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Have it your way, but I leave you with this thought: Opinions are not shields to hide behind. No one can argue taste, but when you try to tell other people what they should and should not do, saying it's your opinion is never good enough. To someone who knows you as nothing more than a...

If you can dig those points out of all the bogus strawman arguments, gross misrepresentations of facts, and thinly veiled attacks. Back on the topic, I once again extend my offer. I have a scripting for my Ghost deck that has neutralized all suspicion so far. If you would like to hear it...

This is actually very telling of your character. I have nothing more to say to you. Get back in touch with me in five years when you've had some time to grow up.

Lesson 5 – Build Your Reputation and Tolerate No Disrespect of It Reputation is possibly the most powerful self-advertising on the face of the earth. Just the name of David Copperfield or Lance Burton is synonymous with spectacular showmanship. It’s a level you must aspire to, even if on a...

Lesson 2 – Be Unpredictable As I said before, most people shuffle through this world living in roles assigned to them by others. You must be the master of your personality, and to that effect you must show a degree of unpredictability. Again, let’s look at David Blaine. His initial fame...

A huge part of success is self-promotion. You have to know how to advertise yourself, how to network, and how to build up a reputation that precedes you. This is hard work, make no mistake, but it is essential to success. What we’re effectively looking at here is marketing your self, or...

Merely pointing out that if you want to name drop as an argument, I can do the same thing. It's rather pointless.

I'm going to have to agree with this one. I recall a conversation back in the day. I was arguing privately with another magician. He was slagging off another known name (I won't say who) and insisting that this performer was a bad magician overall. I told him that my parents saw videos of...

I was under the impression that a large reason for using doves was because they didn't put up a fight like other species of birds would. As cool as producing a peregrine falcon would be, you'd end up in the emergency room just trying to get the bird into position for the production. And it...

I'm holding you to that. The true comedy of this situation becomes apparent. Normally, people take several posts before they start contadicting themselves, rather than a couple sentences. Dur dur durr!! This is why I never brag about my skills online. Your word is never good enough, and...

People who say Blaine can't present magic don't understand the power of silence.

I'm going to echo Allan on this one. Care to define teaching someone the wrong way? I started out on E DVDs. I may not be a knuckle-busting card manipulation wizard, but I like to think I know what I'm doing as a showman. If you want to contribute absolutely nothing to a discussion, parrot...

That's the thing, though. Many collectors only care about the fact that it's made to be a collector's item. They really don't care what company made it. I don't buy into the paradigm because I'm a little more practical, but I understand it.

Dude, don't panic, but there's a huge chip on your shoulder. I'm going to try to brush it off before it stings you. The Black Ghost was intitially created as a collector's item. Since you didn't actually do your homework, I did it for you. The Black Ghosts were originally released as...

Consider this: I've posted numerous articles of my own. They never get very far. Simply put, an essay forum would be redundant because the forums are going through some growing pains. More people want to know what's coming down the pipeline than read another essay. There's a period here of...

Granted. How does this apply to the teaching of that which is so old we can no longer trace the creators? I can name a few whom I would be willing to wager will survive the test of time. I own material from a few of them as well. Of course. When I said that performance was the...

I don't actually own the DVD set. I'm just playing the devil's advocate since nobody else will. But if what we're concerned with is pureness of message, why are the voices of yestertear's experts more valid than those of today's? And through performance, don't we eventually come to our own...

I'm just going to let this stand on its own and trust the rest of you to figure out what I'm implying. But in the end, performance is the crucible. Quite a bold statemnt. Also difficult to prove. This sounds more like a rant about Lord of the Rings than magic. What of textbook...

But what good is theory without execution? The two are inseparably linked. It's not enough to read theory, you have to witness it through field-testing and personal experience. Part of this is watching others perform. Does the printed word convey complex theory better? Generally, yes...

So there's nothing to be learned or gained from watching a performance outside of the purely mechanical? And am I to believe that books are the only way understanding can be achieved? I recall when I first started taking this seriously. I watched performances very intensely and studied...