Nice Move Shawn!

A few minutes ago I got an email from Youtube, telling me that one of the videos that I have posted got removed, because of "copyright infringement". It was my little technical commentary on Shawn Farquar's "Shape of my Heart" routine. In the video I took away the music and commented just on the sleights. The removale of the video was issued by Shawn Farquar...

He seems to have gotten rid of all of the FISM videos of that routine. Again, I think that the routine by itself is an okay routine but the execution during FISM last year was really bad. So bad that it should not have won 1st prize. But this is just my opinion.

So Shawn: Nice move of not showing the world that you don't deserve the title of World Champion of Magic.

Comic Time #45

For more comics that will not appear on this blog visit: Dead Marlo

A Discussion about Stealing...

Hello Folks,

just because I am thinking about this problem right now, I want to share my thoughts with you and also I want to ask about your thoughts concerning this problem.

We discuss a lot of time about stealing patter, routines, tricks etc. But what is unethical?

Lets assume you see another magician perform a trick and you ask him if you could use an idea from him. He says no, so no problem, you don't use it. But now lets assume that later on you find this same idea written and published in a book. So what now? Who si the original owner? Especially if he admits the idea is not his own and he learned it elsewhere? Can you use it or not? Do you have to cite him? E.g. this is a trick inspired by ... written down ... etc. Real people don't know and don't care.

So what now? Or lets say you came up with an idea only to see it performed somewhere else. Is it okay to use it anyway or would you throw your own idea away? Or if you re-invent a trick, where you don't know the workings just the effect? Maybe told to you by some layfriends?

Think about this problem, I don't find it an easy one. Especially if you think about which ideas are reffered to as common knowledge. In this specific case it is Bill to Walnut. It is basically Bill to impossible Location. Same is Bill to Lemon or Bill to Kiwi or Bill to whatever you can say. Do I have to feel bad, if I would be using it anyway. The personal level is of course one thing, if a friend is asked and he turns me down, it is probably another thing, as when I see it as a demo on the internet and the use it.
But on the other side, should you call him friend any more, if he is not sharing.
I understand the rule, if working in the same spots, maybe the same city or same restaurant, but everywhere.

How about "classics"? Cups and balls? Straight-jacket escape? I am working on the streets and you could bet, that almost every magician is performing the cups or a strait-jacket. What about that?

And last but not least a quote from Pablo Picasso (Or maybe someone else):

"Good artists copy, great artists steal."

I hope for a real discussion, as I this problem is really laying close to my heart.

Best Wishes,

Korbinian

WMF Joe Jesse

Something is xtreme about this man named Joe Jesse and he got a kool DVD, called "Xtreme Koin Magic"
Awesome... check out the trailer for the krazy DVD:



"Koin Magic so strong they will swear you are using Fake Koins"

Here is the Kontent:
Thumb Palm
Benson Subtelty
Flying Vernon Load
Downs Palm
Classic Palm
Spider Vanish
Retention Vanish
Kaps Subtelty
Ramsey Subtelty
Muscle Pass
Coin Roll
Split Rollout
4 Coin Downs star
5 Coin Downs star
Multiple Coin toss
Cobra Coins...

You see, really xtreme stuff for all the Beginnerz out there. You are probably asking yourself: Am I enough of an Xtremist to be up to par with this Joe, who obviously has got the skillz? Yes you are! Be in Kommand, show them who's Bossz! Be the best magician in the area around Myrtle Beach!

Seriously... who is the target audience for that product? Beginners I guess, so in no way is this extreme coin, sorry Xtreme Koin Magic. This is so misleading. Reminds me a bit of those guys that sell you Svengali Decks at those fairs.

And why is he calling himself a Master Magician? Is magician not enough anymore?

How cute....

You should check out Magic Emmy's YouTube Channel Finally a nice little magic beginner who is full of energy and not hiding any social problems with magic. She tweets too.

Cool stuff.

It's Kieler Woche Baby!

