creativity and originality

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