Heh that is exactly what i was hoping for. sometimes that little bit of extra work can pay off big time later on. it just may we ll be the difference between a successful career in magic, or just remaining a hobbyist. course there is nothing wrong with that, if that is all the further one wished to excel with their magic.

well i just wanted to let some of you fellow penguins know that online visions chose to publish my second ever submission of this essay. i was lucky enough to have my retirement homes essay published, which was my first real essay, and first submission as well. i am honored that they enjoy my work. it all started here, and thanks to penguin for bringing out my thoughts on magic from the deep recesses of my mind, to the surface. they have told me to keep them coming, so i guess my work is not done! i would post the link, but we all know how that works at penguin.

Thanks for the essay Brad, I have been going back through alot of my stuff recently and looking at the stuff no one is talking about online. I am adopting the same philosophy that Richard is in shunning popular effects for ones that don't get as much exposure. Thanks again
Wade

Here is a slightly revised, and updated version. I am unable to edit the original, so if a mod could copy this to there it would be appreciated.

Practical vs Impractical (Revised Essay by Sirbrad)

I always find it humorous when magicians complain about how a trick is not practical. To tell you the truth, I honestly believe that most of the time they substitute the word 'practical' for 'too much work.' The trick I hear most people talk about in this respect is Healed and Sealed. They would rather find every reason in the book not to do this effect, than reasons to do it, or formulate it to fit into their performance style, or environment. It is much easier to just do something a little easier, than go through the painstaking set up process of effects requiring elaborate preparation.

Personally, if more magicians lived in my area with this mindset I would have a field day. Granted that tricks based upon 'practical' methods give added confidence, and make things a heck of a lot more convenient. However you can obtain just as amazing, and even more amazing results with tricks that many label as 'impractical.' The truth is, the more practical an effect is, the more people are probably doing it. Thus it is out on the market a lot more so to speak, and subject to exposure, and repetition etc. This influences me to work even harder on those impractical effects that other magicians have turned away from.

Nothing is too impractical if one puts their magic mind to using an effect to their fullest potential. However many magicians would rather take the easy route, so to speak, and do effects that require little or no preparation. I would rather do effects that others have not seen many other times, just because all they require is a deck of cards, and some sleight of hand. I have even heard people say things related to this such as, "A few magicians made a red rubber ball appear in my hand....They made my card keep coming to the top of the deck.....The magician pulled a rabbit out of the hat!" "Funny thing is, I never seen a magician restore soda like that!" "I never seen a magician cut a coin out of his arm before!"

I don't mind taking the extra time to make the 'impractical' practical. I guess the conclusion is that the only things that really are practical, are the ones that we put the required time, and dedication into in order to make them fit any given situation. True some items, or effects may seem out of place in specific environments, or may conflict with your style totally. However if one has enough interest in any one effect, and enjoys doing it, he will find a way to fit it into his routine regardless of his situation. I have no problem with magicians who only do what they consider practical, as I will continue to do all the impractical, and practical effects without a second thought.

Now I do believe that any given effect should fit into one's routine, and environment accordingly, and I am not condoning just doing the so called impractical effects out of spite, or just because they are difficult to pull off. I am just saying that the items/effects we get are only the tools in which to build the magic house, and it is up to us to use those tools to build stronger effects and routines for maximum entertainment. For me to disregard any effect because others say it is impractical, would be impractical in itself.

I used healed and sealed as an example, because of all the problems that seem to go along with its preparation, and performance. Just because it does not work for someone else, does not make it impractical, or non-working for everyone. Once again we come down to personal preference. One may be able to do to healed and sealed flawlessly, while another has no absolutely no success with it.

However there is probably other effects that the other magician does great, but the one who does H&S cannot do as well as he does. Personal preference, and practicality are two different entities. Any serious magician should go through an effect many times before labeling in impractical. If you truly have a desire to make it work, you will find a way. But hey if not, it simply just may not be for you. Just be sure to give it your best shot before you give up on it, and be aware of all the possibilities.

