March 2009 :: What Drives You?

[Gandalf]

True magic

As you grow up you find reality more and more disgusting, reality becomes painful and you get alienated by your work and destroyed by the routine. We all tend to search happiness, and our every action tries to fulfill that goal however we are doomed never to find it as we always project it in the future and never find it in the present.
Magic is an other dimension, an art form that is so beautiful because our art shatters the reality in our spectators eyes. You do magic not for the sleights, not for the secrets, not to amuse you. But to actually create magic. Since the concept of reality is subjective, then who says that what we make them see and believe is more true that what we see or know. In a certain aspect, it is the creation of true magic that drives us all.

 

[JK HANSEN]

My Drive Comes from....

My drive comes from my vision for what I am wanting for the future.. which changes constantly but is relatively the same thing.. I am a believer in visualization and when you visualize yourself doing something, as soon as you start taking steps towards it, the gap between a day dream and reality, quickly becomes smaller. It's pretty much controlling your future to a certain degree.. that is what drives me. : )

 

[Sk8r_St3v3]

I have only just started getting fully into cardistry/magic in the last month, i mean as a kid i used to love it but ive never delved into it properly. I guess as i have just started it is the bets time to say what drives me, and in turn what intrigued me to start, lest they be the same answer.

Quickly before i explain what drives me, i just want to say that it is not an aim of professionalism within magic, i am aiming to become better than myself constantly, as there is no way of becoming the complete best, of yourself or other people. My professional aim is writing and film direction, as that is what i have loved my whole life and what i am doing at University.

Now, the way i started just a month ago is probably the same thign that drives me to be honest. I saw 'The Prestige' a film about two rivalling magicians in the late 18th Century in London. The interesting thing is that although this struck me as a film to go on the favourites list as it was very good (in fact i highly recommend it to anyone who hasnt seen it) but just a few days later a guy i know at the supermarket i work at, showed me some very simple card tricks where he would select my card from the deck after shuffling it etc. I begged him to show me the first one, as it amazed me to start with and i thought i could do it.

Long story short, the film and being shown the trick created a larger impulse/desire to indulge in magic than either had on their own. Just a few days after researching tricks and the like, i had become hooked on cardistry and magic and have not put a deck down for more than 10 minutes since. I am obsessed, not with becoming the best, not with amazing people, but with the sheer challenge and aesthetic mindset that it requires, and i guess thats what drives me, the desire for something harder than before.

 

[spade15]

The thread title says it all, I know a lot of us don't like T11 and a lot of us do. My question is, was anyone else really excited with what T11 promised all of us only to find out it is just another Ellusionist?

http://media.theory11.com/1387-What-Is-Theory11
(take specific note of Lee Asher at 1:21)

To be honest this is the video that really drew me to T11. It really seemed like the artists cared about the advancement of magic (and I believe they do), but as time has gone by it really seems like they have let a lot of us down, including (possibly) the artists.
http://www.theory11.com/beginners.php

I don't know, I feel like we all were played with the classic bait and switch. What do you guys think? Do you feel like it differs (at all) from Ellusionist? And if so how do you feel it is different? And if it is not any different, why is it seemingly more respected than Ellusionsit? Is it just the artists that are tied to the site that rarely appear except when they have a new product to push on this outlet?

The point of this thread is not just to bash, but to gain a better understanding of the general outlook on T11. It seems to be much more respected than E, and I am not sure why. I'd love to know your opinions.

thanks,

 

[worldwideme]

The thread title says it all, I know a lot of us don't like T11 and a lot of us do. My question is, was anyone else really excited with what T11 promised all of us only to find out it is just another Ellusionist?

http://media.theory11.com/1387-What-Is-Theory11
(take specific note of Lee Asher at 1:21)

To be honest this is the video that really drew me to T11. It really seemed like the artists cared about the advancement of magic (and I believe they do), but as time has gone by it really seems like they have let a lot of us down, including (possibly) the artists.
http://www.theory11.com/beginners.php

I don't know, I feel like we all were played with the classic bait and switch. What do you guys think? Do you feel like it differs (at all) from Ellusionist? And if so how do you feel it is different? And if it is not any different, why is it seemingly more respected than Ellusionsit? Is it just the artists that are tied to the site that rarely appear except when they have a new product to push on this outlet?

The point of this thread is not just to bash, but to gain a better understanding of the general outlook on T11. It seems to be much more respected than E, and I am not sure why. I'd love to know your opinions.

thanks,

dude, why? you've already been given a response, why bring it back up, in a place it didn't belong, exactly the same?