Right now I am pretty busy at the "Kieler Woche" (Kiel Week) which is one whole week of "Oktoberfest"-like celebration in the very north of Germany. Today I encountered this magician (who did not tell me his name):



I cannot say that he sucked... but he was one of those Gospel Magicians. Each trick was joined by a whole tirade about not being a personal buddy with God. The message aside... I could not help that he was using magic to illustrate his points. He was abusing magic so to speak. Reminded me a bit about "regular" magicians who abuse comedy to enhance their magic.

Just a thought.

Comic Time #44

For more comics that will not appear on this blog visit: Dead Marlo

Just A Sunday Post #50

Mirin Dajo

WMF Justin Miller

I get a few email each week by magicians suggesting a certain magician to be WMF. Most of them are just YouTube kids exposing magic. But once in a while a regular magician is among those suggestions. And Justin Miller manages to be among those more than others.

For those who have never heard of Justin Miller:



He acts like David Williamson, but without "the funny" of course!



Justin Miller is a pretty skilled magician. But seemingly a lousy businessman.
He has a few magic items for sale. Triune, Infinity Thread,
The Cloak, Captured and a few others. People who ordered directly by Justin Miller usually have one of the following two experiences. The ordered item gets shipped way later than expected by a friend of Justin Miller or not at all.

I heard this complain more than once. And the Magic Cafe is full of people complaining and warning about doing direct business with Justin Miller.. or was full of such posts... because of course the Magic Cafe has this curse that interesting threads get deleted and certain post removed.


One email I got I will quote parts of it:

Basically it tends to go like this... Miller announces a new product and starts accepting pre-orders for it. (Announced on the cafe of course) The release date comes and gos and a few weeks later, People start asking where their products are. Miller will answer any questions with a single post on the cafe (Never an e-mail) stating that everyone should be getting the product soon as he shipped them a while back.

A few more weeks go by and people still are not receiving what they ordered. Then the excuses start. DVD problems, I was out of town with no computer, Family problems, Shipping problems and so on. After a certain amount of time people start getting really P.O.ed and one of Justin's buddies will swoop in and start filling the orders for Justin. Anyway, after all is said and done, Miller will apologize to everyone (Again, on the cafe never in an e-mail) and the whole thing will start over again with his next release.

As far as I know this cycle has completed itself at least three times. It was so bad that Miller got banned from his pay pal account. So he opened up a google account and then got banned from that as well essentially leaving the people he screwed with no recourse. The cycle is starting again.

He recently posted another big apology on the cafe claiming this and that. When people started posting rebuttals asking Miller who he thought he was and asking where their money or products were from past purchases, Those posts were removed and the thread locked.

To me all of that sounds like that Justin Miller is simply not a good businessman, owing people money by not sending the products. And if that is the case Justin Miller should go out of the magic business and start concentrating on doing magic. He seems to be good at that.

$54 million in debt? Damn!

Really interesting read here. Hat tip to Tim Ellis for finding and Rick Lax for writing this: Why former WMF Steve Wyrick really is messed up!

Just do the click

CLICK ON ME

Comic Time #43

For more comics that will not appear on this blog visit: Dead Marlo

Just A Sunday Post #49

I am wondering why the Magic Cafe has not picked up on this via a spam email by Steve Brooks.

Rachel Wild Colombini's wife needs a heart valve replaced. Normally I would have a begging email by Steve Brooks himself asking all magicians to unite to come up with the 200.000 dollars and all of that stuff. Although they have a thread about it.

He did it for Dirk Losander's baby, for Dean Dill and even for Steven Youell.

So, why is there no begging spam? Explain!

PS. The following is kinda mean! Especially towards the Colombini Family. But the thought came up.
PPS: 200.000 dollars, imagine how many starving children you can feed with this ammount of money.

WMF Drunk Magicians

I am drunk as I write this. So I am knowledgeable... or something like this. So here is to all the drunk magicians out there. That means performing drunk magicians. When we are drinking we cannot do magic properly, unless no sleight of hand is involved and the method is absolutely fool proof.

