To He Who Has Lost

BrianMillerMagic · To He Who Has Lost

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.

Michael Kras

Absolutely beautiful Brian! Where do your inspirations come from?

BrianMillerMagic

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.

BrianMillerMagic

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.

Michael Kras

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.

BrianMillerMagic

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.

Michael Kras

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.

BrianMillerMagic

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.

Michael Kras

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...

BrianMillerMagic

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!"

Michael Kras

Please explain why not, Brian!

BrianMillerMagic

In brief it is simply because they are all expecting you. I know that you are jazzed about the fact that you're popular as a freshman in a new school, but if you get it in their heads that you will do what they want and when they want it, you can forget about enjoying being a magician any longer, and you can certainly say goodbye to your credibility. This is yet again the subject of an essay in my manuscript (it's as if this forum is reading my mind): Thoughts of Impromptu Performing.

In addition to that, it's a levtation. Levitations not only come with angle issues and all kinds of gimmickery that is not conducive to a school environment no matter how much you believe that you are in control of it, but they also come with certain baggage. Anyone that wants to see you levitate has certainly seen Blaine, Angel, or both do it on live television. They have expectations of what to expect that you cannot possibly hope to live up to due to certain techniques as used on tv magic shows. This should make sense even though I'm being very vague.

Michael Kras

Sounds good, and I didn't levitate at all. I will just keep up with performing card, coin, ring stuff!

So, invoking wonder... if you can make a spectator think, you've done your job and done it well... if the spectator thinks up any sort of method, no matter how wrong it may be, the illusion is lost for them because they have discovered a logical way of accomplishing the impossible feat you have just presented.

BrianMillerMagic

I can make my math students think, so did I invoke wonder properly? Do you see what I'm getting at? There has to be something about wonder or something beyond wonder that is at the essence of magic. Keep thinking about it.

Michael Kras

First of all, you have an excellent point Brian. To wonder with the only possible thought in your mind being that what was just witnessed was real magic.

Second of all, you teach math??

BrianMillerMagic

I am in college studying a dual major in Secondary Education and Math as well as a minor in Philosophy.

Michael Kras

Interesting!

So lets discuss this... if you perform a logical yet magical routine, for example a Poker Deal or mental effect, what do you pass it off as? Do you pass it off as magic? An aquired skill? Sleight of hand?

BrianMillerMagic

I never ask anyone to believe what I'm doing is real. My present card magic is a pure demonstration of sleight of hand/gambling techniques. The stuff I used to use was more storytelling audience participating card magic. The mentalism that I perform, both close-up and on stage, is presented as "The Illusion of Mindreading." I make it absolutely clear that I don't believe in mindreading, but what I do believe in is creating the illusion of mindreading through suggestion, persuasion, and psychology. And that's not how I pass it off but it's really how I do it. Non-card magic that I do is basically given as an acquired skill based in math and being "geeky." My character is very complicated and difficult to describe in text online.

Michael Kras

Interesting path that really defines "entertainment" and I love how you take the road less travelled. However, what you say gives a vibe that the basic idea is to lecture to a lay audience that mentalism isn't real. Wouldn't that ruin the reputations of those that are actually trying to pass off as real mentalists such as Uri Gellar?

BrianMillerMagic

Does it seem as though Uri is having problems because of me and others that don't claim what we do is real? I don't believe that an entertainer should claim his/her trickery to be real. It is insulting to an audience's intelligence, and those who believe it are being wrongfully duped and forming false beliefs of their own world. That is an abuse of power as a performer. This is obviously my personal opinion and I don't expect anyone to agree with me or act in accordance to my opinions. But this is how I think of it.

I gain more respect from an audience by being honest with them. Instead of asking them to believe in something supernatural, I am merely asking them to admire my skills and allow themselves to be entertained.

Michael Kras

That's fantastic, a great viewpoint that was definitely taken into consideration. I believe you are 100% correct on that part. I will no longer clain to have real magic abilities nor will I let the audiences think that. It is all about entertainment.

