Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Sigh, no need to add a comment I guess!

Hey look what Vic Nadata posted:

"Guys I never do this, but I wanted you all to know about the experience dealing with Justin Miller. As some of you may have known, Justin was seeking backing for his new production company via kickstart. I felt that was a worthy cause, and sent him 50.00, which at the time (and I believe it always was) the largest donation he received. The project failed from lack of backers, and Justin sent out a few 5.00 downloads to those that donated. I emailed Justin to see if there was an oversight on his part, as I feel a few 5.00 downloads was not worthy of a 50.00 donation.

His response was a profanity ridden PM, claiming that he goes above and beyond. I calmly explained to him that it might not be best to start off your emails with "Hold the F*CK ON!", yet that is how it started and went downhill from there. It is a real shame, as I thought of Justin in high regard with his creations. However it is clear as day now the kind of person he truly is. I personally will not be purchasing anything from him in the future. Without a doubt the WORST communication I have seen from a dealer EVER.

Buyer Beware...."

The actual messages:



Justin Miller
thank you SOOO much for supporting my indigogo campaign, unfortunately I did not make my goal. Please choose some downloads from my site and Ill send them right over. I need an email address to send them to.



Vic Nadata
Justin, send over anything you want. vic@geminiartifacts.com. I guess your not doing the skype sessions then?


Justin Miller
Done

Vic Nadata
Thanks Justin. Wondering if it was simply an oversight, but I opted in and sent 50.00 for your project. Can I assume your not doing any of the bonuses then?

Justin Miller
yea

Vic Nadata
Ok so just to verify, I give you 50.00, and I get 15.00 worth of products? Sounds like I should have just purchased them.

Justin Miller
No I sent you more
It was for a campaign
Some make it some don't
I used the money I did make to buy a new camera

Vic Nadata
Ok well I only got 3 dropbox invites. Ringslide, 420 and Summons.

Vic Nadata
Justin any update on my additional items?

Justin Miller
For bold

Vic Nadata
No Justin, I was wondering again about my items from the Kickstart Campaign. You only send me 3 things priced at 15.00. I "Donated" 50.00 to it. You said you sent me more, but I do not see the dropbox invites.

Justin Miller
What would you like

Vic Nadata
I guess adding me to the bold project would be the simplest way to go.

Justin Miller
That's $120

Vic Nadata
Ok, well the send over any Bizarre and mental items you may have that equal the price of donation. As a side note, seeing that you did not complete your campaign and with very limited support, you might want to really take care of the people that backed you. I have to say I have been pretty disappointed in your response to my inquiries, and willingness to go the extra mile for backers for this. And if you decided to great a kickstarter again, you might just want to make it a pledge donation system. This way if you don't make it, the prizes offered will not be forfeited, and the backers will be out their monies.

Justin Miller
Hold the fuck on! I told everyone that IF the project did not get backed that I would make sure I would send them some downloads. How the fuck am I supposed to do anything I said in that project without the capital to back it up. (tours, skype sessions plus free dvds signed such n such's) You knew exactly what you were backing when you sent the money to help out,(which by the way bought a new camera and back drop..so thank you) I did not twist your arm nor do I owe you anything other than what I said I could/would do if the project did not get funded. I have done that. And the willingness to go the extra mile is exactly what I have done. You do not deserve to get a EQUAL PRICE reward. I never said anything about that. Now I appreciate what you gave and it helped, but don't bitch at me about something YOU KNEW FULL WELL what the end result would be. I am the FIRST person to go ABOVE and beyond in making sure people get MORE than what they purchased or donated. You are the only one who took a stand of greed against me in this, no one else did that and everyone was very very happy with what I sent them. Now that you know I do not owe you anything I will be more than happy to send you over a few more things.

Justin Miller
oh and those 3 items I sent you, are actually WAY WAY more than $5 originally.
what is your email

Vic Nadata
Justin: No need to send anything, I see exactly where I stand. Yes I am sure in your mind, 15$ of downloads = 50.00 donation. Also on another note, you might want to reconsider your emails/ PM's to potential customers. It's usually not a great way to start off with "Hold the Fuck on!". If I treated customers the way you treated me, I would have been out of business a long time ago, and it seems that you ran into that situation yourself. Don't talk to me about capital my friend, I help run www.outlaw-effects.com and own www.geminiartifacts.com. I have created and sold many effects including the book test Luna 1934 as well as countless others. I fund my own projects and creations. I donated because I wanted to help out a fellow magician. You have personally ruined your reputation in my opinion. I will never purchase anything from you in the future, and I will be sure to let others know of your business practices. You need to really have a look in the mirror. It's creators like you that give us a bad name. Continue success in selling your $5.00 downloads.

