Inside Magic

You might not be aware of this but magicians use misdirection.  Seriously. 
They say one thing and then do another. 
Sometimes they distract you with a pretty girl or a loud noise or a
pretty girl making a noise or a noise like a pretty girl. 

The Malaysian Star teases but doesn't expose
in its recent article "Tricks of
the Trade."

The article is written from the perspective of a magic-lover
rather than a hardened, cynical defender of all things destructive and
nihilistic.  So from that perspective
it's good.

Good stuff, this magic act. The enigmatic art
casually mocks our senses and teases our logic. Some are so taken in they think
it’s the devil’s handiwork. Reading
minds, making famous structures disappear before your eyes, levitating – these
are things the mind just can’t rationalise. 

So what is magic? 

“It’s all about illusions. There’s no supernatural stuff!”
insists Anslem Roy, Malaysia’s top illusionist and
president of the International Magicians Society Malaysian Chapter . 

“It’s more difficult to create an illusion for a child than
an adult,” he adds, noting that kids have less assumptions and preconditioning.
“Among others there’s a lot of psychology involved in magic.”

Mr. Roy "vaguely explains" the method of David
Blaine's levitation.  The reporter notes
the secret can be found on the internet but concludes "it’s better not to
know, so I didn’t ask him too many 'how' questions."

How refreshing.  There
are some in the media for whom magic is neither art nor theater but a puzzle to
be solved.  Magic is a challenge to their
intellect.

From our perspective, the truly mature and more intellectual
approach to magic is to accept it as a wonderful suspension of disbelief.

Our audiences may need to suspend their disbelief further
than the audience of other magicians but that's just we have no essential
talent or skill.

So we feel strongly about this issue of magic as puzzle or
art.  We don't offer much of a puzzle in
our 45 minute billiard ball routine so art is about all we offer.  In fact, for most magicians the routine would
take five minutes but that's because they know the sleights and can execute without
thinking about the move itself.  Heck,
even our final load takes a good seven minutes to properly place between our
fingers and it's a gimmicked load.

Mr. Roy distinguishes white from black magic.  He performs the former and loathes the
latter.

“We are entertainers who use magic as a medium of
entertainment, to bring back that child-like wonder we had when we were growing
up – the wonders of ‘Wow!’, ‘Gee!’ and ‘Look at that! It’s like going to the
movies!’, but it’s presented live,” he says. 

“Sometimes if people can’t explain the performance or trick,
they say it’s black magic.” 

We agree with Mr. Roy's conclusion that "[b]eing a
magician is not something a person gets into half-heartedly. One must have a
burning passion to be an entertainer and magician."

We had a burning sensation for a while but it was almost
completely unrelated to our performance of magic. 

What does Mr. Roy think of David Blaine's contribution to
the noble art?

He believes the t-shirted  man of mystery and will-power "made magic
more accessible and affordable, as all you need is a deck of cards. "

Is that a good thing?

"It’s created a breed of magicians who are more
technicians than entertainers," Mr. Roy says.  "Basically, it’s a case of merely
“showing a trick."

See, we told you so. 

Patter, as we all knew it, is gone in the Post-Blaine
era. 

On occasions Criss Angel may slip into the Blaine-esque script
of "Hey, c'mon.  Look here.  Want to see something? Okay, watch this.
Okay, watch!"

But fortunately, Mr. Angel still seems concerned with the
narrative of the magic performance; of offering patter to enhance the illusion
or at least not distract from what should be a very impressive, mysterious
moment.

Mr. Roy sounds like our kind of magician.  The reporter for the Malaysian Star seems
like our kind of magic fan.  Check out
the article and see if it hits some chords within your soul.

Check out the International Magician's Society web site here.  It is a very impressive organization.

Continue reading Anslem Roy: Magic is for (Magic) Lovers