Michael Kras

BUT what about those such as Criss Angel who DO claim real powers and also use the title of "magician". What do you think the typical stereotype would be? Obviously, not a good one. What are your views on this?

BrianMillerMagic

I sincerely hope I haven't changed your performing views from that simple post. I would encourage you to spend a lot of time figuring out your values as a human on this planet, and shape your character from there. If you come to the conclusion that asking our audiences to believe in real magic is wrong, then decide on it. Again, just because it's my opinion doesn't mean you have to agree with it or take it on as your own.

As for Criss Angel, you do realize that very few believe he is doing anything for real. Lots of people enjoy his show, but almost everyone I talk to in my work that asks me about him say, "I love Criss Angel! It's fake though, right? I mean no one could really get run over by a steamroller or whatever." It has gotten to the point where the stunts he's doing are so beyond impossible that it has lost any credibility.

Though I don't like the term, it's kind of like the "too perfect theory" idea. If there is absolutely no conclusion for an audience to draw based on witnessing a magic effect, then they will have to conclude that it is fake. If you perform an effect in a manner which gives them at least a semi-plausible explanation (such as suggestion when I perform mentalism), they will be more likely to accept the performance of the effect. Example being, "Well he could have implanted the idea of it in my mind somehow...but no, that just seems impossible. I have no idea how he did it." See how that's different than totally rejecting Criss's ridiculous illusions that have no grounding in reality? I try to give the impression of bending natural laws when I perform, not breaking the laws of nature completely.

BrianMillerMagic

I realize that post was confusing, but if you knew my personal definition of what magic is, you would understand better. Actually, let me pose that question here:

What is magic?

It is a seemingly obvious and trivial question, but seriously, do you have an answer? I'll bet that if you think about it, you don't. So take some time, a few days, a few weeks, as long as it takes to come up with a personal answer to the question. It originally took me nearly 6 months to come up with a coherent answer. So take your time. After you come up with a coherent, concise answer to your personal definition of magic, then I'll explain the relevence and why the question and your answer is so important.

Michael Kras

"What is magic?"

The art of entertaining with the seemingly impossible, the impossible for which the only logical explanation in the minds of audiences is that they are witnessing what they would call "magic". Of course it is rare that a person believes it is real, but just to witness magic-like miracles is enough to make our art one of the most entertaining to witness.

BrianMillerMagic

That's not a bad answer. The only thing about it is that you defined magic in terms of magic. Keep thinking about it; use what you already came up with and refine it over and over again until it is as elegant and coherent as is possible. Please believe me that there is a real reason for doing so, and that I will eventually explain it to you.

Michael Kras

"What is magic?"

To entertain with the impossible, and to make the impossible an amazing, entertaining affair. Entertainers prove skills far beyond human capability to provide astonishment to the viewer who wouldn't even begin to believe such a thing is possible.

BrianMillerMagic

That's not bad actually. Now the character that you develop for magic and the manner in which you decide to present magic should coincide perfectly with that definition. If that is truly what you believe magic is, then you should begin choosing your effects, writing your scripts, etc, to present exactly that idea to your audiences. This is not easy, but it is necessary for believable and cohert performances as an individual entertainer. See why this was important?

Ethan the Emazing

"What is magic?"

This is my interpretation.

Magic is making the impossible, possible. To take the spectators away from "reality", into the magical world. Making the unbelievable, believable. To have the spectators question their own senses. To have one be mystified, entertained, and wanting more.

bcp on pcp

Magic, in my opinion, takes advantage of the suspension of disbelief. We get an inch from the spectator and take a mile. That's why stage magic is so well recepted, while stuff you do for friends isn't. My definition is based off of that, magic is the art of causing people to leave the real world in the strongest way, if only for a moment.

BrianMillerMagic

Though you may have seen my definition as I posted it on the Cafe, here it is:

"Magic is the process by which a person can genuinly believe in something that they know isn't true, even if only for a moment."

The key to my definition, for the philosophy behind my performances, is "genuinly believe."

Michael Kras

that is a fantastic take on it Brian!