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XaviorSpade V.I.P. New York City 124 Posts |
I would like to pose a question that I think will help you understand a bit about me and help me understand more about all of you.
What is the definition of magic to YOU? After a few responses I'll give you my definition. And be as honest as you can. I know I will |
Zee Regular user Leonia, NJ 196 Posts |
Guest of Honor - Xavior Spade!! Congrats man! That's so cool!
Not too sure what to write so I am just going to write down whatever comes into my mind at this moment. To me, magic is an unique form of entertainment which relies on (builds on?) deceptions. As long as this deception is presented in a right way (not making embarrassed or making terrible jokes, etc.), it is quite entertaining. I think magic is already entertaining enough so it does not need other elements (i.e. comedy) as long as it is presented well. Magic is also a delightful entertainment for myself. I practice for fun and perform for fun. I personally dislike most comedy magic shows / performances because most comedy magicians I have seen so far present comedy and magic rather than magic with comedy. I personally think they make other magicians look silly like themselves. To me, that is not a magic. Gambling demonstrations are also not magical to me. It is a demonstration of extraordinary skills. It is entertaining indeed, but it is not magic to me. To me, sticking a needle through your arm or eating something and make it come out of your eyes is not magic. It is more like a trick or a weird skill (to me). I don't like a lot of things about current "magic" since I am a twisted little teenager, but I am not going to list them all because it will make me look bad - haha. I only joined in this game for only a few years unlike most of you guys; I am still a newbie. However, in my mind, magic should be (at least appears to be) skill-less and seem as a miracle like those described in the Bible (And of course does not have too much unnecessary steps. For example, 21 card trick). If a spectator comes up to you and says "You got some great skills, bro" or "psh, sleight of hands", then this performer did not present magic but mere skills. What I want to hear after my performance is either cursing words, silence, or "how is that even possible?" Hopefully I did not went off topic in this thread. Zee |
Steve Brooks Founder / Manager Northern California - United States 3780 Posts |
Hey buddy, I'll add my thoughts to this important question.
All of us see things differently, and not because one person may have better physical vision than another but because what we see and what it means to us on an emotional level is very dependent on our own experiences in life. For instance, if you and I are standing in a field and are observing the night sky, do we both see the same moon? I doubt it. For many, magic is seeing their first born child arrive. For others, its standing on the beach and watching the sun set. For many, seeing a garden come to fruition after planting the seeds is a very magical thing. Having said all of that, what magic means to us (as magicians) and what it may or may not mean to our audiences can and will vary depending on the performer, the observer and the circumstances and environment in which that magic is being observed. If the performer is a good entertainer and is skilled, he has a good chance of succeeding. Then again, if he has little experience performing the odds are most certainly against him. Let us assume the performer really knows his stuff and is at the top of his game - Success is still not guaranteed because (like looking up at the moon), the audience's perception of the events taking place are going to vary. Like eating a good meal, each person watching the magician perform will walk away feeling differently. Finally, we have the venue itself - Is it out doors? In a pub? A theatre? Is it noisy? Crowded? Is the audience comfortable, or are they hot and miserable because there is no air conditioning? There are many factors and the above examples are just a few things to ponder over. As for myself, I appreciate and enjoy most magic when it is performed correctly and in an entertaining manner. So buddy, you ask a very good question indeed. ---
"Always be you because nobody else can" - Steve Brooks
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mikelsc Regular user 139 Posts |
Magic to me is to show people things they have never seen before, make them think about things they have never thought before, and hopefully they will do things they have never done before.
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IMAGINACIAN Special user In Your Thots 558 Posts |
Hi Xavior, a warm welcome.
I think magic is making the impossible seem normal and making the absolutely impossible seem absolutely normal. And doing this in the hope that the audience is having an experience of a lifetime.
There is no better freedom than choice and no better choice than freedom.
