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Michael Graves Regular user Minnesota 150 Posts |
What to buy, is this the newest thing, wow look at that trailer of the new magic effect.
How many of us have been sucked in by a great trailer that omits many important factors of the effect, or is filmed on a closed set with so much behind the scenes that the trick becomes an after thought? I want to see the effect and not constant panning of a camera over a skyline with mystical music....so with that said Do you need the latest thing, the newest dodad....no....no you do not..how many of you have bought a trick, opened the box and started to learn it, then you see a new effect pops up online and you drop what your doing and go buy this new effect and the cycle continues. Magic is an art, just as an artist learn to paint we must learn to perform and learn our skills. We are in a time where I hear " I don't want to read a book" or " Does it involve practice" If an effect says self working....when what are you? Yes what are you..if the trick does all the work then you are just a robot going through the moves. When I read self working I then I see it as...work on your performance and make it seem as if you did do this without a gimmick. So who am I, spouting off all this blah blah blah. well my name is Tom E Lee in the magic community I am Michael Graves ( stage name ) I was that guy, I had to have all the new stuff I HAD to get every deck and after a while I had 40 decks of cards.....makes it hard to do walk around when you have 40 decks on you....even 3 decks on you is to much. I have been performing professionally for about 20 years, I have done shows for some of the top clients in the united states. I am also a teacher of magic as well as a student of magic. I could tell you the people I have performed for..as could many of you reading this..but the question is do the people you performed for remember you....Did they pass you off as just a guy that did tricks at their event...or do they still whisper to each other and still try to explain how you did an effect. Magic is more then just a prop, more than a deck of cards and some coins, magic is just that...magic...it is unexplained it is fun and scary...and most of all it is something very special that we can feel privileged to know and study. I ask my students this question "can superman see through everything" and the answer is NO..no he can't..iron stops his x-ray vision. so as powerful as he is he still has his limitations. So now I put this forth.. I am a magician, I float a dollar bill for the crowd, they clap and it goes off without a hitch, then a bit later for that same group I am doing a bill change and I drop the bill on the ground by mistake....then I bend down and pick it up.....read that again...bend down and pick it up...why don't I just float it up to myself? I have now just shown that I have a limited power...but why..why could I float it when I did but not when I dropped it. Like wise a card effect called the ambitious card, the card keeps coming to the top in test conditions....so let me ask this then. magicians If you show the power that you can make a card go to the top of the deck at a snap of the fingers and then later you do a pick a card and tell someone to put the card in the deck.....why....why would they..because they know you can bring it to the top..so where is the magic? I myself do perform the ambitious card, but its a set and then that's it no more card tricks in that set. Now you may look at my posts and say " but hey you sell magic" well yes I do but I also educate and I am not against buying this or that effect, because some magicians need to find out what they like...so a magic store is like a candy show..you go in and try it all but soon you start to refine your taste and settle on one or two pieces of candy. I ask all my fellow magicians to examine your power, presentation and practice...practice...practice. |
Mercutio01 New user Ocean City, NJ 68 Posts |
I will preface this by noting that I'm still a complete noob:
I've never thought about the way that ambitious card could "poison" a pick a card effect, but that makes some sense. The question I have is about this statement, " I myself do perform the ambitious card, but its a set and then that's it no more card tricks in that set." Do you really mean that you don't do any other card effects, even if they exhibit different sorts of effects? I'm thinking of things like card to impossible location (thought there's a whole can of worms that was discussed here recently), OOTW, transpositions, or montes. Is ambitious so strong still that even those effects become suspect, too?
~Cameron Mount
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Michael Graves Regular user Minnesota 150 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-12-18 14:56, Mercutio01 wrote: Very good question! I do those tricks as well, but I feel that my ambitious routine is about 5-10 mins long with different effects tossed in. In a walk around situation that is enough for one group, now later I may come back and do some other effects but none will be pick a card. I had to learn this " You need to know when to stop" My teacher Tyler Erickson told me that once and it took me awhile to learn...but it makes sense. If you do a VERY strong trick what then would you follow with. So yes to answer your question I do love other effects, cards and coins...but I am always aware of what I am performing so that it makes sense and so that my routine builds up..IE Strong effect opener Good stuff in the middle VERY strong closing trick Walk away or Very Strong trick and walk away if you follow that logic, magic will be more fun and people will WANT to see more. thanks so much for the question and let me know if you have any others as you start on learning more magic. |
Kbuck54 Veteran user 343 Posts |
A whole lot of great advice there Mr. Graves. Like many, I'm sure, I too have a closet full of effects. It took a long time to finally settle on a particular style and a strong wheelhouse of effects. But, still to this day, something hot comes along and it is hard to resist. I was once told by a well known magician that we all know ... "Practice one effect and become it's master. Do this effect better then anyone and the world will beat a path to your door. Then add other mastered effects." J. Mc. THE Best advice I ever got.
SHAZAM!
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Michael Graves Regular user Minnesota 150 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-12-19 23:05, Kbuck54 wrote: Thank you, I as well have a lot of effects I no longer use and likewise I still do buy new magic...sometimes to support a creator or just because I want to understand the thought process that goes into the effect. 1 out of 20 make it into my show..not saying the other twenty are bad, but they do not tick all the boxes for me to use a gimmick. If I was just getting into magic I would make sure I had these effects: Invisible Deck Hopping Halves Twisting the aces ( vernon ) coins across gimicked or non I will be starting a blog soon, the magic bug has hit me hard again and I have been doing a lot of reading and studying, so on the subject of reading I would like to recommend The Book of Wonder by Tommy Wonder...I have read this book many times and each time I gain wisdom. There are many magicians on this site who are much more practiced this this 38 year old and a lot of good information can be gained...we are always a student and never a master. thanks for the nice words. |
Ray Bertrand Inner circle Ottawa, Ontario 1452 Posts |
Great advice Michael. I've been performing on and off for many years. The Invisible Deck has served me very well over the years. It is a classic. I have enjoyed reading your posts.
Ray
Mentalism in Ontario.
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FlorianHeller Regular user Bonn, Germany 200 Posts |
Thank you very much for your advice, I think everyone should think about that reconsider his or her magic practice. Some tricks are classics, and one really should master a few tricks rather than do plenty of tricks not that good. Even simple and automatic tricks like the invisible deck should be worked as hard as you can.
Thanks again for your great advice |
budja New user 98 Posts |
I think this is the reason why the whole routine (if there is one) should have a nice flow and theme. As for card tricks, I like to start with the pick a card stuff. When a few tricks are covered, I go into Think of a card and those are even better. I have had some people tell me 'Why do I have to name my card? Can't you tell me what it is?' I just say so everyone can hear what it is. Just think on your feet. Which is hard to do sometimes.
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