nickj wrote:In which case perhaps we are at fault with our presentation in the first place? If we performed real magic would people feel that they had been fooled or would they appreciate the 'magic'? Then, if we could present our magic in a way which suggested real magic rather than trickery people would not feel inferior to the magician, but priviledged to have been able to watch him perform.
Wow, powerful stuff, I think there is a lot of truth in this, I think it was during a Michael Ammar lecture that he said, although most people know that real magic doesn’t exist, if we can hone our performance to make people believe that they have seen real magic for just a few moments then we are as near to perfection as we could wish for.
Mandrake wrote:I'm still very confused over how a professional magician can sternly vow to keep secrets - then writes a book of tricks for general sale!
I was a little confused myself how someone as famous as Paul Daniels and a few others could get away with publishing books for sale to the general public long before the MM was ever heard of.....Also Patrick Page got a bit of a telling off from the Magic Circle for publishing his Big Book of Magic, which gave away secrets on some of the most popular illusions.
When the net was not that popular, magic books were only available at reputable magic dealers (who could vet you a little when you visited them) and magic books by post (which is still going), only sold books to magicians, and that is still their policy, they won't sell to libraries, book shops etc........In the USA you could and still can buy a magic book in any high street book store/shop! I was shocked to go into a books store in a USA high street and find a copy of Magic for Dummies and a few others, that was so long ago now that the other titles escape me now!
Troy wrote:Take David (monotone) Blaine for instance...
To me, his voice really does sound terribly monotone and boring, but if you look at all his shows, he only *ever* shows the tricks when the reactions are off the scale, people running around screaming. Now, be honest with yourself, when was the last time that happened to you?
Troy, I happen to agree with you that DB is a monotone performer, and I said this on another US magic forum, and got slated for it, I happened to be joking......but you know the Americans........no sense of humour.....someone on this forum said that DB has a great personality, I said he has as much personality as Herman Munster!!
Actually I think DB has done a lot of good for magic, besides his rather monotone style, When magic faded from our screens with the ending of the Paul Daniels magic show, magic needed something to awaken it in peoples minds and I think DB achieved this in a big way especially with the younger generation who all want to be DB now....Most without putting the work in to learning this great art........but that's another post!!!
I also agree to a certain degree that his performances on TV are probably edited to show the maximum reactions....but it is showbiz....the directors of the show want the max reactions and when they get it they are going to stick with it, notice how he had some of the same group of girls for a an audience for a few different effects....it all makes for great TV.
I have personally had some great reactions from spectators, these overboard reactions don't happen that often but when they do, it always seems to be women, and I always think I wish I could rap you up and carry you to my next show!
Although BD did have some good reactions from some men, the screamers, for me anyway, always seem to be women.