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MagicalArtist Veteran user Hobart, Indiana 378 Posts |
James Reneaux wrote a great thing in "The Professional Touch for Magicians." To paraphrase, " You don't have to be a performing magician to enjoy magic any more than you need to be a performing musician to enjoy music." Read that again! Everyone enjoys listening to music. Do they all try to become musicians? Most don't. Similarly, there are myriad ways you can enjoy the art of magic that you love without actually performing. You can enjoy practicing, just so you have the intellectual satisfaction of knowing you've mastered a difficult sleight. You can enjoy watching other magicians perform. You can be a collector. You can enjoy exploring the vast literature of magic. There are any number of ways you can enjoy magic without actually performing. If you really want to be a performer, there are ways to boost your confidence. Believe me, I'm a shy guy just like you. I can get into that further if you want. Just remember, there are many ways to enjoy magic.
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illusionistoffuture New user 4 Posts |
Don't beat yourself up. Not many people are dedicated to magic. And some who were really dedicated and amazing gave up. This is really sad for me, but you my friend, actually go and ask for help. This proves so much about you, that you are WILLING to improve. You can never tell what's going to happen, we all took risks. I even considered giving up once, I thought I just wasn't what I used to be, I couldn't "wow" anymore, I thought the magic just left me, I almost quit even, but I didn't. In fact, just today, I did a teleporting ring trick, and accidentally flashed. It SUCKED! but I saw an empty Orbit box lying around, and levitated it...oh, ***! I should have done a pulse stop lol. The moral, we all have a style, and you must work hard to add new styles. Maybe card tricks just aren't your style. If you want to continue, it'll be hard. But personally, not that many people are into card tricks nowadays. Stay magical. ps, another moral is: don't give up after one, two, or fifty billion fails. And, Orbit can be as good as the commercials say it is.
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Mad Jake Inner circle All the voices in my head helped me make 2200 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-01-23 12:31, Sk8erBoi9305 wrote: Eh....Dude, I'm 45 and a professional and still consider myself a noob. When you think you know it all it's time to say retirement because your life will pretty much become mondane. I always think of myself as a noob simply because it drives me to search out more knowledge to improve what I do. So here is a noob that has over 1200+ posts and still learning.
Licensed Steve Dusheck Manufacturer and distributor visit www.airshipmagic.com
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AdamWhite New user 13 Posts |
Productive Practicing and Rehearsing:
Practicing moves while watching television is a wonderful way of getting the moves down, which is very important to our art form. At the same time it can only improve only about 20% of the actual performance. The other 80% of the performance is made up of presentation, patter, and order of operation for the trick to be perfected. When rehearsing for a magic trick it is important to practice the trick from the very beginning (how do I get into the effect?) to the very end (how do I get out of the effect?) It is more effective when rehearsing to not stop and start the trick over if an error occurs and instead continue on to the end of the trick. At the same time, instead of swearing and cursing because you missed your cue, sit back, analyze what went wrong and more importantly come up with a solution to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Some magicians like to categorize these as “outs.” After you have mastered the trick from beginning to end, make up mistakes and come up with solutions to fix them. This rehearsal time is crucial. This is the time to make your mistakes and come up with ways to trudge through the trick without being embarrassed in front of an audience. The point is: When rehearsing, practice the trick all the way to the end. If an error occurs continue on and constructively analyze the problem so a solution can be found. Also remember, “There is no failure, there is only feedback.” Now that I got the magic part out of the way… There are a lot of things going on here besides just “sucking in magic.” Confidence comes with experience and experience comes from the opportunities we build for ourselves. When we sit around and don’t take action then there is nothing to attract our opportunities to us. I suggest the exercise of an evening or a weekend and without cards or magic tricks on you, meet 20 knew people. I suggest going up, introducing yourself and then asking the person you just met about themselves. When my grandmother was around 40, she had to give a speech to a large group of people. She rehearsed and worried, worried and rehearsed. She then talked to my grandfather about really being scared to give this speech, since she had never had to give a speech to a large group of people before. My grandfather’s eyes got big as he looked at her and said in a sarcastic scared voice, “what do you think they’ll do to you if you make a mistake?” For my grandmother, it put things in perspective. People aren’t going to beat you up if you make a mistake, especially if it is a card trick. Is it embarrassing? Only if you let it be. I think some people, (not necessarily you) get into magic thinking that after they know a couple of tricks, they can impress people and people will like them. The truth of the matter is after the magic tricks, what is left? Sorry for my long winded-ness, but in conclusion: Instead of practicing moves while watching tv by yourself, get out of the house, go to a pub, a café, a park and just say start looking people in the eye, smile and give a warm “hello.” Will you feel silly at first, maybe? But isn’t that a small price to pay to gain a new friend? |
