
The Honor System (2012) - nkurz
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a15810/teller-magician-interview-1012/
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empath75
Magic happens in the minds of the audience and the method is the least
interesting part. Shin Lin sells a video where he explains how to do his most
famous act and some of the methods are so crude that I think many people would
be surprised they hadn’t figured it out and some of them might feel cheated.

But it’s hands down the most beautiful card magic act I’ve ever seen. The real
magic is in how he tells a story wordlessly, syncing it with music like a
dance. You aren’t spending time trying to unravel how it happened because
you’re so enchanted by the story.

Teller’s best tricks are the same way, and the fact that they often tell you
more or less how the trick is done without ruining it confirms how unimportant
the method is to the performance.

All of which is to say that I think teller was right to sue and I’m glad he
won.

These days, finding out how to do 90% of the most popular magic tricks is a
google search away, but it’s still very hard to perform magic well.

~~~
lonelappde
Penn and Teller usually tell how a trick is done and then (or simultaneously)
do it _differently_.

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sbierwagen
Teller won the lawsuit in 2014: [https://www.courthousenews.com/teller-
gets-545000-in-magic-f...](https://www.courthousenews.com/teller-
gets-545000-in-magic-fight/)

~~~
teddyh
> _U.S. District Judge James_ […] _Mahan found Dogge to be “exceptionally
> difficult and unresponsive, necessitating numerous motions and responses” to
> force his cooperation._

Yeah, don’t annoy the judge.

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joshuaissac
After reading the article and searching for Gerard Bakardy on Google, I found
his version of the story:
[http://www.myfreedomofspeech.be/site2014/Welcome.html](http://www.myfreedomofspeech.be/site2014/Welcome.html)
(note: the website is mostly made of images of text, so it may not display
well on a small screen).

~~~
ineedasername
Well, their accounts don't seem to match up. However, Teller doesn't appear to
have a very litigious history. Bakardy also says Teller was suing because he
didn't like that Bakardy's trick was better, which does not at all seem to be
the reason for the lawsuit.

The Bakardy version of the story has a strong veneer of fudging & tilting the
facts, which is rather off putting to me, though I concede that doesn't mean
his account is not accurate.

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MBlume
The linked article appears to posit that Gerard Bakardy might be an invention
of Teller's? That's a pretty extraordinary claim. Has anything since borne it
out?

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lonelappde
Dogge/Bakardy lost the suit. Suing a fake person is very much not Teller's
style, who has nothing to gain from such a boring stunt.

