Part 1.
Hi. I'm a new magician, just starting out with no idea where to go. I really like watching Criss Angel on TV, and my friends and I talk about it. I've seen David Blaine, too, and even went to go see a magician perform during a vacation my family took. It all seems pretty cool, and I think I could really have some fun with it - but everywhere I look online, people seem to hate Criss and only talk about how he uses camera tricks, and then they talk about how Blaine doesn't do magic anymore and is just obsessed with stunts (I think they're a little weird, too!), and how this one online magic store is overpriced and for losers, and how magic is going downhill and I see several different forum threads debating whether magic is art or not. I don't know. Then when I see about learning magic, maybe buying some tricks, everything is very overpriced! When I read reviews, a lot of people are saying a trick I like is bad because it uses a "gimmick" or it isn't "impromptu", or whatever.
I really just wanted to learn a few tricks for fun, but I can't find a source anywhere that wants to help me do that. All I find are overpriced DVDs with tricks I don't want to do, and communities full of people dragging magic through the mud. I did find, on youtube, some tutorials for some cool tricks, but I don't really understand what they're telling me to do, and if I do get it, it never looks as good as when I see a professional do it.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I think I'll just stick with watching TV.
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Hi. Those magic forums you go to all the time, I post there. In all of them. I talk about the same topics over and over that have been beaten to death a thousand times - you know, all the classics: "Is magic art?", "Who's better: Blaine or Angel?", "Can I make money doing street magic?" I have never written an intelligent post, because I'm pretty much giving a poorly thought out opinion based off the regurgitated concepts and notions of people who type a lot better than I do. There's hundreds like me, and we're all part of a collective machine that prevents original ideas or notions of thought, unique experimentation, or philosophical ideas in the area of magic from coming to the forefront. it's true, I COULD post an interesting, unique idea or point of debate and breathe some fresh life into the magic community, but instead I'm going to talk about the same thing I just read in a different forum, except only half as potently.
No one ever tries to steer me in the right direction anyway, I must be doing something right, right?
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Hi. I'm 16 years old and my only experience with magic is popular card tricks and a little bit of flourishing. My signature routines are an ACR, TiVO Transpo 2.0, Angle Zero, and the 2 Card Monte. I practice my classic pass fifty times a day, and I buy every custom deck I come across. I won't perform that Joel Paschall trick BeLieVe, beacuse I have to rip up a card, and no way am I going to damage my custom decks! (And I refuse to use regular bikes, so THAT'S out of the question).
Everytime someone's talking about a trick that wasn't made by Daniel Madison or doesn't involve a deck of cards, I always say "It looks neat, but it's not my style." I've never known the beauty of a good Three Fly routine, the power of a perfect center tear, or the look on a spectator's face when I use a fancy ring flight effect. It's not that I'm into magic, with just a specialty and penchant for cards - it's that I will never, ever venture out of my comfort zone, and my spectators will think that magic can only be done with cards.
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Hi. I haven't spent a dime on magic - I download all of my videos with bittorrent (well, Azureus to be specific) - so I have this massive collection of books and DVDs, some of which I haven't even watched and never plan on. It's how I learn things - I'm smart enough to know that Youtube tutorials are utter garbage and that I should learn from the real deal, but I don't have the money (or don't want to spend it) to support the creators of the magic tricks I love. And who could blame me - have you seen the prices these days? Most of these tricks are awful, and upon seeing them, I glad I didn't pay for them.
Of course, I'll never admit to pirating anything. I stand right beside my fellow anonymous posters and say it's wrong! It's bad for ethics! But I do it anyway. Maybe I'll say, "Yeah, I USED to do that, but not anymore," but even as I type that, I'm downloading the newest releases.
Ethics aren't a concern to me, prices are. I love magic, but I just cannot afford it. And I need more tricks. More, more, and more.
=============
=============
Hi there. You've seen me online debating the legitimacy of magic as art. Probably, you've seen this same discussion a thousand times over, with the exact same posts and points of view expressed. It's something I've come to terms with - magicians like to think as a collective, and few have the courage to express something that others might disagree with. I see most of my fellow magicians saying, Yes I am an artist!, but without the material to back it up. Some of them have been doing the same tricks for years, some have never tried to create or change an effect, and some just like being able to call themselves an artist because it's a cool title to have.
I try very hard to evoke emotions with my performance. I spend weeks on patter, flow, and execution in order to actually make my performance MEAN SOMETHING. I save the simple tricks for when I'm entertaining, but I bring out the big guns when I want to make an artistic statement. See, I genuinely want to use magic as a medium to express an artistic point of view. I want to be a painter or musician, except with magic instead of acryllics or guitars. Mostly, it's unexplored territory, and anyone breaking into it couldn't NOT be a pioneer. To me, it's just not magic unless someone smiles, stares astonished, cries, laughs uncontrollably, freaks out and runs away, or just begs me to show them more. To me, it's just not magic unless it is beautiful, and my audience also finds it beautiful.
But alas, there's no support for me in the community. I'm told I have to be an enertainer, first and foremost. If I'm not out there entertaining, I don't get to be artsy. It's weird - my favorite bands make music for themselves first, to express something, and thankfully they just happen to be entertaining. They don't play music to make other people happy, they do it to make a statement. My favorite actors are the same way - they don't make a movie so you'll like it, they make a movie because it has a moving story and deep characterization.
That's what I want, but all those other magicians claiming to be "artists" aren't getting it. They're all performing the same material with cheesy patter and coming off like a vegas showman. That's not what I want.
If I happen to entertain you, great! I really am happy. But that's not my goal. I'm a real artist. I genuinely want to make art.
(continued...)