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dilan_thomas Regular user 101 Posts |
Hi Noobini,
I have some advice. I used to throw up after I would perform. Now I can do a close up competition on a stage, and not bat an eyelash. 1. Join the local magic club. I promise there are people there who are worse than you. I know guys who can't even shuffle cards. I mean this literally. They can't shuffle. Magic clubs are for people of all skill levels, not just pros or people with a high skill level. 2. Your magic arsenal. If you are going to perform you should never be without the following items: a. An entirely self working trick like scotch and soda or ultimate copper/silver. I prefer ultimate copper/silver. This trick must be examinable and angle proof. By By Burners. b. An invisible deck. No matter how much you kill a card trick at least you can show their card face up with a different back. 3. Always start with the self working trick. Two might be better. This allows you to build confidence. 4. Don't worry about the card trick. You have the invisible deck. You always have an out. Having the right things with you should help alot. This advice is based on my own trials and tribulations. When I first started performing for people I was horrible. Then I started doing the self working stuff, and slowly got more confident. Then I added more difficult tricks. That really seemed to work well for me. Now when I perform I have a blast. Don't feel bad if you go blank when asked to do something. I have the same problem, and I can do a lot of tricks pretty well. It can be hard to change gears when you are thinking about something else. I end up doing my ACR routine because I draw a blank. If I'm at work I have a notebook and will literally open it to the page titled card tricks I know. I don't do this when I'm perfroming for the public of course. JOIN THE LOCAL CLUB. |
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The Amazing Noobini Inner circle Oslo, Norway 1658 Posts |
Hi again! And thank you all for many more wonderful suggestions!
I will certainly not ever walk over to strangers and give them warm hellos tho. I think that if I could do that I wouldn't fall into the shy category at all. Anyway it just isn't how people behave here in my country. If someone came over to me and smiled and started a conversation, I certainly wouldn't like it very much. Foreigners and younger people sometimes approach others like that here. But I'm just not that kind of a person, and I don't mean that in a negative way. It just doesn't fit. I'm more of the silent rugged fishermannish type. If you take away the ruggedness and ability to catch fish, that is. What I do have are occasional opportunities that I do not explore. Today I was talking to a friend of mine about something magic related. He had seen a magician on TV and wanted to know if I knew who he was. I didn't. A little later in the day I talked to another friend of mine who is a musician (composer), about how we both struggle sometimes to find the energy to practice. He with music and me with magic. Just small talk, but it touched on the subject of magic. Come to think of it I even talked about magic briefly to a third person today as well. Neither of these people have ever asked me to perform a magic trick. But I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I offered to perform one. Perhaps I should do so even if they aren't especially interested. I have decided to do so many a day recently, but later when I get into a conversation with someone it feels inappropriate. I'm not a pushy person. Which may be why I have so absurdly many friends. I never do anything like calling them but they don't seem to mind. Low self esteem or not, except for one guy I've never even met in Davenport Iowa, people all seem to like me fairly well. Yesterday btw I told a woman I know that I do magic, mostly with cards. She didn't get what I was talking about. "So you're saying that you're a poker player? I didn't know." "No, I do magic tricks." "Right, you mean solitaire?" "No, magic tricks." "And these solitaire games are played on your computer?" Etc. It went on for a while. It was fun. She had no clue what I was talking about. But I had a deck in my pocket and I suppose I could have twisted an Ace or two and shown her. In a way I think it is a good thing that I have taken so long to practice sleights and study different versions of tricks before running out and performing. It has been a case of me constantly finding a better way of doing something so that I always feel I need to practice a bit more before I can go ahead and get into the rehearsing and writing. How can I do a Riffle Force when I know there is a no break Dribble Force out there. And how can I do that one when there is a Classic Force and... well, I suppose I can really. I just get very focused on the process of acquiring new knowledge. And thinking about why something would logically happen in a magic effect. Again I have been thinking about applying for the Magic Circle here. Apparently they welcome amateurs there. That thought comes and goes. I'm not a group person at all. I was never a boyscout. Once we had to do a group assignment in school and I formed my own group of one. I never even ate most meals with my parents as a kid. We just got along better without being that close. But I've never met more than one magician in real life. And never discussed magic with anyone face to face. So that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Perhaps it is time. Right now I'm optimistic. I have even bought a practice table and mirror after looking for something I would like for two years. As soon as I have fitted the mirror assembly to the table I can actually start seeing how an entire trick looks while seated, as opposed to looking at sleights by themselves while standing up. There are so many things I have put aside until I get a table. My Okito boxes for instance... Anything involving lapping or even ribbon spreading cards. Of course there will have to be another practice period of basic table work. Oh, and I still need to find a nice chair of course. Which is from a suitable period. No Ikea in this home.
