Comments on: Thoughts on magic.

By: Brad Tobin

Brad Tobin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:30:03 +0000

I think alot of magicians feel this way about magic but i think NO laypeople feel this way about magic.One of the strongest effects is the stop trick, but if you do it by having a card picked, then deal down until they say stop and show the card, its amazing that happened but it has no meaning, but if you begin the effect by talking about woman having some special type of intuition bla bla bla, then do the effect, its personal, and at the end they want the effect to be successful, and it makes the woman feel special that it worked with her. Presentation is so important because it conditions the spectators to see the effect the way you want them to see it, if you do an acr, whats the effect? Does the card slowly penetate every card until it reaches the top? or does it Jump(teleport) to the top the instant you snap your fingers(michael ammar hahah)? or does the top card change into the card, the macanics may be the same but the presentation is essential to making the effect clear, and if they know the effect thats what they will SEE. Presentation is also important to making the effect matter, A card may disappear from the pack and end up folded in a small box, but why the hell would you ever need to get a card folded in a small box in the first place, with patter you can solve these kinds of problems, (see michael vincents Pandoras Paradox).A lot of people say magic has meaning in and of itself, which i think is bullshit, magic only has meaning in so much as it is useful, the audiance should feel that if only they could do what you just did they could….

By: Yves Tourigny

Yves Tourigny — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:03:23 +0000

That’s a very nice application of an Ernest Earick steal. Never saw someone do it as smoothly as you though. Congratulation!!

I do not agree with your rant at least in part. Presentation is not the end all of magic though as some seems to think but it is an integral part of the mysteries. Don’t have time to say more maybe later.

Yves

By: Yves Tourigny

Yves Tourigny — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:01:43 +0000

That’s a very nice application of an Ernest Earick steal. Congratulation!

Yves

By: Goldfarb

Goldfarb — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:15:27 +0000

fooled me until you exposed it to me in person, had no idea how you were stealin that card

By: jaded

jaded — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:58:08 +0000

got it…

tnx
-jaded

By: Tony Chang

Tony Chang — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:28:46 +0000

3 letters and starts with T. thinking too hard.

By: jaded

jaded — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:50:11 +0000

im really having a hard time figuring the password out.
a little help plz.

tnx
-jaded

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:45:09 +0000

I think Richard’s point is true And I agree with him. Magic is not what you do but what spectators see. And you change spec’s perception by your presentation.
Even if presentation is not above the technique, it’s still important. I’m thinking that the ratio is 40/60 in close-up.
@Richard : Can you come on my blog
http://cardstudy.blogspot.com/
Tell me your point of view on it.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:28:48 +0000

I dont quite agree with what you’re saying. I think magic should be about entertaining and audience and not just simply showing off your skills. And its rather hard to to that without any patter or presentation.

I do agree with you on some points that most magicians dont know how to properly create a presentation for a magic trick. Like you said, some will blurt a joke during the magic moment, which does ruin the impact of the magic. But i dont think that getting rid of patter completely is a good thing to do.

About what you said about the “performance character”, i think it’s not the bullshit you think it is. Every professional magician out there wants people to remember their magic, but they also want them to remember the magician. Therefore they will have very extreme and unique stage personas so that they will remember them afterwards. So when they describe it to their friends later they’ll say “This fat magician guy with a beard made this big ball of sponge appear in my hand!” (al goshman)

I think that the problem with magic today is that everyone has been sucked in by that “visual magic is the only good magic” non sense. Every is working on the most visual color change or the most visual sandwich effect. Yeah, they may look cool, but are people really gonna remember that afterwards? As opposed to traditonal magic, such as a 100 dollar bill change. That’s no where near as visual but it has the emotional impact that magic needs. They’ll remember that way better then they will remember a color change.

Ok i’m getting off topic here but my main point is that magic should be entertaining so that it will create a unique experience for the audience. I dont think any famous magician would be as successful as they are now without using any patter or presentation.

Perhaps you should read Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz. A lot of my thoughts come from that book. I tells you how to create a GOOD presentation, one that will not hinder the magic.

I’m not trying to criticize you Tony, i have seen you in action and i know you’re a great magician. I just dont agree with this rant and wanted to give you some of my thoughts. So i hope this doesnt create any tension, cuz we already have enough of that in the magic world.

Ok, cya.

P.S. That change was pretty awesome, but the vanish blew me away. Nice job.

By: Stein

Stein — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:01:11 +0000

Never mind, figured it out. Doh. Haha.