theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
Improve Your Mind: Contest Details!
- Thread starter William Draven
- Start date
Contest Results?
My appologies everyone for this taking so long! I had hoped that this would have been posted way sooner but the fact of the matter is we've had so many good essays and trying to weed it down to a final 1 winner is ...just fricking hard to do.
He do have though a clear, and single winner. That's not what's so hard. What is hard is finding out who takes second and third place.
Shane Black has been so nice to donate a book download to our second and third place runners up. It's just deciding who those runners up would be is the hard part.
I will have an answer by Midnight tonight! Eastern Time, but if you are wondering what's taking so long, there you have it.
Stay tuned everyone!
My appologies everyone for this taking so long! I had hoped that this would have been posted way sooner but the fact of the matter is we've had so many good essays and trying to weed it down to a final 1 winner is ...just fricking hard to do.
He do have though a clear, and single winner. That's not what's so hard. What is hard is finding out who takes second and third place.
Shane Black has been so nice to donate a book download to our second and third place runners up. It's just deciding who those runners up would be is the hard part.
I will have an answer by Midnight tonight! Eastern Time, but if you are wondering what's taking so long, there you have it.
Stay tuned everyone!
D
Deleted member 2755
Guest
D
Deleted member 2755
Guest
The Contest Results Are In! WE HAVE A WINNER!
It is with GREAT pleasure that I announce the contest's winner. Clear and decided, unanimous.
The Contest First Place Winner is:
Praetoritevong
Congratulations Prae, You earn the entire prize package!
Our Second Place Runner up was:
NJIllusionist3
and our Third Place Runner up was:
Foolzsight
Congratulations you two! You will both receive a free download of Shane Black's new E-Book as a consolation prize.
Thank you to EVERYONE who contributed to this event. Your essays were great, and the judging process was a difficult one!
I would like permission to post the winning three essays if the authors would grant me that.
Prae, Foolzsight, and NJIllusionist please contact me via private message, so I can set you up to receive your prizes.
Thank you all so very much and CONGRADULATIONS to our winners!
It is with GREAT pleasure that I announce the contest's winner. Clear and decided, unanimous.
The Contest First Place Winner is:
Praetoritevong
Congratulations Prae, You earn the entire prize package!
Our Second Place Runner up was:
NJIllusionist3
and our Third Place Runner up was:
Foolzsight
Congratulations you two! You will both receive a free download of Shane Black's new E-Book as a consolation prize.
Thank you to EVERYONE who contributed to this event. Your essays were great, and the judging process was a difficult one!
I would like permission to post the winning three essays if the authors would grant me that.
Prae, Foolzsight, and NJIllusionist please contact me via private message, so I can set you up to receive your prizes.
Thank you all so very much and CONGRADULATIONS to our winners!
Agreed, Congratz man.
Can't wait for the next one of these, assuming Draven want's to continue to improve our minds...yeah I like a good (bad) pun.
Can't wait for the next one of these, assuming Draven want's to continue to improve our minds...yeah I like a good (bad) pun.
D
Deleted member 2755
Guest
Congrats to the winners guys! There were some more great essays there that I wish I could give prizes for. That's the tough part about judging this stuff. (Plus my bad time management skills and procrastination didn't help the judging process either... Again Will, Rev, and Morg, I apologize.) These essays were great. I enjoyed reading them. Let's hope we can do another one of these sometime. I'll let this one die down for a while, and I'll see if I can make an "Improve Your Mind" part 2.
-Doug
That's the tough part about judging this stuff. (Plus my bad time management skills and procrastination didn't help the judging process either... Again Will, Rev, and Morg, I apologize.) These essays were great. I enjoyed reading them. Let's hope we can do another one of these sometime. I'll let this one die down for a while, and I'll see if I can make an "Improve Your Mind" part 2. -Doug
Congrats to our first prize winner, Prae, and our two runner ups. You guys had outstanding essays. These were so difficult to pick and choose between so it was great that we had 4 judges and a scoring system.
Enjoy the prizes fellas and thanks to all who donated them.
This was a great contest. Hope to see more in the future but lets not get to carried away and have one every week.
Thanks again to Draven for putting this on.
Enjoy the prizes fellas and thanks to all who donated them.
This was a great contest. Hope to see more in the future but lets not get to carried away and have one every week.