 

[ace of spades4]

In Soviet Russia, car drive you!

-Andrei Jikh

lol lol lol lol

 

[UncleMings]

I just love it

I just love card magic. I love to practice untill my fingers hurt. I love to read the books untill my eyes are out of focus and I love to watch the great card men preform.

Others have their yoga, martial arts, or listen to their sounds of the rain forest cd to relax and get rid of stress. Me I take out a pack of playing cards and practice with my glass of wiskey or scotch.

I dont preform often for people. I practice for myself but when I do I get sort of a god complex out if it. I control what the eyes see, what the ears hear and the mind believes. You control the outcome to the way you want it.

Overall. Im just a magic buff/enthusiast. I may not be good. I may never be. I will always just love it.


Mike

 

[MalibuARMY]

What Drives Me

What drives me is not the reactions but the feeling that I am not wasting my life away, I am accomplishing something.

Example: On friday after school I talk with my friend, probably one of the only who does magic, I go home, think over what I've learned and the talk we had, I study.
I finish homework as fast as I can and I come to T11 and study some more. I practice my audition for the Magic Castle in September, and for all my future performances.

If I don't do this, if I don't get something done I am depressed throughout most of the next week. I need to always learn, always keep going.

What drives me is the fact that I keep driving down the road, because I can always get better and I have infinite gas mileages so why not keep driving. What is to lose?

I am an atheist and believe in Hemingway's concept of NADA.
For me there is nothing after death, all there is is what I accomplish among the living.

That's what drives me…

 

[spooky111]

for myself, its kinda like how my brother describes golf. i asked him once why he plays golf (as i find it an utter waste of time and beautiful real estate that could be used for a park or affordable housing developing), and he said that for him its more about trying to reach a higher level of skill more than trying to win the game. and thats how i view magic. sure i can go perform some tricks and astonish people, but for my it the practice that goes into perfecting a double lift or a flash-back coin production. ill never be perfect, but its fun to try!

 

[veteran]

The Paradox

Wow, great topic and great responses gents!

Well, to be honest, there are two main interlocking yet paradoxical aspects that motivate my career. I will explain the base of my motivation with a true story.

Many years ago, while I still had my youth, my uncle Sprague drew me away from the crowd at a family reunion and spoke with me more intimately. He said something to the effect of this "Thomas, I know you like magic, so I wanted you to have this.". The man handed me a copper coin that bore the image of a man wielding a hat and a wand, standing on top of what appeared to be the world. Above the man was a text that read "MUNDUS VULT DECIPI: DECIPIATUR". In English, the phrase translates to "the world wants to be deceived: so let it be deceived". Now, this moment would have been more magical had I not known that my uncle Sprague was a convicted pedophile/ child molester; knowing that made it feel... weird, to say the least.

The phrase is the first component in my motivation. The second, though paradoxical, complements the prior belief and motivation. My second component is that your audience does not want to be shrouded by a performer, they want to believe the world is simple, fair, and concerning. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't, I don't really know.

But what I do know is this: When craving for deception meets accepted factuality, change occurs.

Take for example this scenario I have fabricated: An unstoppable train is traveling down a track. At an unmarked distance ahead, there is an immovable cube. When will these two objects collide? The answer is as definitive as it is not. It is sometime that they will collide. More importantly, what will occur when said collision takes place? Can you tell me?

This example may be rationalized via application to performance. Every time I go out, I attempt to evoke at least one collision, no matter how small. Witnessing the collision is nothing less than beautiful. At times, the collisions are silent, while others are violent and explosive. As you may have gathered, the train represents deception while the block, factuality. The collision represents the simplicity in change.

I do what I do to collide... and change.​

 

[alvinfree2012]

I think I'm a good team player and I'm a person of great honesty to others. Brothers and sisters, something we can explore together, is not it, lately I've been thinking about playing the game, a bit addicted to them, the is http://www.mmolive.com/, we can go and see the way, give me some advice, thank you!

 

[VanishedAce]

A parapetetic nature and an annoying habit of trying to start up conversations in the que for the movies.
Sorry. Joking.
Really I'm in it for seeing the reations to what I'm doing- the joy or confusion or sheer derision in an audiences response to my act.
That's what gets me up in the morning.

 

[Smithcol]

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[Samuel1]

What drives you?

Hello all,

I mostly like to drive my bike.