The Cardician's Bible Says...

[Dima]

"Make the difficult look easy, make the easy look beautiful" - great quote, can't remember who by.

Jeff McBride perhaps?

 

[PjPinsonnault]

It often backfires. It becomes less impressive when you pull back the curtain and tell everyone that you worked so long and hard to do that and now you want their praise. People percieve it as fishing for compliments.

Since we started this thread with a quote from Erdnase, and the quote point is a good one to keep in mind, I'll offer another quote from the good book:

"We are of the opinion that the less the company knows about the dexterity of the performer, the better it answers his purpose. A much greater interest is taken in the tricks, and the denouement of each causes infinitely more amazement, when the entire procedure has been conducted in an ordinary manner...free of ostensible cleverness at prestidigitation."

It's a question of knowing your intention. If your goal is an experience of magic, flaunting your digital dexterity will pull from that experience. A magical moment can come from nowhere, or it can come from your clever skill, or a mixture of the two, all of which are right. Choose your goal with purpose, and you'll use the correct paths for the correct reasons.

Pj

 

[Ben Long]

"Make the difficult look easy, make the easy look beautiful" - great quote, can't remember who by.

Jeff McBride perhaps?

Actually, I think I heard that in the Street Theater DVD preview on Ellusionist...