"Talk about melodrama... and being born in the wrong part of the world." (Raf Robert)
"You, my friend, have a lot to learn." (S. Youell) "Nonsensical Raving of a lunatic mind..." (Larry) |
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rmendez Inner circle San Antonio, Texas 1253 Posts |
I must admit that when I first read this post, I had doubts regarding the authenticity. It wasn't until I actually reached the end of the post that I started to believe it was sincere because it reminded me of my own very humble beginnings before I became an immortal, extreme close-up entertainer
Noobini, no one starts out stellar. I don't care who they are or what they say or believe. I studied books, videos and DVDs made very little progress for several years. It wasn't until I found a couple of professional magicians with decades of experience in my local SAM and IBM chapters that I started making REAL progress. This was the original intent behind the fellowship of these organized groups. Magicians helping magicians. Somewhere over time, magicians started destroying other magicians or maybe that always have from the very beginning which seemed to be the case in the motion picture The Prestige. It is going to depend greatly on the character and intent of the individual members of your fraternity. Mine we're generous and very eager to help me after they recognized my passion, dedication and aptitude. They encouraged and inspired me to practice obsessively making technical skill mindless and forced me to perform for them and real people in public venues. My hands would shake and palms would sweat but my desire to be just like them was so strong that it was all that I dreamed of which forced me to overcome my stage fright ultimately bringing me boundless confidence after realizing my progress. I felt great security and safety in numbers but it wasn't until I was accomplished later that I felt comfortable enough to venture out and perform alone as an individual. What used to feel like a codependant security blanket later turned into a brotherhood I enjoyed being a member of. Although I can dominate a venue alone, I still prefer to share the spotlight with other conjurors. They honed me into a professional inside of a year but I worked very hard all day everyday. That was nearly a decade ago and I am still a student which will never truly end. I'm a professional with my own close-up performing repertoire but am always looking to expand into other areas where my knowledge is limited. Keep in mind that an amateur performs different tricks for the same people where a professional performs the same act proficiently for different people. I am a firm believer in the fact that there is no education like real world experience where you will learn things that cannot be learned from any book, video or DVD. The psychological aspects alone regarding human psychology, feints and reverse psychology, timing, off-beat moments, misdirection, comedy alone are a world of their own. |
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Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
Noobini:
Have you ever thought that maybe you're not cut out to be a performer? But that doesn't mean you don't belong in magic? Yes, those two _can_ go together! I have done a bit of writing in my time - newspaper reporting, opinion, short fiction, and other stuff. I have noticed that many of my editors could not have conceived the entire concept of the story / article and pursued it from beginning to end. But they did have the eye and mind that I lacked in the specifics of how the writing sounded. Just because I had an idea that never would have occurred to them did not make them unnecessary or make me a better writer. So maybe you belong to a different facet of magic than the one labelled "performer". Copperfield, Burton, Penn & Teller - all the big names have numerous people helping them, giving them ideas and making things happen. These behind-the-scenes people may not have the personality to fill a stage, but they are no less needed in the magic world. Ask how many stage magicians would be totally lost without their assistants! Some of these "box jumpers" do the _real_ magic, while the "big name" just gestures and fills the stage. You sound like you have a mind to look at a performance and evaluate it from an more technical perspective, outside of performance consderations. (And if that's *your* photography on the website, you most definitely have an artistic view of balance and perspective!) Add what you have, work with what's in your hand that will respond, and don't worry about the rest. Life's too short to live in pursuit of nebulous dreams. Now if there's something that you absolutely _must_ have, spare nothing to attain it - but if it's just this harsh taskmaster telling you that you're less because you're not "this" (whatever that is), don't bother listening! You may never be a "star performer" - but you are no less a magician (and from what you describe, you are much _more_ of a magician than myself and others that post here!). Ed |
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rmendez Inner circle San Antonio, Texas 1253 Posts |
The following is a post from a magician I hold near and dear to my heart and who's opinions I hold in very high esteem...
