February 08 :: Books Vs. Video

[Deleted member 2755]

I have not yet read any of the replies posted. I will read other replies after I post this because I don't wish to have my opinion toyed with before I actually post my real opinion.

I prefer video, however I feel most magicians should learn from books and for a few reasons.

DVDs werehow I started and got used to learning. I liked video because it shows specifically how to do everything, however as Wayne said, books allow you to create your own variations possibly instead of doing literally what is shown in the video. If you try to watch a video, chances are, you are going to mimic exactly what the teacher is doing. However, DVDs I feel are important because:

1. The teacher is actually talking to you. They are demonstrating things as they teach them. There are details in the video that may not be written on paper.

2. I'm a visual learner, although I can learn from books, DVDs are just a lot easier for me.

3. Entertaining. Most videos put out by sites such as E and T11 are just plain entertaining to watch because of their style. T11 videos such as Control and TnR are actually funny to watch. You don't just get the information you need.

Some people believe that books have more information than DVDs. MOST of the time this is true, but not all. You just have to know where to look. T11 obviously is for single trick DVDs and are a bit costy, but they are worth every penny. T11 has a great community, along with a media section for videos, and the DVDs they put out are awesome and entertaining. That is why I buy them. They don't release just small DVDs that aren't worth the price. TnR is totally worth it as it is just so outside the box. Control.... Pulse stop is awesome! Panic is just... oh man I highly recommend it as a great opener. The work that goes into these things are amazing. However, if you want tons of information, there are DVDs out there. Card Stunts by Greg Wilson, a lot of DVDs by Jay Sankey, DVDs from Oz over at Penguin Magic, and more.

There are DVDs that have lots of good information out there. People just tend to focus on the single trick DVDs.

However, despite the fact I like DVDs A LOT more than books, I will have to face the facts that books are more important. We have many people out there that buy these DVDs and then expose the secrets on Youtube. Have you seen any tricks from books exposed? I bet you haven't and if you have I doubt you have seen half as many exposures from books as you have for DVDs.

DVDs are also important though. They get new people into magic. It's how I got started. Most people when they start magic quit once they get passed the self working effects. However, a select few stay with it and continue to work. I am one of those people. I am also starting to stray away from DVDs (although I will continue to buy them). I started learning from The Royal Road to Card Magic, and soon I will purchase my 2nd book. However, I am still perfecting other things right now such as my ACR which I have from Crash Course 2 (which has a lot of stuff in there, I recommend it).

So I feel DVDs and books are equally important, however, I think that more experienced magicians should learn from books. The sooner you move to books the better because then you won't have your tricks revealed on the internet.

DVDs are my strong point, but I am willing to stray from it and exercise my brain to get used to learning from books like most magicians years ago learned.

Cerca Trova.

-Doug

 

[Mshade]

I don't think their is a competition in between them. I usually like to learn from books because a) I like reading and b) I can read it anywhere. Plus, in many instances you can get a lot more bang for your buck when buying books over a DVD.

In many instances I learn from videos too. Usually however I only use videos when the move that the book is trying to explain is hard to imagine. I also use videos to watch other magicians perform and learn from their mistakes and if I see something that I like I will incorporate that or take that idea and make my own version of it. Also, you can learn a lot of the timing and psychological subtleties from watching videos that you just cannot learn from a book.

So really I can't choose on over the other as they are both invaluable tools. I thing I must say is that I wish that I had a teacher along the way, someone who could take my under their wing and really watch me perform and teach me what I'm doing right and wrong. The problem is that all the information is out in books or on the internet that most magicians have never been truly taught what they know from a professional that knows them.

 

[roby11]

Both are great. Magicians have to come to realize that technology is advancing. In the future illusions will get more advanced and gimmicks will be more technologically advanced. We will still be many steps ahead of the spectator. Books vs Video is not only a great debate with magic but with Novels. The Novel is always better than the release on the big screen. Everyone knows why. Novels are more detailed and we get to use our brain to decide what the characters are going to look like as for videos we are watching someones vision on what they thought characters looked like and everything goes according to the way their mind thought it up. This is great because we have people out there who learn in different ways. I also feel its the same way with magic. The sleights you are seeing on video are the way THEY want to perform it. They just both are really great.

