Let’s be honest, if a coffee shop actually spells your name right on a cup, that could feasibly be considered magic.
But it wasn’t until I visited a coffee shop in L.A. to watch mind-bending magician/mentalist Kevin Viner school patrons in the art of illusion that my concept of magic was thrown for a multi-colored scarf loop.
As you can see in the video above, Viner has the power to touch people’s minds through their cellphone screens — to turn one dollar tips into, well, a latte. The Barista Mind Reader. Magic Selfie. Coin Hypnosis. Just a few of the amazing tricks Viner has up his sleeve.
It’s a skill Viner’s been perfecting since age 5, when he got his first magic set. Soon thereafter, he did his first paid gig at 11. Not bad considering all most of us were trying to make disappear at those ages were diapers and pimples.
What fuels his passion for magic? “I get to see people at their best all the time,” says Viner, who calls his greatest sleight-of-hand trick making “a signed playing card disappear and reappear underneath a pillow in a hotel room.” By the way, the hotel room? Nowhere near them at the time.
Impressive.
Now, if he could just get baristas to stop writing “Ray” on my coffee cups, that would truly be a miracle.
Like Viner’s stunts? Learn a few tricks of your own by downloading the official ‘Now You See Me 2’ app. Then see the film in theaters nationwide June 10 and watch the Four Horsemen try to pull off their most impossible heist yet.
