Have you ever felt like giving up magic after several performance set backs or bad heckler experiences? What happened that made you feel so bad, you were tempted to give up magic? Most importantly... How did you go around it and revive your 'magic mojo' and improve & keep at it again?

Share your personal account with us and the most moving story will win you a brand new magic diminishing cards set, FREE, courtesy from yours truly.

As always, one story entry per SMC member and all heartfelt accounts posted must be true. This informal contest ends on midnight of October 15 2006. Hurry ;) You've got about a month to make your say, so don't procrastinate!

Good luck & Happy Writing...
Miss Ning

In case anyone isn't clear... Diminishing Cards is the trick where you fan some jumbo cards and they gradually shrink into smaller ones before finally disappearing. It's a nice parlor/ stage trick... so that's the prize that will go to one lucky winner here in SMC ^_^ Good luck writing!

~ning :lol:

Well... all i want to say is that if this is the set by Viking Mfg., then it's all worth it to just submit in your entries. Go go go! You'll never know whether or not you'll be the winner. But if you don't try, then it's for sure that you'll never be.

Anyone????? :!!: Is this topic too difficult to write on?

ning

Erm.. Ning... Where do you want us to Post the Article ?

On this Page itself ?

Here, on this thread :) Good luck you guys... someone start the ball rollin' ;)

Sorry! It’s quite a lengthy piece, despite having been cut short a couple of times already… :lol:

The incident that made me feel like giving up on magic happened about a year ago, in my school’s poolroom(billiards). At that time, none of my friends really knew that I was a magician.
(I was supposedly this quiet guy that always tagged along, but never participated. See.)

It started when a magician friend of mine popped out of nowhere, in the room. I was pretty surprised to see him there, and as fate would have it, it turned out he was an ex-student, back for a visit. We talked for a while and it wasn’t long before he asked if I had cards on me.

So I took out a pack of playing cards and passed it to him. He gathered all of my friends around for a little magic, putting up a great performance that sent my friends laughing throughout. Very entertaining.

At that time, I had very few pieces of magic that I could perform properly. To make it worst, that magician had performed all of them, so if I had to put up a performance, I wouldn’t have anything to show. That wasn’t really a problem, of course. Nobody said I had to perform. But… yup, you’ve guessed it! His performance ended and he announced to everyone in the room that “This guy here is also a magician! (Points at me)”

…Doh. Not exactly what I had in mind. I knew very well I was not up to performing standard yet. But with my cover blown, and with everyone asking me to show them something, I couldn’t bring myself to spoil the mood. So I agreed.

It was my 1st time performing in front of so many people! To make things worst, they were all my friends, plus the fact that they were a rowdy bunch, with watchful eyes which hardly gave my hands any breathing space. In fact, they didn’t even give me any breathing space. I was practically surrounded! Not good.

And so, like all other new performers, my hands were shaking like some Parkinson’s disease. Without much choice left, I ended up repeating some tricks which my friend had shown earlier. Big mistake. There’s a reason why one of the rules of magic is to never repeat a trick. My friends caught on to some of the card tricks, worsening my mood with each performance.

I was cold and shivering very badly. I ended up screwing the simplest of tricks. It was bad sleight of hand mixed with bad angles and bad presentation. Everyone, of course, agreed with each other that the other guy did a much better job. I was halfway through a short routine when a comment came out as “The other guy was much better.” I only got more nervous.

Someone even snatched at my cards, trying to prove that there was “more than 1 card”. The cards dropped, flopping the trick, and it also made me very much more nervous.

I got stressed out and quickly left for home, feeling very angry at myself and my friends. Everyone’s impression of me was the “lousy magician”, whereas the other guy got all the glory…

You must be wondering how I stuck to magic, since I’m still here. =)

Well…

This may sound kinda silly, but the truth is, I got inspired by Mondo Magic on AXN. I just happened to catch an episode as I channel-surfed by. I saw some of the performances reaping great reactions, which sent me thinking about where I went wrong. Why is it that other magicians can be so successful whereas I failed?

I dropped by the shop which I learnt magic from to sought some advice from my “teacher”. It was very kind of him to guide me through my handling and mistakes, and even gave me advice on how to avoid heckling, and how to make magic more entertaining... I went home a new magician (burr, can’t help but use this line).

