March 2009 :: What Drives You?

TomIsaacson

theory11 artist
Magic is an art that attracts a wide variety of people for a wide variety of reasons. From kids in grade school to retired professionals nearing the triple digit threshold.

We all do this for different reasons. Some of us are in magic because we have an innate curiosity for the mysterious. We like solving puzzles. We like a challenge. We like the perpetual use of intellect and skill to affect an experience. We do it for ourselves.

This month's Cerca Trova topic has to do with that simple question - what drives you? From as objective a perspective as you can be towards yourself, what draws you into this art form and keeps you motivated and passionate? Is it the satisfaction of mastering a new move? Discovering a new principle? Or is it about creating an experience for others? Or is it the power you feel when you perform?

What Drives you?

TI
 
Hey Tom, good to see you posting again.
I guess what drives me most would have to be the reactions, and climbing the social ladder with astonishment.
The thing that keeps me doing magic, yet learning new tricks would be a thirst for knowledge. Searching for the best effects is an old pastime for every magician, I'm no exception.
 
May 3, 2008
1,146
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Hong Kong
In Soviet Russia, car drive you!

-Andrei Jikh

HAHA
good quote good quote
made me snigger a bit. then realized where it was from.

What drives me...
what... drives... me...
I dont really know myself...
kinda a mixture between everything I guess.
-Its a form of self peace where I can just chill with a deck
-I like making people experience and think out of the ordinary
-I like having a unique hobby which I can follow everywhere I go
-I like the annecdotes magicians tell me
-I like the fact that people are scared me of at times.
-I like amazement in any form.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
 

D21400

Banned
Dec 16, 2008
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Antwerp, Belgium
First of all: I live in belgium and the common image that people here see when you say magic is a man with a hat and a rabit

Second: if you asked me who the bucks where i whould have told you " what? Did you say buckets". I didn't knew a single artist from theory11. Thank god i found this site...

But back to the point: Here in belgium nobody is ready for real close-up magic. We have been to long isolated from the magic world. Most of our magicians are well know in america, but here nobody heard of them.

My goal is to bring the pure astonishment back to my country. Especially for my generation (12-20) They aren't used to just believe what they see. They always wanna know how its done. I'm not speaking of people that aks you once but about stalking people constantly asking how it's done.

I bring the believe in magic back to belgium. That's why my slogan is:
Believe, It's easy.

D21400
 
Jun 7, 2008
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DC area
www.youtube.com
What drives me is getting some of the best reactions from the simplest tricks. This reminds me of 2 stories that happened to me a little while ago.

First story: So about 2-3 weeks ago, I was at my schools basketball game and I was doing a routine to 3 girls. Early on in the routine I performed the invisible palm it went great but they accused me of having fake hands, yes FAKE HANDS. I don't get it either. I do some more tricks and at the end I was just feeling kind of stupid, so I did the removing thumb trick, yes the trick were i remove my thumb. They were just blown away and freaking out.

Second story: This happened this week at my schools library. There is 30 minutes before school ends and sports start. So instead of doing my homework like I tell my parents I do, I perform magic. So I was doing some tricks to some guys I know and than some girls came around and the next thing you know I have about 10 people. There was one guy to my left who was actually doing his homework and knew how did some tricks. I did my ACR routine, and at were i make the card jump from 1 pack to another. He yells at "WHAT THE F***" and every one who I was performing to just all start laughing. Also remember this was at my schools library so it was supposed to be quite and with no cursing.


That what drives me, getting the best reactions from simple tricks.
 
What drives me is the need to let normal people experience that childlike sense of wonder that we as magicians get the first time we experience magic. In other words, to instill real magic in the minds of my wonderful(and sometimes not so wonderful) audiences.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Chris Kenner probably summed it up best in the S.W.E. shift 1-on-1 where he talked about the move as an unattainable shot at perfection.

I do magic because it is something that I will never perfect. I will never have a perfect reaction, I will never do a sleight or a trick perfectly. I will never have the perfect patter or presentation.

But I might someday brush the surface of the ocean that is perfection, and for me that's a beautiful thought.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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This is the most interesting topic we can come up with? Ourselves? Jesus...

