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Rick Carruth Named Lifetips Magic Editor

Rick Carruth does not sleep.  He has never owned a pillow or an alarm clock.  He has only seen others yawn but has never had the experience.  He is to energy what energy is to an energy drink – the vital, special element that makes the latter possible – and without the jitters or irritability.

If we never slept, we would be in prison.  Of course, if we were in prison, we would likely never sleep either.

But Mr. Carruth uses his superhuman abilities for good.  He works through the night on as many as 15 different projects.  He perfectly achieves his goals and shares the results with the Magic Community.

Beyond insomnia, Mr. Carruth is known for his always fantastic Magic Roadshow (http://streetmagic.info/emagic107.html) e-zine.  Mr. Carruth cranks out new material without fail.

We cannot compare to Mr. Carruth.  Some recall the Inside Magic newsletter “Magic in Your Mouth” produced with backing from the American Dental Association. As loyal readers know, MYM lasted about six months before circulation dropped below the single digits; at almost the exact same time we ran out of effects utilizing dental dams or Novocain.

Yes, we still get requests for reprints for our original mentalist routine,  The Numb Tongue Tells All but we attribute its fame to David Blaine’s inclusion on his recent cable-only show “David Blaine and the Hot Sauce of Hell.”

It was not a big part of the show, and technically, David did not perform it but had a “volunteer” (really a dental hygienist) offer her tongue for numbing and subsequent clairvoyant activity.  It is a sad comment on the state of television magic but true they shot the bit seven or eight times before the volunteer’s tongue correctly revealed the prediction on the mouth-sized Ouija board.

And yes, the Ouija board the show used is different than the one that comes with the set we sell.  The regular Oral Ouija Board does not have a “spit sluice” or the special bridge work to hold the board in place if the “volunteer” starts to gag or choke before spelling out the prediction.

Our Numb Tongue routine was just one of the several bits he performed leading up to the live finale; the controversial gargling of the certified hottest of the hot sauce whilst sitting on a block of ice.  Would the ice cube melt, causing David Blaine to fall onto the stage and possibly injuring his coccyx? Would the hot sauce meld his tongue to his enflamed gums or nearly translucent cheeks? It was quite a cliff-hanger.

But we digress.  The point was something similar to the maxim, “it is hard to do something good for a long time.”

Surprisingly, English is our native language.

The wise folks at LifeTips.com selected the overly qualified and caffeinated Mr. Carruth as Magic Editor.

They could not have selected a better person for the job.  We, on the other hand, just learned we were not selected as the Magic Editor at PassiveAggressive.com.  We are okay with losing out, though.  We never really wanted the position; and it is a stupid site anyway.

We will make the tricks slated for PassiveAggressive.com available for sale soon.  Our favorite is Headline Prediction or Not.

The magi writes a prediction in front of an assembled crowd and posts it on a billboard for the entire town to see.  He tells the city his prediction will match identically the headline of the local paper to be published in two weeks from that date.

The two weeks pass and the prediction is compared with the headline.

Remember, the prediction is not hidden or sealed.  Everyone can see the prediction well in advance of the newspaper’s publication.

There are few magicians who use the PassiveAggressive technique anymore.

If we are not mistaken, Ted Anneman is the most famous practitioner of the PA Principle.  He performed a bullet catch with a real gun, a real police officer and a real bullet.  He told the gunman that there was no trick to the stunt and if he aimed the gun incorrectly, he would have the blood of an unarmed magician on his hands.

Our Headline Prediction or Not uses PA in a similar manner.  You convince the editor of the local paper that he or she needs to match your prediction or you will be humiliated and likely spiral into alternate spasms of self-pity and rage.  It has worked for us almost every time.

Mr. Carruth is, as we say in hair stylist school, starting with a bang.  He is providing 101 magic tips in 101 days.  By our calculation, that is approximately 1 magic tip every day.

Check out and subscribe to Mr. Carruth’s Magic Roadshow and follow him over at LifeTips.com.

One day we will be 1/18th the man Mr. Carruth is by completing at least one task all the way.  Until then, we take comfort in knowing people like Mr. Carruth exist and willingly pick up the slack for us all.

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