After some deep thought, I formulated a list of performance Dos and Don’ts, which to my amusement, is still very useful indeed to this day. (Looking at it now brings back memories. Haha~) Perseverance pays off!

And that was how I found my magic mojo.

Hmm, I’m sure many others have probably had some kind of similar experience. This is just my side of the story, so I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it! Just wanted to start the ball rolling...

Sincerely
Zomaziz

Zomaziz, that was an EXCELLENT post :) Well done! I'm glad it all worked out great for you, thanks for sharing!

Ning ^_^

Care to share your list of performances Dos and Don'ts?

I understand it's the exam period, but I hope more people will share and contribute here, for this article writing competition ^_^ Thanks folks...

ning

There seem to be too many a times I've fallen and really wanted to give up magic. Well, not because of hecklers nor because of bad performances.

Frequent trips to magic shops occassionally puts me off by seeing so many young arrogant magicians doing utter rubbish thinking they are really awesome. Now, this really makes me want to stop doing magic just to be dis-associated with them. To make thinks worse, they actually perform for an actual lay person. The effect was weak and full of unnesscary sleights, and when they didnt get the reaction, they were offended by that lay person.

So after some time of not doing magic with the perception of magic is going to be ruin by these 'magicians', I watched Tommy Wonder's video. There and then, I re-realised that magic has so much class in it, so much elegances that lacks in young magicians. And to watch him perform is truly amazing for his love for magic has perhaps influenced me back to perform.

Thanks for contributing your thoughts Alex... it's interesting to note how Tommy Wonder seems to be such an inspiration to so many :)

I'd love to hear more stories, so those who've yet to share, I hope you'll make a post. Not only, will people understand the difficulties one will encounter in the journey of magic, they'll learn how to cope with it and get back up on their feet too ^_^

Contest ends 15 Oct, so don't miss the deadline! :P

ning

Disclaimer: Another long post ahead

Having started out only in June this year due to the influence of my good friend (let's call him R), I'm still pretty much new in magic.

Like people always say that you can pick up the skills pretty fast but everything still boils down to experience. I was also quite opened to the advice of other magicians i encountered in the local shops here initially (to date I've only patronised 3 of them) and I've learned invaluable lessons... be it good or bad. The biggest thing i learnt was that you can tell a person's character by the way he he does magic

Most of my bad experiences didn't came from spectators or hecklers while i perform as I feel these people are your training guides. However I was let down by performers themselves, those who call themselves magicians.

I feel many people are discouraged in starting magic due to the difficulty of not knowing where to learn. When I first started magic with R, we didn't know where to get supplies or anyone that could help us. Like lost souls we went shop hunting and purchased our first decks (I bought a normal bike at $8.50 and R bought a Black Tiger at $20). Being new and naive, we felt lucky to find them. The advice we got from that shop wasn't too big a help either but we had to make do with them. However with some luck I managed to find a newly opened magic store and it felt as if we struck gold and we started to go there to get our stuff.

In these few months, I met a few 'colorful' magicians who have been doing magic for years. There was this magician that was teaching tricks. R and I initially learned a couple tricks from him. However I soon realised that he was pushy and was haggling us to learn new tricks from him each time we visited the shop. His method of engaging you is rather agressive and sarcastic at times. I even got chided by him for using the same deck for 2 months as he boasted that he wasted his deck in a week (I was thinking "at least i know how to take care of my stuff"). There were those regulars would act as if they were a league of their own by 'looking down' on beginners learning to do simple things like passes, DL and fans. They were once beginners too so I felt they should be more understanding and maybe help these newbies. There will also be a group of arrogant showoffs, especially when doing flourishes. Well, I rarely go to the shop nowadays and get my supplies from a dealer friend of mine.

Lastly, it's good to have a buddy on this learning journey but when helping each other becomes a race of outdoing and proving one's better really makes me feel like giving up sometimes. Sadly my good friend, R has let ego gotten to him. I do feel at times that he's trying too hard to get ahead of the game. He would always call or message me as soon as he formulated a new trick or 'decoding' one by seeing the demos. I've advised him a couple of times to take a step back and neglecting his studies isn't the way to go. I feel learning magic should be enjoyable and well paced. I'm sure he's oblivious to the subtle things he say or do as even my non-magician friends whom he performs to do feel a little taken aback at times. There's always a fine line between amazing your spectators and making them look stupid. He's still one of my good friends though. No one's perfect.

