Admit it, card magic IS one of the most popular genres in magic. it is also one of those genres you see most laymen try to get into.

When laymen see you holding a pack of cards, they either grab it for a card game, or to show you a card trick. Notice I am not using the phrase "card magic". That is because the whole trick will go something like this:"Hey you, show you some magic. Here... *fans the cards clumsily* point to one of these

cards. That one? Remember it ahh... ok i shuffle *shuffles clumsily, letting three quarters of the deck fall on the muddy floor* ok... and this is your card, right?"

Honestly, when i see such things, i get DARN pissed. Firstly, they are not showing respect for card magic. Secondly, they are ruining my deck.

To me, card magic is one of the most diversified and respectable genres in magic. 52 pieces of paper, 2 hands, one mind - the possibilities are honestly pretty much endless. That's also probably why I am such a card freak. There's a reason that most people do not know, why I am constantly playing with my cards, inventing card magic, doing card magic for people.

I honestly, and truly, want card magic to gain back its respect.

I feel that card magic, due to popularity and David Blaine (haha), has been beaten down into some cheap novelty. If i were a layman and I see some guy who apparently can do magic and take out a pack of cards, I would seriously go "oh my gawd, he's gonna do that 3 rows of 7 cards thingamajig". But if he were to take out a coin, or even a set of brass cups, i would be even more impressed. Remember, this is simply my own opinion.

Simple: card magic is no longer the elegant magic we see in the past. Derren Brown said something in his DVD, Devil's Picturebook, and he felt that the whole appeal of card magic, is elegance. And i agree! However, how many of us actually make cards look elegant to the audience?

(provocative stuff coming up) Let's look at street magic. David Blaine and Criss Angel. When people see me perform magic, they go "hey, you know how blaine levitated?" or ask "hey harapan, how did the Angel guy walk up the wall?" No one ever asked me "how did David Blaine do that card trick?" When you are doing street magic, I don't believe that cards are going to be the most powerful or amazing stuff in a street situation. Why? Because, cards are meant to be elegant. Exclusive even. When someone asks you for magic along the streets, why can't you borrow a coin? Why can't you do pen vanishes, paperballs over head, handkercheif magic, some on the spot mentalism? Why must you use cards?

I must say, I hate card magic.. But I love what card magic can be. That's why I still do card magic. That's why I still make my friends understand that cards CAN be powerful stuff.

If you are a cardician like me, challenge yourself: from now onwards, make card magic powerful. make card magic respectable. get card magic out of the cheap novelty trap.

Most of all, I want everyone to try NOT to perform card magic mindlessly. If you feel the setting is not suited for cards, then DO SOMETHING ELSE. magic isn't just cards.

Let card magic get back the respect it should have.

some of the card effects are just cheapened when it's being over performed. I'm still doing card magic and it's still one of my favourite genre since it always get good reaction, and it's versatile, with one deck, you can do vanishes, production, transposition, transformation, penetration, distortion, levitation, animations and the posibilities are endless.

Card magic should be elegent. Look at derren Brown, look at greg wilson, watching their performances are just sheer beauty. how did they do that?a nice routine accompanied by very nice personal presentation. However sadl, most people out there who just started out in magic dont give a hect to this important details. It's because of them, card magic is being cheapened.

Nice thing you sharing here :). Hope one day ou'll be able to be the one gaining back the respect of card magic.

been trying hard to get out of card magic...


I asked my wife today which particular magic she really liked which I had shown her..

She still says its the card magic..


sigh...

I'll never leave my home without my pack of cards.... I really LOVE card magic....

And yes there'll always be people doing those :wacko: card magic... There's no way we can stop them....

But because of these people.... Cardician will shine even more! The audiences are not blind....They can tell the difference between :wacko: card magic and :ph43r: :!!: card magic....

There are times when people say they had SEEN card magic but after i performed to them.... they say mine was different....was special... Believe me that was one of the best thing i ever heard.... and that really push me to train harder....

Let's all work hard to keep card magic a respectable art :)

Hey guys, thanks for the nice comments.

Everyone, try to give some insights on card magic yourself. Comment on my article too. Thanks.

Here my take on card magic in general.

Firstly, the concept of symbols and metonyms. Ok WTF? Symbol are just a random sign meant to represent something. Like the M is a symbol of MacDonald's. Metonyms are words or images or signs that denote something but also refers to a related thing. A child is a metonym of the idea of "evolution" for instance, since he is at once a symbol of the progression of a species, but ALSO part of that progression. He not only represents something, he is part of that something as well (in part). So far so good?

For me I think in the general public's mind, cards are metonyms for magic. You see someone fan a deck of cards, you don't start grabbing a chair, whipping out money and prepare to play blackjack; you know he's going to perform a card trick. Cards have somehow evolved to become synonymous with the term "magic". You go up to a person, and say, here I show you something, and whip out a deck of cards. She immediately, instinctively knows you're going to perform some magic trick. It's instinctual. Call it cultural conditioning, social knowledge, what have you.

Which is why when Blaine performed a card trick for this group of indigenous people in Africa (I think) on one of his specials, they were so amazed at the deck of cards. For them, their culture and their society is unfamiliar with the concept of cards and manipulation of them in the form of "magic".

