This biggest takeaway I had from this was the burning question of, “how in the hell do you perform a deal from the center of the deck?”.
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For anybody that especially enjoyed the card tricks (miss me with the celebrity psychobabble BS), I went down a YouTube rabbit hole recently of the late Ricky Jay. Fans of Deadwood and PTA will recognize him from his many reliable supporting roles, but he’s considered to be the GOAT slight-of-hand artist. Like Double D, his one-man shows delve deep into the underbelly of card sharks and hustlers, a world of which he was very much a part. Here’s a cool bit about dealing from the bottom or the middle of the deck. Ricky Jay -- False Dealing - YouTube
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Ricky Jay was incredible and in a ton of David Mamet films, and also Boogie Nights I believe.
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Ricky Jay, also the subject of one of the great magazine stories of all time.
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Also, I thought it was interesting that the guys mentioned JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy aka Tuesdays with Meemaw. For one thing, because JD and DD look a lot alike, even more so than PReed, IMO. But also because they each seem to be very effective manipulators of the upwardly mobile set. They both preach at the Altar of the Self.
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Amsterdam for me.
Really enjoyed this. Watched it tonight but haven’t listened to the pod yet, so that may churn up some more thoughts. Time will tell, but I already kind of feel like my response is going to be similar to @anon3021505’s — highly entertaining show, but doesn’t seem endlessly meaningful for me.
Though I do want to know the story behind “keep up the good work” guy.
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Anyone know where I can watch “In and of Itself” in the UK? We don’t have Hulu here.
Doesn’t look like it’s available outside of the realm of VPN’ing
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Thanks for the info. The Garth doc took about 3-4 months to make it over to the UK so maybe this will be similar.
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Can’t un-see it now.
The only one I can’t really wrap my head around is the letters. How could that possibly be done? Unless all those people were paid actors or something which I don’t think is true but really, how else is that pulled off?
The calling out people’s cards they picked at the end is a tough one too. Clearly it’s card counting but when did he have the time to calculate all of that?
Either way, dude is very skilled at what he does and clearly gets people thinking about what he is saying. It’s an interesting take on it all.
I’m surprised the letter thing hasn’t “leaked” in some way since the show’s gotten popular. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a willing family member that wrote a letter to spill some portion of the beans to paint a partial picture of how he did it.
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Check out this podcast too. Derek gives some additional context and color to some of the questions you all had in the trap draw: Tom Talks - Ep7 w/ Derek DelGaudio - YouTube
I came to the realization during this pod that I’m buying about anything KVV, DJ, and Randy are selling
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So I saw the pod title and thought I didnt want to watch it because I already consume so much of what NLU puts out there and I didnt need more. I use “listen, for sure” at work, I listen to Maggie Koerner on spotify, I wear the merch, and, of course, consume most of the youtube/pods. In the spirit of the show I felt that NLU was already enough of who I am so I didnt want to watch a show I otherwise wouldn’t have.
But then @BrysonsLats texted me about it and said I should watch it. I think this is why the refuge is awesome. It’s always been strange to me to be such a follower of influencers like Randy. But to do something because a friend tells you to is pretty much what life is all about.
So I tuned in knowing absolutely nothing about what it was. And throughout the show I found myself as one of the blind men trying to define what it was. First, with the narration and stage monologues I thought it was a solo performance documentary. As Derek talks more about himself it felt more like a biography. Then the magic appeared and my perception shifted to that. Lastly, I kind of fell on some sort of middle school retreat vibe of “be a good person” but for adults told by this guy.
Now that it’s over and I’ve listened to the pod maybe it isnt an elephant equivalent “show”. Maybe its the magical creature that has all these parts of things I knew but pieced together.
I liked it.
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It has, I think
Summary
The gist of it, As I understand it, the producers email someone who bought more than one ticket and ask the purchaser if they’d be willing to ask a loved one to write a letter for the person who using the second ticket. So in effect, the ticket purchaser is in on it. Then Derek uses his sleight of hand or what have you to get the right letter in the hands of the preselected person.
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A recommendation for anyone that enjoyed In & Of Itself: Scott Silven’s “The Journey”
It is basically an interactive show over Zoom with storytelling and illusions that are very much in the same vein of Derek DelGaudio’s work. Would strongly recommend, as my wife and I both enjoyed it.
A review from the NYT: Review: In ‘The Journey,’ Scott Silven Tours Your Mind - The New York Times
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I watched this again last night and paid more attention to the things that I missed the first time around. Picking the right cards for people who stand up at the end is more curious to me now because the cards are collected on a chair right next to the stage and placed directly in the stag where they stay for the entire performance. Interested in how it all works
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