Ok so there you go, here are my bumpy occasions so far and I do wonder at times of quitting magic. The only thing that has kept me going is the fact that I perform for my own sake to bring enjoyment to others. The judgment and actions of others shouldn't affect you. You can't do anything about what people say or feel about you but you can definitely control your reactions. Always take unpleasant situations with a pinch of salt.

Magicians who perform shouldn't take this art too seriously but to just enjoy it. It will prevent wrinkles from appearing but more importantly allow you to perform at your best. Hope I provided an insightful story to all. Happy tricking peeps!

Paul :P

Wonderful wonderful article.. Really do relates to real life. :)

^_^ That was a nice post indeed! This contest is the most challenging I suppose... it's not an easy topic to write about, and much less share! :) Anyways, as a gentle reminder, this closes this Sunday, Oct 15 midnight... so don't miss the deadline!

Cheers,
ning ^_^

Don't miss the deadline folks... ;) We wanna hear from you!!!!

ning ^_^

Thanks Ning for coming out with this little competition. ^_^ Let me give this competiton a shot. Warning...its a long essay. :P

Tempted to give up magic? I would definitely say Yes. The biggest problem I face now is not really from bad performances but more from a physical disadvantage that I have, which is my sweaty palms. It’s so bad that even in an air-con room, my palms and feet can sweat profusely. Thinking back, I should really have gone for the Endoscopic Sympathectomy operation back during NS days. I wouldn’t have to come out a single cent then. Now I’m saving up and hopefully next year I can go for the operation. Ok back to topic of keeping the “Magic Mojo” alive.

I’m sure everyone here has bad experiences performing either from hecklers or from egotistical friends who portrays the standard Alpha Male perfectly. I have to say, many a time I’m affected by all their comments and all their expressionless faces. It makes me ask myself, I’ve done all the sleights correctly but why do I fail to amaze? Am I just not cut out to be a magician? Slowly, I realized that it not the effect that failed to intrigue but it was my “Presentation” that failed to make an impression in the minds of my spectators. I wasn’t able to create that atmosphere which Arturo de Ascanio calls as the “Magical Atmosphere”.

What is this Magical Atmosphere then? This atmosphere occurs when everything is perfect. The technique, handling, audience management, timing and all presentation all blends together creating the perfect concoction that allows your audience experience a sense of wonder, as though witnessing a miracle. We must understand how spectators perceive and experience the effects which we are presenting, and realize how we can influence that perception and experience. Believe me, our patter and presentation can indeed influence our spectators deeply. The effect can be simple but when presented at the right moment and injected with the right emotions, it can send our audiences’ minds way beyond the realms of reality. A little example for me will be a very simple mental effect which I performed on one of my colleague previously.

My colleagues and I were having lunch and then suddenly one of them asked me to show them some magic. I did not have anything on me so I thought why not do a simple mental effect. So, I proceeded to ask him. “Think of an even number between 50 to 100, use a different number for each digit and both digits have to be even.” I’m sure many of us know what lies beneath this simple mental question. So I asked him, you have a number? He said, Yes and I paused for a while before revealing the number. I hit it correctly, lucky me. I can see a surprised look in his eyes for a second but right after that, he said, “You didn’t give me much choices what“. After that I just merely said something else to misdirect him.

At that very moment, I really felt that probably it would have been better I did not perform at all. When I went back office, I sat back and really analyse on what happened. Although it’s an effect where it could have been easily figured out, I knew immediately that it’s not the question or effect that was weak but my presentation was not intriguing enough. I then reworked the effect and came out with a stronger patter and presentation. Then came Saturday, I met up with Axl and we jammed. I tried my new presentation on him. Keep in mind he already knows how this works as he saw Blaine perform on TV just a week ago. So the presentation went something like this.

Jerome: Axl, you saw David Blaine did the think of a number from 50 to 100 right?

Axl: Yah

Jerome: Ok. Have you heard of the odd number version? No, Ok let me try this on you. Think of an ODD number from 1 to 50. You have number in your head now?