Thanks again to Draven for putting this on.
Congratulations to the winners I can't wait to read your essays.
You'll get my new book "Conceptions of Mystery" 50 pages of intense material used in my working set for the past ten years as a performer. Enjoy!
And good job to William and the judges for contributing to this community the way you guys do. Peace
Shane
You'll get my new book "Conceptions of Mystery" 50 pages of intense material used in my working set for the past ten years as a performer. Enjoy!
And good job to William and the judges for contributing to this community the way you guys do. Peace
Shane
D
Deleted member 2755
Guest
Well, I'm glad everything went great. I'll see you guys in a week. I'm staying off the boards for the next seven days or so with the exception of putting up a review of Shane's book. If you recall, I made a semi-goodbye thread a little while ago. Ironically, I got more active after that. I gotta change that unfortunately. Anyway, I gotta get my stuff together. I'll see you guys soon.
-Doug
-Doug
The Winning Essay
Our Winning Essay as written by Praetoritevong
Entertainment, and what it means to you
It would be no great exaggeration to say that entertainment is my life; as a professional actor, and semi-professional magician, I have been in the industry for most of my life, and as the late Dai Vernon would say – I wasted the first few years. Entertainment is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as a performance or activity which keeps people interested and allows them to enjoy themselves. At its simplest, this is true enough; however, what has always drawn me to entertainment, to perform, is the perhaps idealistic notion that at its most potent, it can, quite simply, touch and enrich our lives, and more importantly, the lives of the people we perform for. Entertainment is a means through which people can enjoy themselves, certainly, but entertainers sell themselves short if this is all they do, if this is all they strive for. So, good entertainment for me means striving for that touch; A few moments with an entertainer can amend a person’s thinking for life. The magnitude of this statement cannot be emphasised enough. Of course, good is subjective, so personally, good is simply realising the potential of entertainment. This implication is the basis of this essay, and it is, for me, the meaning of entertainment - its significance. Firstly, the will examine the key factor involved in bringing this amendment about, in all types of entertainment. Secondly, it will examine the statement in the context of theatre, and finally, in the context of the art of magic.
To amend a person’s thinking is by no means easy - in fact it is almost impossible – but the potential is there, and we have the tools, if we choose to utilise them correctly. Derren Brown has written essentially that magic is the anecdote waiting to be told in a decade’s time. Of course, it is easy enough to watch a video of Tamariz, or Vernon, or Banachek, or Ricky Jay, and it is easy enough to imagine and see that this could be true. In fact, I would take it even further. But allow me first to quote a passage which underlines everything I do within the industry, irrespective of the field. It originates from a series of lectures given by Peter Brook, compiled in The Empty Space.
"When a performance is over, what remains? Fun can be forgotten, but powerful emotion also disappears and good arguments lose their thread. When emotion and argument are harnessed to a wish from the audience to see more clearly into itself - then something in the mind burns. The event scorches onto the memory, an outline, a taste, a trace, a smell - a picture. It is the play's central image that remains, its silhouette, and if the elements are highly blended this silhouette will be its meaning, this shape will be the essence of what it has to say. When years later I think of a striking theatrical experience I find a kernel engraved on my memory - two tramps under a tree, an old woman dragging a cart, a sergeant dancing, three people on a sofa in Hell - or occasionally a trace deeper than any imagery. I haven't a hope of remembering the meanings precisely, but from the kernel I can construct a set of meanings. Then a purpose will have been served. A few hours could amend my thinking for life. This is almost but not quite impossible to achieve." (pp. 152)
It perhaps becomes more obvious now from where my thoughts derive, and they have yet to be, and shall be, expanded upon. The biggest aspect of bringing this about, is orientating entertainment around the spectator. It sounds obvious enough; we perform for other people, and therefore these people should be our focus. And yet, given the potential literally at our fingertips, we must be wary, since entertainers do have such power. The power of an actor to control his spectators’ emotions virtually at whim is unmatched anywhere else. When we think of the last movie we enjoyed, that made us feel something, well, it was no accident. It is the work of an actor, who desires his audience to feel, and yes, he entertains in the course of doing his job, but he has also achieved so much more, because all human interaction depends upon feeling, life is governed by feelings, our actions are governed by feelings, and meaning is governed by what we feel. This is what the entertainer has in mind – the feeling of his spectator. And this is what must be questioned, and considered. I wish to add that it would be misleading to imagine that entertainment must be serious in order to have lasting effect. Can comedians affect the way we feel? Of course. Comedians walk a particularly dangerous path; I recall watching an extremely competent ventriloquist, who, in the course of his act, made light of a few people, and finished by suggesting that anyone who took any offense should commit suicide. Of course, it was a joke, it was entertainment, but in my opinion it was not very good entertainment. One spectator did happen to take offense to the act, and personally, I found myself instantly disliking the performer as well. In that moment, the ventriloquist failed to entertain. In negatively affecting the feelings of his audience, he failed to entertain. Of course, most people had a great time; he was a witty guy. But entertainment is more than making most people laugh – not if we take an admittedly high ideal such as the goal towards which I strive. And I have not wanted to see a ventriloquist since, either. But the goal is certainly possible through entertainment; in striving to achieve it, and hopefully through our success, we touch upon what I feel is the holy grail of entertainment, to amend a person’s thinking, to change their life, no less. In doing so, it seems that we must cause a process of feeling, thinking, and questioning, and that for me is the epitome, the very essence, and meaning, of entertainment – and to do so, we must focus on our audience.
