Can we just... not?

I know you are supposed to use a metric ass load of hashtags to "get views" on Instagram but for the love of...  maybe don't use #femalemagician if there are no performers of the feminine persuasion in it? It's pretty damn sleazy.

(Post edited to make a bit more sense)

Negative Reinforcement....

We all know the internet, and social media specifically, is an echo chamber right? It's a place where people go to justify their bad behaviors and prove themselves right to other people and themselves. We all mostly agree on this correct?

Well before social media, to inflict your bad performing habits on others, you had top go to your local magic club or, Zeus forbid, a paid gig. The average bear who knows little to nothing about the "secrets of magic" can be easily impressed by the simplest of store bought mysteries. Even the ones you weave some overly contrived story about a fictional elderly family member teaching you.

If you do enough performing for people, you will get better and start to hear how "great" you are. "You should be on America's Got Talent!" they say. The problem comes when you start to believe this stuff. It digs into your brain and you start to think you are better than you might actually be. You start to make some questionable decisions because you have had some modicum of success fooling people at private gigs or, more currently, on the internet. You start to believe your own bullshit.

Due to social media some people think they are more amazing or funnier than they actually are. Let me give you an example: Remember that magician who got in trouble for doing questionable material at a college? Do you think he learned a lesson from that? Well if Instagram is to be believed.... nope. Why do you think that is? Take a gander at the comments. They are encouraging of this behavior. In his social media bubble he gets the ego stroke he needs to believe this is another good idea and he's not alone. Tons of mediocre practitioners of the art get this fluffing every day and every hour.

I'm not saying praise is bad. What I am saying is that you need to remember that the things people are saying to you online they would say to anyone doing the same thing. They might even say it to a video of someone microwaving a burrito. It is the internet after all. You are not a beautiful and unique snowstorm snowflake. These are the same people who can't think of anything better to put other than "Beautiful" on every photo of a girl they see on the internet. I'm just saying temper what people say with reality.

I know that's asking a lot.

What's this? What's this?

What is magic?

This argument discussion goes around the forums and groups every so often and everyone has a varying opinion on what is what. I'm not saying this article is gonna do anything other than muddy the waters, but I felt like sharing.

I think a lot of people think magic is the tricks and procedure that creates the effects. For me that is more skill and technique. "Trade secrets" as it were. Plumbing is not pipes and the tools needed to attach said pipes. It's the finished product.

I think magic is the end product. It's the feeling/effect the audience experiences. It's what happens in their eyes and brain. It's what they SEE, not what they don't see. Magic is a feeling of wonder and awe. Magic has been used by non-magicians to describe many things that aren't traditionally the art form. Ever heard the term "movie magic"? It's a feeling one gets. Some things are considered "magical" like sunsets and nature. It's because of the feeling one gets from such visuals.

So while for many of us the art of magic is the creation of gimmicks, methods and skills to facilitate such things, I think it's the people who don't know the minutia that goes into creating those moments that get to define the term.

Maybe. I'm no plumber...