A personal tour of Blogland

There’s some good reading on some of the magic blogs right now. Of course there’s a load of crap too, but the balance isn’t quite as bad recently. Obviously, this reflects my likes and prejudices. Please take it as such.

B. D. Erland continues to write one of the most thoughtful and well constructed blogs in our strange little world. I particularly liked his article How to spend your 1st $100 in magic. This is kind of like the five foot shelf exercises, but with a very different slant. I really can’t argue with his choices, although I think I would have taken a different approach, but that’s what these articles are all about.

Andster, over at I, Magician can be a fun read. Posting has been more erratic lately, but he’s at that great age when the glands are still pumping wildly and has probably found girls a LOT more fun – at least I hope so. Like Tom Frank, he frequently puts more of himself in public than many of us are comfortable doing.

The Smiling Mule writes The Phantom Notebooks. It has become one of my favorite reads. Maybe, it’s because he’s as cranky as me. A recent article Deconstructing the Cafe was wonderful. He classifies the Cafe posters into 6 categories:

• The Morons
• The Pseudo Authority
• The Misled Nice Guy
• The Truthteller In The Shadows
• The Disenchanted Student
• The Advertiser

He actually gave names of posters in each category. It was great. Personally, I think there are missing categories such as the fawners – especially when a name shows up – I honestly thought Randy Wakeman was going to give Paul Kozak a virtual blow job when he was the monthly guest. There is the group that write vicious, nasty messages and then use a Bible cite in the signature – I give you his holiness, Stephen Youell – among others. And….. of course the industrial grade prick – Thomas Wayne come to mind. There’s much more scholarly stuff on his site – he takes his cards seriously – damn seriously. When the Mule speaks – I listen.

Jim Coles at Unexpected Wonders writes incredibly insightful and thorough essays. His recent post Performing Magic With Ease was excellent. Jim and I seem to share a lot of the same views on magic. He just expresses them better and with more class than I do! Jim has been going through a change of blogging software recently – less than fun I assure you.

The name guys seem to be MIA – Joshua Jay, Aaron Fisher, RIchard Osterlind….. Osterlind pops up once in a while hawking some of his stuff, but he hasn’t had a real post since George Bush had a thought. Joshua Jay is no more punctual with this blog than he is posting his tricks on the Magic Magazine site – last I saw he was approaching a year since updating.

Tom Frank continues to post regularly. He’s been a blog stalwart for a long time. In many respects, it’s like an autobiography being delivered page by page. As I alluded to earlier, he gives more of himself than many, including me, are willing to do. Always a fun read.

Take care………