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magicalmelvin New user 7 Posts |
Hi, I am new here and consider myself young. I have never posted anything on you tube or done any exposure of tricks anywhere. I am writing this post because a lot of people have been critical over the youtube exposure by young people.
I ask the people over 45, where did you buy your first magic trick. Most would say a magic shop. My father used to tell me of spending endless Saturdays at dealer shops. Now I ask those under 25, where did you buy your first magic trick. Ebay, online dealer? I doubt it would be a magic shop. There are so few magic shops left that the kids have to fend for themselves. Most kids don't have credit cards so they can't purchase items online, they look at items on Ebay, you know the ones, where they photograph the gimmick to show it is in good/bad condition. They see videos of the mystery magician all over youtube from a different generation, or watch Penn & Teller expose tricks for a laugh. My dad used to love the trick "hole in one", and he performed it whenever a guest showed up at the house. He stopped performing it when he saw local magicians exposing the trick for a cheap laugh. Did anyone say anything to this magician? No, he got his laugh, his buck, and was on his way. Or how about the carnival magician who for 5 bucks will let you get your picture taken while floating a pretty girl. Sure, he has to expose the trick to get his 5 bucks, but so what. Where were your concerns then? Where were your concerns when you were showing your buddies what you learned at that magic shop 20 - 30 years ago? No one shared secrets with their magic buddies? Yeah, I bet. So I ask you, what did you expect from this generation. Their presentations are pathetic, they probably would freak out with a live audience watching and have little to no artistic talent. I recently was at the convention in Colon, saw all the shows, saw all the performances....Beautiful, Artistic, Rehearsed and Perfected. Hell, everyone in that high school knew how the tricks were done, but paid to see them performed well, performed like a true art. I can catch and hit a baseball, but still pay to see the pro's. (also why does Colon, population about ten, have 3 magic shops while Detroit, Monroe, Toledo, Adrian, etc have none? I guess that is a gripe for a different day) Also, please don't say that when you buy a trick you are paying for the secret, since if you dent your zombie ball and need another one, you still have to pay the same price for the new one to a dealer, where is the value of the secret then? Anyone that sells magic and sells a cheap trick will have to refund the full cost of the trick, secret or no secret, according to the internet Gods (aka Visa, Mastercard, American Express), again, where is the value of the secret with credit cards? The value of the secret of a trick was diminished and bought off long before the youtube kids came along. It was in boxes of cereal, on backs of playing cards, on bubble gum wrappers, on tv shows, in movies (you all loved the movie "The Prestige", where was your outcry then?). To the baby boomer generation let me say this, let the kids have their youtube, you have left them so little else when it comes to magic. To the true magicians who entertain through practice and art, your's is the safest secret in all of magic. |
Bill Hallahan Inner circle New Hampshire 3222 Posts |
I am not a professional magician, although I do perform magic for strangers with a group of other magicians. I am very into magic.
I made my first magic trick myself when I was very young. I read a way to repeatedly produce eggs from a handkerchief, and I made the prop myself. I performed it for my Mom. My son read a book about how to make a box to produce items, and with my wife's help, he made it when he was 7. The box was very deceptive. He showed it at school for show and tell. The teacher said that she thought she knew how it worked. The children had no idea. You imagine that we all purchased magic tricks when we were children. I was an adult before I every purchased a single trick. Then I did buy it in a magic store. However, I did get a magic set for Christmas when I was small. The children on youtube don't really affect very many magicians. Relatively few people are looking at their videos. However, you are rationalizing their behavior based on many false premises. There are more magicians today than when I grew up, and I expect there are more magicians per capita. And the children today have more options than when I grew up, not fewer. This is a good thing. It's a free country, so these children can post what they want on youtube. Hopefully some will grow up and become great magicians someday. Then they will realize why exposure isn't good for magic. Right now, they're children, so they have an excuse for not understanding. I'm glad that you understand.
Humans make life so interesting. Do you know that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to create boredom. Quite astonishing.
- The character of ‘Death’ in the movie "Hogswatch" |
Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
MM you argument does not hold water.
Taken to absurdity you are aruging that it's no biggie to watch college shower webcam because older folks used to buy pornography. The distinction I am trying to make is that the folks on the college shower webcam video are NOT willing and the folks who make porn (at least back then) were willing. Taking that to magic, the folks who put stuff in books INVENTED that stuff and knew that they would likely suffer if they put anyone else's tricks into print without permission. What's happening on the internet now is that all tricks that are in print are being posted and explained for all and sundry via the internet - no permissions just rampant and open exposure. So you get to choose. Do you learn from the folks who invent the stuff (quick before they get too old) or do you watch internet indecent exposure on the internet Tongue in cheek but is not such a silly issue.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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mtpascoe Inner circle 1932 Posts |
Good point, Jonathan. There are old magic books that show the trick and there are those that teach. If you notice, you can’t do those tricks. In books from Professor Hoffman and Tarbell, you could learn and perform them.
That’s what’s going on here. Sure, you learn the secret, but are you really learning to do the trick? No. Learning a trick so you can duplicate it only comes from books that show you probably and buying the trick already for you to do. Besides, you try doing a show when a kid jumps up and tells you how to hold your finger over the key ring, (and yes he calls it a key ring) while you’re doing the Linking Rings. It’s one thing if they think they know, it’s another when they know. |
BlackShadow Special user London UK 666 Posts |
You Tube is OK. It's a great melting pot of magic and discussion thereon. Much of it is crap, but then the kids are performing, getting criticized, discussing and learning. This is far better than having magic lie around in bottom drawers, because they don't have a chance to show it or interact with others interested in magic. The notion of invention and creation is misplaced. Most principles and indeed complete effects have already been invented for 10's if not 100's of years. All most creators do is repackage them, usually falsely trying to claim some kind of "copyright" for themselves in the process.
So let the kids (and others) have You Tube and all the rest if the networking media. It's simply one version of a magic club of today. Sometimes exposure takes place sometimes it doesn't. But that's no different to people chatting/performing at a real life magic club. The big craze at the moment seems to be "trading." I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours. That's also something which has gone on since time immemorial. |
Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
If you can't perform the material you do better than the bulk of the idiots on youtube (not referring here to the people like Marat, McBride, and all the pro's), then you either need to practice more or take up another hobby.
When the Masked Magician exposed the linking rings several years ago, I had a show the following day for a bunch of truck drivers. One sat up next to the riser and said, "I know how all that stuff works. I saw the Masked Magician." I said, "Do you think we would stoop to those cheesy tricks?! HA! A fork lift to perform the levitation. What a laugh!!!" He said, "That is pretty silly isn't it." And I did the linking rings. With a Key. And they NEVER suspected it.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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