ENTERTAINERS

What is our purpose as magicians? What do we hope to achieve in a performance? Are we hoping to prove that by showing off our skills, we are more "terer" than laypeople? For me, the answer is no. The primary purpose of me being a magician/mentalist is to entertain.

Like it or not, the moment you picked up your first deck of cards, or the moment when you first pulled a coin out of someone's ear, you automatically labeled yourself an entertainer. It doesn't matter if you're a pro, a hobbyist, or whatever. Your job now is to entertain.

So, as an magical entertainer, you now have the task of making lay audiences feel good, feel happy. And come on, you have to admit, having people clap at the end of a routine does wonders for the ego. We tend to crave applause. When we have a volunteer from the crowd help us in a routine, and at the end we say "Give a big hand to Mr. Whoever", in reality we are asking for the applause ourselves. Adulation and applause are the greatest rewards when it comes to performing magic.

So where is all this rambling leading to?

I want to talk about ethics, or pseudo-ethics.

For example, on a TV magic show, camera tricks and special effects are obviously utilised in many tricks, for instance, David Blaine's levitation effect. And I've read here on the forums that some of you don't particularly agree with the idea of using camera tricks and special effects.

Well I've got a question : Why not use special effects and camera tricks?

You have to remember, the TV magician doesn't only perform for his studio or street audience, he performs for the TV audience as well. Camera tricks, and special effects are just part of his arsenal to entertain (and yes, fool) his crowd.

We all know what misdirection is, right? You know the "disclaimers" at the beginning of all TV magic shows when it says :

ALL THE MAGIC YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE WILL NOT BE PERFORMED USING CAMERA TRICKS OR SPECIAL EFFECTS. EVERYTHING IS REAL.

Well, folks, the phrase above is one of the best misdirection tactics I've ever seen.

For me, if a certain method is the best way to achieve an effect, then by all means that is the method I'm going to use. I always say that I'd cheat any which way to find the easiest and simplest method to achieve an effect. It's not wrong to learn difficult sleights and methods, but to what end? If both methods achieve the same thing, wouldn't it be safer and more foolproof to use the easy method?

"Ethics" in performing magic is something that is very fine, in fact, almost invisible. Ethics when it comes to not cheating the audience out of their money, or giving false pretenses to a performance, that is different. The ethics I'm talking about is when you want to achieve a reaction, an effect, from your audience. It is perfectly OKAY to use any method you want. Do not be an elitist when it comes to performing.

A mentalist will not be above planting tiny microphones in the audience to gather information. He will not be above using stooges to get obscure facts about audience members. He will not be above using a stooge as a "volunteer". See where I'm getting at?

Forgive me for rambling and making this such a long post. Think of is as a short, albeit disjointed, essay on my thoughts. I've been wanting to post this for quite a while, and finally got around to doing it.

I hope my words strike a chord in a few of you out there, especially the ultra-beginners who are buying expensive DVDs just to learn complicated methods in order to execute the paddle move, or the DL.

We have to try to be 'thinking magicians. Learn something, think of a way to expand or improve it.

Good luck, and happy magick-ing.

thoughtfully,

Baalan

dear mods,

I intend to make 'Ramblings' a non-continuous series of essays, articles and writings of my thoughts on magic.

They won't be super-frequent, but when I have something to talk about I'll put it up in essay-form here. Sorta like a mini-blog, if you may.

Hope you guys don't mind.

PS - there won't be any exposure or anything like that, don't worry.

good thoughts & good will,

Baalan.

Shouldn't be a problem.
You know our code of conduct here, so if you abide by them, all should be good.

I look forward to more articles from you.

Great man :) Something worthwhile to read.

thanks guys, next post coming in a coupla days.

Lol I agree with you ! The david blaine's levitation was too fake and the most fake are the audiences. I do not know how they act untill so real. Lol.

Btw, nice post Baalan. Keep it up =)

BOOKWORMAGIC

When I first started to get interested in Magic at the age of 10, there were no DVDs, no internet, nothing like what we have today. There were magic shops, but they were few and far between. There was Mr. David Au Yong's shop in Pudu Bus Station, but I only got to go there after I finished school.

So when I was 17, naive about magic, and immediately asked for some IT. I ended up buying a "floating matchstick" trick. Being a total clumsy oaf, I broke all the IT on the gimmick in no time flat. At the time, that particular trick was very expensive, and I ended up discouraged because I didn't learn anything other than the "trick".

