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January 6, 2010 12:01 PM   Subscribe

Lennart Green is an exceptional magician. [31 mins - but worth every one]
posted by Acey (23 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
True story: Green performed his card magic at FISM (the "magic olympics" that occur every three years at rotating cities around the world) and his stuff was so advanced that he was disqualified for "using trick cards". He was not using trick cards.
posted by meadowlark lime at 12:11 PM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Green's act was recently discussed in this AskMe thread. Very funny, clever stuff.
posted by billysumday at 12:13 PM on January 6, 2010


Ahh, Lennart. His snap deal is awesome. Funny guy too.
posted by splice at 12:15 PM on January 6, 2010


I usually zone out after 90 seconds of watching any online video of magic, but I watched, I laughed, I was amazed, and then looked down and saw that 16 minutes had passed. Great stuff!
posted by mathowie at 12:38 PM on January 6, 2010


I didn't enjoy it much. His facade of awkwardness went so far that I stopped paying attention to the cards and started paying attention to him. Dude needs to work on his speaking skills.
posted by spamguy at 1:14 PM on January 6, 2010


His accent is nearly incomprehensible, but he's good at what he does. The duct tape/foil bit at the end was particularly impressive.
posted by Lobster Garden at 1:22 PM on January 6, 2010


I love it. His rotation joke at the start is the basis for some of the wizardry found at 15:57 to 15:58 and is part of the supporting structure of that elaborate trick. Right at that point, he has to turn the deck over without you noticing. He's got a 5-clubs/Q-hearts composite card on the bottom, and he needs it on the top, inverted. So he's building in little jokes like that to encourage you to see through the tricks. Nice.
posted by stonepharisee at 1:26 PM on January 6, 2010


I know very little about card magic, but I understand that professional magicians don't use the same deck twice. I learned this in an unusual way.

Some years ago Penn and Teller were performing here in Seattle. During the afternoon before their performance my friend Jan and I were giving Teller a tour of Seattle. One stop was a hipster second hand store in Fremont. A young woman approached Teller and asked if he could make change for a large denomination bill. I was agog that she didn't recognize him, and I thought I was about to witness a once-in-a-lifetime demonstration of prestidigitation. But Teller calmly pulled out some bills, and made change for the gal with no fanfare at all.

Later I asked him why he didn't exploit this golden opportunity. The answer, very simply, is that paper money is too flimsy to manipulate well. Professional magicians manipulate cards partly because of their intrinsic stiffness.
posted by Tube at 2:35 PM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


That's very nice stuff.

He's real smooth.
posted by Relay at 2:51 PM on January 6, 2010


I laughed out loud at the "Queen with misdirection."
posted by prefpara at 3:06 PM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


I love watching magicians, but I felt some of this either went under or over my head, basically because he kept putting his hands below the table. Was it a double bluff that he kept doing that ? Was this performance aimed at other magicians who would appreciate his technique?

And at 23 1/2 mins or so he stood up and there was a clear outline of some cards in his left trouser pocket.

I still enjoyed the video.
posted by selton at 4:02 PM on January 6, 2010


The camera set-up was really less than optimal. It's hard to see the cards (I mean, the cards that he wants us to see) at many points in the video. Close-up stuff like this really needs a more specialized camera placement, I think.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:22 PM on January 6, 2010


Later I asked him why he didn't exploit this golden opportunity. The answer, very simply, is that paper money is too flimsy to manipulate well.

This is a blatant lie. I know several good bill tricks which I do with the slightest provocation and I'm learning this trick which I hope will be as good as it looks (the mechanism is clever).

Not that Teller has to tell you the truth or anything. :-D
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 8:29 PM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Excellent magic but that was among the worst camera work I've ever seen. Does TED not rehearse anything?
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:37 PM on January 6, 2010


As far as close-up magicians goes, Ricky Jay will always be my personal god: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ
posted by festivemanb at 10:14 PM on January 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


Mmmm, I'm kinda with Selton here. His physical patter was pretty terrible, I thought. With only a very moderate interest in magic, I thought his hands etc were very awkward - sure he threw a few fake outs in there, but it was pretty obvious when he was concealing - to me, anyway. Maybe it's the camera work, or maybe I'm stupid.

Of course, this doesn't take away from his astonishing dexterity and speed - seeing his palm offs etc is one thing, but his card tracking (when the deck wasn't being replaced, many, many times) was quite special, and the card mime was also delightful to watch.

Favourite card trick ever, for me, still goes to Cyril Takayama. Fuck, I've watched that aquarium trick like a dozen times, still love it.
posted by smoke at 4:24 AM on January 7, 2010


Really liked it. The patter, the accent -- after watching Ingmar Bergman films many times, the combination of Swedish on the soundtrack and English in the subtitles seems to form something like it. So I thought it fitting. Also, doesn't he want to appear to be a total klutz?
posted by RichardS at 5:08 AM on January 7, 2010


I loved how he asked the assistant to remind him to give her the deck he used. With his slight of hand, he could easily switch it in front of her.
posted by Monday at 5:24 AM on January 7, 2010


Guys you realize the incoherent patter is an act, right?
posted by voronoi at 8:46 AM on January 7, 2010


Voronoi, just speaking for myself, I was referring purely to the physical patter: hands ducking down under the table every ten seconds, burrowing under the tablecloth, etc. Some of it was just that: patter. Much of it was replacing the deck, reordering cards, transferring cards etc. Maybe it was the camera, maybe we were meant to see it, I dunno. Either way, I'm sufficiently intrigued to check out his dvds, if I can get em here.
posted by smoke at 3:12 PM on January 7, 2010


smoke: Favourite card trick ever, for me, still goes to Cyril Takayama . Fuck, I've watched that aquarium trick like a dozen times, still love it.

I think that was one of the most amazing tricks I've ever seen. I can't imagine how he did that. I love the pure dexterity tricks, but that one...
posted by selton at 4:48 PM on January 9, 2010


his card tracking (when the deck wasn't being replaced, many, many times) was quite special, and the card mime was also delightful to watch.

smoke nailed it. I'm a rank amateur - more of an admirer than even a rank amateur - but the deck swaps were bloody obvious. Again, maybe it was the camera angle that emphasized it.

What I liked best was how everything, from the irregularly shaped tables with the mussed tablecloth, to constantly dropping cards, supported the illusion of a flustered fool, while his hands tore the deck apart into sense.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:30 PM on January 9, 2010


Oh, wow! Thanks, festivemanb, Ricky Jay was my favorite character in The Heist! Never knew his name before.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:40 PM on January 9, 2010


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