….and an apology.

Either Blogger’s notification system or my SPAM filter wasn’t working properly and I missed approving a series of great comments. I would suggest you look back over the past few weeks and check them out. A blog will never be totally interactive, but input from readers is valuable beyond estimation.

I’m REALLY careful about false positives and I manage all SPAM locally and don’t depend on ISP level controls and I can’t believe I would have missed this many. Anyway, I removed moderation and your comments will immediately post. I monitor the site closely and can remove unwanted SPAM crap very quickly.

The only reason I originally did this was I got really pissed off at some pompous ass and put the restrictions on. A bad decision on my part.

Take care……… 
 

Should We ReBlog the ReBlog?!?!

A little more housekeeping – Speaking of being pissed off, I’m not real happy with this reblog poaching, Fortunately, this little diary was not found worthy, so i/m is not affected at this time. I have looked into establishing my own reblog and it looks like I can save myself a lot of work by just reblogging the reblog(s).

All of the defenders seem to rely on the fact that RSS allows this, so it must be OK and puts the onus on the bloggers to prevent the complete capture of the articles. Pardon me fellers, but kiss my ass! Don’t give me a lesson on RSS, I’ve been working with it longer than any of you apologists could imagine. Spare me the details.

Anyway, for a few weeks I’ve limited the feed here, but that makes if very difficult for those using readers (and I would hope most do). I’ve reverted to a full feed and will deal with any issues if, and when, they arise.

President John Kennedy is credited with the following statement:

….As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats..

Does the success, notoriety and exposure of David Blaine and/or Criss Angel help you as a magician?

Personally, I couldn’t be further from either of them. I’m fat, white, old and bald. However, even I get questions and comments regarding their recent TV shows and people seem a little more receptive to magic. The worst possible thing I could do would be try to imitate either of them. It would be a pitiful and pathetic sight, but it does give me a fresh stage to perform.

I think all magicians are better off because of their success.

Take care………

I seldom buy one trick books or one trick DVDs. Generally I feel screwed when I do so and the after market value is pitiful.

I made an exception recently and bought John Born’s book Meant To Be… It is subtitled Principals and Techiques for the Sopisticated Magical Artisite. It is actually an exhaustive treatise on the Any Card At Any Number Plot. You can read a bunch of reviews at Jabba’s magic site, so I won’t redo what’s already been done. Just say – it’s an instant classic in my mind.

What I wanted to point out was Ken Krenzel’s Foreword and his description of John’s magic. I continue to be amazed and the constant denigration of magic in favour of entertainment. This has come to mean use a criss-cross force and then drop your pants so the audience can read the clever tattoo on your ass revealing the card. All in the name of entertainment.

Listen to what Ken writes:

John holds that the magician’s primary goal is to utterly amaze, drop jaws, and elicit audible gasps from your thoroughly bewildered and clueless spectators.

That’s magic, my friends. Don’t fall for the entertainment bromide. It’s an excuse for bad magic.

Take care………

I try to limit commenting on other blogs, because it’s trite and dumb in most cases.

There are instances, however, where I feel the subject matter is so important, that a failure to bring them to your attention would be unfair.

Steve Pellegrino at MagiCentric writes one of the most popular magic blogs and reading it is a must for many of us. Frankly, I disagree with him more often than not, but that’s OK – it’s not his job to please me. He, obviously, spends a lot of time on his posts and. believe me, writing a thoughtful, literate post is not something you don’t just rip off while sitting on the can.

Right now, go and read his post on reblogging. I share his rage. This piss ant blog isn’t worthy of reblogging and that’s fine, but it appears that MagiCentric has supplied most of the content for this new site.

I’m sure Mr. Pellegrino know how to thwart this clown or severely handicap the process, but this is at the expense of all of us that use aggregating readers for our daily blog fix.

