Morgan & West: Magical GIFstery Tour
Published: Wednesday 13th August 2014
Firstly our sincere apologies for the terrible pun in the title. All forgiven?! Good.
The Graphics Interchange Format - or GIF if you will (we're afraid you'll have to choose your own side of the pronunciation argument here, we never say it out loud for fear of reprisal) - presents a plethora of perplexing possibilities when it comes to low frame rate magic.
For you, dear reader, we have trawled the world wide web searching every cloud and silicone valley, to find you our very favourite magical GIFs.
And so, in reverse order, here they are:
10. We certainly can't condone the larcenous behaviour of the gentleman featured in this particular animation but we do commend the innovative use of one's own portable black hole. Top marks for ingenuity.
9. One of the very first moving pictures, or movies if you will, was made with this very same technique. Love the historical context, less keen on the moving car bit at the end... less magical and more like driving.
8. What a splendid disappearing act, need we say more? Don't forget the three second rule at the end though.
7. This combines our two favourite things, kittens and magic. If we're honest we're not entirely sure why it's not higher up the list. Probably because we didn't get to keep any of the kittens.
6. This also combines kittens and magic. We don't know why but we find this cuter. And more magical. Sometimes we wish that we had magic powers like this...
5. Not so much magic as nightmarish evil mime, sleep well.
4. Although this simply uses the GIF as a video medium we have something of a soft spot for it. We do a trick live which, when you boil it down, is this. Nothing like passing something over somebody's head; they never suspect you'd resort to such simplistic tactics...
3. A valiant, but ultimately futile attempt at variation on the old 'rabbit from the hat' trick: our top tip is that if you are smaller than the hat you're using, then you should get a smaller hat.
2. Is it magic? Is it science? It's science - but good science often looks like magic.
1. Quite apart from the fact that this is one of the funniest things the internet has ever produced, it is only when you understand that no one was hurt that you realise it is a magic trick.
To see some magic in real life check out 'Morgan & West: Parlour Tricks'. The duo are performing at the Pleasance Dome at 7pm until the 25th August. Listing
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