"Magic world standoff over tricks of the trade"

[Dustin Stinett]

Interesting bit of video from CBC News with David Ben, Julie Eng, and Richard Turner:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/ ... ician.html

[Richard Kaufman]

Ugh--I can't believe that book Alex Stone gets so much of the time in that report. Instead of seeing more of Richard Turner's beautiful work, or any of the other magicians at Luminato, we are treated to some sweaty-handed and shakey moves by Alex Stone.

If you want to read a well-done review of Alex Stone's book "Fooling Houdini," turn to the July issue of Genii and watch Jamy Ian Swiss take it apart and toss it into the trash can bit by bit.

The only person that Alex Stone is fooling is himself (and his publisher).

[David Ben]

Fortunately, all of our performers have generated great press. You can access links to the various reviews, articles, and television appearances here:
http://sharingwonder.wordpress.com/

[erdnasephile]

Dustin and David:

Many thanks for posting these links. I thought the CBC piece was well done and very favorable in making the point that good magic requires thought, attention to detail, and skill.

[Richard Kaufman]

And it also made the point that Alex Stone thinks magician's tricks should be exposed because he thinks it's interesting to laymen:

"According to Alex Stone, author of Fooling Houdini and a practising magician who has competed in The Magic Olympics, it's high time to reveal the magic world's secrets to the public.

"There's often as much beauty to the methods, to the ideas behind it, as there is to the tricks themselves," Stone told CBC's Eli Glasner."

[Brad Henderson]

"There's often as much beauty to the methods, to the ideas behind it, as there is to the tricks themselves," Stone told CBC's Eli Glasner."

Apparently someone does not understand the difference between a means and an end, nor what depth of end one can achieve - beyond mere 'fooling'.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Brad, it's much worse than that. It's a complete disregard for the basic notion that gives our craft its value to audiences. It's as if some people thought a magic show were no different than a musical or drama - and then thought to offer a movie about the backstage production efforts of the players and the techies and some personal drama about them. Fine for drama... not for magic if you are going to discuss actual methods in use... but perhaps if you are adding a layer of fiction as per the stage "Backstage" trick and its ilk. ;)

Unlike musicals/drama our craft is all about offering perceptions of things that cannot be along with the conviction that what's in the show is as real as everyday life during the show. This is done with the knowing consent of the audience. They get stories to take home.

People who enjoy optical and cognitive frame shifting are much better served by research materials and courses in perception and cognition. Plenty of astonsihing things to enjoy.

There are other places to learn about confidence games and how deception can enhance ones short term returns on effort.

Children don't really want to know "secrets". It's an unkind transaction. They don't know what they are losing.