What got you into magic?

[JohnHorus]

Hi this would be my 1st post and i was wondering how old some of you were when you started in magic and also what inspired you to pick it up.
As for myself i think it had to have been watching David Blaine during one of his TV specials doing the trick from here to there.

 

[jdstyle]

For my part ive always been hooked to magic since i was 6 , u know those small magic boxes with 100 tricks for kids. At the age of 12 i saw David Blaine perform in Chicago and got hooked in. Unfortunatley i didnt know from where to start but then when Criss ANgel started i REALLY got into magic and now 2 years later here i am at T11

 

[Josh Clarke]

I was ten years old when I started doing magic. My grandma bought me one of those beginner magic sets at a garage sale. It was missing parts and pieces, so I had to improvise. The only trick I remember from it was a box that made a pink, rubber rabbit vanish.

 

[Tally]

yeah same i was 13 when i started...14 now.. so stil new to magic... but david blaine got me started but now as i watch him....i dont really like his style.

 

[DavidMisner]

I first got interested in magic when I was in the 5th grade, so about five or six years ago. I received on of those magic sets for my birthday, but after a few months I lost interest. Over the next few years I practiced magic on and off, but never seriously.

In my freshman year of high school, I re-discovered E, and was hooked again. I had a brief stint with the exposure community, but eventually left that behind. The whole T11 hubbub started, and I was sucked in. I began to create my own effects, tried to market something, failed, and now I'm here!

//David.Misner::

 

[cards]

Just turned 21 (Now 24). Was spectating a poker game after a bad beat. I was watching one player just getting some incredible hands. It wasnt tell I started watching the dealer to her left. I knew what a crimp looked like and began to notice that the girl would always cut at the crimp. This didnt hit me tell I noticed a parttern. Straight, Straight, Crooked Deal. It hit me that I was now watching a cardsharp team. Did not even know what to call them at the time. I was just pissed and felt cheated. Yet I did not say a thing. It was just amazing watching the dealer or mechanic as I now know them. He looked so natural but he could run up hands as he pleased. After the game ended I confronted the mechanic. After some words and a threat to notify the losers of what happend we began to talk. Now we session together to help improve our art.

Thats how I got into card manipulation.

Now I teach people what to look for in games.

 

[orchestrion]

I started getting interested in May of last year when I bought a deck of Black Tigers from Books-A-Million. It was for collection purposes only, I collect cards. I saw "For more Black Tiger gear, visit www.ellusionist.com" on the bottom flap. At first I was just going to get more custom decks, but I got Crash Course 1. It's been a great ride, I've never been happier in my life since I started magic. (I wasn't depressed by any means, but magic just makes life happier)

 

[Krash]

I first got into magic when I would sit at home during my elemetery school years and watch "The Worlds Greatest Magic #" on television. I remember recieving one of those kiddie magic sets that most children get when they first have an interest in magic. Unfortunatly, the instruction booklet was written in another language.

A few years later I was channel surfing in the middle of one of David Blaine's television specials. I believe it was "Magic Man", but what got me was the levitation for some guy named "Froot Loops", yes...it was spelled like that.

I searched the internet, but didn't find anything.

A few years later, I ran across Criss Angel's Mindfreak series on A&E and that did it. That was the catalyst. I quickly hopped on the computer and searched for some magic stores. Low and behold, I ran into Ellusionist. I searched the entire site for all of their products and made my very first magic purchase. A deck of black tigers, a deck of ghosts, and the hummer card.

After becoming frustrated with the Ellusionist forums I stopped bothering with them. I still bought from the site, but never went on the message board ever again.

A year later, after being on Ellusionist off and on...I got curious about that forums and ran into a thread that said a new magic site opened. It happened to be Theory11. So, here I am. The day after Theory11 launched, I found it and signed up hoping that the members would recieve me better than the Ellusionist members did.

Shane K.

 

[phrozunsun]

I've loved cards since I've first seen them. I'm as much gambler as a magician, but primarily with cards for both.

