November 05, 2004

Card throwing — course on how to throw ordinary playing cards by a master of the art. Once you are past the basics, try some advanced throws.
posted by fuyugare 20 years ago
  • Gambit XD
  • I once saw Ricky Jay do this with watermelons. Its a skill I've never been able to do, but always admired in others, like watching my friend flick pennies across the room with a snap of the thumb.
  • He's made the techniques into a cutting-edge science.
  • Jailhouse entertainment
  • Why does Ricky Jay have on nail polish on? I would like to throw Andrew Card. Where are the instructions for that?
  • Cards as Weapons is one hell of a fun read, but you'll have to pay for the pleasure.
  • This is a timely post. Indoor winter-time knife-throwing is rough on the furniture. Why does Ricky Jay have on nail polish on? Maybe Jay's hands are hideously disfigured, so he's engaged a hand model. They're probably all gnarly from the training involved in mastering flicking a watermelon across the room. Thumbs like rebar. Wrists like mighty oak roots.
  • Cards as Weapons is one hell of a fun read, but you'll have to pay for the pleasure. $326 for a book? WTF?! That's the kind of pricing that makes even college textbook publisher scumbags blush.
  • Copyright © 1977. Collectible.
  • Also, from an Amazon review:
    Why this book is so expensive, January 7, 2004 Reviewer: A reader (United States) Mr. Jay's book is well researched, and it does a fine job of teaching you to throw a card great distances, better known as card scaling. Mr. Jay is an excellent magician and an author of magic history books. However, the reason this book is in such demand is that the photographs reveal you (or of course your lovely assistant) need not wear clothes to scale cards. This what one reviewer here called "wonderful, eye-catching photographs." Fair enough, it's Playboy stuff. Therefore, it is tough to know just how serious Ricky Jay is being here. (I have personally watched in magic shops, years ago, as young men magii tried to buy a copy of this book when it was in stock at its original list price. They failed due to the nude photographs.) The used book prices of this title are crazy.
  • Yeah, he uses the naked model to make learning fun! The whole thing is tongue-in-cheek -- it's actually written to read like a real self-defense book. It begins with a letter he sent to the D.O.D., offering to train US soldiers to use playing cards as throwing weapons in combat. If you're not familiar with Jay's sense of humor, that might be a bit confusing at first. The reason it's so expensive is because there was only one small printing of the book. Jay is generally acknowledged as an unsurpassed card-handler who studied with some masters, and magicians and connoisseurs of magic are eager to get their hands on his work. A buddy of mine, who's a magician, has a copy of this, and he treasures it. Another Jay treat is Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, an utterly fascinating history of sideshow acts and oddities. Far less expensive, too.
  • 52 Pickup! *crickets