"Unlike the story he tells, I had the opposite experience with magic. I immediately pick things up and with little practice am able to perform in front of real people and get decent results. I don't say this to brag, but only to offer insight into how I am able to overcome some of the obvious hurdles many people in our profession encounter. We have a mutual friend who struggles with the same issues as Noobini... although he may not be so self aware!!! First... the magic is rarely about the trick. Sure, after some practice, there are a few effects that are so awesome that you will want to mimic them or perform them "as is" for a group. But for me, the magic is more about what I have to say and share. If I find a trick or routine that speaks to me and highlights my message, then it becomes so much easier to share with others. In these cases, the magic is just a tool (like a powerpoint presentation for a good instructor). The slights, the moves... all the stuff the burners and hecklers spend so much time on are inconsequential because they are actually listening and interested in you and what you have to say... not how you hold the deck or riffle the cards. Second... I don't perform just anywhere. Know your audience and the venue. It is quite possible that Noobini is performing for people in situations where he is set up for failure from the start. Magic for me is like my passion for IT and teaching it. I would not dare to share the history of the Internet and the genius of Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf creating TCP/IP in 1972! with a class of 3rd graders. They simply would not appreciate it. I think you should treat magic the same way. Do not perform for people who are not interested or who will not appreciate what you have to share. This can be difficult if you have the mindset that you just want to destroy the crowd or really wow some layman. Even the greats prescribe to this idea... why do you think they sell tickets to their shows? They want a certain level of commitment and interest from their audience. Third... and possibly most important... don't do things you are not good at! I am not saying that you should drop magic if you do not find success right away. I am merely saying that there are plenty of different types of magic you can choose from (cards, mentalism, coins, manipulations, comedy, children's magic...). I would suggest that Noobini branch out and find the magic that he is by nature skilled at. There are certain card moves and techniques that come natural to me... I use them. There are others that would take lots of practice to even learn... I don't do those.... And if I do, I present them in such a way as to mask or highlight their difficulty, "here is a shuffle that is really hard... I have been working on it for a while... it looks very nice and I want to share it with you... hang on... it is worth the wait..." Then, the audience is in it with me and they are happy when I get through the move... they have shared in my experience. Otherwise, I do the moves that are natural to me. I really don't spend a lot of effort taking difficult moves and practicing them until they seem natural. I just use the ones that actually are natural. When teaching martial arts and developing Jeet Kun Do, Bruce Lee encouraged his students: rather than learning all the moves in Kung Fu and practicing ad nauseum... get in a fight... see what you do naturally... then practice those things until you develop the muscle memory and they are second nature. This is my approach to the technical side of magic. After all, it shouldn't be about what I am doing with the props... it should be about the message I am sending. Listening to your audience can help with this... if people say that you are cheesy and your tricks are boring and easy to predict/follow... you should stop being cheesy and pick better, more interesting tricks! Last... and there may be nothing Noobini can do about this... you have to be an interesting, somewhat charismatic person. Again, this is not a point to brag about, but there are those gifted with raw charisma. Richard, you have tons of it... And there are others in our circle who do as well (Dave Cook. Rolando...). People who are not gifted in this area need to spend more time on their own personal character and personality than they do on farrow shuffles and half passes. I would recommend to Noobini to find an area of his life where he has passion and is respected. He should use this area as the subject matter of his magic. When people see his passion and hear what he has to say, I believe the magic will be more interesting and more entertaining. These I believe are the goals of a great magician... not to fool the audience. Save fooling people for the "magicians only" venues. I am reminded of a young man who works at H&R Books. He is very introverted and has some obvious issues interacting socially. However, he is an incredibly skilled card magician. When magicians go to the store and one of the other workers says, "Hey... show these guys that move you have been working on..." the magic is amazing. But here we have the exact right mix of all the things I have been pointing out. The message the young man is sending is that he spends lots of time with cards and has developed something new and amazing. The audience and the venue are perfect... magicians in a specialty magic book store. The moves are his own and rarely has he shown me something that I could do, or would even care to learn to do... He is not charismatic, but his passion and the love of what his is sharing shines through the performance. He draws from that to create a charisma... He actually changes people's minds about him as a person after they have seen him perform. That, my friend, is real magic." |
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NurseRob Elite user Dallas, TX 469 Posts |
Richard If you have not just brought Noobini back from the edge of the Abyss, You at the very least have inspired me and any other new magi-trainees to stay on course no matter what. Your message is resonating with practical wisdom, one could spend hours scouring these forums and never find any finer advise than you have just shared. I have to whole-heartily concur with the value of finding experienced magician mentors to learn from. The best thing I have taken away from this Café is the friendships I have made, locally and abroad, and the generous support of other magicians who really do have it in their heart to help other magicians.