Axl: Yes

Jerome: Ok, good. Before I do anything, I’m going to make a prediction on my handphone and just so that you might think I gimmick my phone, I’m going to use your phone. He passed me his phone, I made the prediction and said, Ok I’m not going to even change anything now. I then pass him my phone and said to him. Ok, now I want you to think of the 2 digit number but use different digit for each one and type it onto my phone.

Axl: Ok, done

Jerome: Ok show me the number you typed and then I slowly turned over the phone to reveal the number I had predicted on his phone. It was an exact match and Axl’s immediate facial expression looked surprised and was like eh?

Ok, I know reading it doesn’t sound impressive but my objective here is not trying to portray an impressive story but one which stresses on presentation, and really make you as the performer think about what outcome you desire from any effect. From this, it really occurred to me that this presentation was much stronger than one that is purely reading of minds. I feel that if it’s presented as a mind reading effect, it’s too easy to be figured out. Although presented as in a form of divination it too can be easily figured out after some thoughts but it hits the spectator harder at the very last moment.

To me a good presentation transcends a lot of emotions and in any good act, be it magic or drama the more emotions that you’re able to allow your audience to feel the greater the involvement it will be. It’s just like you’re teleporting them to another realm whereby they’re experiencing the magic just like you do. One can say that it’s indeed a vicarious moment. Just take David Copperfield’s Flying for example. David was able to present it so well that as you watch him defy gravity, you feel so attached that as though part of you is opposing Newton’s law of gravity as well. With a good presentation, our magic can really communicate because art communicates the inexpressible.

Nowadays I try to look at effects differently and I ask myself what I want my audience to experience. At the end of the day, it’s not going out here to prove that you’re god but out there to have fun and achieve the ultimate goal of an entertaining experience. I always try to be aware of recent happenings and make a list of things and situations that interest people. Conflict, love, money, luck, paranormal phenomenon are just a few items which can provide one with many ideas to weave a good presentation that will make each of our tricks more interesting and expressive, and therefore create a greater impact on our spectators’ reality.

I always like to think in a Magic state of mind so that I can see the world in astonishment like how we all did when we were kids. This helps me to push my magic and really appreciate what the world has to offer. I like to see that magic is not an “Art of Deception” but an “Art of Creation” just like all other art forms out there. It’s our art that creates a magical atmosphere where reality is not suspended but “Created”. A reality created where the impossible can happen and everyone can experience wonders…

Thank you for taking the time to read my long essay on how I view magic differently to keep the mojo alive and kicking always. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating this little piece of art. Thanks again

Magically Yours
Jerome

Ok, I think I should just put mine to add some participation. Though I don't think I will win it but... you never know, I might just. Anyway...

Firstly, there has been more than one occassion that made me feel like giving up, especially when I just started. One good example was the time when my friend caught my DL when I was doing an ACR. He pointed it out loud in front of my whole bunch of other friends (including a very attractive gal I wanted to impress).

Now, guys especially, I am sure you can understand how I felt. My chance of being the star turned out to be a totally humiliating experience. I stood there, without knowing how to react (I still don't know SMC then, you see), and enduring all the scarcastic remarks from my (guy) friends. The worst part was, back then, I don't know anything else except card tricks, so my whole repertoire included only ACR, 2Card Monte, both needing DLs!! There was absolutely no way for me to recover the whole thing by doing another trick.

In addition to my personal tragedy, I felt that I have just exposed one of the most important sleight in card magic and I have done all the magicians in the world a great disservice. I thought: "That's it... I would never be able to do magic in front of my friends anymore. They will see through all my moves and i would never amaze them. "

Of course, there were other instances like the super- proud-and-show-no-emotion spectators (especially those Alpha Singaporean male), the blur-like-sotong spectators (totally don't know what's going on) and rude-heckler spectators (who would snatch your cards or make unreasonable demands like wanting to shuffle the cards). But the above incident stood out due to the fact there was this lovely girl around.

Next, how did I regain my Mojo? Well, it happened one day when I was helping out at a event and one lady, who heard I know how to do magic, requested me to do a trick for her manager. Low in confidence, I declined. But she persisted, and being a nice guy as I am, I finally give in.

Naturally I did the trick I was most familiar with, the 2 CM. It wasn't my best performance by any standards, but the reaction of the manager really made me feel like David Copperfield. She was like: "OMG!! This is REAL magic!!" Riding on the momentum, I did a Biddle Trick on another manager, this time round there was a moment of silence before she muttered: "No way.. This is REALLY magic..." I can still remember her bewildered face on that day (it lasted quite long).

