talkmagic.co.uk

You misread "new" for "old".

oh ya lol but even then, the new things aren1t meant to be negative.

I dislike grand illusions and camp pompous stage shows with dinner jackets and the like, these I'd associate with the older school.

But I also dislike newer school stuff using props such as phones & iPods as I prefer 'traditional' tools such as cards and coins. For this reason I voted 'old school'.

Tricky question though.

Have to say I'm not sure about some of what Craig Browning says on the last page where he seems to infer that anyone practicing tricks wants it to make them famous or to publish/release material.

Actually, I think CB made some very valid points! A lot of the new-schoolers do think they have to rush stuff out and are chasing an arbitrary dollar. When I first started buying magic I was hoodwinked into this new school way of thought of being faster, brasher and better - and if you check out my early reviews you'll see exactly what I mean.

What I quickly learnt though was that many of these 'productions' that were 'the next big thing' were either 'cut your teeth' magic as CB described or they were simply visual representations and explanations of age old effects with the odd nuance or quirk that made it more 'modern'.

We then have the Blaine phenomenon which when it came about sure did create a new surge of interest in magic but the problem was it was not an appreciation of magic as an art form, just a means to spook people. The number of half bitten dollar coin effects etc that came out was staggering and they sold by the bucketload - but what has happened now? That sudden rush and will to spook others lasted about as long as an X Factor finalist. But still we have new schoolers thinking that this is still the way forward when it isn't.

Magic is not just a performance, it is an art form. All art has fluidity, charm, interest, intrigue and desire. Lance Burton is a true artist producing all the required fludity etc. But he is unknown by many n00bs so being old school if he now reinvented some of those effects to bring them in to 'the modern age' does this make him new school?

My point is, inherently everything new school be it performed badly or with a degree of suave, has its origins and roots in the old school. People have taken the old stuff and given it a twist that we can relate to but it doesn't make what they are doing new school.

There's old and new, but then there's older, newer and newest. Quite simply this is a question that can never be answered fully but I feel most will concur that old school wins out because without it, there's no new school.

Yes, valid points but also seems to infer that anyone practicing tricks wants it to make them famous or to publish/release material, which I don't agree with.

/pedant mode

jordini101 wrote:

madvillainy wrote: almost everything you've listed on the new school list is negative.

um... its funny your not the first person to say that the old school things were negative. there not, im a dove worker with 400 hundred pockets who loves to read. the fact that everyone is pointing out that these are negative is a subconcious addmitence to truer feelings. just because you flaunt around saying that I have made the old school list negative , is a way for you to pass blame of truer feeling ont someone else.

I'm not saying that the old school list was negative. And - far from 'addmitence' to my true desire to pull doves from my jacket - I'm saying that the list lacks balance on both sides. Personally, I associate old-school with meticulously-dressed gentlemen performing extremely clean magic with sturdy, expensive props - but one of my favourite magicians is Guy Hollingworth, who embodies this gentlemanly aesthetic in the modern age. According to that list, as Guy was born after 1960, he must be a scruff in jeans and a T-shirt, sloppily throwing cards through windows and blowing all his money on RRTCM-rehashes from Theory11.

mentalism and magic is a set of tools, skills and techniques..its not art...

art is what you can create with those tool and skills...

just as canvas, books on physicalities and form, paint and brushes are not art...its what you can capture and share with those tools and techniques...

*rolling my eyes* Did you actually do any research before you posted your list. Did you actually read the list. Honestly neither list has anything to do with old school or new school. Do you honestly think that anyone who doesn't pratice is really a magician. Do you think that people who are actually in the trenches performing new or old are not practicing to perfection? The only ones that are not practicing are those who are not performing for a live audience, just putting bad performances on youtube.

Based on your list of criteria I don't think you know your magic history or that much about what it is to be a magician.

bmat wrote:Based on your list of criteria I don't think you know your magic history or that much about what it is to be a magician.

wrong again, it was a list of stereotypes, not my personal oppinion.

The new school have seen further by standing on the shoulders of the giants of the old school (Apologies to isaac newton for mutilating your great words). Or put simply.... No old School= No new school