It isn't a question, but beautifully disturbing.
The huge number of magicians who do cardistry (frequently or just here and there between magic) might ''feel me'' on this one, because it is a sad confession.
I started Magic first and I'm going to remain a 'magician' forever (or at least, for a long time).
I started cardistry much later than I started learning magic.
Yet, I ENJOY CARDISTRY MORE THAN MAGIC.
There, I said it. Kill me and plague me with judgement now.
But before that, have you asked my poor soul what the reason is? Well, it is because whatever I practice in Cardistry, I. PRACTICE. TO. SHOW. THEM. TO. PEOPLE.
Here lies one of the problems in magic.
The Secrecy of Magic
I spend months, maybe even years, to perfect my second deal as much as possible (say). OR I spend years behind my passes. OR my retention vanishes. OR my switches. And the goal is to make them look so amazing that...
They become invisible.
It seems counter-intuitive to be honest. We sing so that people can listen to us singing. We perfect our dance moves so that people can see it. We even perfect our flicks and cuts and springs so that people see and appreciate it. BUT we practice sleights or build intricate (sometimes) gimmicks so that NOBODY. CAN. SEE. THEM.
If I had no idea of magic. If I were from a different planet and was told that this is what a community called 'magicians' do on the Earth, I'd immediately ask, “Are these people retarded?”
So another 'problem' with magic, in my opinion, is it's insane difficulty.
MAGIC IS DIFFICULT and an art of connecting with people but demands huge amounts of time spent in total ISOLATION.
It feels like a penance, almost. Let me practice without ever boasting about the technique I can DO. It's like reciting the Bhagwad Gita everyday when I practice, “Gain knowledge but don't boast of it. Labour, but you aren't entitled to the fruits!”
Second deals are hard or invisible passes are inhumanly difficult to achieve, but even more importantly, we have to confine ourself for hours and hours within a room to practice something so that NOBODY can see it. I won't be surprised if it drives people crazy, to be honest.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes the pay-off is worth it, or more than worth it. But we all know that sometimes, it isn't. Benjamin Earl, for example, spent a LOT of time perfecting false riffle shuffles but ended up switching them overnight for overhand shuffles and ways of manipulating them, something mentioned in the VERY FIRST CHAPTER OF AN ELEMENTARY CARD MAGIC BOOK!
Another problem is its STRANGE RULES AND PARAMETERS.
A talented magician.
What does that mean?
Talented at harnessing magical powers? But we don't really do that. Talented at using sleights and gimmicks, misdirections? But those are invisible and we aren't apparently using them. Talented at evoking a sense of astonishment in people? But today lots of other art forms make people say 'it looks like/feels like MAGIC'.
So whatever we are gets confined within rules, and at the same time there aren't clear-cut rules, and what we get is a huge art form FILLED with grey lines. What is magic? It must be the ONLY art form where the artists can't even agree onthe definition of the art form!
HOWEVER;
Magic has its problems. In my opinion, it is the most difficult art form out there. I'm not talking about the explicit difficulty--- achieving a freeze in Break Dancing is way harder and physically demanding than achieving a perfect DL. But I'm talking about it's implicit difficulty. I made this thread to air out some grievances this art has imposed upon me and to see if others feel the same and how they cope up with it, because all of us are in the same boat.
Yet, that is precisely what makes magic an unique art/craft. It is what makes magic beautiful. There's a reason why we can name so many great dancers and musicians immediately, but can count the magicians who can evoke the feeling of 'real' magic, on our fingers. It is what makes magic fantastic. It's what makes magic an ethereal experience. A delicate string of illusion which can break very, very easily, and is often broken by the spinner themself! This is also precisely why I'm in love with magic. The problems make it so much more 'magical' than its plus points, that I felt if we are to love magic, we must understand its problems too.
Tell me what you think
The huge number of magicians who do cardistry (frequently or just here and there between magic) might ''feel me'' on this one, because it is a sad confession.
I started Magic first and I'm going to remain a 'magician' forever (or at least, for a long time).
I started cardistry much later than I started learning magic.
Yet, I ENJOY CARDISTRY MORE THAN MAGIC.
There, I said it. Kill me and plague me with judgement now.
But before that, have you asked my poor soul what the reason is? Well, it is because whatever I practice in Cardistry, I. PRACTICE. TO. SHOW. THEM. TO. PEOPLE.
Here lies one of the problems in magic.
The Secrecy of Magic
I spend months, maybe even years, to perfect my second deal as much as possible (say). OR I spend years behind my passes. OR my retention vanishes. OR my switches. And the goal is to make them look so amazing that...
They become invisible.
It seems counter-intuitive to be honest. We sing so that people can listen to us singing. We perfect our dance moves so that people can see it. We even perfect our flicks and cuts and springs so that people see and appreciate it. BUT we practice sleights or build intricate (sometimes) gimmicks so that NOBODY. CAN. SEE. THEM.
If I had no idea of magic. If I were from a different planet and was told that this is what a community called 'magicians' do on the Earth, I'd immediately ask, “Are these people retarded?”
So another 'problem' with magic, in my opinion, is it's insane difficulty.
MAGIC IS DIFFICULT and an art of connecting with people but demands huge amounts of time spent in total ISOLATION.
It feels like a penance, almost. Let me practice without ever boasting about the technique I can DO. It's like reciting the Bhagwad Gita everyday when I practice, “Gain knowledge but don't boast of it. Labour, but you aren't entitled to the fruits!”
Second deals are hard or invisible passes are inhumanly difficult to achieve, but even more importantly, we have to confine ourself for hours and hours within a room to practice something so that NOBODY can see it. I won't be surprised if it drives people crazy, to be honest.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes the pay-off is worth it, or more than worth it. But we all know that sometimes, it isn't. Benjamin Earl, for example, spent a LOT of time perfecting false riffle shuffles but ended up switching them overnight for overhand shuffles and ways of manipulating them, something mentioned in the VERY FIRST CHAPTER OF AN ELEMENTARY CARD MAGIC BOOK!
Another problem is its STRANGE RULES AND PARAMETERS.
A talented magician.
What does that mean?
Talented at harnessing magical powers? But we don't really do that. Talented at using sleights and gimmicks, misdirections? But those are invisible and we aren't apparently using them. Talented at evoking a sense of astonishment in people? But today lots of other art forms make people say 'it looks like/feels like MAGIC'.
So whatever we are gets confined within rules, and at the same time there aren't clear-cut rules, and what we get is a huge art form FILLED with grey lines. What is magic? It must be the ONLY art form where the artists can't even agree onthe definition of the art form!
HOWEVER;
Magic has its problems. In my opinion, it is the most difficult art form out there. I'm not talking about the explicit difficulty--- achieving a freeze in Break Dancing is way harder and physically demanding than achieving a perfect DL. But I'm talking about it's implicit difficulty. I made this thread to air out some grievances this art has imposed upon me and to see if others feel the same and how they cope up with it, because all of us are in the same boat.
Yet, that is precisely what makes magic an unique art/craft. It is what makes magic beautiful. There's a reason why we can name so many great dancers and musicians immediately, but can count the magicians who can evoke the feeling of 'real' magic, on our fingers. It is what makes magic fantastic. It's what makes magic an ethereal experience. A delicate string of illusion which can break very, very easily, and is often broken by the spinner themself! This is also precisely why I'm in love with magic. The problems make it so much more 'magical' than its plus points, that I felt if we are to love magic, we must understand its problems too.
Tell me what you think