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Funny you should say that. I also have a book out. The link in my signature is to my website and you'll find the details in the Magic section.

Criss is a polarizing figure. I personally loved his early work like Supernatural and Made in Japan. But I think the pressure of having to come up with new material season after season has caused him to take shortcuts. He's been busted numerous times for using editing and camera tricks when...

A titch judgmental, wouldn't you say? Would it not be better to encourage literacy?

Here's the menu of mind-dumps from yours truly: http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=4314 http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=4315 http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=4781 http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=4792...

I'm just glad I got to you before the real jackals in the community did. Tutorials and piracy are kind of a hot button issue right now and most people are taking very rigid black-and-white stances on it. It gets kind of ugly. Alright then. The keystone of all my advice is going to go back...

I can give you the tools you need to be a performer, yes. But you need to actually use what I tell you. And as a warning, I am brutally honest when giving advice. I don't like to mince my words because it wastes everyone's time and usually insults the other person's intelligence. So if you...

Because first of all it is not my place to teach other people's material. Second, I'm releasing a book with my own original material next month. Third, if you want to get free stuff from the magic community, you have to pay your dues and take your lumps first. I've spent the last several...

I could tell you right now how to tune a guitar to Drop D. That doesn't make you a guitarist. That doesn't mean you can immediately start playing songs by System of a Down or The Smiths. Knowing how to do something and mastering a skill set are two entirely different things.

YouTube tutorials are to learning magic what a Swiss army knife is to practicing open-heart surgery. I can guarantee you right now that you show me any YouTube tutorial webcam jockey, and not only could I teach the material better than him, I could perform it better than him. I'm not saying...

Oh. Those clowns. Most of the tutorials there are made by bedroom wannabes or are pirated directly off of a copyrighted DVD. While I have a slightly more nuanced opinion on piracy than the black and white interpretations of most of the community, I see that particular site as nothing more...

Again missing the forest for the trees.

There's a galaxy's expanse of difference between layering confusion and layering deception. Big to small isn't the only aspect of misdirection and convincers. The problem is that most coin magicians in an effort to be convincing stop at nothing... and stay there. That's playing with fire...

My skepticism alarms are going off something fierce, but I hesitate to jump headfirst into this one. You said you found more tricks online. As in more stores? Or stuff you downloaded through peer-to-peer? Or those skin-peelingly bad YouTube tutorials? Throw me a bone here.

A lot of projection going on in this thread. I perform the Biddle trick at least once a week, though whether or not that counts is debatable. I did Nathan Kranzo's variant on the haunted pack the other day and... that's about it actually since I doubt the ACR moves I learned on Crash Course...

Fifty bucks says I have one you can't do with editing. Not that it matters. You're missing the forest for the trees by insisting on this.

Spinal Tap still stands as an excellent example of improv comedy done well. Christopher Guest and crew pounded out a basic storyline and their characters and ran with it. They were also experienced actors, which is something that very few magicians are ever able to claim. Seriously...

Yes I do mind as a matter of fact. First of all, yes it would if you retroactively change the intro to all of the videos. And you would do it because it's the ethical thing to do. Lance Burton does not sponsor your videos, and frankly your disclaimers are over-promising and...

But in jazz improv, you already have to know the scales, what key you're playing in, what modes are appropriate over what chords, and what meter and tempo you're playing in. That's what I'm getting at. That's my point. To be good at improv you have to understand comedy and your subject...

Charity is the only reason for me to do a free show. I do however have a free keynote I recently developed. From the Pharaohs to Houdini - A Brief History of Magic. It's a 30 minute talk with a door prize. When presenting it to adults, it's to help me book shows. When presented to kids...

Simple. He doesn't want criticism of any kind, he just wants praise and adulation. He's a lazy teenage brat who wants respect, but doesn't want to have to work to earn it. And if you contradict his rich fantasy world wherein he actually matters, he just plugs his fingers in his ears and...