Now if those kind of experience doesn't make your mojo going again, I don't know what does!!

PS: To end it off, just to mention that I did perform for my that group of friends in my first story again. I did a Stigmata, and to put the story short, they are now all believers!!

Why are there SO many heckler stories involving attractive girls?! Makes me wonder why I am not that lucky.

I am not going to follow contest rules here. Well, at least not 100%.

The only time I gave up magic was in Primary 4, when my WHOLE class (43 people) heckled me at one go. That was like 6 years ago, and I was using those plastic gimmicks from China. You know what I mean. 101 Amazing Tricks and all.

I regained my Mojo (that sounds funny) in 3 steps:

1. In Primary 5, a friend of mine showed me a coin vanish. Till now, I still don't know what it is called (Pivot Vanish or something) but I was so blown away that I practised really hard. Then I started playing with what I would be doing till now - my deck of cards. I picked up tips on card shuffling from my classmates, and I played card games with them to improve my skills. For the newbies, this is what magicians had to do before Blaine and Ellusionist came. Really learn and practise hard. VERY hard.

2. In Secondary 1, when I was that shy, innoncent boy who looked "gong" around my seniors, who kept on teasing me. They were playing cards, so I took their cards away, and did a card spring right in their face. They went "WHAT THE H*LL" and I went "Want to see more?" It was superb.

3. In secondary 3, I did the Hummer Card for my friends. They were so d*mn bl**dy shocked, their reactions, support and encouragement (not to mention feedback) is what that has been keeping my magic mojo flame alive and kicking till this very day. Thank you, my friends.

End of Part 1, which I wrote just to make it look like I am following the rules. Now comes my main point.

It is really not the correct mentality to think that if a person heckles or sees through your effect, it will kill your magic mojo.

Even worse, it is absolutely wrong to say because of seeing some "colourful" magicians who act so d*mn proud (trust me, I have met them before) and that makes you quit magic forever.

Because we need to understand that we cannot change others.

We have to change ourselves.

Make sure you are not proud like those "colourful magicians".

Make sure you do not expose effects like those amateur magicians do.

Do your own part, make your magic amazing, entertaining and wonderful, and stop complaining. Only then, will you probably have the chance to change others.

ÐÞÉí£¬Æë¼Ò£¬Öιú£¬Æ½ÌìÏ¡£

- harapan ong

Well i haven't really come across much bad experiences yet but i had one that really bruised my 'magician's ego'(for the lack of a better term). i recorded a video of myself performing an Ace production trick and i showed the video to my classmates. They were going like "WoW...Cool..How did you do that!?".

But there was one mistake that i made in the video. And one of my friends caught on to it and he exposed it to the rest of the group. That moment really killed me because i should have double checked the video before showing it to my friends. I felt really pathetic because i had been exposed by my own mistake.

But after a few days i just started to pick up my cards and practiced again.I realised theres always rocky occasions just as there are monumental ones.





Okay thats my experience.Apologies if it didn't fit the criteria for the contest, but i just felt like sharing.thanks for reading=)

There was once when I really feel like giving up on magic.

2 years ago, Our Art club president organised a CCA reunion. There was this girl that I liked a lot and she was there for the gathering too. We had not met for a year and I really looked forward to the gathering. I could not wait to show them a few magic tricks I learnt over the past year.

She was there and I could tell that she seemed a little sad. Maybe its due to some relationship problem. :(

I performed my best tricks to her, including Here then There, ACR, Bidle trick and Coin Bite etc. Everything was good. I think that was one of my best performances. I just started out magic back then and I tend to be very nervous when I performed. But that night, I did not feel any fear when I was performing. I had no room for fear in my mind back then. There was only one thing in my mind.

I just want to make her happy.

Nothing else is important.
It’s a very magical feeling. I had no fear of people figuring out the trick, no fear of messing up the trick, no fear of forgetting the patter, no shaky hands and no worries.

I just want to see the smile on her face.

She was laughing throughout the whole performance. And I was glad that I managed to cheer her up. Back then I thought I found the answer to my question.

“Why did I learn magic?”