The more I learn, the more great gentlemen I have to thank for it all. Thanks for joining that list! RobertD
Ut imago est animi voltus sic indices oculi ~
The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter ~Cicero |
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The Amazing Noobini Inner circle Oslo, Norway 1658 Posts |
Another big thank you to people who has added their wisdom to this thread! Every word is carefully read and appreciated!
Today I actually tried to perform a few magic tricks for a friend of mine. Earlier we had been to a café and he seemed very interested in magic as this was something he had tried to learn as a kid. It is very difficult to talk about magic without actually talking about magic, if you know what I mean. He asked me if I could do a (Lennart Green) effect he had just seen on YouTube, the Laser Deal. I bragged that I could do it but wouldn't do so until I have had some more practice. In reality I wouldn't be able to do it at that tiny table and with him looking down at my hands from above. I couldn't very well screw up Mr. Green's effect after all. Since he continued to ask during the next hour, I offered to do something else instead which he was very enthusiastic to see. I did a version of Two Beginnings by Simon Aronson where he just mentions a card freely and then points to any card in the spread deck which of course turns out to be his card. This went very well even though my hands immediately began shaking. He insisted afterwards that I hadn't done anything at all. I was actually uncertain at first if my nervously fumbling secret move really had gone by him that completely or if he was being kind. It felt clumsy when I did it but I think he was genuinely amazed by it. By then my hands were shaking more and I decided to leave it at that. I couldn't think of anything to top an effect like that anyway. But he kept insisting on more so I thought I'd try Jumping Gemini which is probably the trick I have devoted the most practice time to. I've been wanting to do it right since I tried to do it once last year and completely bungled it due to nerves. It started out fairly well but my hands were suddenly shaking so violently that it became increasingly difficult. All my DLs split but he didn't seem to notice. Finally I just dropped two of the cards and that was that. Looking down at my madly shaking hands I felt like I had Hypotermia. It's so surreal watching your own hands having a life of their own. My body was completely ice cold. Still is and hour later. He was very supportive and insisted that the failure didn't matter. I was showered with praise. Of course he has never seen the ending the way it is supposed to be. Oh well. I concluded with an ace cutting effect where he himself cut to the aces. I kind of screwed up that one too but in any case he did appear to cut to the right cards and it apparently blew his mind. Again he felt like I hadn't touched the deck except to turn over the top cards. I told him I was impressed at how he managed to do that. My plan has always been to proceed from that into Twisting The Aces and then onwards, but now I cut it short simply admitting that the way my hands were shaking, there was no point in ruining the last impression. I should have quit after the first one and I didn't want to make that mistake twice. I can always do the rest some other time. I don't know how I feel about the outcome of it really. If he was genuinely impressed and not just being kind then that is really great. I don't really care if he was impressed by me or not as long as it was a positive experience for him. At the same time I still feel almost ill. This was like a shock to my system. I'm sure people who read this will think it is a nothing episode not worthy to mention. But to me it was very dramatic. I don't even know if I'll go on with my plans to cook myself a nice dinner tonight. Right now I couldn't eat anything. But really I think I'm fairly happy with the outcome after all. Yes... I think I am. I feel it was a small step forwards.