I have seen magicians, who take out their cards and start "card-tricking" away as if there is no tomorrow. Most often it flashes like hell, and even if the magician in question would be aware of that fact, most often he would not care about it assuming the others are drunk as well.

And while the audience may have fun, that particular magician does bring down the magic image even more. Suddenly magic is no longer an art, but a drunk sport, like a bar bet.

There is a time and a place for everything, even doing drunken magic. We call it magic circle meeting. But please stay away from the normal people.

I am guilty of this and I hereby declare, that I will not do it anymore. I will still do magic for drunk people, but only when I am sober. One beer and the cards tricks have to stop.

Kudos To You

Quick shout out to the amazing Andrew who is putting out Annotations to Jean Hugard's and Frederick Braue's book "The Royal Road To Card Magic" over at "Ye Olde Magick Blogge" starting here.

It is an execellent read if you have the book by your side. Andrew adds a few ideas here and there and adjusts certain deficiencies in the original description.

We Have A Name

So I guess his name is Jerrie Chan

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" field. In most cases, GoDaddy.com, Inc.
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.


Registrant:
jerrie Chan
Edited
ShangHai, 201300
China

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MAGICFRONT.COM
Created on: 15-Apr-09
Expires on: 15-Apr-13
Last Updated on: 09-Dec-09

Administrative Contact:
Chan, jerrie jerrie610@hotmail.com
Edited
ShangHai, 201300
China
+86.13512712740 Fax --

Technical Contact:
Chan, jerrie jerrie610@hotmail.com
Edited
ShangHai, 201300
China
Edited

Domain servers in listed order:
NS53.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS54.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Edit: Cursed is right in the comments, pretty low of me to post Jerrie Chan's private details. So I took them away... if one desires he can find out the edited stuff for himself (or herself in the unlikely case that there is a female reader)

Comic Time #42

For more comics that will not appear on this blog visit: Dead Marlo

Just A Sunday Post #48

Doing a magic set is like doing sex. You got a foreplay, to see what everyone likes, then you get down to serious business and pick up speed, thrusting the magic back and forth until everyone reaches the climax and the magic happens.

What a weird metaphore, but it fits. There is even a "cigarette after"-trick.

Most magic performances lack the climax. Not the climax of the effects, but a climax of the show. Leaving the audience unsatified. Don't be a bad lover. Have a trick, that really ends the show, some trick that everything builds to. You can even hint it. I do the cups and balls and one of the lemons keeps appearing throughout the show. I always put it away with the comment "Not yet!".

That nicely foreshadows a lot of things.

Realizing that helps to get the act together. It helps to know when to pick up speed, and when to stop talking and when to get to the point.

Hawk 2.0

Is this any good? I'd like to know!

WMF MagicFront

Have you heard that there are rip offs of magic effects for sale somewhere in Asia? I heard that rumor too and I even heard that sometimes the quality is up to par with the original product, but most often it is not.

Did you ever want to know if there is a way to get to such a black market? Maybe even online?

Here you go my friend, mate, amigo: MagicFront...

According to my very reliable sources ALL products are rip offs. Even though the products are advertised with original descriptions and images. I have to guess that some legal loophole is used to use the original trailer video and names... or not.

Take a look at Juan Mayoral's Meteors.




Meteors, MagicFront even adds their logo into the clip. Is that legal...?
MagicFront sell the effect for 128 dollars. (original price 500 dollars) I know for sure that it is not the original Meteors and that the method is actually different.

But there is good news. The owner of this website is too scared to give out his name. (I could not find it anywhere) But he is also scared of lawsuits. And has already removed a few products. Prior to the removal, the owner was "nicely" asked "to take it off or have some unwelcome visitors from Russia."

I could get into the morality issue here saying why it is not good to buy those rip offs, why the actual creator is hurt and how this is a major sign of a decline of values in magic. But I'll save that for another time.

So until I get the name of this evildoer "MagicFront" will be WMF this week.