SEPTEMBER 2009: That Feeling of Wonder

[JackSnap]

I actually had like a life revelation or something jsut yesterday.

My buddy got in a fight and got punched in the nose. So he was bleeding a whole lot.

The blood was everywhere i gave him my shirt to wipe it off but the sight of blood was, to me, magical.

It wasn't red it was more dark red/black and i always thought i hated the sight of blood, but that moment was just, magical.

I don't plan on implementing blood into my of my tricks but that sight will be something i will never forget.

[Sinful07]

That is the weirdest thing ive ever read in my life.

The sight of blood, is apparantly magical.

[Nikki]

That is the weirdest thing ive ever read in my life.

The sight of blood, is apparantly magical.

to each their own.....

[Sinful07]

I agree, and apologise at the same time. I may have sounded a bit arrogant in that post. I just find it highly.. Intriguing.

Cheers.

-Sin

[Cedric Taylor]

I have always been the guy that is off the wall when it comes to inspiration. Growing up, i always like horror movies. I've watched A-list , B-list, even these really horrible production horror movies dating back from the 60's-present time. I always wanted to play the role of the most invincible horror icon. Something as badass as Jason, slick lines like Freddy, yet more disturbed than the family of Leatherface. I wanted to have powers beyond belief. So movies kinda did it for me. That element of surpise when a victim dies is really kool. Especially the way Freddy and PinHead does it.

I think the kills are creative. Fx artist like Tom Savini is atop of that list. The way he creates such horror to some people is really funny to me. For one, they aren't dead actually. So to have these icons kill in such a manner that makes me laugh is sweet. Once I watched this horrible production movie, which is good though.. called Satan's Little Helper. When the killer ripped this guy intestines out was really gory, but the next part was super sweet. He ties it into a knot around the chair. It was gory, funny, and quite inspiring. I'm not saying to go out and kill someone, I'm saying the creativity in kills inspire. Any movie can have a decapitation in it. But if anyone ever saw Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan, the decaptiation was sweet. The guy is punching Jason and out of nowhere he punches the guy head off and it goes rattles down a building and goes into a garbage can. That was creativity. I can remember me and my cousin's watching it for the first time and saying. "Threeeeee!!!!".....Thats was a great moment for me.


I do horror type magic...its a bit of geek, its a bit of comedy relief. I try and tie them together when I perform. I don't think motivation comes from one thing. Its the artist own ares that gives he/she their ideas. I like cartoons as well. The RoadRunner and The Coyote is another way of creative inspiration. The escapes of characters such as Bugs Bunny and The RoadRunner is really good so hats of to the great Friz Freeling. I think his creative ways is really inspiring.

Another movie that comes to mind in creativity is a horror movie called THE ICE CREAM MAN. Theres another decapitation scene that utilizes the guy natural area. Where the killer cuts this guy head off.(which is really common) But like most guys send women flowers. He sends this woman her boyfriend's head in a icecream cone. That was sweet. I know this may be cheesy to some, but to me its another thought that runs through my mind. the classic one to me is Jason goes to Hell: The Final Friday. A lot of punches can kill people, but i think the koolest kill of them all was when Jason punches the woman teeth down her throat. I've heard the phrase "I'll knock your teeth down your throat". But for someone to litterally do it is the greatest thing in the world.

Magic to me, is anything not done the normal way by human ability. And whenever someone defies a law or do the impossible. Thats when magic is at its purest.....

[Mat La Vore]

There are a few videos I've come across that, to me, were very magical.

Blinded by Business

Where the Hell is Matt?

Muto Wallpainting

Damien Walters

Danny MacAskill

In my own personal life, Cirque du Soleil's water show, "O," was absolute magic to me. I'm not even going to try and put it into words or explain why, because if you've seen it you know why, and if you haven't nothing can describe it.

Water to me is real astonishment. I've always been fascinated by it--the way our bodies and the earth are both made up of approximately 68% water, the way it can be one of the most destructive forces on earth and yet one of the most peaceful, the complexity and simplicity of it, how it provides an environment for life for creatures as small as amoeba and as large as whales, how it seeps into the ground and falls from the sky, how it can never be destroyed, how it's the basis for all beauty that grows on our planet... It's just something I always find myself in wonder of.

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." - Loran Eisely, 1957

Thanks for posting this topic, Dan. Very good topic that has resulted in some very cool stories and opinions!

[LBarnes]

When I was roughly 9 years old (12 years ago), my mother took me to see a Wayne Dobson stage show. Wayne is an incredible and accomplished UK stage magician.

During the show Wayne did a card stab effect and left loads of his own uniquely printed cards over the floor and being young I ran up and collected some after the show.

The show finished and I had an opportunity to go back stage and meet him. Whilst in the queue to see Wayne back stage, an older gentleman asked me if I would like to see some magic using the cards I had in hand.

He took two red cards and placed them in my hands and he held on to two black cards, a magical gesture and I turned my cards over... I was holding the two black cards, he had the two reds. I came across with an almost euphoric feeling and remembering back it seemed like everything around me faded out and all I could see in my hands were the cards. Nothing else mattered for that brief, sweet, moment in time. I had just experienced magic.

The sad part to this story is that a number of years back I learned what this trick was and how it worked exactly (Dr.Daley's Last Trick for those interested). The magic was gone.

I perform this EVERY time I do magic. Because if I manage to give one other person the same feeling that I experienced, then I can truly call myself a magician.

Cheers,

Lloyd

(P.s. I still have the cards that I collected from the stage floor that day.)

[darkheart12]

Thank you for those urls, I find them very inspiring, an dreally enjoyed everyone of them. Thanks for making my day better!
Blinded by Business

Where the Hell is Matt?

Muto Wallpainting

Damien Walters

Danny MacAskill

[Mat La Vore]

Thank you for those urls, I find them very inspiring, an dreally enjoyed everyone of them. Thanks for making my day better!
Blinded by Business

Where the Hell is Matt?

Muto Wallpainting

Damien Walters

Danny MacAskill

Awesome. Glad you enjoyed them, man.

[TheAlchemistM]

I was on a mission in Mosul, Iraq 4 years ago. There were no real bases where we were, so my platoon had to sleep in hummers parked on the sidewalks in "trouble areas." It was meant to reassure the people what we were there to "protect them."

One night, while we were sleeping, our fireguard woke us up because he saw people gathering on the rooftops. We took up positions just as an RPG hit our truck and blew it up. All hell broke loose and people were killed. Among the dead was a man who was the legal guardian of an 8 year old girl named Abida Widaad.

With no family to look after her, she would spend her days hanging out around us for protection. She slept outside our hummer on spare uniforms and bags we had inside. Orphans are regarded as undesirables there.

Anyway, I did a few magic tricks for her. Really nothing big. Making little pieces of chocolate appear, money, etc. I would always pull it from behind her little ears and give it to her. It was REALLY basic stuff.

Last month I got a letter from Iraq. I thought it was from a buddy of mine, but it turned out that it was her. She sent me a picture that was taken of us laughing about something, and she let me know that after I left, she was taken by an orphanage where she has been busy every day trying to learn English so that she could one day write me a letter and tell me how much she enjoyed the "miracles" I made.

The feeling I had while reading the letter was nothing short of amazing and heart wrenching. If I could find a way to evoke that with a performance, I would be a millionaire.