"Talk about melodrama... and being born in the wrong part of the world." (Raf Robert)
"You, my friend, have a lot to learn." (S. Youell) "Nonsensical Raving of a lunatic mind..." (Larry) |
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MDew Regular user Sydney, Australia 125 Posts |
Baby steps, my friend, baby steps. No matter how small the steps are, you are progressing. And you will eventually get a point where you can perform confidently without fumbling or having sweaty palms.
I encourage that you have more of these Café sessions with your friends. Its a nice, causal atmosphere, so there is really no external pressure on you while performing. I wish you all the best in the future. |
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thepspdope Regular user With Roughly About 173 Posts |
Congratulations Noobini,
You have overcome a lot to get to where you are now. If you have any doubt about this, then cast your mind back to the points raised in your first post... ...I also find it impossible to control an audience or keep them even remotely interested. ...And people aren't interested in the magic tricks. ...I'm starting to really fear doing anything now. ...I know I simply need more practice. Almost all of these points have been fixed by your last post, so what has changed? I think that what was different for your last performance was the fact that your friend really wanted to see something magical, so your timing to perform was perfect. Focus on the good points of what happened and try to find a way to limit these problems the next time. Sometimes if you focus too much on what you're about to do it will hinder you. I remember practicing so hard to do an impossible sleight, and when finally I decided to perform it, at the moment I was about to do it, there was a distraction and I was able to use a top change instead while no-one was looking. I was almost upset about it because I had worked so hard on my sleight, but realised afterwards that the effect for the spectators was the same, I was really only doing the new sleight to please myself. You have amazed your friend so be happy. Now that you know of someone who has witnessed (and enjoyed) your magic, plan the effects that you will use if the chance arises with them again (which is probably very likely). TTA is great so that's one you have already, so build a small set, and do just like you did already...take it as far as you can and learn from it. I wish you all the best and am very sure that you will start to fix things every time you perform. Well done for trying because I think you feared that you would stop trying, and that can be a hard thing to beat.
- just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you!
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The Amazing Noobini Inner circle Oslo, Norway 1658 Posts |
Thank you guys! What you say makes sense. Yes, I suppose I have moved forwards in some regards, however today I suddenly had another opportunity to perform something in the safety of my own apartment for a buddy of mine. He asked me to. I was very optimistic up front, but ended up failing so completely that it felt very much like the performance that made me write the original post.
What actually impressed him the most was how badly my hands shook. He had never seen anything like it. And it is quite a sight. Like in a cartoon. Oh well. One of the things that failed he urged me to try again and I did and it worked great the second time. The first time it seems that I failed to subtract 5 from 14. I got 5. This is not uncommon for me. The second time I was twice as curious as he was when he turned the final card over slowly. I did not know if I had made it or not. Then he turned evil and shuffled the deck that he was really instructed to do something else with. He knew he ruined it and told me so and grinned and I said fine, let's see what happens anyway. I tried to save the ending with a quick cull as I was revealing it and actually ended with a color separated deck but the short delay made him understand that I did something. I was a bit impressed that I saved it so quickly but he wasn't so that's that. I also tried my AC routine and he kept interrupting and asking to see if I had one or two cards, etc. He said that trick was obvious. That's a year of my life right there. Poof. I tried to save it by turning the deck and letting him see that it was indeed (or appeared to be) his card that went into the center. But he still said it was obvious how that was done and he was of course right. For the final attempt I actually fairly put his card into the center and then side-stole it. Quite well I thought but at that point he had lost interest and he was distracted by something and never saw it. Oh well. All he was really interested in at that point was to see some XCM type of things like on YouTube which I don't do at all, but like the good trained dog I am I tried to do some fans and card springing which I do phenomenally well usually but it didn't work and... well... you know what happens when it really goes wrong. It never does except that it did. I don't know... I am astonished actually that things I have worked on every single day for 18 months does not work at all, like my DL. Useless. Completely utterly worthless. I need to go back and learn another one from the beginning. In fact I need to go back and start everything from the beginning. Nothing I do as of now really works. It all falls apart unless when I'm lucky and they look away distracted or bored. I even stop talking and zoom out staring at my hands. Completely blank. And I don't understand why it happens. It's like an out of body experience. It feels as strange as if you should suddenly forget how to walk and fall on your face. One small positive thing that surprisingly worked tho; my false riffle shuffle which I haven't been practicing for more than maybe a month. Why does that work and not things I can do in my sleep, like making a Pressure Fan or even talking? It doesn't make any sense. Well, anyway I'm a bit tired of going on about myself and my seemingly endless self absorption here. I think someone should probably close this thread now before it spreads to yet another page. If I ever improve I could always start another one. Thank you everyone for all the kind supportive words and wonderful advice! You guys are the best!