“Because it can make her smile”

So what’s the problem here? The problem is after that night I don’t feel like performing for anyone else again. I just want to perform to her, no one else; although I knew that we could never be together. :(

My friends noticed that too. They said that after that night, I seemed to lost interest in performing magic. Even if I performed, I was just going through the sleights. I could feel that I did not put in passion into my sleights….my magic. I just could not find the motivation to perform again.

How did I revive my 'magic mojo' then?

A few weeks later, our camp got one bunch of new intakes. During their break time they would ask me to perform magic to them. I did a half hearted 2 card Monte and to my surprise I received overwhelming response. Most of them had the “dying” expression on their face after the hell-like training, but when they watched my performance, they revived again!

I then found the real answer to my question. “Why did I learn magic?”

“Because it can bring joy to everyone!” :)

Now my girlfriend is my motivation to improve my magic. Got to learn and think of new magic to amaze her every time. :lol:

Sweet :lol: Do keep them coming you guys... this helps to serve as an inspiration to other students in magic. I think it is impossible for everyone's journey to be a smooth ride because there will be certain bumps throughout. And it's only with the downs there can be ups, and that's where you will be forced to improve ^_^ But along the way... we all need inspiration and a pat on the back.

That's what this thread if for :) The prize, well, it's just the icing on the cake :P Write on!!!

ning :lol:

I was reluctant to write for this, but I will give it a try. Anyway, I owe a friend an explanation.

My reputation as a magician revolves around my consortium (a grouping of classes) in school and CCA. Making my way through hecklers and nervousness, I managed to establish quite a name. (Actually, not quite there was a much better magician in my school. H ) Everything seems fine, but deep inside me I know something was wrong.

I have always been a quiet person, perhaps slight shy, and perhaps a bit perculiar. For example, when I am unable to answer a teacher’s question, I would “stone” despite people around me telling me the answer due to a certain thinking process. At Sec 2, someone called me "anti-social" because of this. (I didn’t take it to heart though. That guy is quite irritating anyway. Ironically, he was the guy who was pestering me for how I did that ambitious card in Sec 1. But I stopped doing magic after that due to my poor academic performance.) Now this particular event has nothing to do with my intention to quit magic. I haven't established myself as a magician then. I wrote this to let you know more about me.

Last year, at Sec 3, after stabilising my academic performance, I started to perform magic. It was quite a success. Every time, people walk pass me, they will ask me to show them a few tricks or two. Metal bending made me even more popular. (Strange, people just love that.) Even though I am quite nervous during performances, I don't have any unpleasant performing experience.

So why quit? Late last year, I read an article in Mark Wilson’s book. Basically he is saying that magic makes you a “special person”. When Mark dropped magic, people don’t give him much attention. When he performs magic again, the party invitations came back. Indeed, wasn't that what I am experiencing now? So many people became interested in “me” suddenly. People, who didn't really pay much attention to that "anti-social" boy for the past two years, suddenly became interested, asking him to perform some miracles.

Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. Magic is known to be an excellent confidence builder. But is that what I want to achieve as a magician? Fooling other people just to gain confidence for myself? No, I don’t. I love magic as an art. I don’t do magic to make myself popular.

I always have this feeling that it is the magic in me that attracts other people, and not me. People are only interested in magic. Rather than me being the magician, I was magic's medium, a mere container.

And so, late last year, I decided to claim I have quitted magic, to everyone. Of course, initially, not many people believed me, but my persistence succeeded. In half a year’s time, no one pester me for magic anymore. I was a mortal again, and, as I have expected, many people no longer associate with me. Even when I met them, they didn't even say a hello.

But there are other people who do care about me, even without my magic. Most importantly, I know I can interact with other people. (Oh, and that I can joke sometimes, I thought I was a rather boring person.) I made it a point that I would improve my social skills during this period, with no mention of magic at all. To be fair, I know that I have faults that made me not that sociable, perhaps the way I look at other people. But I believe I can change that.

After nine months of mortal experience, I am happy to say, I have succeeded to a certain extent. I am still trying. But I will try my best. I went back to magic again, and I will make sure that magic will never take over me, as a person.

I didn't thought of writing at first, but just gave it a try anyway since i'm just 40 minutes away from the dateline. :D And sorry for this long post.

