|
|
Go to page 1~2 [Next] | ||||||||||
landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
I was waiting for my son to come out of school band practice. I was passing the time reading the new Barrie Richardson book. Then the parent next to me turns to me and asks me what I'm reading. I hemmed and hawwed for a few minutes and then told her I was reading a book about magic which was an interest of mine.
Should I have given a different answer? Jack Shalom
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
|||||||||
Frank Tougas Inner circle Minneapolis, MN 1712 Posts |
Why? Most questions like that are akin to asking how are you, the answer is seldom listened to or cared about, it is a cultural ritual greeting. The worst that could happen is they think you meant that other kind of magic in which case you came off as a weirdo or possibly a totally evil man.
Frank Tougas
Frank Tougas The Twin Cities Most "Kid Experienced" Children's Performer :"Creating Positive Memories...One Smile at a Time"
|
|||||||||
George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Absolutely. Another way to look at it is that the other parent may have then asked, "Oh, do you do birthday parties? I'm having one on... "
Subtle advertising.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
|||||||||
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
If you're ashamed of magic...you might need a new avocation. Just a thought. I love it when a holy roller gets on my case about being a magician.
Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
|||||||||
glatner Loyal user 245 Posts |
Magician beating bible beaters! Run for your life!
|
|||||||||
nucinud Inner circle New York, New York 1298 Posts |
Don't you just love it when "religious" people think you sold your soul to the devil to do magic.
"We are what we pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Now U C It Now U Don't Harry Mandel www.mandelmagic.com |
|||||||||
landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Well I thought this was going to be more controversial; I had absolutely no feelings of shame; my hesitancy was because of the following argument I thought I was going to hear:
"Telling lay people that you learn magic from a book lessens the feeling of magic for people, in the same way that magicians shouldn't talk about magic shops to laypeople." Is there anyone who wants to take the bait?
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
|||||||||
Cliffg37 Inner circle Long Beach, CA 2491 Posts |
Chomp, Gulp! Bait taken.
While I do only a little bit of magic for my students in the class room, they all know I am a magician, and every now and then one asks me to teach them something. There was a time that I would take one under my wing and show them some stuff, but I was disappointed every time as none of them wanted to put in practice time to really learn anything. Now I tell anyone who asks me than to go buy a magic book, learn a few tricks, show me they can do them well, and then I will teach them something. So far, no takers.
Magic is like Science,
Both are fun if you do it right! |
|||||||||
Skip Way Inner circle 3771 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-11-21 21:56, landmark wrote: I disagree with that statement. Children and adults alike ask me how I learned to "do magic." I simply tell them that I started learning magic by memorizing the mystical number "793.8". I then explain that this is the location of magic books in the library under the Dewey Decimal System. My favorite phrase with kids is "Reading makes it happen!" Being defensive about reading a "magic book" in public is ridiculous...in my opinion. It may actually be a great ice breaker and conversation starter! Now...if you want to cause a stir...take a Harry Potter book....any Harry Potter book...with you next time you visit a church! Whoo boy!! Skip
How you leave others feeling after an Experience with you becomes your Trademark.
Magic Youth Raleigh - RaleighMagicClub.org |
|||||||||
George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-11-21 21:56, landmark wrote: Ouch... wait a min... lemme get this hook outta my lip... Just the other day I walked into the local Borders and saw, right there in the vestibule, a stack of magic sets right next to the juggling kits and other craft stuff. People are seeing this more and more. I've also seen a stack of Magic for Dummies on the impulse-buying table at the front of the store. Shoot, even in Harry Potter they have books of spells! Are magic shops hidden away so "lay people" can't find them? Do we have to go thru a pub and open up a brick wall? Not in my area! Even at Pier 39 (a local "tourist attraction" in San Francisco) there's a Houdini Magic Shop.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
|||||||||
nucinud Inner circle New York, New York 1298 Posts |
I agree with Skip.
I have performed at schools where the principal wanted an educational theme. At the start of the show I talk about the history and science and psycology of magic. I also tell the kids they can learn how to do every thing I do. At the end of the show I tell them to go the library and find 793.8, if they really want to learn magic. The teachers love that. Any kid that really wants to learn will go to the library, and if they have the desire they will read and re-read and practice just like us.
"We are what we pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Now U C It Now U Don't Harry Mandel www.mandelmagic.com |
|||||||||
landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Okay, let's see if I can make this a little more interesting . . .
I'm reading the Barrie Richardson book; she asks me what am I reading. I say a book about magic. Now she says, "Oh that sounds interesting. Mind if I take a look?" Now what? Jack Shalom
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
|||||||||
nucinud Inner circle New York, New York 1298 Posts |
I would say sorry I am not aloud to show any one. Magicians code you know.
Love Leonard Cohen.
"We are what we pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Now U C It Now U Don't Harry Mandel www.mandelmagic.com |
|||||||||
Frank Tougas Inner circle Minneapolis, MN 1712 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-11-26 13:48, landmark wrote: Hand them the book. They will only look for a few seconds see it is hard stuff and hand it back. Maybe magicians will be given a little more credit for what we know than thinking we get our stuff from the childrens section of the library or Toys r Us. Frank Tougas
Frank Tougas The Twin Cities Most "Kid Experienced" Children's Performer :"Creating Positive Memories...One Smile at a Time"
|
|||||||||
George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Probably won't even understand what they're seeing.
With a little misdirection, you could turn the conversation around, talk about the type of magic you do, and get them to ask you for a business card. And I agree w/ nucinud as to mentioning the library. The worst that could happen is that a kid could go there looking for a magic book, get sidetracked, and end up discovering other stuff besides magic... I mean, gee whiz, what a shame to get some of them out from in front of the TV or computer game for a while...
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
|||||||||
Comedy Writer Special user 594 Posts |
..Better, yet, do an effect for them...that'l blow their minds...
Comedy Writer |
|||||||||
The One Veteran user 325 Posts |
Noone should be learning or practicing magic in public. Magic should not have the impression of a skill that can be learned.
I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end...
I came here... To tell you how this is going to begin. |
|||||||||
truthteller Inner circle 2584 Posts |
Malini had his copy of Erdnase bound in a different cover - a technical manual on hydraulics, if I remember correctly - so he could read it on trains without people knowing.
Brad |
|||||||||
Vandy Grift Inner circle Milwaukee 3504 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-02-02 17:08, truthteller wrote: LOL. I never heard that one. That's kind of what Penn did with the book "How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker". The dustjacket has the real title, but if you remove that, the cover and spine say something like "The History of Playing Cards in America" Vandy
"Get a life dude." -some guy in a magic forum
|
|||||||||
Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
They wanted to talk. You were less than attentive to your audience.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
|
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Right or Wrong? » » What's that you're reading? (0 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page 1~2 [Next] |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.04 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |