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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  2450 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 619: The Magic Show

I truly did not know adults humoring child magicians was a Thing. Most of my spending money between 12-16 was from doing magic shows.





weewooweewoo  ·  2449 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You too? It's so endearing to hear these stories of adults realizing that their child selves were just being humored, but probably because I figured it out while I was still young. I did a lot of performances for filipino dances, karate demonstrations, and band music and my parents would set me up for large family or filipino association events. The thing was that I hated practicing these things, and never really put in my 100% (so I was never really focused on the importance of my craft, so to say), and I could tell by the fake smiles on my relatives that they were just happy I was there to fill time.

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Side thing, something about performances tend to make me tear up, whenever I feel like I'm witnessing a true sense of awe or a performance being done that feels like it captures the best of the medium being performed in, or something, I'm not sure how to describe it. It's happened a couple of times in real life, maybe it clicks when I know a person and can connect the dots to how hard that they've worked to get to a certain point in skill is finally met with the justice that this expertise deserves. But that doesn't feel like a great description either.

Some moments off the top of my head that encapsulate this feeling that are on Youtube include:

1. 18 seconds into this Mumford and Sons song:

2. When Hogwarts is being prepped for the final battle in Deathly Hallows Part 2.

3. When Peco decides to play a match like he's 4 years old again in Ping Pong:

4. The last scene in Whiplash, although this requires the humiliating scene before it for full weepy effect on me.

5. And then today this Fool Us video that was on reddit, Teller's look of awe around 3:48:

- I don't know man, it's just such a pure look of awe, and this performance reminded me of this TAL episode a lot.