Good entertainment in the context of theatre means creating, essentially, an experience, a scorched memory which achieves the essence of entertainment. Theatre is perhaps the closest man can get to real mind control. Given a good team of actors, for the duration of the show, spectators literally will feel exactly what the entertainers want them to feel. It is for this reason that I have always preferred portraying villains. A hero will always be liked. He will always be cheered on, and carries the hopes of the audience. And when he wins, everyone is happy. Of course, this is an oversimplification of the situation; but consider the villain, who is shrouded in more ambiguity. Does he have redeeming qualities? Is he human? Is he ironic, or perhaps pathetic, or perhaps funny, or even likeable? There is so much freedom of interpretation. Theatre, my first love, embodies what I feel is most powerful about good entertainment; it can affect the emotions of the audience. It makes them feel, and feeling, as discussed before, means everything. Good theatre entertains, it allows people to enjoy themselves, but through this experience, more can be achieved. The way in which we live our lives can be questioned, if the emotions of the spectator can be invoked in such a way that makes them think, and feel, and therefore, question why. Ouisa Kittredge in Six Degrees of Separation asks, “How do we keep the experience?” An experience is not simply an event which has happened; it is more potent than that. Experiences are what we carry through our lives. Experiences are what define our lives. And when we think back on our lives, on the good times, it is these experiences which live. Well, as Brook says – the experience does not have to be remembered in its entirety. What is important is the kernel – that a kernel from the experience engraves itself, because then, the experience has significance; it has life. And when a meaning is constructed from the kernel, then we have something beautiful, we have constructed a new set of meanings for our life. What previously was not there now is, and in this act, we have amended our thinking. In doing so, we have fulfilled the ultimate goal of entertainment and struck at its very essence.
(To Be Continued)
Our Winning Essay as written by Praetoritevong
Entertainment, and what it means to you
It would be no great exaggeration to say that entertainment is my life; as a professional actor, and semi-professional magician, I have been in the industry for most of my life, and as the late Dai Vernon would say – I wasted the first few years. Entertainment is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as a performance or activity which keeps people interested and allows them to enjoy themselves. At its simplest, this is true enough; however, what has always drawn me to entertainment, to perform, is the perhaps idealistic notion that at its most potent, it can, quite simply, touch and enrich our lives, and more importantly, the lives of the people we perform for. Entertainment is a means through which people can enjoy themselves, certainly, but entertainers sell themselves short if this is all they do, if this is all they strive for. So, good entertainment for me means striving for that touch; A few moments with an entertainer can amend a person’s thinking for life. The magnitude of this statement cannot be emphasised enough. Of course, good is subjective, so personally, good is simply realising the potential of entertainment. This implication is the basis of this essay, and it is, for me, the meaning of entertainment - its significance. Firstly, the will examine the key factor involved in bringing this amendment about, in all types of entertainment. Secondly, it will examine the statement in the context of theatre, and finally, in the context of the art of magic.
