Antino Art | Spoken Word Magic
Menu

i write for inner peace.

What Basketball Teaches About Magic

5/25/2016

0 Comments

 
Magic breaks ankles: you look here, and the ball is over there. Gazes are crossed, thoughts stumble. You fall out of your seat.

And those who do this to you have all these moves at their disposal: dribbles, no look passes, top shots, and the card you need is dealt: game over. Back to back threes, four of a kind, royal flush down the middle, for them to read and weep and loose sleep over the next day.

There are the mistakes: you play through them. You and the audience are a team, passing attention from side to side like a ball manipulated, until the driving lanes open. Effects dunk themselves over defenders of their own skepticism, shots hit stone-faced critics despite their hand in your face, and the people get on their feet and crane their necks to see what’s going on. You are the arena: whatever you do in the game echoed in their cheers and praises, their boos, or their silence.

Magic is a game: a team sport between audience and performer; a real-time duel of skills and strategy where execution mixes with emotion to put on a show. The magician, coach of an entire repertoire, each effect a player with a role to fulfill on the floor. Some will get knocked, fouled, and still find a way to score. Others will get benched for turning over the situation, the method, the secret. The star effects will become entrusted to pull rabbits out of hats in the clutch, earning their minutes, and getting the crowd behind them to fuel a run.

Prediction effects hit like long distance pull-ups. Transpositions move like give and go’s between the fingers, back-door behind the hand when no one was watching. Ball manipulation sequences lull the defense into a trance before the blow-by: before the pass to the open effect, the kicker ending. Dagger from the corner, no help rotation- you practiced this move in the gym when no one was watching, and now it feels the same; the knack is there. The effect connects right between the eyes. The crowd falls out of their seats, rubbing their ankles, scratching their heads, smiling ear to ear as they get back up for more as they watch things like the impossible get done like the Warriors are about to get vanished.
 

Picture
0 Comments

What Magic Isn't

5/18/2016

0 Comments

 
The question I used to ask myself and my mage comrades at cyphers was “what is magic?”, as if its definition were some elusive secret, and stumbling upon it would unlock some hidden power to enable us to advance the art form.

I’ve heard the Dan Sperry magic sucks rant. I’ve heard Armando speak out on the mass distribution of secrets. I’ve seen Eric Mead post gem statuses. If I see you, I see you. But in between all that, I hear the endless humming chatter of the magi masses, infatuated with something that I’m not so sure is real magic.

What isn’t magic? At one point laymen thought it was a hoaky novelty: wands and top hats. In the spirit of magic being a Way, and with as much compassion as I can have for the community of which I am a part, I’m compelled to define where not to go to keep moving:
  1. Magic isn’t about popularity. Or being Liked. Or gaining Followers. If magicians are students of the art, what grade are we not graduating out of?
  2. Magic isn’t about status, or making fake friends in high places for social ladder climbing. I’d rather sit at the lunch table of the people who are good than with the people are who are good at.
  3. Magic isn’t about the money. If it’s a business, sell yourself. If it’s an art, express yourself. The money will come.
  4. Magic isn’t about effects. The real secrets lay in the principles behind them (Tarbell).
  5. Magic isn’t about releasing secrets. Secrets are sacred. I’d rather bestow to one than broadcast to many; master one than know many; love one, not many; one > many.
  6. Magic isn’t about camera tricks. Or tricks for the camera. At least until the day a screen replaces a human audience, and smartphones replace people.
  7. Magic isn’t about awards. Is the giving of astonishment to a fellow human being not rewarding enough?
  8. Magic isn’t a contest. Masakatsu Agatsu- true victory is self-victory. No contest.
  9. Magic isn’t about me. It’s about them. Their joy is my joy. Their reactions are the magic. Audience, performer: two heavens as one.

 Mages: What is magic not to you?

Picture
0 Comments

Nostalgic Promo Kit

5/15/2016

0 Comments

 
They were as uncharted and off-the-grid strong as the forces in the Bermuda triangle, swallowing entire crews that dared to cross them. They have etched untold legends into the pages of my memories through our many gig adventures together. Our paths may have diverged since then into new eras of adulthood, but I cannot forget that House where my magic came from. This is kind of how I'd like to remember it all as I drift further into the gigless, swordless afterlife of working a 9-5 grown up job, far removed from those distant shores were crowds went wild and cards flew careless. Pirates, ninjas, supervillains, mystics- these mages were straight out of an RPG game to me. We didn't have the most fancy, suit-and-tie operation, but we had bad-beer fun running it. I can accurately say that my job back then was getting paid to play magic; to be in a real-life videogame. I am grateful to this odd group of unknowns in the magician world- legends in my book- for giving my brainchild of magic a childhood as fantastical as the wonders we peddled.
0 Comments

Patter Sketch: Cardstolgia

5/13/2016

0 Comments

 
For A Pocket Discovery from Royal Road

--

when I pick up the cards,
I let too many moments shuffle by
     Ask spectator to overhand shuffle deck

without stopping to take in what’s in front of me
     spectator removes a thought-of card

it’s all borrowed, fleeting
     Spectator returns card

irretrievable in the fast-forward movement
of numbered dates as they pile on top of each other
     Card is overhand shuffled back into deck

these memories will someday be lost
     indifferent cards shown on top

God-forbid forgotten
     indifferent cards shown on bottom

what I once held in the palm of my hands
is now out of reach
     Spectator puts shuffled deck in their pocket

our days are numbered
     Ask spectator to give you a number between 1-12

let the countdown begin
     Begin removing that # of indifferent cards from spectator’s pocket

that first night, I couldn’t sleep
by the second night, I was still figuring out how to hold her
on the third night, my swaddling skills improved
     Continue recounting first days with Nali as you remove cards from their pocket

our memories come back
     Before the last card is removed, name the color and suit of the chosen card correctly.

time stands still
     Remove one last card and hold it face down. Ask spectator what their card was.

these are the moments I can’t let pass by
     Turn over card to reveal selection


Picture
0 Comments

    The Move Unseen

    A blog for magic.

    Archives

    August 2020
    May 2020
    July 2019
    April 2019
    August 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    February 2014
    March 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Card Magic
    Cards
    Commercialism
    Florida
    Flying
    Fool
    Friend
    Gigs
    Hagakure
    Hecklers
    House
    Jadu
    Jam
    Life
    Love
    Madness
    Magic
    Magician
    Magicians
    Magic Show
    Master
    Meditiation
    Murakami
    Mystery
    Of
    Peace
    Perfection
    Pinball
    Poetry
    Pride
    Props
    Reaction
    Reactions
    Rival
    Samurai
    Street
    Street Magic
    Swords
    Thanks
    Trick
    Troupe
    Weapons
    Work

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • The Kobe Summon
    • Nalluby
    • The Day We Wore Red, Black and Blue
  • Magic
    • Two Heavens as One
    • Prodigy Comes Home
    • Paper Heart Project
  • Blog
  • Bookshop
  • Shows
  • About
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • The Kobe Summon
    • Nalluby
    • The Day We Wore Red, Black and Blue
  • Magic
    • Two Heavens as One
    • Prodigy Comes Home
    • Paper Heart Project
  • Blog
  • Bookshop
  • Shows
  • About