Justin Miller
goodness, I am soooo happy you said it. I cant stand people like you and I will personally repost this entire conversation and people will then make up their own mind.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Don't you

Don't you just love it, when somebody tells you that a certain prop will last you for years, when it is obvious they have been using it for less than a day.

Don't you just love it, when somebody exposes some magic, that they don't even put in the effort to properly learn the name of the creator.

Don't you just love it, when somebody does a training video and you see he has not rehearsed what he is saying and you put the "thing" into the "thing".

Don't you just love it, when a certain move is being used, not because it's the best one for the situation, but the easiest one. Gotta love the double undercut.

Don't you just love it, when you wanna improve on a minor handling issue, and as you point it out, the person in question gets all angry telling you to "fuck off" if you don't like them.

Don't you just love it, when you meet up with a celebrity magician and he expects you to pay for the food, because he will in turn share some of his secrets.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

I'm not dead, just busy!

Have you noticed this trend in magic advertisment? This trend of claiming credit in the first line.

"Hi my name is _____ and I have been doing this trick for more than 5 million years."

Saturday, July 13, 2013

So I had this Epiphany

I was sitting in the card the other day, driving home from a show I had. And then I somehow this thought crossed my mind. If I would die right now! Car crash or something... that means the show I just did was my last show ever.

Would I have been proud of what I did there? What would people say about the last show I did, after they heard the news of me passing?

In that case I was not satisfied with this being my last show.

I promised myself that from now on I will do my show as if it is the last one. Give everything.

Card Rise? Is he being serious?

Does Richard Sanders really sell an impromptu card rise?


This is NOT an new idea. This is NOT by Richard Sanders. I really hope he doesn't claim that he came up with it.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Random



Gee, that reminds me of someone.

Let's see how long this post by Jay will last!


So Jay Sankey's Facebook account got hacked

I can't explain it otherwise. Jay Sankey posts a few post linking to a YouTube user that is known for exposing magic and all. Jay is certainly not linking to the exposer videos, but to a performance video and tells everyone how inspiring it is. He also links to a clothing store in which said YouTuber sells some of his magic themed T-shirts.

Some Facebook users then rightfully complain to Jay what the hell is going on. How can Jay affiliate with a man that destroys the craft that Jay obviously loves?

What happens to those comments? Well they get deleted along with the initial post.

WTF Jay? Are you unable to man up and admit you are either wrong or if you have a compelling reason to post this at least share your thoughts on why?

Or do these post get deleted because of a shit storm that might tarnish your public image? Honestly I think it would do you better in the long run to allow a discussion and to admit failure. I remember years ago when you wrote a long open letter explaining why you don't work with penguin magic anymore. That was good. That felt honest. Now you work with them again... why?

This deletion of the posts doesn't serve the aim of being honest. It makes you feel like a unethical businessman who will do everything to have his public image be clean.

It's not just Facebook. Twitter is the same.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

The gig from hell

So I had this wonderfully aweful show the other day. Table hopping. Nothing bad about that, except for the fact that the worst DJ I've ever seen was there. He was completly ignoring the fact that I was working the tables and turned up the music really load and did his "entertaining" bits in between the music. So I really had no chance of talking at all. I had to rely entirly on gestures to communicate with my audience.

And there I saw what effects really need patter and what doesn't need patter. What parts need to be slow and what parts need to be fast.

Interesting experience. Made me rethink my entire table hopping repertoire. Made me appreciate the moments when the audience lhas the freedom to listen.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Dear manufacturers of Copper and Silver gimmicks



Stop doing that! Copper and silver coins looks too much alike. The constrast simply isn't great unless you perform in daylight.

A slightly yellowish light (as it is common in the places where I perform... that is indoors) will make both looks the same.

Instead go for a really shiny coin and a really dark coin.