To amend a person’s thinking is by no means easy - in fact it is almost impossible – but the potential is there, and we have the tools, if we choose to utilise them correctly. Derren Brown has written essentially that magic is the anecdote waiting to be told in a decade’s time. Of course, it is easy enough to watch a video of Tamariz, or Vernon, or Banachek, or Ricky Jay, and it is easy enough to imagine and see that this could be true. In fact, I would take it even further. But allow me first to quote a passage which underlines everything I do within the industry, irrespective of the field. It originates from a series of lectures given by Peter Brook, compiled in The Empty Space.
"When a performance is over, what remains? Fun can be forgotten, but powerful emotion also disappears and good arguments lose their thread. When emotion and argument are harnessed to a wish from the audience to see more clearly into itself - then something in the mind burns. The event scorches onto the memory, an outline, a taste, a trace, a smell - a picture. It is the play's central image that remains, its silhouette, and if the elements are highly blended this silhouette will be its meaning, this shape will be the essence of what it has to say. When years later I think of a striking theatrical experience I find a kernel engraved on my memory - two tramps under a tree, an old woman dragging a cart, a sergeant dancing, three people on a sofa in Hell - or occasionally a trace deeper than any imagery. I haven't a hope of remembering the meanings precisely, but from the kernel I can construct a set of meanings. Then a purpose will have been served. A few hours could amend my thinking for life. This is almost but not quite impossible to achieve." (pp. 152)
It perhaps becomes more obvious now from where my thoughts derive, and they have yet to be, and shall be, expanded upon. The biggest aspect of bringing this about, is orientating entertainment around the spectator. It sounds obvious enough; we perform for other people, and therefore these people should be our focus. And yet, given the potential literally at our fingertips, we must be wary, since entertainers do have such power. The power of an actor to control his spectators’ emotions virtually at whim is unmatched anywhere else. When we think of the last movie we enjoyed, that made us feel something, well, it was no accident. It is the work of an actor, who desires his audience to feel, and yes, he entertains in the course of doing his job, but he has also achieved so much more, because all human interaction depends upon feeling, life is governed by feelings, our actions are governed by feelings, and meaning is governed by what we feel. This is what the entertainer has in mind – the feeling of his spectator. And this is what must be questioned, and considered. I wish to add that it would be misleading to imagine that entertainment must be serious in order to have lasting effect. Can comedians affect the way we feel? Of course. Comedians walk a particularly dangerous path; I recall watching an extremely competent ventriloquist, who, in the course of his act, made light of a few people, and finished by suggesting that anyone who took any offense should commit suicide. Of course, it was a joke, it was entertainment, but in my opinion it was not very good entertainment. One spectator did happen to take offense to the act, and personally, I found myself instantly disliking the performer as well. In that moment, the ventriloquist failed to entertain. In negatively affecting the feelings of his audience, he failed to entertain. Of course, most people had a great time; he was a witty guy. But entertainment is more than making most people laugh – not if we take an admittedly high ideal such as the goal towards which I strive. And I have not wanted to see a ventriloquist since, either. But the goal is certainly possible through entertainment; in striving to achieve it, and hopefully through our success, we touch upon what I feel is the holy grail of entertainment, to amend a person’s thinking, to change their life, no less. In doing so, it seems that we must cause a process of feeling, thinking, and questioning, and that for me is the epitome, the very essence, and meaning, of entertainment – and to do so, we must focus on our audience.
Good entertainment in the context of theatre means creating, essentially, an experience, a scorched memory which achieves the essence of entertainment. Theatre is perhaps the closest man can get to real mind control. Given a good team of actors, for the duration of the show, spectators literally will feel exactly what the entertainers want them to feel. It is for this reason that I have always preferred portraying villains. A hero will always be liked. He will always be cheered on, and carries the hopes of the audience. And when he wins, everyone is happy. Of course, this is an oversimplification of the situation; but consider the villain, who is shrouded in more ambiguity. Does he have redeeming qualities? Is he human? Is he ironic, or perhaps pathetic, or perhaps funny, or even likeable? There is so much freedom of interpretation. Theatre, my first love, embodies what I feel is most powerful about good entertainment; it can affect the emotions of the audience. It makes them feel, and feeling, as discussed before, means everything. Good theatre entertains, it allows people to enjoy themselves, but through this experience, more can be achieved. The way in which we live our lives can be questioned, if the emotions of the spectator can be invoked in such a way that makes them think, and feel, and therefore, question why. Ouisa Kittredge in Six Degrees of Separation asks, “How do we keep the experience?” An experience is not simply an event which has happened; it is more potent than that. Experiences are what we carry through our lives. Experiences are what define our lives. And when we think back on our lives, on the good times, it is these experiences which live. Well, as Brook says – the experience does not have to be remembered in its entirety. What is important is the kernel – that a kernel from the experience engraves itself, because then, the experience has significance; it has life. And when a meaning is constructed from the kernel, then we have something beautiful, we have constructed a new set of meanings for our life. What previously was not there now is, and in this act, we have amended our thinking. In doing so, we have fulfilled the ultimate goal of entertainment and struck at its very essence.