As we continue to see our way of life slip into the toilet, it has become very obvious that so much of what we treasured in the past depended on integrity or just doing the right thing. Somehow, somewhere over the past 10 or 15 years all actions have become justifiable if legal or profitable. Old dinosaurs, like me, are laughed at if we bring morality into the equation. I look around me every day and see men, primarily, trying to keep above water that were trashed by corporate America and those the espouse the anything that makes a buck religion. For now, they have won – no doubt about it.

As we approach Memorial Day, I seriously wondered what all these brave soldiers died for.

It’s not a good time.

Take care……… 
 

Boy! The magic blogging landscape is becoming seriously crowded with defunct sites. I know some of them have disappeared under the guise of taking a break or a sabbatical, etc. etc., but in most cases they never return. It’s really too bad, we’ve lost some excellent writers and some of them I really miss.

This week, MagicCentric pulled the plug – supposedly it’s temporary – we’ll see. He also passed his mentalists’ forum to someone else. As I said before, I think he made a huge mistake in the elitist approach to membership.

As far as I know, there’s not a single forum with much vitality, except for the Cafe’. Haydn’s Scoundrels Forum really took off, but the last time I was there it was totally moribund – helped along by a series of technical snafus.

One site that I consistently enjoy is Scot’s Magical Mystery Tour. Articles like his recent review of the International Battle of the Magicians in Canton, Oh, make it a spot to check out frequently.

I can say, with absolute certainty, that if you enjoy the Cafe’s alternatives, you need to let the authors know. It does make a difference.

Quote of the day: 

The word ‘politics’ is derived from the word ‘poly’, meaning ‘many’, and the word ‘ticks’, meaning ‘blood sucking parasites’ 

 

Take care……… 
 

Lecture – My Butt!

This week I attended a Lecture. It doesn’t really matter who it was, as he’s not the only peddling his wares under the guise of a lecture. I blame the sponsoring clubs.

There’s something wrong with paying 20 bucks or more and seeing some clown do nothing but demo his products. The only places I know that can get away with this are Sam’s and Costco. If a club wants to have a dealer come in and show his stuff – that’s fine. Just don’t deceive the attendees into thinking they are getting a lecture.

I understand it’s difficult to make a buck and we all expect a short commercial prior to the break and at the close, but this was like attending a 2 hour pitch (actually, it would have been, but I left at the break).

Up front – even though I’m an old coot, I like David Blaine. I think he’s a capable magician and he’s good for magic – whatever that means.

Is it my kind of magic? Generally no, but there’s a lot to be learned from watching him. The fact is, I’m not in his target demographic and my approval or disapproval is totally irrelevant.

Do I wish he didn’t use camera tricks – of course, but the day he called to ask my opinion I must have been out.

Do I wish the incredible proliferation of tricks that are on the cutting floor due to lack of time would go away? Absolutely, but that’s not his fault, just the shameless and deceitful marketing we’ve come to accept and expect.

Did I watch it? Actually, no. I went to a magic lecture at a local club. It’s on my DVR and I’ll watch it soon, as I think it is mandatory for any magician to be aware of what he performed. You will be asked about it.

As expected, the blogging world has felt compelled to write about the special. From my perspective, only PeaceLove got it right. The rest was mostly inane and predictable babble.

Take care……… 
 

Political Stuff

The new poll on Bush is out today and, surprise, over 2/3 of the people think he’s a total maroon and the country is going to hell. I’m in agreement, which is hard to say for an old Goldwater conservative. The problem for the Democrats is in the last 2 paragraphs of the NY Times article:

The political situation has not helped some of the more prominent members of the Democratic Party. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who was Mr. Bush’s opponent in 2004, had a lower approval rating than Mr. Bush: 26 percent, down from 40 percent in a poll conducted right after the election.

And just 28 percent said they had a favorable view of Al Gore, one of Mr. Bush’s more vocal critics.

I doubt speaker Pelosi or President H. Clinton would do any better.

It’s real, real ugly folks.