Read this from one of the forums, that I'm visiting frequently:
This is for all of those who are
anxious to perform effects that
they just saw on television. It's an
excerpt from "The Artful
Mentalism."
_____________________________________
ON CREATIVITY AND
ORIGINALITY
Everything you do should be
original or uniquely presented in
an original way. If anyone
watches you perform and says
later, “I saw a guy on TV do
that,” you’ve failed. (Unless you
are the one
who invented the effect and the
guy on TV copied you; in which
case you might say “Yeah, he
does it
almost the way I taught him to!”)
If you are the kind of performer
who sees something on TV and
immediately runs off to the
magic shop to get the props to
do the same thing, you are
reading the wrong book. If you
should one day
decide to take this art seriously,
please feel free to come back.
But for now you may return to
the faceless crowd of wannabees
where you may all gripe about
not getting any breaks even
though you can do the same
things the guy on TV does.
You know what's funny? Go to
ebay and look how the folding
coin is advertised. First off, it is
never
a half dollar- always a quarter. It
is not advertised as a folding
half, but as David Blaine’s “Biting
a Coin in Half.” (Or, most
recently, and amusingly, “Bite
and Spit”) Why anyone would
want to present it
Blaine ’s way, or to do any of the
effects that Blaine does, is a
mystery to me. Do they really
think that by doing so they will
get their own shot at a television
show? (Personally, I believe there
is a sound
psychological reason behind this
desire to imitate- the imitator
secretly wants to BE the person
they are
imitating. But stop and think- did
you ever see an Elvis
impersonator who you mistook
for the real
thing?)
Are you an artist or a hack? Do
you perform for money or for
you own amusement? If you love
the art and can act, create,
innovate, take risks, and work
long hard hours, months and
years, you may
one day be known as [insert
your name here] If you just want
to copy and let the artists do the
creative
work you will one day (soon, if
not already) be known as “that
dude who thinks he’s David
Blaine (or
whoever it is you happen to be
imitating.)
__________________________________
The reference to David Blaine is
now probably a bit date.
Substitute "Derren Brown" if you
wish.
Good thoughts,
Bob Cassidy
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Penn and Teller "FOOL US"
Yesterday i went to my friends house and we watch the Penn and Teller "FOOL US".
Its all about fooling Penn and Teller and when you fool them you will win a five star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's world famous show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.
I knew it from the start that they wont be fooled by any stage magicians because that's what they do, what i'm looking for is for them to be fooled by a close up magic and guess what? they've been fooled by 2 magicians.
The first one who fooled them was John Archer he's known for his comedy mentalism, he performed a bank night comedy routine. Penn and Teller thought they knew how its done but when John Archer told them that its not what they thought of, the whole crowd cheered hehehe so his been fooled :P. It was so funny because they said that they dont wanna be fooled by just an ENVELOPE hehehe.
The second magician who fooled them was happen to be one of my favorite close up magician, non other than Benjamin Earl. What he did was really awesome first he shown a picture of a man classic palming a card in his back and said to remember that situation then he borrowed a deck of playing cards from Teller then proceed to shuffle and produce the 4 aces. after that he lost again the 4 aces into the deck and asked Teller what hand would he used and he said left hand so Benjamin cuts the deck and produced the aces one by one and on the last ace he turn around and asked them if they remember that situation, yes the last ace is palmed in his right hand on his back. Penn told Benjamin that they wasn't fooled of his false shuffles etc. until Benjamin replied that he doesn't use any false shuffles. At first they didn't admit that they've been fooled but in the end they give up and said "YOU FOOLED US". In the backstage Penn and Teller were talking to each other that they were really been fooled from the start middle to end.
The other magician that i like was non other than Michael Vincent. He performed a classic card magic routine. it was so perfect they didn't see any flaws in his sleights but its not all about that, its all about fooling Penn and Teller. Since its an classic effect they already knew it but non the less its really an awesome performance :D.
The whole show was nice and Penn and Teller also perform there. What i really like about this show is its really a made for magicians. What i don't like about this show is sometimes they are exposing the magic as if all the viewers were magicians but they are using magic lingo's maybe im just paranoid hehehe. i wish there's a part 2 of this show i really enjoyed watching it.
So now you're so eager to watch it right? well i have something for all of you
heres the link to the show: Penn and Teller "FOOL US"
Its all about fooling Penn and Teller and when you fool them you will win a five star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's world famous show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.
I knew it from the start that they wont be fooled by any stage magicians because that's what they do, what i'm looking for is for them to be fooled by a close up magic and guess what? they've been fooled by 2 magicians.
The first one who fooled them was John Archer he's known for his comedy mentalism, he performed a bank night comedy routine. Penn and Teller thought they knew how its done but when John Archer told them that its not what they thought of, the whole crowd cheered hehehe so his been fooled :P. It was so funny because they said that they dont wanna be fooled by just an ENVELOPE hehehe.
The second magician who fooled them was happen to be one of my favorite close up magician, non other than Benjamin Earl. What he did was really awesome first he shown a picture of a man classic palming a card in his back and said to remember that situation then he borrowed a deck of playing cards from Teller then proceed to shuffle and produce the 4 aces. after that he lost again the 4 aces into the deck and asked Teller what hand would he used and he said left hand so Benjamin cuts the deck and produced the aces one by one and on the last ace he turn around and asked them if they remember that situation, yes the last ace is palmed in his right hand on his back. Penn told Benjamin that they wasn't fooled of his false shuffles etc. until Benjamin replied that he doesn't use any false shuffles. At first they didn't admit that they've been fooled but in the end they give up and said "YOU FOOLED US". In the backstage Penn and Teller were talking to each other that they were really been fooled from the start middle to end.
The other magician that i like was non other than Michael Vincent. He performed a classic card magic routine. it was so perfect they didn't see any flaws in his sleights but its not all about that, its all about fooling Penn and Teller. Since its an classic effect they already knew it but non the less its really an awesome performance :D.
The whole show was nice and Penn and Teller also perform there. What i really like about this show is its really a made for magicians. What i don't like about this show is sometimes they are exposing the magic as if all the viewers were magicians but they are using magic lingo's maybe im just paranoid hehehe. i wish there's a part 2 of this show i really enjoyed watching it.
So now you're so eager to watch it right? well i have something for all of you
heres the link to the show: Penn and Teller "FOOL US"
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