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XaviorSpade V.I.P. New York City 124 Posts |
Wow some great answers for sure. And it really puts perspective on how people see and feel about magic and the magic they do. Of course all of the answers you gave are the correct answer for you and what you believe magic is and I'm not going to try to pick apart anything to prove a point. Instead I'm going to give you what I feel it is.
I decided to take a step back and look at magic as it's own thing. What could it be really. How do you define it. What is it at its core. Here's what I found for myself Magic cannot be defined. It's different for everyone. And it needs to be that way. To me it's like trying to put a definite definition on an emotion like love. There really is no real way to describe it. You can describe the effects of it but not the thing itself. And as I said before it needs to be that way. Because if you could define it then there would be a formula or a direct path to do it or create it and then the magician (me) would become irrelevant. When I look at magic like this it puts me in a different frame of mind. That magic is more personal then outward. It's something that starts with us. Not the audience. It's something we learn to share as a gift, or experience or a moment. But the beginning is us. Think about what people say "I do magic to give ...." or "I want people to..." The core of it is us. With things in that perspective I then look at the effects that people do and why they do them. When I hear things like "I work for real people and the audience loves it" it makes me cringe a little because what they're saying is that they would rather do what other people like then what they love and enjoy. If you truly love magic like you do then you would share what you love not what they expect. The point I'm trying to make is that Magic starts with us. The magicians and we should look at it as a chance to share with people a bit of ourselves and what we love. Learn to communicate with our hearts and show it with our actions. Then is when we truly connect with an audience and then people will love us and connect with what we do. We can't begin to know what they are taking from what we do. Things like "The audience then feels ... way". It just isn't true, we have truly no idea. The best we can do is share what we love, what we put time into and let them take from it what they will. Anything else is just assumption. Please let me know what you think of this and let's talk about it more! |
XaviorSpade V.I.P. New York City 124 Posts |
In other words I do not do magic, that's impossible. I do things I perceive as magical in hopes that what the audience walks away with they perceive as magic.
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obrienmagic Special user 752 Posts |
Hey Xavior, hope all has been well brother! To me, magic is the suspension of disbelief that allows you to experience things through your own imagination. For example, when you go to disneyland, you forget you are in a theme park for a bit and get immersed into this story. For me magic is just that. people leaving reality for just long enough to experience something that will bring them a sense of wonder and hopefully leave them with something they will remember for ever.
Visit my online store at http://www.obrienmagic.com/magic-shop
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mattpuglisi Veteran user New York 321 Posts |
Hello Xavior! It has been a long time, indeed.
Excellent work here in The Café this week! Kudos! And congratulations on the enormity of your success! Now, on to the topic: In my view, Magic is the creation of an illusion of impossibility with what is possible. Essentially, it the manipulation of logic to cause seemingly impossible perceptions. What we are doing as Magicians is constructing a logical illusion, through language and movement, in the minds of our spectators - the illusion that an unsound argument is sound. (This is what makes Magic a very highly developed form of Sophistry, but that is another story altogether.) We must construct a valid-but-unsound argument with our presentations, and provide evidence for our claims with our actions - thus making objectively false premises appear to be true - for the purpose of causing the spectators to assent to every claim, thereby forcing the conclusion that the argument is sound, and that Magic has occurred. We speak and move in a manner that controls the spectators' subjective verisimilitude - the observer-dependent variation of truth-value. Spectators will individually differ in the scope and strength of the claims that they assent to, despite the fixity of the truth-value of the magician's claims. It is just this fixity that the magician hopes to shake, and so we must rely on and manipulate this subjective verisimilitude, using it to our ends. A premise in the arguments used in Magic may (and usually must), in fact, be false, but the spectators must be caused by the Magician's actions and presentations to assent to those false premises - to form false beliefs that appear to be true. It is out of these assented-to false beliefs that we construct their perceptions of Magic. My two cents . . . thoughts?
Lack of invention is the mother of necessity - Robert Nozick
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