The Magicanada Project

BrianMillerMagic · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 543 Location: New York State

This is a free-form poem that I've just begun crafting. The basic structure is here, though it is not necessarily complete yet. I hope you enjoy the general idea, and as it progresses I will make updates.

To He Who Has Lost

An inexplicable occurence
Passion
A sign

Mere coincidence? Perhaps.
More likely a rhythm.

Two worlds joined together
Two lives in time.

I have seen great men suffer
I have seen weak men excel
Yet no one is exempt from the rule

What rule?
A moment of astonishment; a miracle?

No.

A suspension of reality? Possibly.

It is seemingly innocent,
and one knows not of it's value until it is no more...

My deepest sympathies to he who has lost his sense of wonder.

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Michael Kras · Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:13 am Post subject:

Absolutely beautiful Brian! Where do your inspirations come from?
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BrianMillerMagic · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 543 Location: New York State

Inspiration comes from all over the place. As I walked back across campus earlier tonight, the last line of the poem popped into my head. Then I started thinking about what wonder meant, and tada! I started scribbling down notes on a legal pad. All of my magic thinking starts as notes on a legal pad.
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BrianMillerMagic · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 543 Location: New York State

I was kind of hoping that some more people would find this poem as a nudge into a discussion, but it looks like I'll have to give it a jumpstart: Why is "wonder" so crucial to our art, and what can we do to inspire/nuture the feeling of wonder?

Come on guys, work with me here.
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Michael Kras · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject:

Wonder is definitely crucial to our art! For obvious reasons as well. If your magic doesn't get a layperson thinking, you haven't done your job well at all.

To inspire wondetr, the spectatoors must really believe what you are doing is real, and the only real way this can happen is if you inspire it... MAKE them believe. Don't just do a sleight of hand demonstration, make it real magic with patter, presentation, and your own special touch.
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BrianMillerMagic · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 543 Location: New York State

Do you really want our audience to believe what we do is real magic? Or do you instead want the audience to believe in our theatrical representation of real magic?

For instance, I experienced the feeling of wonder the first time I saw a Star Wars movie regardless of the fact that I knew it wasn't real. It doesn't seem as though wonder is only accomplished through the belief in real magic. Let's keep going with this. I want to try to stay out of the actual discussion except to pop in with a thought-provoker like this.
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Michael Kras · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:47 pm Post subject:

My audiences believe what I do is a theatrical representation of magic, but how else would that thought be invoked without the aid of really seeming to make magic? Sometimes, I show something so impossible and amazing that the seniors would swear that it is in fact real magic... thy do not see any other explanation.
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BrianMillerMagic · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 543 Location: New York State

The point was that wonder isn't necessarily associated with what is (or is perceived to be) real. Here's another thought: if a movie, a piece of music, or even something beautiful in nature can give the same feeling of wonder, then why is it so crucial to magic? So many things can offer the experience of wonder, so it simply can't be all that magic is relying on. Back to my original question, "why is wonder so crucial to our art?" Think also along the lines of what else is crucial to our art, since we know it cannot just be wonder.
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Michael Kras · Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:36 am Post subject:

Excellent thoughts Brian and I totally agree. I do not claim to do real magic, it gives me a bad feeling in my stomach. Unfortunately, I am expected to levitate in front of a huge crowd on monday at high school.... hmm...
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BrianMillerMagic · Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 543 Location: New York State

Don't do it - don't levitate. For whatever reason that people are expecting you to do it, don't. Repeat after me, "I...am not...a magic monkey on command!"

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