(To Be Continued)
(Continued from Above)
The art of magic is a deceitful one by nature and the concept of amending one’s thinking through deceit may appear, at face value, a suspicious one. However, it perhaps fitting that in this case, face value can be, well, deceiving. The strength of magic lies in the ability to exploit the impossible. Of course, most people today do not believe in magic, but it is this very fact, which, used properly, makes it all the more effective. Where theatre causes the audience to think, feel and question, similarly, magic can challenge the spectator to question what they know, when the impossible is broken down; this is the illusion of magic. Suspension of disbelief is a well-used term, and yet perhaps not the most appropriate, for it implies a willing ignorance. Clearly, magic is an illusion, but there should not be anything to ignore, no trace as to method or process. The only activity which remains is questioning, which is a different thing altogether. Magic is often left down to technical skill, a perception not helped by the magical community as a whole, but perhaps the most important means by which magic can satisfy my demanding benchmark for entertainment is through presentation. In setting the context of any effect, we create the framework within which magic will be viewed. If the appropriately receptive setting required for entertainment is not created, then we have no hope of achieving what we set out to do. However, this amendment of thinking is not in the same vein as the standard for theatre. In theatre, we propose a meaning for a specific issue, depending on the piece performed. The significance of magic, I feel, is a more general one. When I think of the best memories of my life, I find myself thinking of times spent with friends, images of laughing and joking and smiling. These images have come to define who I am. These images define what I do, and how I do it, they define me. Magic is one of those images. In this context, we place side by side a memory of magic, and a memory of friends – of good times spent together, of places visited and people known. Think of how important our friends are in building the person we now are – this is the same importance which I propose to place on magic. An image in our lives. Because of our friends, we are perhaps less conservative than we were to begin with; or perhaps we are now less hesitant to live life; or perhaps it is something else again, perhaps we learned from our friends the importance of love, or commitment, or bravery, or just having someone on the other end of the line at 2AM when nothing is going right. Because of magic, I propose that one may, for example, realise the necessity of an open mind (think of Aaron DeLong’s Believe), or even the beauty of life (Paul Harris and Paul Vigil’s Lady Bug). They may sound cheesy, but they are also a reality. Emotions are the governing force of my life – everything I do is based on my feelings. Magic allows me to feel, and it allows me to encourage others to feel, and it is in this act of feeling that a deeper meaning is created. Entertainment remains enjoyable but ceases to become only enjoyable; it becomes something deeper, and infinitely more beautiful – it becomes a means through which a person’s thinking, and therefore their very life, can be amended.
Entertainment is in my very blood, and I suspect that it always will be. Ironically, I’m studying Commerce. And yet, my entertainment background gives me skills no other student could hope to have; the ability to communicate, not just mathematics, or facts, or even theory; it allows me to communicate emotions. Thinking. Feeling. Questioning. Together, they take what is merely enjoyable, what is merely frivolous, I would go so far as to call it, and transform it into something so much more. I am not satisfied with dictionary definitions of entertainment. I see the potential entertainment has, and I have fallen in love with this potential, to make someone think, and feel, and question. And so it is, that I have come to develop the meaning, the significance of entertainment. It is no easy task to meet, but for me, this potential is inseparable with the act of entertainment itself; the two are simply indistinguishable, and has thus become the essence of entertainment. Entertainment, in conclusion, to me, means always striving to amend a person’s thinking for life – through thinking, through questioning, through feeling.
