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Honor the Magic

Posted By: Randy GageMay 15, 2015

In any creative endeavor, magic sometimes happens. But you can’t mass-produce it.

You see this demonstrated often on television. If producers have a hot television series, they think of a spinoff. Then another, and another. But by the time they get to CSI: Dubuque, the idea is burned out and the magic is gone.

American Idol had magic. Then FOX made it two hours for the boys on Monday, two hours for the girls on Tuesday, one hour for the results on Wednesday, and one hour for failed auditions on Thursday. It got overexposed.

At some point, a contestant on The Voice lost a loved one during the audition process, but continued on, because that’s what their departed loved one would have wanted. Moments like that can be magic. But then the producers saw the result and tried to recreate it...

So now every season the interview process for every contestant involves finding out who they know that just died, is about to die, or facing some cataclysmic tragedy – so the show can produce a tearjerker video package. Instead of it being about the voice, it becomes a contest for the best maudlin drama.

Chicken Soup for the Soul was magic. But by the time we got to Chicken Soup for Albino Stall Muckers in Borneo, it was too many trips to the well.

In the course of your work, you’re sometimes going to discover magic...

Honor the magic. Celebrate it. Appreciate it. But don’t try to manufacture it.

-RG

27 comments on “Honor the Magic”

  1. Good timing RG.. I've been working on new media story project for months and months and in the middle of the night I got an idea that I hadn't had before. Is it magic? Not sure yet, but I continue to work on it in order to weave it into what I've been doing all along. I so agree with everything you say here including the Chicken Soup thing. Like Downey, Jr, people let fame and money go to their head diminishing their true potential creatively. It's my intention to change people's perspectives through creative storytelling done with innovation. Whatever a person's gift is they must use it to fulfill purpose.

  2. Very good post.  Magic and creativity are special and come from originality.  Repeatedly trying to recapture it makes a mockery of the originality and dilutes the very thing that was so special.  Always move forward and allow magic and creativity to flow like a river.  Don't paddle upstream.

  3. Saw the same formula with Under Cover Boss - each episode a disability to tug on heart strings - too predictable and stopped watching

  4. Randy, you are so un-American.  That's what we do here in the US.  If a little bit is good, then a ton more is better.  Overindulgence is the American way.  If something works, exploit it until you can squeeze every last cent out of it and to the point of ad nauseam.  
    And I do like your sense of humor.  Could you imagine CSI: Dubuque?  Every episode would be about suicide (have you ever been to Iowa?), chicken thieves, or incest.

  5. As an artist, art educator and author I try to be original. As an artist foremost I have definitely followed my own path. With many influences in my career, after awhile I just didn't think of them really much any more while creating. I can create an artwork that looks somewhat like David Hockney or back to Claude Monet, but I can never be them, and I don't want to; one should not. In the arts that is called 'Mannerism'. That's where mass-producing the same old begins. It is trying too hard to produce work that is not from ones' own inner feeling. I express my art from my soul and I've done well, but in the start an artwork is done for me. I celebrate my magic and if others appreciate the work; wonderful! I don't then create the next print or painting as before because it maybe sold right away. Creating art is certainly a love experience. I will lose interest, if I don't challenge my limits to create new innovative artistry.

  6. We have 2 systems on this planet, the humam system and the spiritual. The human system ends up failing, the spiritual never fails ultimateley. Tithing keeps a person connected to the flow, how simple and how great.

  7. We have 2 systems on this planet, the humam system and the spiritual. The human system ends up failing, the spiritual never fails ultimateley. Tithing keeps a person connected to the flow, how simple and how great.

  8. The art of ending things well is knowing when to stop. It is knowing when the magic is exhausted and not trying to manufacture boring episodes and gimmicks. It is not simply winning the election,arguement but the way you win it and not creating bitter enemies.
    The world judge how well you end things. The end of a thing is better than the beginning,so say the great book. A messy conclusion can ruin ones reputation in the process.
    The I Ching describes the fate of holding on the face when the magic,the real thrill is gone as " he who in times of extraordinary salience of small things does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seek to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortunes at the hands of gods and men,because he deviates from the order of nature."

