TED : Lennart Green - Close-Up Card Magic

i really thought that the video was really boring imho. he may bevery good at what he does but i was just not impressed by the pesentation... just a little rant. anyone else think this?

He's old, been in the business a lot longer than us. Better to be safe than sorry is the way to go. I'd do something that was completely boring to me if it always got a laugh and reaction from the crowd. So not the biggest guy on presentation but the show and the overall feeling left is what's important. I doubt any of us could hold the attention of such an audience for a solid half hour.

I believe it's just a style clash really, it's not such a big concern to me on presentation really. Theme and all that crap never really gets to me if it's bad and what not. I really like Green's timing though. JUST presentation wise I think it's not any better or any worse than any other professional performing. I think it's just a generational magic thing but sadly the old ways still work.

"One with misdirection."
 
Sep 1, 2007
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I do respect Lennart and I think he is amazing with sleights and all that. But I did not like his presentation on some stuff in the video. I though to myself, why is he taking this sloppy thing so far? I understand its the style he likes to perform with, but I think it was kind of disorganized and way too sloppy. But I don't deny that he has alot of skills and is an amazing card magician.
 
Sep 3, 2007
2,562
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Europe
I do respect Lennart and I think he is amazing with sleights and all that. But I did not like his presentation on some stuff in the video. I though to myself, why is he taking this sloppy thing so far? I understand its the style he likes to perform with, but I think it was kind of disorganized and way too sloppy. But I don't deny that he has alot of skills and is an amazing card magician.

It's called a "character"... most magicians have one.
 
Sep 26, 2007
591
5
Tokyo, Japan
I do respect Lennart and I think he is amazing with sleights and all that. But I did not like his presentation on some stuff in the video. I though to myself, why is he taking this sloppy thing so far? I understand its the style he likes to perform with, but I think it was kind of disorganized and way too sloppy. But I don't deny that he has alot of skills and is an amazing card magician.

His character won him FISM.

In fact, his performance was so good that he was accused of cheating and using a gimmicked deck. He had to later re-perform the entire performance with a different deck, and then was allowed 1st place. (might have some facts slightly mistaken, but this is what I was told).

I think his character is fine, it fits his routine and appearance perfectly. The fact that he does it in somewhat broken English sells it even more.

He is way ahead of your time. I don't think you or anyone else here has the qualifications to say that his performance style was not good.
 
Dec 17, 2007
1,291
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Melbourne, Australia
I don't think you or anyone else here has the qualifications to say that his performance style was not good.

You don't need qualifications to like something or not.

I watched the whole thing and I personally enjoyed most of it. However, at some times the whole sloppy thing got a bit annoying. It was still good though.
 
Sep 1, 2007
655
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I saw Lennart at Blackpool.

This guy handed him a deck of cards and after about 3 minutes of intense shuffling he spread the deck to show it in new deck order.

Turned out that the guy actually handed him a new deck, but at the time I didn't realize this haha.
 
For those put off by the sloppiness, would it have been more or less impressive had he sharpened things up any?

Suffice to say that because of his "sloppiness," that routine is impossible to reverse engineer in one or two (or possibly several) viewings.

How many card routines can claim the same?

Pj
 
Jul 12, 2008
192
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Kendal
I love his magic although (not to seem racist/unkind etc) his accent began to annoy me quite quickly. Like I said on a similar thread: I haven't thought of vanishes quite the same since watching this...
 
Sep 1, 2007
655
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Can anyone tell me the name of that series, because i think that he has more than one series of DVDs?

Green Magic.

And to answer your question PjPinsonnault:

To a lot of people I think it would be less entertaining if he sharpened it up, because it's quite comedic. It would be more impressive though in my opinion, I like magic to be precise, not in a flourishy way, but in a natural way.

I love Lennart though.
 
Dec 4, 2007
1,074
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www.thrallmind.com
For those put off by the sloppiness, would it have been more or less impressive had he sharpened things up any?

As a heads up, I'm not arguing with you Pj, just using your point. :p

The sloppiness is one thing that makes his act unique. It seems like he is messing up, and being very loose with the cards. It makes him seem more normal, he drops cards just like anyone else.

What would be more impressive from a spectators point of view?
Step out of the mindset of a magician when you think about this:

An expert flourisher, who shows you he can move cards at incredible speed, bringing a shuffled deck into new deck order?

or

A "bumbling" magician, who drops cards and shuffles sloppily, bringing a shuffled deck into new deck order?

-ThrallMind
 
As a heads up, I'm not arguing with you Pj, just using your point. :p
-ThrallMind

I got a kick out of this, man, thanks! :)

Great question, too! There were some great answers to questions like this in Designing Miracles, and asking/answering them for ourselves can only make our magic stronger.

Asking these questions forces us to think as our magician-character, and to make choices that are right for us even though they may differ from others. Lennart obviously chose a path that he's using well.

Pj
 
Dec 17, 2007
1,291
2
31
Melbourne, Australia
As a heads up, I'm not arguing with you Pj, just using your point. :p

The sloppiness is one thing that makes his act unique. It seems like he is messing up, and being very loose with the cards. It makes him seem more normal, he drops cards just like anyone else.

What would be more impressive from a spectators point of view?
Step out of the mindset of a magician when you think about this:

An expert flourisher, who shows you he can move cards at incredible speed, bringing a shuffled deck into new deck order?

or

A "bumbling" magician, who drops cards and shuffles sloppily, bringing a shuffled deck into new deck order?

-ThrallMind

I see what you're trying to do there, but being "an expert flourisher" is not necessarily the opposite of "sloppy." When I said earlier that the sloppiness started to annoy me, I didn't mean that I wanted him to start doing mad-crazy flourishes instead.

I like my magic to be clean cut, not flourishy, which is why I didn't really enjoy the performance.
 
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