For us urbanites, cosmopolitians, or "civilised" people (I meant that is jest), we are already trained to associate cards with magic to the point it is an unconscious recognition. It's as natural to us to link "cards" with "magic" as it is for us to link "chair" with "sit on it". We don't even think about it.

Which presents two problems:
1) Being so conditioned, the audience will have expectations. If I say "Watch this", then I whip out an Ipod and proceed to make it vanish, people will be more amazed then if I whip out a deck of cards and do a colour change. Why? Because the moment they see the cards, they think "magic". Their mind is already primed to look out for some kind of effect, some piece of strange (kudos Paul Harris). It's like if you KNOW that between 2:00pm and 2:10pm fireworks will be set off somewhere along Marina Bay, you won't be VERY surprised when it happens; you'll just be admiring and judging how good the fireworks are.

Which is exactly what the audience does, being mentally primed for a magic effect already, they then judge and evaluate how good the trick is. Thus the old "See your card? Now I lose it in the pack... and viola! It's on top of the deck!" kind of tricks have less currency now. They're used to it. They're bored with it. They KNOW what you're up to.

2) Innovation and skill. Harapan's right about elegance because when you know the fireworks are going to go off, you'll be watching to see how beautiful (or not) they are. So even if you manage a T&R card, but half the time, your fingers are fumbling over each other, it'll look bad. But if you could DL and P*** a card at a moment's notice, make it seem so natural that Mike Ammar wouldn't spot it, then you've hit paydirt even if it's just a simple "Here's the card you chosen" trick.

The idea then is not to base your card tricks on the impact of the effect, but on HOW well the effect is achieved and performed.

That's right. You know the magician's going to find your card. By whipping out the deck, both of you have unconsciously signed a contract where you get amazed and the magician finds your card. But whether he finds your card after 2 false shuffles and 8 false cuts during which the audience member falls asleep, or whether the magician finds the card by making it stick on the ceiling is going to make ALL the difference.

--- Just my opinion. Feel free to disagree. ---

I hope u can look deeper than that meaning of symbol, bocz i absolutely disagree. For example, if its random sign to represent sth, then u might as well just use F to represent macdonald 0_o

i think cards are more linked to gamebling than magic. Thats why many schools BAN cards. (in fact it has become a symbol of gambling). The reason why most spec might relate it to magic is because the setting dont suggest gambling. (elimination)

Perhaps its some strange coincidence, but ur ipod analogy reminds me of byepod by Robert Baxt.

Actually that's how symbols come to be imbued with their significance. They started out as random images used to represent something and after some time, they then become associated with the thing they represent.

In theory the symbol need not have any obvious connection to the thing it's a symbol for in order for it to have significance and meaning. Therefore an "F" can theoretically be the Macdonald's symbol.

Good point about gambling. I didn't think of that. Well maybe I'm conditioned to think cards = magic. :lol: Personally I associate dice with gambling, but I think you're right that most people still associate cards with gambling. Oh crap! My achilles' heel! My whole proposition has fallen! Aaarghh... :ph43r: :P

But, taking your point about the setting making specs disassociate cards with gambling (a conditioned response), then actually one can say that the cards do still have the association with magic methinks. Just that it's a situational condition. Hmm... Fascinating. I mean, if I whip out cards in school, you'll be right that my friends would think I want to play Daidee, but I wonder what kind of environmental conditions would change the association from gambling to magic. Maybe wearing a tuxedo helps. :lol:

My whole point of the article, is mainly to tell everyone that Card Magic Ain't Cheap.

The problem is, like you said about the ipod analogy, cards may be very linked to magic, but still, I believe that besides the magic aspect, people still rank cards somewhere between a checker and a monopoly board. I agree that yes, cards are very linked to magic, but that is because of those cheap trickery you see people do.

Some hecklers I have met grab my deck after I have done some effect and attempt to show a trick. And they fail badly! That's simply cheap card magic. Shows no respect.

I feel that no matter how much cards are "symbols" or "metonyms" of magic, a card game is still more common than good card magic. To laymen, cards are simply game tools, gambling tools or sometimes magic tools. It really depends on how you do YOUR magic with the CARDS, that make card magic elegant, professional and respectable.

If we were to say Ipod Magic is more amazing than Card Magic, let me challenge everyone: from now onwards, make your Card Magic as amazing as your Ipod Magic or Whatever You want to Use Magic. That way, you are on your road to uncheapen your card magic.

- harapanong

P.S. If you want to dissociate your cards from Daidee and turn it to magic, establish yourself as a magician, not "the card trick man". Magicians do magic, "card trick men" do trickery with cards. When the lack of respect for "card trick men" arises, they start to dissociate you from magic, and associate you to cards, and ultimately Daidee.

wait i was reminded of something. :off: how did you get my name, Maddened?

Haha... I saw your name on a couple of other posts... :off:

Guess my post side-tracked from your topic quite a bit. Apologies!

Yea you're right. Card tricks shouldn't have to suffer from inadequacy of skill or overestimation of ability. Practice and practice I suppose.