"Talk about melodrama... and being born in the wrong part of the world." (Raf Robert)
"You, my friend, have a lot to learn." (S. Youell) "Nonsensical Raving of a lunatic mind..." (Larry) |
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rmendez Inner circle San Antonio, Texas 1253 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-09-17 02:26, NoVaCain wrote: Thank you so much for your compliments. It means so much to me. Magic came and went in my life over the years because I can remember feeling frustrated and discouraged trying to learn from sources with no real guidance and making very little progress. There is a great deal to be said about real world experience. More importantly, the willingness for masters to share with the students. The following are not my finest moments by far because I had been drinking the whole night while vacationing with my brother earlier this year and horsing around in front of his video camera just having a good time. The magic; however, didn't come out too badly if I do say so myself. I would have layed off the sauce a little more and at leat gotten a haircut if I would have known this was going to end up on the internet for the world to see http://www.youtube.com/user/ConejoJack |
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rmendez Inner circle San Antonio, Texas 1253 Posts |
Card magic is just one avenue. Have you considered performing any apparatus magic? Personally, I'm not much for card magic aside from a couple of effects. I favor far more visual effects like the Cups and Balls, the Chop Cup, Color Changing Silks, Color Changing Knives, Copper Silver Brass, Dice Magic, Dice Stacking, Pen Through Anything, Color Vision, the Ball & Vase, Ring & String, etc. You may have much better luck with non card effects.
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Thales Elite user You may have read one of my 415 Posts |
There is really a lot of great advice in this thread. I think there is a little Noobini in all of us which is why I think the advice in this thread is so useful.
"If you can't change the method, change the moment." Vernon
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MikeyM71 Regular user Chesapeake, OH 153 Posts |
I can remember once when I was asked to perform at a kids' birthday party. I was extremely nervous and at the time I hadn't done anything like that for a large group of people. The first few tricks I kinda stumbled through, but no one noticed. I started picking up a little confidence after a while, and by the end,
the only negative thing anyone said was "you needed to do more, or it didn't last long enough". When I got home and really thought about it, some of those kids had not even seen magic before and it was really entertaining to them. The sponge balls, coins changing, a little bit of fire, things vanishing.... they left with a grin.... that's all that really matters. No one cared that I was nervous... do they even remember?
<BR>Mikey M.
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Steven Leung Inner circle found the Magic Rainbow after 1614 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-01-19 22:29, adrianbent wrote: I totally agree. I treat my props as a 'person' no matter a deck of cards, silver dollars, wand. ropes. When I practice and find difficulties, I will try to talk with them. Just treat the props as your body parts, then enjoy interact with your audience. You will improve eventually.
Most memorable moment - with Maestro Juan Tamariz & Consuelo Lorgia in FISM Busan 2018.
"Being fooled by a trick doesn't always mean they are having a good time" - Homer Liwag https://hhpresents.com/ https://www.glitchstudiohk.com/ |
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Lord Anacho Regular user Kessel-Lo, Belgium 157 Posts |
Noobini
I just read your latest exploit. Now, it is possible that your shakes are related to your personality (ultra shy and radiating it). That's for the therapist. But what I do not understand is your choice of effects. If I would be plagued by the shakes, I wouldn't dream of doing sleight heavy stuff such as an ACR. You really should have some killer self workers in your repertoire. And they exist. I killed the guys at my magic club on more than one occasion with non-sleight self working tricks. If you haven't done so already, check out Giobbi's Card College Light. It saved my life on one occasion! Ciao for now Erik
"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything" (Alfred Borden in The Prestige)
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