Friday, October 29, 2010

Extreme Card Manipulation... Why?

The Asian cardist emerges from the dark corners of the local magic shop, arms spinning like propellors. The light hits him. He's flipping, spinning, cutting, and puree-ing cards like no tomorrow. Dramatically, he announces "I'VE GOT IT! I CAN FINALLY DO SICK AND TWISTED WINGS OF THE MOCKINGBIRD!"

What and WhatWhat of the What?

Extreme Card Manipulation. A genre of magic. But I ask... why? How does XCM in any way relate to magic? I don't get it personally. I'm always seeing DVDs and such being released, with equal balances of card magic and these extreme card flourishes. There's a lot I feel is wrong with this.

Firstly, what do XCM (X-treme Card Manipulation) and card magic have to do with each other? They only have one thing in common... they both use cards. Big whoop. If that's the only thing they have in common, they shouldn't be a combined art. It's as simple as that.

And these people who, in the middle of doing a card effect, execute this drawn-out 14-packet XCM cut, what the hell are you thinking? XCM, whether or not you believe it, is BORING after about 3 seconds. So why do these huge cuts that take 30 seconds to perform in the middle of a card effect? There's so much wrong with this.

For instance, pacing. In wasting time with your cut that only you really care about, you've broken the timing of your routine. I know, personally, if someone were to do a card effect on me and waste 30 seconds in the middle of it trying to impress me with how many packets he can hold between his fingers, I'd yawn and lose interest pretty quickly.

Don't get me wrong... Extreme Card Manipulation is a respectable art. It clearly takes extreme amounts of practice and dedication and it clearly isn't close to being easy. But why combine it with magic? It's like putting icing on a cake that already tastes good enough on its own... and the icing is so cheap and sugary that it ruins the whole cake. It doesn't taste horrible, but it doesn't taste great either.

Some of the world's most successful card magicians are so successful because they DON'T exhibit fancy cuts, shuffles, etc. They are useless eye candy in the long run and, truth be told, nobody really cares. But more important, consider this logic... If you can do this fancy cut with the cards, then you must be capable of amazing sleight of hand technical wonders too in the spectator's eyes. The successful guys, Paul Vigil and Lennart Green immediately come to mind, are so succcessful with their card magic because they don't do ANYTHING fancy. In fact, Lennart Green deliberately handles the deck overtly in a novice way, to discourage the thought that he has incredible, devastating skills.

This doesn't mean your card magic can't have flourish to it... some small, neat, nice in-the-hands cuts and shuffles are great. They're small, cozy, are over in barely a few seconds. They do maintain interest and don't really raise suspicion. It's when packets of card are being tucked under your chin that the problem arises.

Want to be a card magician? Be a card magician. Want to be an XCM artist? Go for it. Just, please, keep them seperate.

2 comments:

  1. I completely agree!

    For years now I have thought the exact same thoughts. There is no place in well pattered/practiced card magic routine that a flashy XCM show should take place. Doing any sort of fanciness will completely detract from the effect itself.

    However, sometimes people do enjoy seeing a routine. I never realized this until one day I was standing around at my counter and doing some flourishes and some local teens thought that the cuts and fans were the most amazing things they had ever seen.

    I also juggle, ad to me, XCM is more a form of juggling than it is magic. Funny though that I have not once seen any kind of juggler doing any kind of card manipulation! (Yet they will use contact juggling balls, poi, and even yo-yo! There is nothing at all juggling about those!)

    Anyways, good post!

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  2. Don't limit the underlying story of someone's magic. When Darwin Ortiz does a gambling routine he attributes the magic to his skill with cards. If someone does a fancy flourish then finds your card, it is OK. Does every trick need to be attributed to "magic" to be magical?

    I love Mr. Green's magic and how he handles cards. It does not make it the only way to entertain, though. I find Dan and Dave's magic very magical - even with their flourishes and manner of card handling.

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