The art of magic is a deceitful one by nature and the concept of amending one’s thinking through deceit may appear, at face value, a suspicious one. However, it perhaps fitting that in this case, face value can be, well, deceiving. The strength of magic lies in the ability to exploit the impossible. Of course, most people today do not believe in magic, but it is this very fact, which, used properly, makes it all the more effective. Where theatre causes the audience to think, feel and question, similarly, magic can challenge the spectator to question what they know, when the impossible is broken down; this is the illusion of magic. Suspension of disbelief is a well-used term, and yet perhaps not the most appropriate, for it implies a willing ignorance. Clearly, magic is an illusion, but there should not be anything to ignore, no trace as to method or process. The only activity which remains is questioning, which is a different thing altogether. Magic is often left down to technical skill, a perception not helped by the magical community as a whole, but perhaps the most important means by which magic can satisfy my demanding benchmark for entertainment is through presentation. In setting the context of any effect, we create the framework within which magic will be viewed. If the appropriately receptive setting required for entertainment is not created, then we have no hope of achieving what we set out to do. However, this amendment of thinking is not in the same vein as the standard for theatre. In theatre, we propose a meaning for a specific issue, depending on the piece performed. The significance of magic, I feel, is a more general one. When I think of the best memories of my life, I find myself thinking of times spent with friends, images of laughing and joking and smiling. These images have come to define who I am. These images define what I do, and how I do it, they define me. Magic is one of those images. In this context, we place side by side a memory of magic, and a memory of friends – of good times spent together, of places visited and people known. Think of how important our friends are in building the person we now are – this is the same importance which I propose to place on magic. An image in our lives. Because of our friends, we are perhaps less conservative than we were to begin with; or perhaps we are now less hesitant to live life; or perhaps it is something else again, perhaps we learned from our friends the importance of love, or commitment, or bravery, or just having someone on the other end of the line at 2AM when nothing is going right. Because of magic, I propose that one may, for example, realise the necessity of an open mind (think of Aaron DeLong’s Believe), or even the beauty of life (Paul Harris and Paul Vigil’s Lady Bug). They may sound cheesy, but they are also a reality. Emotions are the governing force of my life – everything I do is based on my feelings. Magic allows me to feel, and it allows me to encourage others to feel, and it is in this act of feeling that a deeper meaning is created. Entertainment remains enjoyable but ceases to become only enjoyable; it becomes something deeper, and infinitely more beautiful – it becomes a means through which a person’s thinking, and therefore their very life, can be amended.
Entertainment is in my very blood, and I suspect that it always will be. Ironically, I’m studying Commerce. And yet, my entertainment background gives me skills no other student could hope to have; the ability to communicate, not just mathematics, or facts, or even theory; it allows me to communicate emotions. Thinking. Feeling. Questioning. Together, they take what is merely enjoyable, what is merely frivolous, I would go so far as to call it, and transform it into something so much more. I am not satisfied with dictionary definitions of entertainment. I see the potential entertainment has, and I have fallen in love with this potential, to make someone think, and feel, and question. And so it is, that I have come to develop the meaning, the significance of entertainment. It is no easy task to meet, but for me, this potential is inseparable with the act of entertainment itself; the two are simply indistinguishable, and has thus become the essence of entertainment. Entertainment, in conclusion, to me, means always striving to amend a person’s thinking for life – through thinking, through questioning, through feeling.
The Second Place Essay
Second Place Essay as written by NJIllusionist3
Theory 11 Essay
Entertainment, and what it means to me
Entertainment - the act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement. This is the standard definition you will find in Webster’s dictionary. However, entertainment is so much more. It’s often the most interesting side to life, and thus one of the hardest to define. It’s something people can spend their whole lives looking for, and something others spend a whole career trying to perfect. It’s measured in various ways: television ratings, the number of tickets sold, or the reaction of an audience. From my perspective, entertainment is about amusement as compared to a distraction or earning money. It is about using my mind and body to bring together new ideas in the most creative way possible for people to enjoy. My main medium for this is magic, an elegant art of deception and entertainment. With entertainment, it is a common misconception that it is about distracting people from their lives, when in actuality it is about giving people a pleasant experience to remember. Furthermore, the most important aspect of entertainment to me is creating that feeling of awe or wonder with my entertainment, because the things truly out of the ordinary are the most amusing. Overall, to me, entertainment is the art of amusing people with creative and awe-inspiring ideas, instead of just distracting people.
