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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Right To Reply



Nice to hear a Russ Stevens on the issue. He had time to think about it and to make up his mind. Not in Shawn Farquhar's favor. Personally I changed my mind too. Part of it. I still believe that the strength of ANY shape of my heart routine is not the magic, but the music. It is a wonderfully cheesy piece of music that people react too well to. If you take away the music you got two boring routines. Showing me how important music is and how music is an open gateway to our emotions.

And about the aspect of theft: I see two people. One caught in a lie, the other one bashing him. You decide which is which.

Edit: It was brought to my attention that some readers may have no idea what this is all about. Briefly: Shawn Farquhar won FISM in 2009 with a card routine that uses the song "Shape of my Heart" by Sting. Aside from the fact that I personally think that the award should not have been given to Shawn Farquhar, because it was a god awful performance, it created an interesting debate. The main idea of the routine (producing cards as named in the song) seemed to have been stolen by Shawn Farquhar from a UK performer named Russ Stevens. In 2009 there was quite a bit a debate about it, that mainly started from this and cardmans blog. The magic news website iTricks wrote about it and things got started. Ok... that was just a brief update.

15 comments:

  1. Magic UnlimitedMarch 30, 2011 at 2:42 AM

    So, is the general consensus that if Shawn had said up front "Hey, I saw Russ performing to a song and I thought that was a good track to put a routine to." then it would be alright?

    And, as Russ is now assistant organiser of FISM 2012, will he be big enough to invite Shawn, the reigning GP winner, to perform? Or will he snub him?

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  2. DamnMarch 30, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    i think that im lost here. Can anyone put me up to date with this issue?

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  3. AnonymousMarch 30, 2011 at 12:26 PM

    And the phrase 'Get a f$£!))g life' springs instantly to my lips.

    What a pair of morons.

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  4. darkstarMarch 30, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    Snub him. Not everyone plays the toothy smile sainthood weasel in life. But they sure do stick together(and give them top scores for shaky, flashing, corny routines).

    Magician rivalries are centuries old. The "can't we all just get along" was pretty funny.

    Hopefully Russ is practicing the "stink eye" in the mirror. I'd make a bet Farquhar is the one that approaches Russ if it happens. The whole "peace...I'm super nice and smile a lot" gig.

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  5. TricksterMarch 30, 2011 at 7:06 PM

    So let's be clear on this, it essentially all comes down to the word of one man against another. Shawn says he didn't see the tape but some guy remembers things so well from 15 years ago and says he did.
    Exactly why is the second guy instantly considered to be the one telling the truth? From all the stuff I have read, neither Shawn or this other bloke can prove what they say, so the other guy could be lying through his teeth or not, we just can't know for sure, yet Russ instantly takes his word for it and attacks Shawn. Seems a bit odd to me.

    Oh well, I guess at least they both have the balls to say things out in the open with out the need to try and throw stones from behind a veil of anonymity like some others. I guess if you're the gutless type with no testicles then stink eye from across a crowded room is about all you'd have the courage to do.

    I can't wait to see all the lounge room experts get up at the next FISM and show us all how it should be done, but I suspect I'll be disappointed. How about you Darkstar? Gonna man up and put your balls on the line with an entry? Show us how great you are? I doubt it, way easier to just throw stones from the sidelines like a child.

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  6. UnknownMarch 30, 2011 at 8:15 PM

    It's all about credibility and this mystery guy that apparently shared a DVD with Shawn 15 years ago simply doesn't have any. He's the same guy that tried to make a trade with me on the Magic Cafe and offered me pirated/AKA stolen DVDs! To me, that says all that i need to know about him and his allegations.

    It's unfortunate that Russ Stevens has chosen to take the word of this person.

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  7. darkstarMarch 30, 2011 at 8:57 PM

    Your perception of manliness seems to have gone askew. Man up...get some balls...enter FISM! Let's see how awesome you are with those cards boy!

    About equivalent to telling someone they are a total pussy if they don't go to Star Wars conventions. Amazing how corrupt the magician brain is for some to me. Impress us magicians! We want to see your awesomeness! Let's go! I dare ya to step over this dancing cane line!

    Don't read the blog. Easy breezy. Thanks for the laugh though.

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  8. TricksterMarch 30, 2011 at 10:49 PM

    PMSL
    It is sadly you who missed the point Darkstar, all the manliness references were directly related to the "I'm such a man" posts you make on you blog.
    You just keep tossing stones (or off) from the sidelines you brave anonymous troll.

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  9. darkstarMarch 31, 2011 at 1:58 AM

    The proper definition of a Troll is one who sabotages any open conversation area on the internet, such as a forum or comment page like we have here. To which it's fair to say....I'm not the topic to be commented on.

    Thus respect in retrospective is to respond to the topic heading, which isn't me, nor is a Troll one who simply talks openly at his own blog.

    Let's get back to talking about Sting...and try to imagine playing a VHS cassette over and over, paying a late fee over 100 dollars instead of buying a CD or the damn VHS tape itself. You can just feel the passion.

    A man and his cards. A Sting song going around and around in a VHS player. One generation loss at every revolution. Bringing the cards in view as Sting sings to every molecule in my being....cards to the top like sweet cream on a snowflake of honey and corn syrup.

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  10. higgiMarch 31, 2011 at 3:50 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Magic UnlimitedMarch 31, 2011 at 7:13 AM

    Russ wasn't the first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97qbCl5uZEc

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  12. AnonymousMarch 31, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    Trickster,

    Would your aggressive stance be in any way due to you being pals with Tim Ellis ?

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  13. AnonymousMarch 31, 2011 at 11:47 AM

    Magic Unlimited

    Great clip, puts the other two performances into perspective doesn't it.

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  14. TricksterMarch 31, 2011 at 3:06 PM

    @Mike
    Nah, my aggressive stance is solely towards the Darkstar moron, my stance on the Shawn/Russ issue isn't actually aggressive. As I said, the Shawn/Russ thing is nothing more than one man's word against another with no way of proving that either is telling the truth.

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  15. Magic UnlimitedMarch 31, 2011 at 10:27 PM

    Hi Mike,

    Glad you enjoyed my clip

    TIM

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