  9. Wow Randy,  A helluva of a powerful explanation of creativity complete with a "don't gild the lily" example all in six short paragraphs!  Your really rockin' tonight, good buddy!  However, something as dynamic as this subject is bound to bring out the "downers," like Olu Allen quoting some obscure Chinese text guaranteed to confuse understanding any simple concept and Graham Willis suggesting we open our wallets, just to keep the "flow (what ever that is) going."
    Personally, I believe a  Clint Eastwood "quote" best applies here....  "Lets don't over think this."

  10. pandkenterprises Brian Bennington Clever enough to make me chuckle.  Now that's a reply worth reading!

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  • 27 comments on “Honor the Magic”

    1. Good timing RG.. I've been working on new media story project for months and months and in the middle of the night I got an idea that I hadn't had before. Is it magic? Not sure yet, but I continue to work on it in order to weave it into what I've been doing all along. I so agree with everything you say here including the Chicken Soup thing. Like Downey, Jr, people let fame and money go to their head diminishing their true potential creatively. It's my intention to change people's perspectives through creative storytelling done with innovation. Whatever a person's gift is they must use it to fulfill purpose.

    2. Very good post.  Magic and creativity are special and come from originality.  Repeatedly trying to recapture it makes a mockery of the originality and dilutes the very thing that was so special.  Always move forward and allow magic and creativity to flow like a river.  Don't paddle upstream.

    3. Saw the same formula with Under Cover Boss - each episode a disability to tug on heart strings - too predictable and stopped watching

    4. Randy, you are so un-American.  That's what we do here in the US.  If a little bit is good, then a ton more is better.  Overindulgence is the American way.  If something works, exploit it until you can squeeze every last cent out of it and to the point of ad nauseam.  
      And I do like your sense of humor.  Could you imagine CSI: Dubuque?  Every episode would be about suicide (have you ever been to Iowa?), chicken thieves, or incest.

    5. As an artist, art educator and author I try to be original. As an artist foremost I have definitely followed my own path. With many influences in my career, after awhile I just didn't think of them really much any more while creating. I can create an artwork that looks somewhat like David Hockney or back to Claude Monet, but I can never be them, and I don't want to; one should not. In the arts that is called 'Mannerism'. That's where mass-producing the same old begins. It is trying too hard to produce work that is not from ones' own inner feeling. I express my art from my soul and I've done well, but in the start an artwork is done for me. I celebrate my magic and if others appreciate the work; wonderful! I don't then create the next print or painting as before because it maybe sold right away. Creating art is certainly a love experience. I will lose interest, if I don't challenge my limits to create new innovative artistry.

    6. We have 2 systems on this planet, the humam system and the spiritual. The human system ends up failing, the spiritual never fails ultimateley. Tithing keeps a person connected to the flow, how simple and how great.

    7. We have 2 systems on this planet, the humam system and the spiritual. The human system ends up failing, the spiritual never fails ultimateley. Tithing keeps a person connected to the flow, how simple and how great.

    8. The art of ending things well is knowing when to stop. It is knowing when the magic is exhausted and not trying to manufacture boring episodes and gimmicks. It is not simply winning the election,arguement but the way you win it and not creating bitter enemies.
      The world judge how well you end things. The end of a thing is better than the beginning,so say the great book. A messy conclusion can ruin ones reputation in the process.
      The I Ching describes the fate of holding on the face when the magic,the real thrill is gone as " he who in times of extraordinary salience of small things does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seek to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortunes at the hands of gods and men,because he deviates from the order of nature."

    9. Wow Randy,  A helluva of a powerful explanation of creativity complete with a "don't gild the lily" example all in six short paragraphs!  Your really rockin' tonight, good buddy!  However, something as dynamic as this subject is bound to bring out the "downers," like Olu Allen quoting some obscure Chinese text guaranteed to confuse understanding any simple concept and Graham Willis suggesting we open our wallets, just to keep the "flow (what ever that is) going."
      Personally, I believe a  Clint Eastwood "quote" best applies here....  "Lets don't over think this."

    10. pandkenterprises Brian Bennington Clever enough to make me chuckle.  Now that's a reply worth reading!

    Leave a Reply to MottMarvinKornicki Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


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