Joseph's Record: Me, the People, My Experience, and Misdirection

So far, I've been getting a lot of exposure with people around my school. Ever since I showed 1 trick to my friends, the exposure was spreading like wild fire. People were talking about it, my classes are talking about it, even my siblings are asking "how did you do"? People are going crazy for magic tricks! People look at me as if i discovered fire for the very first time. Asking "how did you do that? or Do it again"! But obviously a magician never tells his or hers secrets, or the same trick. That is the key in magic, If people ask you to "do that trick again". Do a different trick, they may ask you "no, no, do the other one", keep doing other tricks, because the person you showed will try to find out how you did it. That's why we "magicians" (I don't consider myself a magician) tell stories through our performance. So we can get the viewer to be distracted, so no one can look at the slight of movement with your hands. While the entertainer is telling the story, the viewer is looking right at you, they don't know what is happening below there eyes. Therefore, the person viewing does not know whats going on, The whole point of magic, the art of of distraction. There is a video that i saw about misdirection, I'll put the video or link at the bottom of the page. But the person who is explaining the art of misdirection is an actual pit pocketer. He is a famous pick pocketer, he starts to discuss how misdirection is exampled as looking off to the side, but often, the misdirection is right in front of us. He starts to say that the things we look at at everyday, is really the stuff that blind us. For example reach in your pocket, turn on your phone and check what icon you have on the bottom right corner. How accurate were you? Now, put your phone back in your pocket, and with out looking at your phone or anything telling you the time, tell me, what was the time when you checked your phone. How accurate were you? Lastly, close your eyes and think of what your best friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, parents, or sibling was wearing today. Check later to see if you were right. Its interesting isn't it? We focus on the important things, than the less important things. That why magicians can be liars, and devious folk. Now, there is a guy named James Randi or so called "The Amazing Randi", he was an escape artist back in the 1950's. His monologue on stage would be "I will lie to you, no matter how smart you are, or how educated you are, you will be deceived by me" He is a old fellow now, but he is a magnificent escape artist, and wonderful mislead-er. My experience with magic is only been 3 months, and I've shown quit a lot a people. I've went to malls, store, and restaurants to do my performances. And yes, I was nervous as hell going into those places. I had many thoughts that i would mess up, get laughed at, even be ignored by people. But I faced my fears, i just go up to people and just tell them to pick a card. The people may be confused about what you are doing, but most likely they will go along with you. I used to be shy when going up to people to ask for something very simple, i never came out of my comfort zone. I just stayed in my little shell, and isolated myself. But i overcame that, i built the confidence to talk to people, go up to strangers and ask them questions or show them a card trick. (I'm not encouraging you to always go up to strangers, but to feel comfortable to go up to people) Yeah, sometimes I got rejected by people, by asking them to show them a magic trick. And it's ok, it will happen, just ignore it and move on. Often people find excuses to not do things, and you just give up, but people give up to fast because its to easy. Yeah there is few people to show because there is a low audience in areas you are at. But if you go to school, work, or anything you do that surrounds you with people, there is your big audience. The funny thing is that when you show a magic trick in school, you will be known as the "Magic kid". Which is a cool nickname, and especially you will leave a mark on those people to always remember. Doing tricks like that leaves a token for the person to keep. When I do Magic Tricks I always say to the spectator to keep the card, so they can remember that moment. And one day, the person you preformed to will most likely tell a friend or relative on what happened that day. If anybody is interested in magic, I will leave a video for a simple trick to do to anybody, and will amaze the spectator. Their is a you tuber that gives excellent tutorials on magic tricks, and much more. His channel is Disturb Reality, and he gives a saying at the end of his videos that I will sign off with..

"Inspire to learn, Aspire to disturb, and always rise above"
-Evan Cloyd