WMF Colleen Ballinger

There is a tiny chance you have heard of her before. She is not a magician, Colleen Ballinger is a singer. She created a character called Miranda who got famous by singing really, really bad on YouTube. Somehow that generated her a lot of fans and even fame.


So what the hell does she have to do with magic? Nothing really, except for this one:



As you can see, her character Miranda has put out a DVD with basic magic stuff. The material nor the DVD is aimed at magicians, but to regular folk.

This tears down magic. If you don't get the loser vibe as you are watching this video, then I cannot help you. Colleen could have had so many other arts to exploit and rape. So why did it have to be magic? Seriously, why?

Think about it. Don't we have enough losers? Now here comes "Miranda" with a DVD for laypeople, who might buy the product because they think it is funny, or because they have a weird fetish for "Miranda" and they give it to their friends. They watch it and say: "Ha ha funny, Miranda does loser stuff, how fitting!"

My view may be one sided here but I love magic too damn much as not to at least mention this. If in the 90s "Steve Urkel" would have sold a magic kit and a VHS, it would have been the same.
Shame on you Colleen!

The Annual Magic Failure

2010 is over. And the following people have pissed off the readers of this blog so much that they get the title Annual Magic Failure.

3. Tony Hassini, 33 votes. Not only did he make up an award, the cool looking Merlin, no he offers it to several magicians and if they choose to accept it he charges money for it. An award you can buy. Great! Wait... no! It's an administration fee and travel expenses. My bad!

2. Justin Miller, 51 votes. Right after Justin was declared WMF I got a lengthy email from Justin Miller himself explaining his situation and telling about his view of things. Friends suggested not to answer the email. And it wouldn't be fair to quote the thing here. But here is a small fraction.

And to say there was "no recourse" is ridiculous and a flat out lie!
I have contacted everyone that did not get their products for whatever reason and I have made it right or tried to make it right.

Is this true? Is anybody still without product or money?

1. Rob Matthies, 65 votes. I gotta give Rob one thing. He tried and tries to fight back. But he does it poorly. Calling me an racist anti semite. Godwin's law says that "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." It took Rob less than a week. And this means he has no more valid arguments. Which means I am right and he deserved his WMF title. There are good losers and bad losers. Rob is even worse. He is a trolling loser. Too bad he doesn't seem to understand what my complaint was. All he seems to hear are racist statements. Talk about a deluded soul.

More than 230 votes were given. That is quite a bit in our small magic world. Let's see what 2011 brings.

One More Day

Just one more day to vote for the Annual Magic Failure 2010. My personal favourite: Matt Hollywood. But then again, the choice is up to you dear readers. Who will go into the WMF-Hall of Fame? Vote, vote, vote!

Versions

Why does the English version of "Card College" by Roberto Giobbi contain different material than the German version "Die Große Kartenschule"? The German version contains Monarch's Quartette, the Englisch version does not. The English version contains The Dance of the Cannibals which is not in the German version. And that is just one example.

Feels a bit like Pokémon the red and blue edition.

Suddenly I feel like I gotta catch 'em all!

Edit: Monarch's Quartette is actually part of the English edition. But it is called "Metamorphosis". Talk about structure. Hat tip to Denis - the walking libary - Behr and Giorgio for correcting me.

Why does it have a different name? Only to confuse me I guess. Nope that would be too egocentric. But really, why does an effect get a totally different name, if nothing is done to change the effect?
Reminds me of the time, that "Be Honest What Is It" became "Two Card Monte"

WMF Paul Stone

Paul Stone is the guy behind Magic Cares
just so you know who he is. Magic Week released the following news:

News from Paul Stone: "I am delighted to release details of an exciting project aimed specifically at Magicians worldwide. Firstly, on 24th January we are launching Showstealers Vegas Link. This will provide a direct link for performers to Showstealers, established Las Vegas Entertainment Consultants and Show Producers.

if you email the address given in the article you get the following:

SHOWSTEALERS VEGAS LINK™ is a unique service offering magicians a direct link to Las Vegas, and the chance to be on the performers roster of SHOWSTEALERS LLC, established Las Vegas Entertainment Consultants and Show Producers.

SHOWSTEALERS LLC is headed up by Executive Producer, Paul Stone, an experienced Producer of hundreds of Corporate Events and Shows, amongst them in the UK, Shows at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Her Majesty’s Theatre and eighteen Shows at the world famous London Palladium Theatre, including the widely acclaimed ‘Tribute to Siegfried & Roy at the London Palladium’ in 2008.

Paul has produced Shows in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, Mirage, Harrahs, Orleans and the Suncoast Hotel & Casino.

Paul’s TV credits include Magic Consultant on ‘Best of Magic’ Series and Penn & Teller’s ‘Fool Us’.

SHOWSTEALERS LLC make no guarantees of future bookings but are constantly on the lookout for new and original performers for our ‘Variety Live’ and ‘World Stars of Magic’ Shows, Corporate events and various TV projects both in UK and USA.

SHOWSTEALERS LLC charge an annual $99 facility fee. This helps to cover administration charges.
Included in the price of our service, we offer USA Representation for overseas performers (outside the USA).
This benefit alone is worth many times the minimal cost involved (less than $2 a week), and you can use the SHOWSTEALERS LLC name and Las Vegas address on all your promotional and publicity materials. This carries huge value and gives you increased credibility.
SHOWSTEALERS LLC would handle subsequent entertainment enquiries for your services in USA and make a 15% commission charge on any fees negotiated on your behalf.
Please confirm if you are interested in linking up with SHOWSTEALERS LLC in Las Vegas.
We look forward to having you on board.

Best regards
Paul Stone
Executive Producer – SHOWSTEALERS LLC

I highlighted the highlights.

99 dollars that you might end up in a magic show. No legitimate agency will charge you any sort of up-front fee as if they were a real agency the money they'd make in commissions would more than cover their administration charges.

Paul Stone is advertising to British magicians tempting them with work in the USA therefore the commission on one single job would be considerably more than Stone's "annual charge". That means Stone thinks he won't get you a single job.

This sort of behaviour is exactly what Equity (the performers union) in the UK is actively campaigning against.

I call scam on this one.

Paul Stone would not get away with this one in the UK, that's why he does it in Las Vegas. And that's why he is this week's magic failure.