bit to facilitate the cutting. Carson, in reference to the rather large crimps, said to Scarne "boy, you could drive a truck through those!". So we will never know if Scarne really did the routine the way he says he did. Now, I am not really qualified to comment on this, as I didn't see him on the Carson show, but I know Scarne's work, and he was no slouch. But the Real Work? Only Scarne knows...or knew, he is no longer with us.
The point of this is that in my opinion, The Real Work does not exist. It is an ideal, a target that we continually shoot for, but never hit. We always can improve a move, or simplify it, or manage it better. But as far as attaining the Real Work...it's a pipe dream. We are limited by our own shortcomings, and our own level of skill, and no matter how much time and effort we put in, there will always be that Real Work lurking, and laughing at us. We all know this.
But we will keep chasing after it, not even stopping for breath.
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