When i just started out on magic, i had this very psychological barrier, where i couldn't manage to perform in front of people i know. While doing certain moves, i looked extremely suspicious and somehow did not manage to misdirect them. To worsen such a situation, my moves were not done well and my hands were shaking like jelly. Thus, i was caught on many of my moves, making the atmosphere darn awkward and embarassing. At one point, my sponge ballls actually "multiplied" beforehand due to my loose and shaky grip. So my reputation as the First Magician in my school was pretty ruined, and i pretty liked to give up.

Well, but here's the funny thing. I couldn't do my stuff in front of people i know. But i seem to do it with more ease and comfort with strangers. I went to a library to do effects for random people, it went out pretty well! Later on, i realised that i had this fear in my heart, that people know me too well to know that i do not have real "magic", which enhances the "Guard" they have against what i'm doing.

Thus, I practiced to a close friend daily to conquer the barrier, and sure. After 3 hard months, people still knew i did not have real "magic", but they enjoyed my performance alot more. And i received some praises and comments for improvements made, and i realised this is what that keeps my magic mojo alive. It made me a better person, and the spectators can enjoy a better performance.

But just recently, in my school, there were two or three who learned magic from Y**T*** and went around showing nonsense. They did it badly and when they were caught, they further explained the move/effect for the spectator, which annoyed me alot. And to make things worse, they heckled me badly when they saw me doing a routine.

Learning from Y**T*** seems to be so common that sometimes when i do an simple effect for a layman (say shapeshifter;), they will ask, "You learn from Y**T*** right? What URL, share with me leh." I walked away pissed off at that moment. People think of magic now as learning from video sharing websites and it doesn't stuns/surprises them anymore, well. Not as much.

Nonetheless, i found that doing stronger effects which normal hecklers can't do/heckle, is a very good convincer to a new spectator. <_<

My magic life is like rollercoastal, times of up and downs.

I know this is out of topic. But its really bad for my health if i kept it inside.

Those "two or three people" are really out to destroy the art of magic. :(

First of all they learn magic from unofficial sources. Secondly they insulted magic by performing nonsense. Thirdly, they EXPOSED the trick when they were caught o_O!!!! Plus they heckle other magicians! OMG

And the last one really makes me feel like punching them. If you cannot perform your magic well, fine, go home and practice more. Don't heckle other magicians because they are performing better than you! Losers!

Sigh*

Next time you see them, you can try explaining to them that they are destroying magic. Show them something that could not be found on Y**T****. Show them some real magic that will blow them away and get them interested in learning magic. You can then direct them to the correct sources. Try to pull them to our side.

We got to stop these Y**T*** "magicians" from manifesting.

Ok, nothing to do with the competition, but just feel like replying to Icy.

To Icy: I can understand your feelings. You want people to know the real "you". Not "Icy, the Magician". You want to show people you are more than just your magic, you are not just 1-dimensional.

I can relate to that because back in Sec 1, I was also trying to project a certain kind of "identity" to attract people (I was a shy boy too). People used to think I was only my "identity". So i was always fearing that people will dislike me if they find out the "real" me. Luckily, over the years I've learnt to accept "me" and not fearing any part of "me" to overshadowed me, which is quite a strange idea as any part of me is still me!!

I think for your case, just accept the fact that it's not a problem people love you for your magic. It's your USP (Unique Selling Point), and remember people always love other people for certain qualities they have (be it character, intelligence, looks, wealth, academic results etc). It is a fact, it is human nature, I think even you tried to categorize others too (sometimes). No point denying that part of you because that part formed part of you too!!

Think of magic as a door-opener for you to know people. If you want to develop a deeper relationship then it's really up to you to allow them to enter your world and see the real you. I believe the real you is as good as anyone else. because God has made one and only Icy!!

Anyway, dun bother about what Mark Wilson said, he's only a magician, don't need to follow what he does besides magic.

Ace and Trix:

It is my opinion that instead of complaining and lamenting that these people are learning from unofficial places, we should, as good magicians, focus on ourselves and improve ourselves. Don't make the mistakes they make, and you are one big step ahead of them. Once you are of a certain excellent standard, you can then influence others to learn properly. Of course, we should try to convince them, but honestly, there are so many of them, maybe we should make our own little world around us a better place.