Okay, so let's rewind a few years back to when I was 10. Like I said, there were no DVDs or internet access. So how did I learn my first few moves, my first sleights? From books.

That's right, you DVD-buffs, books.

I've heard a lot of young and not-so-young magicians say that they can't find the time or are too lazy to read magic books. Some even say that learning magic through books is difficult.

It might be more difficult to a certain degree, but reading also allows the imagination to roam free. You see, if you watch DVDs or videos, you might be inadvertently influence by the performer's style. In fact, the less experienced will end up being carbon copies of the performance in the DVDs.

Now this in itself is not wrong, I do it too. But what rankles me most is the fact that some magicians never seem to evolve from a set-style, and said style is that which is the ones which they watched on a DVD. To evolve is to grow, performance-wise, and to develop your own panache, your own image, your own performance.

OK, back to books. When you read, you form a picture in your mind. You start to imagine how certain things look like.

For instance, you're reading about a metal-bending routine. The passage you're reading has no pictures. Instead it describes a spoon "curving at the neck, just behind the bowl". Do you now see it in your mind? Of course you do. Unless, that is, you have the imagination of a rock.

So after you read about the trick and how its done, you go about doing it in front of a mirror. What's actually happening at this moment is : your very own performance. In your own style, too. Pretty soon, you'll be developing your own tricks and methods, because, you already have a certain way of doing things without copying someone else's style.

So in conclusion, what I'm trying to say is, never overlook books when it comes to learning magic. A lot of ultra-beginner magicians also tend to go straight to DVDs because that's where all the "good stuff" is. They overlook the basics that you learn from Kiddie magic books, the ones that teach you how to stuff a straw up your nose. Now that's what I call the GOOD STUFF!

Happy Magick-ing.


good thoughts & good will,

Baalan

Ooh, I so totally agree! I see lots of new 'magicians' who get into magic because they saw the KR levitation. They buy the dvd, perform it, then start going crazy with other Ellusionist gimmicks that look extremely visual. In truth, they don't have the slightest knowledge on the basics of magic.

I began magic last year. I had internet, I had whatever. But I began magic with old, old books (Not that old, but quite). I'm glad I did that, because now, I have a much, much bigger picture of what magic truly is. I think.

Do continue your 'ramblings' baalan. They're quite interesting.

hey brother since all the good stuffs are hidden in books we better just encourage them to stick to videos. Agree with you that books are actually better than videos. :)

We can't really say for sure that books are better, because sometimes, videos can help us understand moves better. For example, the classic pass. I have a book that describes it, but when I see Brad explain it, I understand it better (though I still haven't mastered it).

So both videos and books are good, depending on what level you are at, and what situation you're in.

Books aren't necessarily better, they just provide you with a different perspective on things.

Like you mentioned, you only knew what the classic pass looked like after watching Brad Christian. Well, imagine this : What if you've been trying to do the CP by just reading a book, and one day you can do it perfectly. Yay! But when you look at Brad Christian, you realize that what you've been doing all this while was a whole different thing.

Well, now with a little research, you've probably invented your own handling of the CP. Either that or you've just invented your own pass!

I write this stuff 'cos I want magicians, especially those just starting out, to be more enlightened and have a wider perspective on the possibilities of their own talents. I hope with my meagre words I've contibuted something to the craft.

Years ago a guy advised me to learn magic from books; though, I was skeptical at that time (lazy was the another reason I refused to read). Not until now, I have bought tons of magic books and my magic has improved dramatically then (note: from layman to amateur magician).

I love this thread anyway. Mr. Baalan keep up your work man.

Thanks for the kind words, fellas. I'll try to write more frequently. :)

Nice posts there Baalan. Enjoyed reading them.

Books vs DVDs.

I always loved DVDs..... now appreciating books more.

IMO, books are great for those who are sound in following written instructions. Great for experience magicians that know what a certain move is suppose to look like.

Imagine a noob reading a book. Sleights, counts, displays, mentioned in it... the noob has no idea. Most good books dont go explaining what is ATFus, wat is ascanio spread, elmsley, jordan counts etc etc. You are expected to know them! Unless u get a book that teaches u beginners magic... then they will teach u stuff like DL, Glide, etc etc.

