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I agree, it would seem like a bad idea to overemphasize any one part of the relatively complex interaction that is a magic trick. (I haven't been around for a while, but I read this and also checked out the What Does Your Deck Say About You? essay, which is also a great read that goes...

Hey, thanks! (Sure, I'm the one who's almost two months late. Figures . . . .) Hope all is well at HQ.

Actually, you're getting great advice. If you know a trick but can't do it, then you don't actually know it. The responses haven't been bashing--they've been teaching. Sometimes you learn the most by not getting your question answered.

S p e a k s l o w l y . I can guarantee that you speak faster than you think you do. Just slow down. It'll improve your performance, and your audience will thank you for it.

Review: Dan.com The Effect: mere days after watching him shuffled back into the middle of a deck, the spectator sees one twin disappear entirely with nothing but a wave. EXTREMELY visual. 5/5 The Method: it involves a bit of preparation--not impromptu. You also end dirty. It can also be a...

That may be true for one-artist-one-handling DVDs, but I suspect it would be less true for a DVD that actually had five or so different handlings by five different artists. Sure, there will always be some monkey-see people who buy any DVD, but there's nothing that can be done about that. As long...

This isn't quite a product review, nor is it a product question, but it is something that perhaps might become even more useful after some thoughtful input from folks here on the forums. One of the advantages that I see Theory 11 having over other sites is that its Artists are also good...

I've actually never watched one of your videos. To be honest, I don't watch most of the videos posted here. But dude, come on: you do magic just so people will look at you and talk about you, regardless of what they're saying? And thus you triumph? The explanation reeks a bit of "I know you are...

And . . . *plop*. Hey Steerpike! Got an over/under on when the next "let's ban YouTube exposure" thread starts up?

The members of this forum might not go to FISM, but the Artists probably do. Some of them might even have material that was distributed or released at FISM. As unconvincing as I find the usual "'we' should do sumthing about xpozur!" (with the "we" in scare quotes) posts, this one is a little...

I think what Morgician had to say is quite good, so I'm going to say more or less the same thing, but in a different key. Sometimes hearing the same thing from different people in different ways can help spark ideas. Consider that both identities are "you," no choice necessary. You are...

And you don't have to install a separate #$%^&*! bloatware viewer of some sort and #$%^&*! around with DRMs that end up forcing you to buy the DVD anyway because your videos are only watchable on a laptop that is two laptops in the past. Not that I have any personal experience with this. Or...

At this point, though, we're moving into the part that is at the performer's discretion--it's tough to make blanket statements here. For some people, such a presentation will be practical; for most, though, it will not be. I'm not really rapping them either way, and your views seems fairly...

Unquestionably. But I'm also a sucker for concept, character, and depth exceeding a puddle. Yes, though this sort of boils down to whether or not it's worth it to you. It's easier--a path of less resistance, in a sense--to bend spoons and swallow razors as a yogi. More or less, they were...

"Was it the . . . Two of Hearts?"

Now we add a third variable in: to persona and prop we add the audience . . . . . . . and I would probably not perform such a persona in front of an audience where I thought there would be many people actually acquainted with Indian culture, for exactly that reason. I could pull off...

Hmm . . . . Change the prop, but not the routine: use small pillows made from sari cloth, one of which is embroidered with Ganesha. "In Mumbai I learned this game . . . ." Or pieces torn from a warm naan that is on the table from the start--allowing the magician to eat the pieces one by one ...

Good stuff, and not incompatible with Goffman's writings on the everyday self as performance/mask--which is pretty salient to this discussion as well as others. I think you're right about the niche performers, such as magicians, occupy, but I think we can be a bit more nuanced about the...

Hm. I'll bite. I think the assertion sweeps too far, and incorporates too many assumptions to do much useful work. TeeDee said: "anyone who strives for success in any area is only doing it for themselves." I guess I think that depends on how much you credit what someone says their...

Hah! Well played. It didn't sound like your typical writing style, but I chalked that up to trying to make the specific point rather than paraphrasing a specific source. Nicely done.