 

[Mxtt]

For some reason the trailer for Smokin' Aces sparked my interest in learning magic. Not flourishing, but magic. Strange. (o_0) I think when he threw the Ace of Spades into the couch did it. I did enjoy the David Blaine specials as a kid though.

 

[Twozwozer]

I first got into magic (not performing) when I was about..... 17 - when ever Blaine aired his special. He basicly got me hooked. I loved watching magic, I used to get my Nan to tape every magic related program on TV. I also got her to buy every magic book she saw aswell. I even got her to subcribe to this magic magazine, but it stopped after 4 issues. .

Now fast forward to Nov '06. I had just sold my PS2, to save up some money and I was extremly bored, it was the holidays and I had nothing to do, so I found some really old bikes, (I have no idea where they came from, I just found them in one of my old boxes) dusted off one of my old magic books and started reading. Then I hit the web and found E. Got my Nan to order me some stuff and that was it. I was offically hooked into performing. Theres my story.

Cheers, Tom

 

[Delta]

I saw 'This n That' on youtube last may, I could not figure it out. Then I found a book on card magic in my house, from then on I've been hooked.

 

[Big Sapo]

I've been into magic as long as I can remember. I remember watching the Doug Henning specials when I was a kid and begging my parents to buy me one of those beginner magic kits.

Dabbled with the craft off and on for few years during high school. Mostly thumb tip stuff and some coin work.

In college I started gambling and playing cards. Taught myself to second deal and bottom deal and the fascination just grew from there. I'm still a pretty good cheat... although i don't do it anymore.

What sealed it for me was "Ricky Jay and his 52 assistants". After viewing that special, I started reading as much as I could on the subject. Both about the history as well as the theories.

 

[David Rysin]

As Dai Vernon would say "I started magic at the age of four- I wasted the first four years of my life."

My father showed/taught me my first trick around 4 (that I obviously do not remember) and would continue to teach me some basic things until I was about 6. At 6 I got my first magic set, then the usual "Hundred tricks you can do with a Svengali deck" and the like. Around 8 or 9 I got a Scholastic magic set that came in the mail once a month for a year containing new effects and a book each time. Along the way I had also picked up Mark Wilson's book and a few others. The, as I didn't no any better, at the age of 10 I went through a Penguin Magic phase...then learning that Penguin would sell bad products I moved onto Ellusionist which was even worse..then back to Penguin when I found out they were under new management...then stuck to local magic shops when I found out the new management was Ellusionist.. Along the way I learned about magic shops and the SYM and in the past year I have grown a lot because of it. I have started to go to conventions, magic camps, and have magic taking over my life now. The SYM has helped me meet great people, and by being respectful and polite I have been able to have lunch and spend time with people like David Berglas, Nathan Kranzo, Lee Asher, Aaron Fisher, Boris Wild, etc and have learned incredible amounts from them. I highly recommend joining an SYM charter as there is a lot more to the magic world then meets the eye.

~David

 

[2ndDeal]

Little background.
I live in Finland, and we have here a children TV show called Taikuri Luttinen (Magician Luttinen). Usually, Luttinen reveals a couple of very simple tricks during a show. I saw one show, and as I have two little sisters, I showed a couple of simple tricks to them. Later, I encountered a magic book in a local library. So I thought, now I can fool them again, and I learned couple of more tricks. Then, I got hooked.

 

[Domino082]

I always thought magic was cool... just not stage magic, i liked close up stuff where the magician weas right next to you when performing the trick, but just viewing magic never really got me into performing it.

My cousin though, who started up magic, would always do tricks for our family at holidays and such.. i had no idea how he could do some of the stuff i thought it was impossible. I would stand in awe of him, and thats when the spark for magic was re-lit, yet still was'nt ready to go and learn some magic.

Then one day he showed me how he did some of his tricks and i had no idea it was so easy. I was very interested at that point and one day he gave me his old stripper deck and taught me a trick with that and gave me a old black tiger deck. Along with him lending me his "Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic" Book. I learned 2 tricks over the weekend and visited the magic store the next day it was open. The owner of the shop Steve was very helpful and inspired me even more.

Ever since then i have been hooked. I have now been doing magic for 5 months and don't know what i'd do without it.