So yeah.. there goes my point... get a teaching DVD first. When u get more knowledge abt sleights then get them books.

I guess Im talking in terms of card magic. I beleive mentalism BOOKS are the best, as it may dwell more abt the fundamentals and theories behind it yeah? Im not too sure.

As for card flourishes.... DVDs man.. DVDs... :P. Books aint do much justice when comes to flourishing...

LOL.. here's my lousy Explanation of ONE HAND REVOLUTION:
"Hold deck in straddle grip. With thumb on long side of deck, break deck into half. Curl in ring finger, let go thumb, rotate ring finger, holding top packet with index and ring. Be sure to stretch out middle finger to allow space for rotation. As top packet rotates downwards, index finger curl in, cushioning the packet, while the initial bottom packet goes to the top."

haha confusing eh? Im sure I can explain better but it is just an example of how frustrating it is to learn flourishes by reading. It is even harder if you dont know what the flourish looks like. Let me know if any of you "beginners/noobs" in flourish could understand my explanation. LOL. :P

Cheers,
Brendan

My fellow magic enthusiasts,

Ramblings has been moved to its own Blog.

feel free to visit and leave comments.

follow the link below :

Ramblings by Baalan

so far the posts are the same as what i've posted here, but be on the lookout for more.

You can also access Baalan's Ramblings by visting the MMF Blog and clicking on the link under Articles.

And in case you don't have a clue how to go to the MMF blog, click on the MMF logo on top of this page.

Happy reading.

I don't know if this is OK to post here,but here we go.

I think being a bookworm in magic is HIGHLY ESSENTIAL.Why?Because first of all,yes.It provides more tricks than DVDs and is much cheaper.

Another major reason is that it is a good way to find out whether your creations is already been created and also because books gives credits to the originator and gives much more detail on the trick,when I meant the trick,I not only meant the way the trick is done,but also the detailed information about the trick,for example,when was it created,where was it originated,was it a variation of another trick,etc.

Readings books not only gives you a lot information about the trick,but also your english,your grammar,reading skills,etc.Many dont like readings books because it takes time,hard to read and learn,etc.

I have to admit I dont like reading it because of that.But if you can get so many pros in books,why deny buying it?I'm new in collecting magic book and I can tell you one thing,I'll never,probably,never,ever,buy another DVD ever again,books are just wonderful.Even for a kid like me.I love reading books,especially religious ones,about Buddhism especially,and books that teaches how to improve oneself and teaches you knowledge and wisdom about life.


~Jarrett

hi Balaan what'd be your title of next article pal, can't wait to read it. How about trying to write something about the way of practise, misdirection or how to become a millionaire with magic (hehe).

Having a bit of writer's block, forrest. But something's in the works. Watch out for it on my blog in a coupla weeks, I don't like to rush what I write.

Thanks again for reading. B)

I posted something new, FINALLY.

Here's an excerpt from my new post at "Ramblings"

Do take the time to visit. A warning though, I'm not the "nice guy" like I am here. There's some profanity, although I try to keep it to a minimum.

The link to my blog is in my signature.

Hey Adlan or should i cann u balaan? Hehe

Anyway, nice post up. I'm not sure if i know how u feel about the whole thing that magician should maybe stick at what they do best (since i'm so new, i don't know what to call myself and i'm trying my hand at everything possible!) but i do like u post about magicians = entertainers. Yes, we should stick to that as a guideline, but not to impress or show off to laymen. Not pointing fingers at anyone, but i have come across 1 few years ago............

Anyway, yes books def create space for imaginations and creativity! Improvisation on tricks already written out, and later invention of new tricks is all because of imaginations and creativity! I def agree with books, but DVD is good in the sense if u have no one to turn to at how a particualr move should look like, DVD fills in the void!

Anyway, hope to hear more of ur thoughts soon!

Dude...awesome article man, you should write more of this man, and come up with a book for magicians, not for tricks, but the whole point of why this art is amazing and why we perform it....you now( just a humble suggstion, but still a great article

Jennifer :

I'm trying to get people to call me by my real name now, so Adlan is fine. And thanks for reading, I hope I contribute something to the magic community. Don't forget to read other blogs like David Lai and Darren.


Sebastian :

Hey, Stigmata Boy. I'm too inexperienced to write a book. But I'll keep on writing my thoughts whenever I'm in the mood. (Which is not very often).