Even better, tell your friends who don't learn magic that there are such lame magicians out there. And inform them that such people are unethical, and tell them to refuse to be an audience. Not only does your audience get a lesson on magic ethics (which is very good, in my opinion), you are eradicating such parasitic magicians in your environment.

It works, by the way. My friends now respect magic a lot (most of them). When they see people who like, try to show off some stupid stuff they learnt illegally, my friends will really like, shut them up and tell them they are crap. Yeah.

Icy and muscleaxl:

It is always best to project yourself through every kind of magic you do, be it informal or formal, so that you are expressing who you are through magic.

Think about what you want to show your audience. Are you a funny guy? Tell jokes. Are you a silent type? Why not do magic silently? You can try doing your walkaround casual routines silently - or maybe even invent new routines and methods (such as holding cards of instructions) when you perform. It's refreshing, new, and enjoyable.

Sure, some people only know you as the "guy who does magic". But it is always better to project who you are through your magic, so that they like the magic and YOU yourself.

- harapan ong

You know I don't really mind if I continue to be my old my oldself. But ultimately, I asked myself - Is that who I want to be? Is this really me? What is the real me?

But I believe in this: You are what you choose.

About Mark Wilson, I am not following him, I am doing the exact opposite. Mark cannot bear what happens when he dropped magic, and so he decided he will never let it go again. I do the opposite - I quit for a period, because I don't want to be like Mark Wilson. A choice that I made.

Thanks for all your advice, and you're as thoughtful as ever, Harapan. I think this thread has stimulated alot of thinking.

:lol:

Hi people ^_^ I'm now out of my weekend hangover after working for Oktoberfest... there's so many interesting enteries & this has certainly sparked interesting debates. Do continue to contribute if you feel passionately so... I'll be coming back with the 'results' shortly for the winner who posted before the mentioned deadline :)

CHEERS!
ning

Competition was stiff as there were some very well written posts but the winner whose contribution I felt struck me the most is... jeromefang!!! :lol: Congrats Jerome... lol... this is the first time you're winning something from me and I hope you'll cont'd to give your insightful inputs, as well as, all you guys! PM me about your prize collection... CHEERS!

ning ^_^

Wow Ning, I won :!!: Thank you Thank you... ^_^ I never expected I would win because I have to say competition was tough. Nonetheless, I like to Thank everyone who has read my little essay and I hope it inspired you to look at magic differently. Magic is always around us, see the world in astonishment, like Paul Harris would say, and many ideas can just spring up unknowingly.

I love magic and how it can really touch people's live with it. I still have lots to learn from everyone and I'll definitely constantly contribute to SMC. Thanks everyone and especially million of Thanks to Ning. Your contribution to SMC is really above and beyond the norm and you always go the extra mile for us. Kudos to you... ^_^ I'm looking forward to Friday for our gathering :lol:

Fantastic Jerome. I read your essay and am truly inspired too, by all the philosophies. Good job. You deserve to win! Congrats.

Yes, congrats bro! By the way, you owe it to me too... for your Mojo.....
So next time coffee, dinner and cigarettes all on you... eh I don't mind knowing the secret of the trick you won too.

Anyway, why is there not a 2nd and 3rd prize? Just a suggestion.

Er... cos it's coming from my own pocket and it's just to liven up this free forum? :P Unless one day moderators get paid or SMC becomes a paying club, everyone's just contributing on a personal level... *grin* :lol: Just a little something from me every now and then to keep the passion of magic alive in Singapore, heh.

Once again... Congrats Jerome! ^_^

Ning

Thanks ZiAn, I'm glad that I was able to inspire you. It just a little something that I learnt along the way which I would like to share with everyone ^_^

Thanks bro, yes I owe it you for experimenting on you haha... :lol: Wa bro, I only won a set of diminishing cards, I did not strike lottery leh haha... :lol: Ning will pass me the prize tomorrow at the gathering. We can take a lok at it. I'm very curious how it works too. Sounds really cool.

Thanks again Ning, you're fantastic. Always providing SMC with prizes and $1 auctions. We're very fortunate to have you around. Many thumbs up to you... ^_^

You my young n skilfull friend strike a chord in my heart. You are such a positive person and frankly, coming from such a young person like you I'm almost convinced the world is gonna be a better place to live in. Keep it up. Cheers. Hiccup.

Post edited. Please leave a space after every punctuation to make reading easier.