Slot Machines

I saw this guy Click Here man.....
For the second time. I am not one to look up to people. My definition of a hero would not fit yours. People are people. That’s what I see him as, a guy who lives his dream and fights for it. Just in the amount a day he practises shows his fight. Isn't that what a hero is? Not in the sense of "that guy is my hero" but "that is a hero". If I was one to look up to people and put them on a pedestal, he would be one of them. But I am not.

As a hero you it stops being "people are people". You become a symbol, an aspect of yourself. I and my friend Jin talked the other day about becoming a legend and being seen as righteous. He is a guy who deserves my respect, no argument. But he is a guy and I will treat him as such, isn’t that the best way to show respect? To try and connect to him on a level which is human, not a symbol, aspect, concept, idea, perception?

I don't look up to people because I respect them, I like to see people eye to eye.

Well that was my way of saying I think this person is a great magician, and from my two times meeting him he seems like a good guy with a lot of lessons he has learned. That are there for anyone who is just willing to listen.

I went to a seminar to see him speak. One of the best things he talked about was speaking without words. Magician can end up narrating the whole trick as they do not know what to say and feel that they need to fill the space.
"I would like you to choose a card. Now it was a free choice right?"
"Yes"
"Now I want you to put the card back, now the card is lost and there is no way I could know where your card is and what is it could I?"
"No"
"Well if I pick up a random card like this, and spin it? It becomes your card"
"Wow, how did you do that?!"

Now it makes sense that in a trick you need to do a lot of proving. Now if I have a card in my sleeve, I need for the people watching it not to know it is there. If I do not have a card in my sleeve I still need to prove it is not there. People who think they know how the trick is done take away some of the wonder of the trick. Now do not think bad of them, even before I did magic I could see how tricks where done. I tried my best no to see and enjoy it but I sometimes saw. I wasn’t trying to ruin the trick for myself and many other don't either.
Simple logic. If you are going to make something appear in your hands you need to let people know your hands are empty (if they are or not). Now Michael did an epic coin trick where he showed us his hands where empty without words. Great. People lie with words. Great liars can lie with their body.
What I mean by this is that people expect words to be deceptive but not body langue. The mouth can lie but the eyes don't. Also it’s great because you don’t over sell the fact. They see it. They do not need to be told and the mouth can worry about saying more fun things like slot machines. The greatest thing I saw from that was proving the fact after the trick is done. I never thought about that. In my head once a tricks over down to the next one. Ok I sometimes link tricks into a routine but again after the routine my mind is on the next one.

Some of the best things are simple. Also simple doesn't always mean easy. Simple doesn't always mean basic. He showed the power of simple misdirection through the power of tension. He showed them to make you moves natural. Some slights wouldn't make sense in the context of a trick, so make every move like what you would do if you could really do magic.

The point is he talked about great things. Things I have made post about. I wanted to ask questions as I felt he had only tapped the surface. Time wasn't with us and I know I would of been there for at least 10 mins with the questions I had (it’s not good to hog the time either.)

What the best thing about him on stage is that you can see that he loves what he does. But on the other side he is so welcoming and sharing his love.
I think everyone has had this and I feel I’m guilty of this myself. Talking the ear off someone about something you love and not realising how they are rotting away with boredom? That’s the knife edge of talking about your interest, your terms can go over their head. You want to explain something quite funny but you need to spend 10 mins teaching them so they get the context.
Again he doesn't talk about how much he loves magic, he shows it. He makes you want to know more, see more.

I don't do heroes, you will never see me star stuck. I will though ask to share conversation over coffee and cake.