talkmagic.co.uk

Or responsible for the trains in Thomas the Tank Engine stories:-)

Just like to put my twopence in. I am very much a trainee and believe that " I am a magician" is a state of mind. I do not consider myself able to say that yet. I started thinking about this thread when I found myself in a large toy shop watch the "magician" and realised that I could do all the tricks and more. Here is someone who is employed to do magic surely he considers himself a magician. I think that because he has this clear in his mind he is able to do what I struggle to do, perform ( I still get massive nerves).

I think what I am trying to say is that if you believe yourself to be a magician then you are.

I am not quoting verbatim, but I think it's almost right.
Once some young man told W H Auden that he wanted to be a poet and did he have any advice. SM replied that he couldn't advise him on how to be a poet but maybe could give him some advice on writing poetry.
That has always summed it up for me: you either do something or don't do it - it has nothing to do with any labels that you may wish to stick on yourself.

i wish i had a tux and a top hat, at least it'd be better than dressing like Jeff McBride, i would not look good in that kind of outfit!

Maybe in 20 years time that young lad will be a world-famous magician. And maybe he will fondly remember the stranger in the night club who blew his mind & inspired him to be the best he could.

Remember, we were all young once. And you great magicians were all beginners once.
Always encourage, never belittle.
(I speak as an aging beginner!)

"What's important is when OTHERS call you oe of these things; that's when you ARE that thing."

I don't fully agree. If someone says you suck at magic, that doesn't nessissariy (oh big word ) mean that its true. That is just their opinion on the matter. To someone else you could be the best in the world. I first thought that DV was the greatest magician of all time before now realizing that he's more like an average joe magician but with a TV show .

DV?

Oh, and it's 'necessarily'

Dai Vernon?

I think he meant to say DB, as V is directly beside V, and David Blaine has/had a TV show

Dang I keep mispelling things. Yeah i meant DB for David Blaine.

Or was it DC for David Copperfield or DV for Dai Vernon or was it DW for David what's his face?

David Walliams from Little britain?

I've just been pointed on to the topic by Larry from my thread and it has got me thinking...
I doubt i will ever call myself a magician because to me, a magician is someone who performs magic. Now magic to me is something that does not have an explanation, and something that is done, which is impossible. Going beyond what is possible is what magic is to me.
That is why i will never see myself as a magician, because everything i do has an explanation. I don't use gaffs, but slieghts have explanations too. Maybe spectators know it, maybe other entertainers or maybe just myself. It doesn't matter. To me, i will only call myself a magician when i do something that i couldn't explain.
And that is when you get called a magician - when other people can't understand what you are doing, and therefore put it down to magic.

These are only my views,(albeit, i quite unclear) and feel free to critisize.

Cheers. Ben

There are really two uses for the term magician. The first is within groups like this, where its used to identify yourself as a member of the group. We're all magicians here, because of our common interest in magic.

The second is with respect to your audience. In this context, I see the term magician as a sort of shorthand that you can use with an audience. It sets up their expectations of the performance your about to give. I can give the a performance to a group, but their understanding of what happened will be different depending on whether I call myself a magician, psychic or whatever.

So, to other members of the magic community, your a magician. Whether your a magician to your audience really depends on your performance style.