This was certainly "provoked" by someone in the forum.
Why do magic books suck?
1. They are wordy and boring.
2. I don't like to read.
3. My english is not good so I don't understand what they are saying (duh. then brush up your English!)
4. I'm afraid I won't do it correctly with the description provided.
5. It's going to take time you know, watching DVDs is faster.
6. I can't learn from books.
And the list goes on. Blahblahblahblahblah....
Now it is not a major issue in our mystical society that the younglings or beginners don't read because there are still those who do. But I hate to see if this so happens that, people are influencing the newcomers to not learn from books but DVDs. Any suggestions that you make for learning magic should be books FIRST. This do justice to the art and its roots: books/texts.
Noble Guardian.
I am in love with magic books because I am in love with magic.
Books are the roots of magic and they seem to have this aura that a lot of knowledge are in them.
It is the books I can bring around and read and learn that I can hold and feel that: "Hey! I have the REAL SECRETS of MAGIC and I am a REAL STUDENT of MAGIC. I have to protect this important text of my beloved art. Who knows 50 years from now, I am one of the few left with these Bibles of Magic. I have read them! I am a successor of these secrets! I am a guardian!"
Try bringing a DVD around, you will not have such noble feelings for it. What more, you need a computer or a DVD player to even learn from it. Yucks!
Learning Process
Yes. Learning from books is HARD. I don't claim to have read all the words in my books. I don't claim to have read them many times yet and have truely studied them yet.
Part of my fun in learning magic now is realising a certain trick I have read about and going back to read it again and study it again figuring out the moves and etc.
Realising and Oh-ings my mistakes and so much that I have missed when I first read it.
Then, I truely felt that I learnt, I have achieved something that I am a real student.
There is such so much to this learning from books that you can only discover by yourself.
I wish I was not such a lazy person and I wish I had no academic responsibilities so I can commit myself to reading the books and learn.
What's wrong with DVDs?
There is nothing wrong with them except making lazy people, lazier and allows our art to be in the piracy.
Of course it has kept rare footages and leave us with the amazing works of the late legends.
But I wish I had witness and met these legends in person and learn from the books they have orginally.
(Currently, I have the Martin A. Nash and Andrew Wimhurst craze for their original text)
I would rather have my DVDs in books. Really, every single one of them.
I had just watched the DVDs and learn the tricks and not able to study much of them because I was so spoonfed.
Still, don't take me wrong that I am against DVDs. There are a few jems in DVDs but much more in the books. Choose the correct DVD but you can be sure that you have chose the right book most of the time.
Try.
You don't to start off learning from books, well I don't.
But I just hope that I have gotten you to keep the thought "I will learn from books in the future" in mind. I had considered myself lucky to be able to discover the wonderful adventures of learning from books. If not, I would now be ripping off easy learning from the DVDs and more DVDs and the single tricks.
Try to learn from books now.
Try to learn from books in the future.
Try to learn from books forever.
Are you a Guardian of Magic?
I'm on my way.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Distorted Perception
Distorted Perception.
True honesty, I came up with this while searching for a nice name to describe my conjuring. 'Drawing Room Deceptions' by Guy Hollingworth is a very beautiful name.
Sometimes I feel when we conjure it is about distorting perception or at least the changing or manipulating of it. Magic is based heavily on psychology and especially perception.
What the audience percieves is the only thing that matters.
We distort their perception of swalllowing needles will kill you.
We distort their perception of a card inserted into the middle cannot be on the top.
We bend reality which actually what they perceive.
Human perception is not always the fact.
That is why magic works. Or at least partly why it works.
Each audience may percieve differently but ultimately what you want them to bring back is the story/recount of the impossibility being done. (so many terms and ways to say it but i think you get it. you want your magic to WORK! whether is it they percieve it as you snap your finger and straighten out the cards, you snap your finger and straighten out the cards and his card came to the top, you snap your fingers and you straighten out the cards but "who cares about my card, how did he straighten out my cards?!")
They may have mixed effects and perceived it as more impossible than it seemed (Wayne Houchin, Art of Magic TRAILER) or perceived only a few elements or ....so much more.
What I'm trying to say is that, the Human Perception is so important in magic and that is basically what we are trying to tackle.
Let's take it further.. Distorted Perception Part 2
This is a thought I had earlier when I was attending my Organisational Behaviour lecture and I learnt of this consequence of a certain concept "distorting perception of self or others".
This is a consequence.
It struck me that, that is what some audience do after they witness a piece of impossibility.
We must admit people of our times are growing smart and well educated. Not likely to be those men, women or children in the 80s or 90s that are less well-informed of math and science. There are those also who just do not like to be fooled or decieved. (even as entertainment to them)
People who do not want to perceive magic as magic or believe in magic tend to create theories and come up with all sorts of explanations as to how the tricks are done. Sometimes they go to the extent that even they have not a single clue as to how it was done, they stand firm and tell you,"I don't believe, I just don't believe."
Don't you feel they are re-distorting their perception?
Their perception of the impossibility that has just happened.
You can't help if they choose not to believe. It could be your fault that you did not do your job well but you can't be blamed entirely if you have done your best.
To try to do something extra to convince them, I believe you will have gone on to CHALLENGE MODE. Which is something undesirable and definitely not what you want to do unless you are just DAMN GOOD or You really do possess supernatural powers.
