Magic tricks

About

I never really caught the magic bug - or whatever it is that makes people decide to learn lots of magic - but I do love learning about the science of misdirection and "the art of cognitive blind spots" (see this ted talk), and I admire a trick that requires very little skill and no fancy equipment because the idea of entertaining children is fun.

At the time of writing this, I hadn't attempted (let alone mastered) any of these tricks, and I also fear I'm not really the right personality to be even an amateur magician because I'm always too temped to give away the ending.

An explanation of cognitive blind spots.

Easy Magic Tricks

Pen Tricks

Disappearing Pen

• Video (2:00)
• The Claim: "Shall I make this pen disappear and come back?".
• The Trick: There are three tricks in the video. In (#2) (2:00) the pen's clip is gripped between the middle & pointer finger and pulled out from behind the hand. In (#3) (2:30) a pen is held at the base between the pointer, middle, and thumb, and while behind the other hand, it's flipped into the hand so that it disappears, then flipped out again (behind cover) to make it reappear.
• 

  Dissapearing pen behind hand

Sharpie Through the Hand

• Can't Find Video
• The Claim: "I bet I can put this sharpie through my hand".
• The Trick: Count 1, 2 and on 3, place the sharpie behind your ear then put your hand quickly down into your other hand.
• 

  Dissapearing pen behind ear

Pen Up Nose

• About: A bit gross, but might fool kids. Actually maybe showing a young kid this is a bad idea, they might try.
• Video
• The Claim: "I'm going to put this pen up my nose".
• The Trick: Obviously it doesn't go up, it's slides down your hand, then you bite down on the tip to pull it out of your mouth.
• 

  Pen up nose trick

---

Face Tricks

Thumb Through Ear

• About: Silly fun. Looks like your thumb has gone through your ear.
• Video
• The Claim: "I have this weird thing where I can put my thumb through my ear".
• The Trick: While hidden, your pointer finger wraps around the top of your ear over your thumb and pinches up the bottom of your ear.
• 

  Thumb through ear trick

Links

• The art of cognitive blindspots | Kyle Eschen | TEDxVienna - Comedic explanation and he does a great trick with balls at the end which will make you rewatch the video and catch glimpses of the trickery.