Optical Illusions
We love optical illusions as they demonstrate how our own mind “fools” us when it misinterprets the mental signals it gets from our own eyes. Sometimes we include optical illusions in our act. Check these out…
Count the People in this picture, then, after they shift count them again.
Stare at the + in the center of the picture below and you will soon see a green ball moving around the circle. Actually these is no green ball at all – except in your imagination.
Is this a floor or a roof?
What do you see? A rabbit? A duck? A bald magician?
Dots seem to change from black to white as we stare at them.
Keep staring at the black dot. After a while the gray haze around it will appear to shrink.
Are the horizontal lines parallel or do they slope?
Look at the chart and say the color, not the word. This is a conflict between your left brain and your right brain. Your right brain tries to say the color's name, but your left brain insists on reading the word.
A rabbit or a duck? Hint: The duck is looking left, the rabbit is looking right.
Womain in vanity or skull? Hint: move a bit farther from the screen and blink to see the skull, or closer to see the woman looking at the mirror.
How many legs does this elephant have?
Learn a Trick
Have you ever wanted to entertain your friends with magic?
The secrets revealed on this page will help you get started. I will teach you a simple – but amazing magical trick. First though you need to promise me three things:
- Don’t reveal the secret. to your audience. Unless you are planning to perform a magic trick, it is really no fun to know how it is done. So keep the fun in magic for your audience by keeping the secret.
- Practice the trick in front of a mirror until you can perform it flawlessly.
- Have fun. Your audience will enjoy the trick more if they see that you are having fun.
OK, now on to your lesson…
Domino Card
The Effect: The magician (that’s YOU) shows a large card with a single dot in the center. The card resembles a large domino. When you flip the card over there are 4 dots on the reverse side. You flip the card back to the first side; but now instead of a single dot – there are THREE dots. You flip the card again and four dots have become SIX! You can flip the card a few more times and with each flip the number of dots changes.
The Secret: Make a card from heavy weight, white cardboard. Cut seven circles from dark construction paper or get large colored dots at an office supply store. Glue two dots on one side of the cardboard and five on the other side. (Fig. 1)
To perform, place your fingers over the bottom spot (Fig 2). Show the card and say “One spot here.” Place your other hand over middle spot (Fig. 3) as you flip the card over (from left to right) and say “Four spots here.” Flip the card over again (this time bottom to top); but this time cover the empty space (Fig. 4), say “Three spots here.” Flip again covering the space (left to right) to show six spots (Fig. 5) Say “Now there are six spots.” You may repeat the entire sequence, if you wish.
Note: It is very important that, as you flip the card, you tell people how many dots they “see” on each side. Your statement will help them imagine that there really are the number of dots you say there are.
I hope you enjoy this trick. If you perform it well, your audience will be amazed and delighted with your skill. If you want to learn more magic, be sure to ask me for my brochure. It describes this and seven other wonderful tricks that you can perform anywhere without special equipment. The brochure is FREE to anyone who requests it following one of my performances.