Recently, I ran across this video of An Ha Lim on a French cabaret show on youtube:

First, let me explain what you SHOULD be appreciating. It doesn’t matter if you know how this is done. What matters is the skill and showmanship of this piece. An Ha Lim, so far in my viewing of lots of card manipulation on youtube, has been the best. His style is crisp and the “dance” holds your attention.

Watch this for the show, rather than trying to figure it out, and it becomes something beautiful.

After watching so many of these card manipulation videos, I, of course, wanted to be able to do it, myself. I took one card from a deck, and attempted to follow along with a tutorial on youtube for a simple reveal. After a few attempts, my appreciation for this skill increased. This is not a child’s magic trick. So, knowing how this was done, I went back to watching and was blown away at some of this guy’s amazing slight of hand.

This led me to wondering if the guys who could make things “disappear” ever paid for small items. I imagined them in the grocery store with a pack of ribs in hand one second and, with a flash of smoke, the ribs were gone and them walking casually towards the exit door.

They eat well, I assume.