Well, i would not call myself a magician because i cannot jus perform magic anytime anywhere. And people who knows me knows that my main scope of magic is in cards, therefore, i always find myself in situations where i turn down an opportunity to perform some magic simply because i've left my cards at home or in the car.

I know most of you will probably suggest that i pick up some coin tricks so i can do them anytime anywhere. Well i do have some coin trick, but they aren't as impressive as the card tricks that i can do. And by impressive, i mean basic effects like 2CM and ACR so you can imagine how pathetic my coin tricks are.

Recently, i was at a friend's birthday party and i had the opportunity to perform some card tricks to a group of friends. That was the first time i performed to them. They were kind of impressed i guess (not trying to praise myself). But then recently i went for dinner with the same group of people, and they requested that i show them something. Who the else brings cards to a kopitiam for dinner right?

so of cos i was like, 'err, sorry guys, dint bring my cards.'
And they said, 'what about coins'
and i was thinking, 'jialat, my coin tricks damn lousy.'

so i proceed on to showing them how i can defy gravity and make a coin go upwards instead of falling downwards. Well, they thought it looked cool. But nothing OUTSTANDING, and i think that my reputation as a magician just fell from hero to zero. Which is quite sad.

Well, just wanted to share with you all some of the problems i face for concentrating on cards too much, and nothing else.

i understand that many of you believe strongly that in order to build a reputation as a magician, it is important to be able to do 'anything, anywhere', but just how many of us are in that category. As in, you have powerful impromptu effects with everyday objects that will blow as many minds away as you would if you had all your magic (Eg cards, gimmicks etc.)

I carry my cards everywhere. I find it uncomfortable when I leave the house without a deck of cards. In fact, there was an occasion when I left the home without my handphone and I was "oh, what the heck."; when I left the home without my cards on another occasion, I just -had- to go back for one. LOL. For me, it's almost like I feel naked without one.

Anyway, your premise that "many of [us] believe strongly that in order to build a reputation as a magician, it is important to be able to do 'anything, anywhere'" is something I would like to examine.

Feel free as always to disagree with me.

I have shared this with a few of the other guys in the forum; it's really my personal opinion - it is what works for me.

Just because I carry a deck of cards with me at all times and people know I can perform magic doesn't mean I will whenever they ask me to. In fact, very often, I will say 'no' when asked to 'do a trick'. I do not like to give others the impression that I'm subjected to their whims and fancies and exist for their entertainment. I will occasionally do something for my friends, but seldom when asked unless it's an occasion that I feel is compelling (ie birthday or something). Even then, i limit myself to 2 or 3 at best.

I know there're guys out there who're always ON. I know a few people who cannot resist the urge to perform - they MUST be on. It's almost like they are on a magic 'high' - they need their fix. It hurts them if nobody asks them to perform or if there's no chance to perform - so much so that they 'force' their magic down other people's throats. Yes; there are such people around. Thankfully, they are far and few between.

But you might be wondering where I'm going with this.

I love coins, silks, stage, mentalism. All of them have something beautiful to offer. I don't ever want to do ANY of them. I enjoy watching them - they still give me that sense of wonder when I watch a good performer work (watching Bernard [Magicdow] do his coin matrix always blows my mind). I want to retain that feeling - it's what I want my own audience to feel.

You mentioned doing the antigravity coin (I assume it's using the standard muscle pass), but I have seen Jerome perform this feat many times to great effect. You can't really compare your cardwork with your coin work - it's completely two different genres of magic. Perhaps your lack of confidence in your coin work reduced the level of conviction you felt towards your own performance, and you ended selling it short - which inevitably resulted in a poorer performance.

Then again, it is possible to weaken your own performance if you had previously performed too much. It is said that 'too much of anything is bad'. This is true of magic too - if you show too much, your audience will need increasingly greater (and stronger) amounts of magic for each successive performance to affect them.

When caught off guard and in a bad situation, you could politely refuse to perform. In your case, you were having dinner at a coffee place. You could have easily said, "Perhaps later; I'm having dinner now." No decent human being would insist you perform. Then hit them hard with a choice effect when you're ready.

;)

Anyway, to sum things up, "LESS is MORE." You don't have to be always 'ON' (and I don't think you should - it's really quite irritating for your friends who don't do magic; and some of them who do too).

SHADE

The solution is simple. Learn more impromtu tricks.

For example in the kopitiam there are some impromptu tricks that you can perform. Spoon bending and sinful are the first 2 tricks that come to my mind.

If you are better "prepared" you can even move chopsticks with your shadows.