Although it is not quite as evident in other forms as it is in magic, using entertainment to engender a feel of mystery and wonder in an audience can be one of the most powerful effects created. Creating that moment of marvel for people is what entertainment should be about. By introducing something a person never even imagined to his or her perspective, one can really make life seem more interesting, and cause that person to spend the next few weeks trying to derive the method for one miracle or some other stunning form of entertainment. As Albert Einstein, a man who concerned his entire life with the concrete facts of the universe once said, “The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion, which stands at the cradle of true art an true science.” This concept is also fulfilling for both the performer and the audience, as providing that brand of entertainment to people is what I try to strive for. A summary of this can be seen in the ending speech of Hugh Jackman’s character in the movie The Prestige:
If the audience knows the truth, the world is simple, miserable, solid, solid all the way through. But if you can fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder, and then you got to see something very special. You really didn’t know? It was the look on their faces.
After this part when I first saw the movie, I remember thinking to myself, “that is why I do magic.” Entertainment is about amusement and the unbelievable. Exploring the mysterious is the best way to bring both of these concepts into the lives of the audience. I feel the creation of a mysterious wonder in people is what entertainment should be chiefly concerned with.
One of the more important attributes for good entertainment is making your stage show or sports game or art work about more than just distracting people from their everyday lives. These days, with mass media and advertising campaigns for professional sports and television, many people think entertainment has become more about giving the population a break from the stress and complications of their lives. This is not true. Magic, art, movies, and books provide more than this; they provide a riveting experience while also leaving the person with something to think about, whether it is the theme of the book, the symbolism in the art work, or if he or she believes in magic. As a magician, I do not want my spectators to watch my effect, smile for a second, and then go back to whatever they were doing. If that is the case then I have not entertained them. People should be captivated by the actual entertainment, not just the idea of what entertainment can provide.
Another important aspect of entertainment is the creativity that must be present so that it can truly be amusing. In my humble opinion, one must bring together his or her ideas, whether new or old, in an original way to create real entertainment. This is because if a person has had the experience of something in the past, repetition of it s not entertaining. Consider, for instance, a movie with a surprise ending. The second time the movie is watched, one already knows the twist at the end, and so it is not nearly as entertaining. But this is also why magicians should try more and more to stray away from the generic pick-a-card type effects. After a certain point, people have seen the trick plenty of times, and they may even know some cheap trick of the same kind they learned off the Internet. This is why creativity is so important to actual entertainment. Using a combination of your unique ideas to generate an exciting moment for your audience is what entertainment means to me. Granted, originality has become increasingly more difficult in time because every idea has seemingly been utilized in every conceivable way. But creativity is essential to entertainment as people will be most surprised and amused by something they have never seen before.
Entertainment is the application of creative ideas that explore the mysterious, and how they are used to amuse people. The awe and wonder that can be found in mysterious miracles should be at the heart of what performers work towards because it can present an entirely different perspective of the reality we live in. The combination of unique and novel ideas, even if they must be radically new, is always important to entertainment, as new concepts are constantly needed to develop the art of entertainment. Also, both these and the other various aspects of what make up the piece of society called entertainment should be used to actually bring enjoyment to people, not to just distract them from their more complex lives for a brief moment. This is the interpretation of entertainment I hold in my mind when I perform magic or anything else I do. This may be different from others, but it has brought my audience and myself enjoyment in the past, and I believe it will in the future as well. Entertainment is not something everyone can accomplish, but I’m happy to put my best effort forward with magic.
Bibliography
"Albert Einstein." Websophia. 16 Oct. 2009 <http://www.websophia.com/aphorisms/einstein.html>.
Hugard, Jean, and Frederick Braue. The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue. Cleveland, Ohio: Sterling Of New Delhi, 2000.
Lorayne, Harry. Close-up Card Magic. Boston: D Robbins & Co, 1976.
Second Place Essay as written by NJIllusionist3
Theory 11 Essay
Entertainment, and what it means to me
Entertainment - the act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement. This is the standard definition you will find in Webster’s dictionary. However, entertainment is so much more. It’s often the most interesting side to life, and thus one of the hardest to define. It’s something people can spend their whole lives looking for, and something others spend a whole career trying to perfect. It’s measured in various ways: television ratings, the number of tickets sold, or the reaction of an audience. From my perspective, entertainment is about amusement as compared to a distraction or earning money. It is about using my mind and body to bring together new ideas in the most creative way possible for people to enjoy. My main medium for this is magic, an elegant art of deception and entertainment. With entertainment, it is a common misconception that it is about distracting people from their lives, when in actuality it is about giving people a pleasant experience to remember. Furthermore, the most important aspect of entertainment to me is creating that feeling of awe or wonder with my entertainment, because the things truly out of the ordinary are the most amusing. Overall, to me, entertainment is the art of amusing people with creative and awe-inspiring ideas, instead of just distracting people.