Good things in life usually do not come easy, but not taking short cuts will usually pay dividends in the end. I am sure this is the most you have ever heard the words "impractical," and "practical" used in a few paragraphs, but hey I am hoping some of you practically enjoyed it.

I haven't read this thread completely (too late), but wanted to add my two cents. In mentalism (and magic as a whole), many times it is wonderful to do things that are "impractical". For instance, I think almost every magician should memorize a deck of cards. No, not a systematic stack, but a truely random looking memorized stack. When you do tricks, people never really think you have the deck memorized, because "who would do that for a trick?". Go the extra mile, and you can make some wonderful magic.

I believe this essay is a very similar issue to think about with the "is magic really worth it?" essay, that is by far my favourite. Great essays Brad.
j

Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed them. I have about 6 other essays that are currently being polished, updated, and revised. But they are now all part of an even BIGGER project. A project that will probably be awhile, and I am sure most have already gotten a hint from my "signature." The idea initially started out as a 'gather all my essays and formulate them into a collected works' manuscript for myself, and possibly a few others. But more people have exhibited interest than I would have thought, and I have been strongly encouraged to pursue my lifelong goal of publishing a book.

So I am very happy, as well very excited to have begun the long, and tedious project. I will also be revising, and updating all my current essays again, so there will be even more content to absorb. I have always received frequent requests, and have been encouraged by many to publish a book of some sort for quite some time now. Many requested that I publish an e-book consisting of PDF files. Although that is certainly possible, and would be a lot less time consuming, and expensive, it would also not be nearly as satisfying.

As stated above, my book would consist of a collection of essays that I have written over the past two years, and include all of the compositions that I have submitted online to forums, as well as to other online publishers who publish contributions from magicians. This is actually where a lot of my inspiration to pursue this dream has come from, as the members who really enjoy my work continually encourage me to publish it in some shape or form.

I have not submitted all my essays though obviously, only about four or so in total, as I knew that I would one day want to formulate them into a book. But my current submissions was seemingly more than enough to spark a serious interest from a few publishers, as well as many readers in general. You wouldn't believe the supportive emails, and Pm's I have received over the past two years, even I don't believe it.

I submitted just enough to give the members a "taste" if you will, and it has seemingly paid off -- at least from a personal gratification point of view, being I am always glad to help those budding magic enthusiasts find their way, as well experienced professionals who may need some guidance. Being that I received so much praise on a daily basis, and stories about how my input has had a positive impact on someone else's life, and their magic, I was then even more motivated to pursue this dream--and publish my work more widely.

I wanted to now go back and collect, and review all the information that I usually provided strictly on 'whims,' as that is when my 'creative mindset' was at it's best. But when I am being 'overly critical,' I tend to freeze. So I want to gather all of that, and more, and compile it into one place for easy reference. I am sure that if I would have tried to sit down and write everything that I did on these forums by myself, and without the influence, and questions of others, I would have never been able to do so. It was their questions, discussions, and debates that fueled my creative and intellectual fire.

So I basically wanted to gather all of the essays that I ever wrote, as well as the new unpublished ones, and throw them all together into sort of "Collected Works" if you will. I also had inspiration from other successful authors/magicians who wrote similar books. Those such as "Shattering Illusions" -By Jamy Ian Swiss, which in fact is a collection of his own essays from the magic publication of Genii Magazine.

Also "Mastering the Art of Magic" -By Eugene Burger, and a book I still have on my "to read list." It should be due up soon thankfully, bu8t as of right now my 'magic plate' is full. I would like my book to be reminiscent of those books, but still somewhat unique from them as well. As I already stated previously, I could simply release a PDF file, or e-book, but I would not derive as much satisfaction from doing that, nor is it as safe and secure.

