talkmagic.co.uk

ah good, the title has obviously piqued your interest...while you're here, here's what i wanted to talk about...

thanks to the internet, we are by and large spoilt for choice...lots of interesting and entertaining things to watch, listen to, and obviously...read.

we have centuries of knowledge floating out there in the inter-verse...and yet, we probably dont always take full advantage of it. we stick to the same sites, or similar sites to the ones we like...we dont deviate (not in that sense) too often, we like our comfort zone do we humans...

the thing is, we are all aware of the dark side of the internet - but there's also the lighter side too...

we have the opportunity to self educate to a vast degree...we have so many options and choices wide open to us right now - and we dont have to move (apart from having a widdle or similar)...its all out there for us..a few intelligent taps and dashes - and we're aware into other peoples knowledge...

all for free...

some people forget or maybe dont even realise this...and we fall into habits...comfort zones...and those habits will change, when you realise that you change them...its easy to do right now.

i could, and have, sat in front of my laptop, a glass of eight year old rum on my bedside table, a soft hazy candle light illuminating my already brightly lit by led face...and found wonders upon wonders...old psychological studies of suggestion, historical facts of the word mentalism...

all kinds of things that a couple of decades ago - i'd have had no chance whatsoever to read, let alone be aware of in the first place...isnt it wonderful that right now, we can learn these things, just by taking your time?

forums can make us lazy too - as much as i love this place, and a handful of people on here - this place and all the others can draw you in make you squeak in anger from the armchair...they can consume your mind with petty squabbles...sometimes its fun though, i admit...

there's masses of positives that go along with forum use, but like the internet in general - it is habit forming. rather than practicing and thinking of creative presentations...we sit here, and prod advice from pillar to post - help people that wont help themselves...

i think the internet should be seen more as a learning tool, a self-teaching living breathing encyclopedic monster of information...considering how powerful Google search is - you can find just about anything with some selective and intelligent searches...

some people fall into one of the biggest traps of internet and forum use - the "feed me" syndrome...because we have this knowledge source available to us in forums, full of kind, helpful intelligent people - wanting to help, wanting whats best...some can become too reliant on this...and rather than remembering that they can self-educate via the internet, they instead just constantly want "feeding"...

and you know what? they usually get fed too...and well...

yet, for me, its about personal pride, as well as manners really - before i ask someone for help - i want them to know that i appreciate them helping me, by sharing with them what i've discovered so far...

so i suppose I'm saying, that "you", "we", "us" should always remember to take pride in what we do, as well as what we learn in regards to magic and mentalism - and all the other arts that fall inbetween...personal integrity, pride, respect towards all those people who had it tougher than we do right now when it comes to learning and self-educating...

dont quite know what brought this on, its been a long day and i found it relaxing...

IAIN wrote:forums can make us lazy too - as much as i love this place, and a handful of people on here

Aww, I'm quite fond of you too.

I think you are largely right. The captain of this year's winning University Challenge side puts his knowledge down to spending ages reading Wikipedia (and having a liking for learning). That might have been a self-effacing statement, but the internet is a powerful tool for learning. Of course, you can't believe everything you read...

yet, for me, its about personal pride, as well as manners really - before i ask someone for help - i want them to know that i appreciate them helping me, by sharing with them what i've discovered so far...

Well, you're a very decent chap. There have been people on this forum, and others, who I have gone out of my way to help and received no thanks whatsoever.

I made the mistake of thinking that one of them might have changed and helped him again a little while ago. I didn't even get an acknowledgement of the message I sent, sending a link to a specific prop that might have met his needs. However, on another magic forum recently I had a guy thank me for finding something he'd been looking for for ages.

Guess which one of the two I'd be willing to help in the future.

I've said it before, but a good magician should be inventive, resourceful and, well, clever. Obviously, there's all the technical stuff, and presentation too, but to be a truly magical (or mental) person takes a bit of initiative.

As a great man didn't once say, ask not what other magicians can do for you, but what you can do for other magicians.

Or, if you like, for every action, there is an equal, and opposite, reaction. Actions have consequences people!