For me other than impromtu tricks, I'll bring some non card gimmicks with me so that I can perform anytime anywhere. Loops are very useful, alot of effects can be acomplished with it. I also had a coin b*** with me everytime. All these are not that heavy to carry around...much lighter than a deck of cards -_-

Hope this will help to avoid comments like "Without your cards, you are powerless!! Muahahaha!"

Used to get that alot when I just started learning magic -_-

I always felt that carrying a deck of cards around is rather awkward. To an extent there still is a social stigma with cards and gambling, so popping out a deck of cards to do magic on the spot occassionally makes people uncomfortable.


For myself, I think saying no is probably the best solution. You want to have that psychological advantage when you do magic on your own accord as opposed to immediately being requested upon.

Shade: Thanks for your advice, i guess i am quite similar to you on this as i still want to be amazed by stage magic, cups and balls routines, and others which, although i may know a little about, i still think it is VERY amazing. Being a magician, it feels good if your disbelief can be suspended once in a while..

And i guess i feel it is true what you said that you shouldn't be always 'on'. Most of the time i am not. i normally say that i didn't bring my cards and thus turn down the chance to perform something. Which i used to think it sucks, but after reading what you said, i guess it's worth the wait, both for you and your spec. So that when one day the timing is right, you can hit them even harder with card tricks. Rather then showing them some substandard magic and than they won't want to see anymore tricks from you. (i wonder if my friends will still ask me to perform the next time they see me).

Ace: Your suggestions are valuable, but the problem with me is that my heart is not there with fork bending or IT stuff. So i wont put in as much time into practicing them as i would with cards.

Alex: i should really start saying no. But we all must have been in my situation sometime in our magicial life, where we feel there may be a need to prove to others that we are real magician. haha.

All: Thank you all for your imput. They are valuable to me for bringing my reputation as a magician to the next level (Amongst my friends that it.)

Hmm... there are some effects that doesn't need cards.

Eg: Crazyman Handcuffs, or "Think of a no between X to XX..." (not 100% surefire, but bananchek mentioned if you asked the question to a third person, chances are they will choose THAT number)

Or like what Shade mentioned, just play hard to get.

I feel that way too sometimes, and its worst for me, because most of the tricks that I can do not only require a deck of cards, it also requires a table, because I like to perform gamlbing sleights.

To make matters worse my friend likes to do coins and impromptu stuff more and that makes his magic much more accessible to whoever who wants to see magic.

As a teenager, when I was in secondary school and stuff, I was stifled because they didn't allow cards to be brought to school (for obvious reasons) and even in some public places, like certain restaurants and fast food places.

Bringing cards around everywhere you go is actually one of the best solutions if you do not wish to expand your repetory. In this sense, Shade is absolutely right. As a magician, either expand you repertory, or bring your speciality wherever you go. When creating a reputation, first start giving people what they want to see, then after a while, start witholding, like a tap turned on less than halfway quenching the thirst of several very thristy people. Then you can start to be more lax with carrying your cards wherever you go if you find them cumbersome.

Do not be disheartened!

Well if you specialize in cards...
you should at least carry it wherever you go.

While it may seem extreme, I'm sure many illusionist do carry one around.

Like what many mentioned above,
Look to expand your library of improptu effects.

Given the situation, learn things that involve everyday items?

Here are some general effects that are impromptu and hard hitting

- Wayne Houchin's Stigmata
- Watch magic
- Rubberband magic (Crazy Man handcuffs)
- Daniel Garcia's Scatter (the trick with cards without cards)
- Andrew Mayne's Pencil Through Cheek
- Daniel Garcia's Warning (breath out smoke)
- Joe Russels' Disjointed (break your arm, twist and restore)
- Eric Castle's Gallerian Bend (metal bending)

There are others that I have and performed before..
But can't recall as of now.

I'm sure knowing some of these things would surely help :)

R™

shade i have to totally agree with what you say. For me as magician you should always be prepare, no lame excuses for you not to. As i have mention in my other post i have an whole act in my wallet. Where i can simply do a 20min mentalism act anytime anywhere. This ideal is from marc paul

Mod's note. You have been suspended for 10 days for posting rubbish to increase post count. You will be barred from using the marketplace also.

shade, that was one good piece of advice, i have also faced the same problem. Thats why i am not just stuck to one genre of magic. I just do Close-up. i do coins, cards, any close up things. But i prefer impromptu stuff, and stuff which u do not need to prepare and carry around. That's why i am starting on watch stealing. I have faced problems where people ask me to do magic all the time, and when i listen to them and perform it all the time, the sense of 'magic' is gone. Thanks for the advice shade( thanks for ur tips for the small show with that spastic aditya)