Well, if you don't even put any effort into making it interesting, then it won't be. But if you have a more positive attitude and are generally interested in things, maybe you'll get more out of it (and life?).
 

BMC

Oct 25, 2008
135
0
Bucharest, Romania
What drives me? Well, I just love to see people's reactions. For example I was walking on the street today with a few magician friends and I was using loops to make a paper-towel fly while walking. I really loved people's faces when they saw that paper towel fly :D So, this is what drives me.
 
Nov 18, 2008
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CA
I keep performing and practicing because I love the feeling of being able to entertain someone with just some coins or a deck. When working on difficult sleights, I feel accomplished when I get the move down and start using it. It's also a nice thing to just be able to sit down and relax with a deck and flourish/practice.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Well, if you don't even put any effort into making it interesting, then it won't be. But if you have a more positive attitude and are generally interested in things, maybe you'll get more out of it (and life?).

Generally interested in things... Maybe later I can also take stuff and then do it.

And if you're asking me to contribute with my own life story, I talk about myself too much as it is.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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It's also a nice thing to just be able to sit down and relax with a deck and flourish/practice.

Yeah, man. I would also add that it's really relaxing for me to just sit and smell a deck of cards. That is not a joke. Sometimes I'll just sit in a chair and sniff the pasteboards.
 

James Wise Magic

Elite Member
Dec 28, 2007
1,021
13
What drives me? idk, lots of stuff I guess.


-I love the real feeling of creating that magical experience for the audience

-I love the fact that I can cheer people up with my art even if that person had an awful day.

-I love that thought of trying to reach perfection (but of course no one will get there)

-I love to blur reality and show them that it's ok to look at it in a different way


There are others but I can't think of them right now.
 

James Wise Magic

Elite Member
Dec 28, 2007
1,021
13
This is the most interesting topic we can come up with? Ourselves? Jesus...

Come on man. Almost 95% of the time I see your posts you're always thinking negitivly man. Think positive. Critisising about the so called faults in magic and magic websites won't better it.

Kinda reminds me of my mom, she always looked at the faults of my dad, and never took the time to look at his positive actions.
 
I know this sounds very short, but I can say it all in one word. I perform magic, why?

One word: Smiles

I love seeing people smile, however I do it, I love it, it makes me smile too. Me performing magic is one of the best ways for me to make people smile, and when I see one person smile, it makes me think that I have made that person that little bit better, and that little bit happier, and that little bit more confident in themselves.
 
Aug 2, 2008
496
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Cincinnati
I like to do magic because its fun to make people think. When you perform a trick, you are confusing someone and making them question what happened. How did you find their card? How did one card change into another? etc. When you do that, you make them think. It can be a puzzle to them. Lots of people really want to find out what happened but most never will. And that will make them want to see more and more. Its a good feeling when you are astonished by something or someone.
 
Sep 1, 2007
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Come on man. Almost 95% of the time I see your posts you're always thinking negitivly man. Think positive.

Give me something to be positive about.

You think this thread is positive? It's digital opium. Cerca Trova is billed as, and I quote, "Advanced discussion on theory, technique, and psychology of magic and cardistry." This is none of the above. It's a copy and paste job from someone's LiveJournal.

Critisising about the so called faults in magic and magic websites won't better it.

I criticize the flaws because I seem to be the only one other than Morgician who acknowledges their existence. The rest of you just sweep all problems under the rug and turn a blind eye. You're perfectly content to pretend that there isn't a fat, smelly, naked drunk guy sleeping on your couch. And when your guests point it out, you smile and answer, "Don't be silly, I don't own a couch."

Newsflash: You can't fix a problem if you never admit that it's there! Durr!!

Kinda reminds me of my mom, she always looked at the faults of my dad, and never took the time to look at his positive actions.

Spare me.

Besides, whenever I am positive and helpful, most of you rabble will ignore it because I actually do talk about advanced theory and psychology and apparently that requires too much thinking.
 
Nov 18, 2008
1,604
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CA
One other thing I just remembered. I love creating magic. It's really fascinating to come up with ideas, work with them and start using them. I've had just as much fun creating magic as I've had performing it.
 
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