My life long goal has always been to be able to hold a copy of an actual 'printed book' written by myself, see it on a store shelf, and share it amongst others. It still seems like a long shot, but is now definitely possible. I have spoken with numerous publishers, and I am trying to bring all my material together so it makes sense, and so that the material flows together well, and remains consistent.

I have already revised many of my essays, and I am working on chapter titles for each. My initial goal with this book, is to have a small number of copies on hand to start out. Then distribute them within a small magic community "on demand," and do all the selling myself.

But with the current structure of the book, I believe it could also be accessible to the general public, as there is no real exposure involved. Plus I want it to have a price that generally attracts the magic enthusiast who is willing to pay a little more to get such a book, as opposed to the average layman who is looking only for "cheap secrets."

Eventually I would like to submit my book to online wholesalers for distribution to magic shops as well, but I will make that gradual progression slowly. I like the whole 'print on demand idea,' as well, as I do not have much room to store a 1,000 of my own books. Although it would certainly look cool, and make appear as though I was rich. Of course if they are got sold, I may not be too far from it.

I am doing this project first and foremost for the love, and excitement of writing about something I have loved doing for more than two decades. Financial gain is secondary, and would definitely be a plus should the book ever sell well. In fact any income that I derive from magic, I reinvest it back into magic at least 50%. But my expectations are not too high as far as income goes, as magic tends to be a rarity these days as far as hobbies go, and usually just a "passing phase" for many unfortunately.

As I am sure you know, books that elaborate on magic 'theory and presentation,' are especially rare these days, and I feel these are needed even more so than books that merely teach "tricks." But I will get into that later....in the book. I guess it is somewhat obvious that I enjoy writing, so maybe this will be a great opportunity for me to finally be able to realize my long time dream of getting published...Hope you enjoyed the essay!

By the way, anyone notice that you cannot edit your own posts in this forum?

LMAO this is definately your longest essay thus far

Thanks for letting us know Brad, should be an awesome project, keep us updated and best of luck with it!
Jared

Brad wrote


Yes three days ago guests were also allowed to post in this forum, I kept Tim informed and he changed it, he'll probably fix this soon as well.
But hey why would you want to edit your post? For not typing the letter S?

Actually the letter A. I have two typos that need fixed, and being the perfectionist that I am, that bothers me. Being my posts tend to be quite lengthy at times, I usually proof-read them AFTER I have already submitted them once. Being penguin's servers are so unreliable, I like to get the info in as soon as possible. Of course sometimes I then lose it all, or then cannot edit it.

But I have also contacted Timah about the 'guest' and editing issue as well. I suppose the new forum has to be coded somehow in order to be like the others. I also usually type my posts elsewhere as a back up, and sometimes during the transition of copying and pasting, the different size fonts screw up my posting some, and leaves out letters etc. I always back up my posts ever since about 2 years ago when I typed out a 19 paragraph essay, clicked submit, and got a "page could not be displayed" message from penguin.

I have had some strong resentment towards penguin ever since. So I always back up now to be safe, as the servers here are still very unreliable. Even the back button did not retrieve it. But anyway, the book should be a fun project nonetheless. I will not make any formal announcement prematurely, or officially however as many do here, and then cannot keep their part of the bargain. I will wait until I know for sure, as opposed to creating false hope for all.

Ahh yes when I made my intoduction thread here, the first time when I attempted to make it I wrote a very lengthy post and when I hit the sudmit botton the page could not be displayded, it's very annoying especially when the post is lengthy, I was like @#%£$*! Then I wrote it again but not as lengthy though.
From that day on, as soon as I type a post, before I hit the sudmit button I select all and copy the text, that way if I don't manage to post the message successfully I can always just paste and it's all good.
j

great essay SIRBrad.

P.S. If anyone has any "impractical" tricks you can just send them to me!

Lol, yeah you are so right, I always say "It's not practical" to tricks which are most probably VERY practical... I guess I have to change my ways!

Good Essay!