Although it is not quite as evident in other forms as it is in magic, using entertainment to engender a feel of mystery and wonder in an audience can be one of the most powerful effects created. Creating that moment of marvel for people is what entertainment should be about. By introducing something a person never even imagined to his or her perspective, one can really make life seem more interesting, and cause that person to spend the next few weeks trying to derive the method for one miracle or some other stunning form of entertainment. As Albert Einstein, a man who concerned his entire life with the concrete facts of the universe once said, “The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion, which stands at the cradle of true art an true science.” This concept is also fulfilling for both the performer and the audience, as providing that brand of entertainment to people is what I try to strive for. A summary of this can be seen in the ending speech of Hugh Jackman’s character in the movie The Prestige:
If the audience knows the truth, the world is simple, miserable, solid, solid all the way through. But if you can fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder, and then you got to see something very special. You really didn’t know? It was the look on their faces.
After this part when I first saw the movie, I remember thinking to myself, “that is why I do magic.” Entertainment is about amusement and the unbelievable. Exploring the mysterious is the best way to bring both of these concepts into the lives of the audience. I feel the creation of a mysterious wonder in people is what entertainment should be chiefly concerned with.
One of the more important attributes for good entertainment is making your stage show or sports game or art work about more than just distracting people from their everyday lives. These days, with mass media and advertising campaigns for professional sports and television, many people think entertainment has become more about giving the population a break from the stress and complications of their lives. This is not true. Magic, art, movies, and books provide more than this; they provide a riveting experience while also leaving the person with something to think about, whether it is the theme of the book, the symbolism in the art work, or if he or she believes in magic. As a magician, I do not want my spectators to watch my effect, smile for a second, and then go back to whatever they were doing. If that is the case then I have not entertained them. People should be captivated by the actual entertainment, not just the idea of what entertainment can provide.
Another important aspect of entertainment is the creativity that must be present so that it can truly be amusing. In my humble opinion, one must bring together his or her ideas, whether new or old, in an original way to create real entertainment. This is because if a person has had the experience of something in the past, repetition of it s not entertaining. Consider, for instance, a movie with a surprise ending. The second time the movie is watched, one already knows the twist at the end, and so it is not nearly as entertaining. But this is also why magicians should try more and more to stray away from the generic pick-a-card type effects. After a certain point, people have seen the trick plenty of times, and they may even know some cheap trick of the same kind they learned off the Internet. This is why creativity is so important to actual entertainment. Using a combination of your unique ideas to generate an exciting moment for your audience is what entertainment means to me. Granted, originality has become increasingly more difficult in time because every idea has seemingly been utilized in every conceivable way. But creativity is essential to entertainment as people will be most surprised and amused by something they have never seen before.
Entertainment is the application of creative ideas that explore the mysterious, and how they are used to amuse people. The awe and wonder that can be found in mysterious miracles should be at the heart of what performers work towards because it can present an entirely different perspective of the reality we live in. The combination of unique and novel ideas, even if they must be radically new, is always important to entertainment, as new concepts are constantly needed to develop the art of entertainment. Also, both these and the other various aspects of what make up the piece of society called entertainment should be used to actually bring enjoyment to people, not to just distract them from their more complex lives for a brief moment. This is the interpretation of entertainment I hold in my mind when I perform magic or anything else I do. This may be different from others, but it has brought my audience and myself enjoyment in the past, and I believe it will in the future as well. Entertainment is not something everyone can accomplish, but I’m happy to put my best effort forward with magic.
Bibliography
"Albert Einstein." Websophia. 16 Oct. 2009 <http://www.websophia.com/aphorisms/einstein.html>.
Hugard, Jean, and Frederick Braue. The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue. Cleveland, Ohio: Sterling Of New Delhi, 2000.
Lorayne, Harry. Close-up Card Magic. Boston: D Robbins & Co, 1976.
...I agree....took the words out of my mouth.... this is like my next dvd....pure awesome....