I believe there is a way to make these people appreciate and accept the art but of course it takes more than text from books, words or anything. I don't know how yet but I hope in the future I could make more people appreciate magic.
Lastly, something I love from Pit Hartling's Card Fictions. Which is Card Fictions the name itself. He mentions about magic being implanting false thoughts into people's mind. Like fictions in storybooks you know. To create the situation of impossiblility does not mean you have to do the impossiblity. You could just make it seem like it. Which is again what I said about perception. What they are going to perceive is not the truth.
Enough said I guess. I'm not very good at words. In the end, if you do not get my point or find them rubbish.
My sincerest apologies.
And I will draft next posts carefully.
True honesty, I came up with this while searching for a nice name to describe my conjuring. 'Drawing Room Deceptions' by Guy Hollingworth is a very beautiful name.
Sometimes I feel when we conjure it is about distorting perception or at least the changing or manipulating of it. Magic is based heavily on psychology and especially perception.
What the audience percieves is the only thing that matters.
We distort their perception of swalllowing needles will kill you.
We distort their perception of a card inserted into the middle cannot be on the top.
We bend reality which actually what they perceive.
Human perception is not always the fact.
That is why magic works. Or at least partly why it works.
Each audience may percieve differently but ultimately what you want them to bring back is the story/recount of the impossibility being done. (so many terms and ways to say it but i think you get it. you want your magic to WORK! whether is it they percieve it as you snap your finger and straighten out the cards, you snap your finger and straighten out the cards and his card came to the top, you snap your fingers and you straighten out the cards but "who cares about my card, how did he straighten out my cards?!")
They may have mixed effects and perceived it as more impossible than it seemed (Wayne Houchin, Art of Magic TRAILER) or perceived only a few elements or ....so much more.
What I'm trying to say is that, the Human Perception is so important in magic and that is basically what we are trying to tackle.
Let's take it further.. Distorted Perception Part 2
This is a thought I had earlier when I was attending my Organisational Behaviour lecture and I learnt of this consequence of a certain concept "distorting perception of self or others".
This is a consequence.
It struck me that, that is what some audience do after they witness a piece of impossibility.
We must admit people of our times are growing smart and well educated. Not likely to be those men, women or children in the 80s or 90s that are less well-informed of math and science. There are those also who just do not like to be fooled or decieved. (even as entertainment to them)
People who do not want to perceive magic as magic or believe in magic tend to create theories and come up with all sorts of explanations as to how the tricks are done. Sometimes they go to the extent that even they have not a single clue as to how it was done, they stand firm and tell you,"I don't believe, I just don't believe."
Don't you feel they are re-distorting their perception?
Their perception of the impossibility that has just happened.
You can't help if they choose not to believe. It could be your fault that you did not do your job well but you can't be blamed entirely if you have done your best.
To try to do something extra to convince them, I believe you will have gone on to CHALLENGE MODE. Which is something undesirable and definitely not what you want to do unless you are just DAMN GOOD or You really do possess supernatural powers.
I believe there is a way to make these people appreciate and accept the art but of course it takes more than text from books, words or anything. I don't know how yet but I hope in the future I could make more people appreciate magic.
Lastly, something I love from Pit Hartling's Card Fictions. Which is Card Fictions the name itself. He mentions about magic being implanting false thoughts into people's mind. Like fictions in storybooks you know. To create the situation of impossiblility does not mean you have to do the impossiblity. You could just make it seem like it. Which is again what I said about perception. What they are going to perceive is not the truth.
Enough said I guess. I'm not very good at words. In the end, if you do not get my point or find them rubbish.
My sincerest apologies.
And I will draft next posts carefully.
The Royal Road to ....
I shall make it clear that this blog may not be updated often but I do hope it gains popularity for the right reasons.
This is my magic diary on thoughts about magic which I hope to gain constructive feedback. I am not a pen person who pen down my thoughts neatly in a journal or any piece of paper. Even if I do I normally give up halfway. I find that there is no point to pen them down if they are just there unless I really do have the need to refer back to the notes, most often I just scribble.
I also hope to buck up my English through this diary.
And my purpose sole to write here will be to share my thoughts on magic that I have sometimes which I just want to shout out! But I have no near magic friends for company and chat so I will reach out to the mass online magic community here. Moreover, we know geeks like us who practise in isolation at home are in a world of our own. Nobody out there cares abit of our techniques, thinking or magic.
I will not reveal any secrets that matter to the art and trade of magic.
Really, my royal road to ... starts here.
This is my magic diary on thoughts about magic which I hope to gain constructive feedback. I am not a pen person who pen down my thoughts neatly in a journal or any piece of paper. Even if I do I normally give up halfway. I find that there is no point to pen them down if they are just there unless I really do have the need to refer back to the notes, most often I just scribble.
I also hope to buck up my English through this diary.
And my purpose sole to write here will be to share my thoughts on magic that I have sometimes which I just want to shout out! But I have no near magic friends for company and chat so I will reach out to the mass online magic community here. Moreover, we know geeks like us who practise in isolation at home are in a world of our own. Nobody out there cares abit of our techniques, thinking or magic.
I will not reveal any secrets that matter to the art and trade of magic.
Really, my royal road to ... starts here.
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