For me, one of the difficutlies in writing is putting some of the random thoughts that run through my head onto the page. The thoughts are significant but they often don’t go anywhere, no real rhyme or reason they are just there and I think about them and I believe they have a place in my blog. I’m just not always sure why. Lately I’ve been thinking; do I have to explain them? Does there have to be some sort of point? Am I free to hop on my soap box and just post random posts for the heck of it? Darn right I do, it is my blog dammit so I can pretty much do as I wish. I will continue to try to keep my three simple rules in place. I will not discuss work, I will try not rant, (or obviously rant). And I will try to post at least twice a week.
I was watching Bones the other day and one of the characters mentioned that they don’t like magic. I can certainly understand not liking the way certain magicians present magic, but not too like magic? It is unfortunate that there are a whole lot of magicians who perform simply to fool, to say look what I can do and you can’t. A really good magician doesn’t try to fool you, a really good magician tries to create that ‘sense of wonder’ for you. I put the blame of somebody not liking magic squarely on the shoulders of those magi who simply go out and perform without really understanding what it is all about. Those are tricksters not magicians. Magicians are (for the most part) wonderful, amazingly talented people who live to entertain thier audiences.
It is (to me) odd that people are ready to dismiss magic because of a bad magician yet still like music even after listening to a particularly horrible singer. I suppose that is because a singer never tried to make a fool out of you when a magician has. Actually I can think of a bunch of reasons and again it is on the shoulders of bad performers or those pesky tricksters who insist on ruining the magic for everyone.
Paul Daniels a famous British magician had a routine where he had two solid steel rings that link and unlink. He had a little girl come up on the stage and explained how the effect worked, he explained that all you need is a bit of confidence. He had the little girl try to unlink the linked rings, of course she couldn’t. Then he gave the little girl an invisible confidence pill and had the girl try again. This time of course the rings just melted apart. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on the little girls face. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when he was finished. Mr. Daniels created magic.
David Copperfield performed an effect where he told the story of how when he was a little boy he always wanted to see snow. Slowly it began to snow as the snow got thicker he started to spin in slow circles . Pretty soon the whole theatre was in the midst of a small blizzard of snow and through it all David continued to slowly spin. Somehow in mid spin, in front of our eyes David turned into a young David Copperfield. Right where he was standing there was a little boy with his arms out looking up slowly spinning trying to catch the flakes on his tongue. I was watching the audience. I had to smile, David brought everyone back to their childhood if just for a moment. I still smile every time I think about that particular effect. David created magic.
Can you think of a bigger star than Harry Houdini? He has been dead 84 years now yet I’m hard pressed to find anybody who doesn’t know who he was. Can you think of a world wide superstar before Harry Houdini? I’ll save you some time, no you have not. There wasn’t one. Did you know Houdini was one of the first 15 people to fly a plane? He was the first to fly in Australia. Because of his passion, because of his fame he helped bring air travel, (for good or bad) to the attention of the masses and made it possible, (again good or bad) in a sense for us to live the lives we enjoy today.
The next time you come to the conclusion that you don’t like magic try to figure out why, then drop me a line I’d be interested to know why. And the next time you are watching a movie think about the special effects and don’t forget to thank a magician for making it possible.
PanningForGold 