Hi. I'm a new magician, just starting out with no idea where to go. I really like watching Criss Angel on TV, and my friends and I talk about it. I've seen David Blaine, too, and even went to go see a magician perform during a vacation my family took. It all seems pretty cool, and I think I could really have some fun with it - but everywhere I look online, people seem to hate Criss and only talk about how he uses camera tricks, and then they talk about how Blaine doesn't do magic anymore and is just obsessed with stunts (I think they're a little weird, too!), and how this one online magic store is overpriced and for losers, and how magic is going downhill and I see several different forum threads debating whether magic is art or not. I don't know. Then when I see about learning magic, maybe buying some tricks, everything is very overpriced! When I read reviews, a lot of people are saying a trick I like is bad because it uses a "gimmick" or it isn't "impromptu", or whatever.
I really just wanted to learn a few tricks for fun, but I can't find a source anywhere that wants to help me do that. All I find are overpriced DVDs with tricks I don't want to do, and communities full of people dragging magic through the mud. I did find, on youtube, some tutorials for some cool tricks, but I don't really understand what they're telling me to do, and if I do get it, it never looks as good as when I see a professional do it.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I think I'll just stick with watching TV.
=============
=============
Hi. Those magic forums you go to all the time, I post there. In all of them. I talk about the same topics over and over that have been beaten to death a thousand times - you know, all the classics: "Is magic art?", "Who's better: Blaine or Angel?", "Can I make money doing street magic?" I have never written an intelligent post, because I'm pretty much giving a poorly thought out opinion based off the regurgitated concepts and notions of people who type a lot better than I do. There's hundreds like me, and we're all part of a collective machine that prevents original ideas or notions of thought, unique experimentation, or philosophical ideas in the area of magic from coming to the forefront. it's true, I COULD post an interesting, unique idea or point of debate and breathe some fresh life into the magic community, but instead I'm going to talk about the same thing I just read in a different forum, except only half as potently.
No one ever tries to steer me in the right direction anyway, I must be doing something right, right?
=============
=============
Hi. I'm 16 years old and my only experience with magic is popular card tricks and a little bit of flourishing. My signature routines are an ACR, TiVO Transpo 2.0, Angle Zero, and the 2 Card Monte. I practice my classic pass fifty times a day, and I buy every custom deck I come across. I won't perform that Joel Paschall trick BeLieVe, beacuse I have to rip up a card, and no way am I going to damage my custom decks! (And I refuse to use regular bikes, so THAT'S out of the question).
Everytime someone's talking about a trick that wasn't made by Daniel Madison or doesn't involve a deck of cards, I always say "It looks neat, but it's not my style." I've never known the beauty of a good Three Fly routine, the power of a perfect center tear, or the look on a spectator's face when I use a fancy ring flight effect. It's not that I'm into magic, with just a specialty and penchant for cards - it's that I will never, ever venture out of my comfort zone, and my spectators will think that magic can only be done with cards.
=============
=============
Hi. I haven't spent a dime on magic - I download all of my videos with bittorrent (well, Azureus to be specific) - so I have this massive collection of books and DVDs, some of which I haven't even watched and never plan on. It's how I learn things - I'm smart enough to know that Youtube tutorials are utter garbage and that I should learn from the real deal, but I don't have the money (or don't want to spend it) to support the creators of the magic tricks I love. And who could blame me - have you seen the prices these days? Most of these tricks are awful, and upon seeing them, I glad I didn't pay for them.
Of course, I'll never admit to pirating anything. I stand right beside my fellow anonymous posters and say it's wrong! It's bad for ethics! But I do it anyway. Maybe I'll say, "Yeah, I USED to do that, but not anymore," but even as I type that, I'm downloading the newest releases.
Ethics aren't a concern to me, prices are. I love magic, but I just cannot afford it. And I need more tricks. More, more, and more.
=============
=============
Hi there. You've seen me online debating the legitimacy of magic as art. Probably, you've seen this same discussion a thousand times over, with the exact same posts and points of view expressed. It's something I've come to terms with - magicians like to think as a collective, and few have the courage to express something that others might disagree with. I see most of my fellow magicians saying, Yes I am an artist!, but without the material to back it up. Some of them have been doing the same tricks for years, some have never tried to create or change an effect, and some just like being able to call themselves an artist because it's a cool title to have.
I try very hard to evoke emotions with my performance. I spend weeks on patter, flow, and execution in order to actually make my performance MEAN SOMETHING. I save the simple tricks for when I'm entertaining, but I bring out the big guns when I want to make an artistic statement. See, I genuinely want to use magic as a medium to express an artistic point of view. I want to be a painter or musician, except with magic instead of acryllics or guitars. Mostly, it's unexplored territory, and anyone breaking into it couldn't NOT be a pioneer. To me, it's just not magic unless someone smiles, stares astonished, cries, laughs uncontrollably, freaks out and runs away, or just begs me to show them more. To me, it's just not magic unless it is beautiful, and my audience also finds it beautiful.
But alas, there's no support for me in the community. I'm told I have to be an enertainer, first and foremost. If I'm not out there entertaining, I don't get to be artsy. It's weird - my favorite bands make music for themselves first, to express something, and thankfully they just happen to be entertaining. They don't play music to make other people happy, they do it to make a statement. My favorite actors are the same way - they don't make a movie so you'll like it, they make a movie because it has a moving story and deep characterization.
That's what I want, but all those other magicians claiming to be "artists" aren't getting it. They're all performing the same material with cheesy patter and coming off like a vegas showman. That's not what I want.
If I happen to entertain you, great! I really am happy. But that's not my goal. I'm a real artist. I genuinely want to make art.
(continued...)
