Ooh! Ellusionist just released a brand new Ambitious Card Variation. Ooh, and Rick Lax (Read "Laxative". The people who had to understand that, did.) just came out with his 500th release this year! AND THERE IS ANOTHER SALE ON MADISON'S NEW DECK!! WHAT?!? BUY! BUY! BUY! DOWNLOAD! SHIP! YAYYYYYY!
Completely worthless. Most of your magic stuff is now completely worthless.
*NOTE: THIS BLOG IS MEANT AS MUCH AS A SELF-REMINDER FOR MYSELF AS IT IS FOR OTHERS. I AM ALSO GUILTY OF THESE HABITS THAT I AM NOW GOING TO RIDICULE.
In 2018, there is more magic being produced than ever! That is a GREAT thing. It means that the art form we all know and love is growing and more and more people are joining us every single day. But much like two sides of a coin, there is a negative aspect to all of this. Magic Companies spend tens of thousand (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars on marketing their latest product to magicians all around the world. And we often fall prey to their insanely well thought out marketing ploys (nod to Geraint Clarke, magic's very own marketing genius!).
"Well, what is the problem there?" I hear many of you ask, "If we buy more magic, we become better magicians!"
It sure seems that way does it not? If a painter buys more brushes, they become a better artist. If a software developer buys the latest high end laptop, they become a better coder. If a serial killer buys the newest torture devi-WELL YOU GET THE IDEA.
If all this holds true, then why is it bad that we are buying more magic than ever? Honestly, it is not something that only us performers face. There will eventually come a time when the artist becomes comepletely uninspired with their choice of brushes, the coder will be seduced by the newer devices that make his seem like a child's toy telephone, and the serial killer... well, he will continue luring unsuspecting victims to his seemingly "welcoming" house of horrors but will not feel the same thrill he did when he made his extravagant purchase; he now desires the newer (more creative) devices of human mutilation.
Anyway, back onto the topic. Why is it that I advocate for magicians to buy less material? BECAUSE IT IS TURNING US INTO BAD PERFOMERS! There. I said it. And as I write the rest of this blog, I can already feel the inexperienced Magi sending an enourmous amount of hate mail my way. How dare I insult their lord and saviour, *Insert name of Generic Magic Creator that most young Magi look up to.
An Accurate Representation
But there is a reason I say this.
When we get into magic. We are in for the method. Let's just be honest. We got in it BECAUSE we want to know the method. I know it. You know it. Your neighbour's annoying five year-old niece knows it. We get completely hooked and tumble into a rabbit hole deeper than anything we could have ever imagines. However, as we become more and more experienced. Our focus NEEDS to shift. We need to eventually learn to stop focusing on the method. We need to stop buying deck after deck after deck after deck (most of which we never end up using!) and learn to derive real learning from what we have. You already have more material in your Magic Hard Drive on your computer than you will ever use! Why would you want to add to that massive Everest of wasted material? I am sure many of you (including me) can remember buying something, thinking this is the next greatest thing that will get you soooo many gigs and bookings, but you end up using it a few times and then just never bat an eye about it.
I say we stop purchasing obscene amounts of magic. In fact, we should learn how to derive all the value out of everything we already have. I am not telling you to use every single thing you have ever downloaded or physically bought. I am simply saying, that we should really focus on valuing the material we have and buying something only when there is a need for it.
For example, I try and purchase everything Peter Turner puts out because I know that everything I recieve from him is going to be gold, and he has never ceased to give me an incredible amount of insight into the theory of magic. Now, maybe my thoughts on this may change in a couple of years. But even when I recieve something from him, I work on it and give it my all to understand the subtleties in the product that many would overlook. I wish to create a truly (for the lack of a better word) "Magical" experience for my audience. And as many have said before (I really do not mean to sound like a broken record, but this is genuinely true and took me a while to realise): "The audience does not give a sh*t about the method." The performer is the only person who even slightly cares about method. Lose that mindeset. Stop purchasing the latest Colour-Change with the "NO FLAPS, NO THREAD, NO SWITCH" tagline. First, try to (and I know I have said this before, but I really wish to stress upon this fact) really understand why you wish to purchase it. Is it for the audience, or do you just want another "clever" method for something you barely even do!
There is no use buying heaps of material and just moving on from one thing to another. Focus on other aspects of your magic. Focus on branding, clothing, developing a stellar act, etc. Focus on making your performances life changing! If someone has given you their fleeting time, it is (in my opinion), your duty to leave them with something truly of value. And if we keep buying every single thing that piques our interest on the market, that will never happen. We will always end up trivialising our performances into a series of meaningless tricks! You are a performer that is unlike anything they have seen before. In twenty years, they could be talking to someone about you. Do you want their memory of you to be something that genuinely affected them in a way they could never have imagined, or do you just want your memory to be faded with the ravages of time until you lose all significance? The choice is yours.
Thank you for giving me your time,
Kabir Hanspal.