So I decided after a long absence to get back to this site and get back to my magic tricks. I have not done or practiced in a long while so I decided that I should teach myself and in the process teach you guys anything new I come across and hence the downloads section 
Anything usefull worth dwonloading, you will find in the downloads section. I hope you enjoy it
So I have been practicing the clipshift sleight by Chad Nelson. I have been practicing for about 2 months now and I got to say I am doing well. I still got a long way to go to pull it off like some of the other guys around but I think I’ll get it in record time
If you do not know what the clip shift is, just youtube it. I personally find davemagic4 (a magician on youtube) to do it with such ease that I get jealous every time I see him do it hehe.
Okay, we’ll I am writing this to talk about a certain type of audience that might get a new magician to feel a bit less confident.
I was at the barber shop today to get a hair cut and as soon as I walked in I notice a crappy deck of cards laying on a table, so I picked it up and did a few magic tricks to the two guys that were working there. One of them was supper enthusiastic about the tricks, while the other maintained a “I do not give a crap” look.
After I finished my magic tricks I decided to reveal one simple trick to them to see how both will react (don’t worry, it is not a very fancy trick ). The enthusiastic guy had the “aaaaaah, damn that’s simple yet cool” while the other guy changed (or tried to change) his demeanor to a “that’s lame, who do you think you are”. But here is the funny part, though he tried to maintain an arrogant vibe, he could not help but show a little smile.
This leads to the crucial point I want to share with everyone: Do not ever doubt yoursef, your abilities, your tricks or anything you are doing. You will run into crowds like our lame friend. You are doing something that will challenge the human mind, regardless of who you are, where you come from or what you have experienced in your life, a magic trick is something magical. It challenges the mind and intrigues the viewer. Deep inside them they know there is something to it (no duh!) but they can’t put their finger on it. This, subsequantly, leads them to feel a little bit insecure, hence the “i don’t care” look.
So how to deal with people like that? Well if you are doing your tricks to one person and that person happens to be like our lame friend, then, in my openion, you should just cut it short (some might disagree and that’s fine, it really depends on your interpersonal skills). On the other hand, if there aremore than one spectator, then focus your main attention to the ones who are reacting positively to you. Do not completely ignore the lame one(s), but do not center your attention on them.
Okay, I think that’s enough, off to bed I go. Sleeeeeep time!!!
I am not the most avid fan of Chris Angel (though I admit that he is one hell of a performer), one thing he said during an episode I watched that really hit the spot. I’m paraphrasing here, he said something along the lines of doing tricks should hit the spectators at a deep and emotional level. If the performer succeeds doing that, then he is a successful performer.
Then I remembered a movie called The Prestige. I’m sure many people watched and it’s a good movie. At one point you can see that both performers are doing pretty much the same act (the Transported Man it was called in the movie) but one of the actors was really impressing his audience while the other magician could not.
This brings me to the point I want to share with everyone: Knowing how to do a trick is FAR more different than knowing how to perform a trick. Notice the words used here; Knowing and Performing. I am sure everyone knows how to do one or 2 magic tricks. And I guarantee you that the tricks are probably good tricks (if it challenges the mind then it is a good trick), but what makes Chriss Ange, David Blain, etc, is their prerformance more than the trick it self.
I won’t discuss what makes a good performance in this post. Instead I will just say quick points here:
Anyhow, it would be greate to see what you think about this topic. So join up and tell me what you think
I finally figuered out what my favorite hobby is! Yes that’s right, Magic Tricks. It never occured to me that it is this much fun. It’s not just holding the cards and moving them around, but it’s a lot more than that. You have to build anticipation, you have to engage and misdirect the audiance in subtle yet engaging way. It’s a lot more complicated that one would think.
I use to find the shows about street magic lame, but now that I am trying to build my own repetoire of tricks, I realized that the act is as imporant as the tricks themselves.
Lastly, I will be dedicating a section to teaching people magic tricks. I am thinking of doing it in such a manner that I do not necisserly have to teach the actual tricks, but instead I will teach the important parts of a trick. This way the student can compile his own version of the trick(s).