The Art of Astonishment is an awesome read, but its also great to see Paul harris bring out these effects in real situations in his video.

Its up to your good judgement to decide what looks good written on paper and what looks good in yur repertoire.

books and videos both have their pros and cons.

 

[Steerpike]

I have just as many books as I do DVDs. I say that both have their advantages and I have a whole slew of derogatory words for those who fall hook, line, and sinker for the dellusion that limiting themselves to one makes them an inherently better magician than everyone who has gone cross-platform as it were.

I notice that most of the arguments levelled against DVDs are made by people who only reference single-trick DVDs. These are the same people who seldom acknowledge that there are a lot of booklets out there that also teach only a single effect.

DVDs are, as some have mentioned, ideal for beginners. What many pros fail to realize is that the human mind learns through emulation. For the true beginner, actually seeing a performance is incredibly valuable. You always hear the complaints that they'll turn out to be clones, but that ignores the fact that with consistent performance, that which does not suit you is slowly stripped away. This fact has been pointed out by Justin Miller, Garrett Thomas, and numerous other magicians, so I don't see why so few people seem to ever admit this.

The appropriate medium also depends heavily on what's being taught. Jeff McBride's Art of Card Manipulation DVDs are considered a must-have for card workers. Jeff himself points out that when he first began learning stage manipulation, many moves simply did not translate well into print and were utterly indecipherable. It wasn't until he actually saw the moves performed that he was able to understand what was going on. In this way, DVDs are the ideal way to teach that material.

On the flip side of the coin, the material in The Garden of the Strange relies very heavily on power of suggestion and theatricality that is more efficient to describe in text. It works better in a book as its easier to get more information into a small space in the context of the routines. Caleb Strange also assumes the reader is already a competent performer with a strong grasp of personal style, and rightly so as the material is not for beginners.

At this point you should have figured out that a huge sticking point in this particular debate for me is that almost nobody considers who the teaching material is targeting, what it's trying to teach, and how it plans to teach it. This makes all the difference, but nobody seems to care.

 

[DavidMisner]

It really depends on what you're trying to learn, and what you are interested in.

Often times, DVDs will not have as much material on them, but the teaching will be much much better. I think in general seeing something performed rather than reading how it should look is much easier.

Books will usually have fairly decent teaching, as well as much more material for a cheaper price. Books like the AoA and TOOC have great teaching, as well as a butt-load of material to look through and try.

A perfect example of this would be a story Wayne told us. He said that when he and Dana were younger, they would sit down, and each learn an effect from AoA (Art of Astonishment). They would perform it for each other, and then teach each other the effect. Books can keep you busy for so much longer.

As a personal preference, I would probably go with a book more than a DVD. In my opinion, books refer to all written material, ranging from full length "novels" to ebooks and lecture notes. I like being able to sit down and just browse through at my own pace.

Also, it depends on the artist and trick. I'm sure Wayne could write a phenomenal book, but I prefer his visual teaching on DVDs. It's much the same with Danny Garcia. You can't appreciate his sense of humor through a book.

Some tricks work better in books than others. I have found that knuckle-busting card and coin magic are much easier to learn through a book, while the simple, visual, impossible effects such as Torn and Control are easier to learn through DVD teaching.

I'm sure you guys have your own opinions, and these are just a few of my thoughts.

David

PS_ "Cerca Trova":: The Circumcision of a Small Rodent

 

[Dana Hocking]

My 2 cents on how YouTube fits into this equation:

There are two major problems with learning magic from YouTube.

Problem 1: It sucks.

Problem 2: It will probably also suck in the future.

Since I'm preaching to the choir here, we're all just going to assume that those two premises are and will always remain true and that I win the hypothetical argument right here and now. Still, I'm going to keep typing.

The issue here is the system of psychological rewards that magic offers to its performer. Assuming that your performance is terrible and your patter is terrible and you're on autopilot the whole time spewing canned lines and corny jokes that haven't actually made anyone laugh in over a decade but you just barely perform the actual effect well enough to fool people, it's still possible to get a good reaction.

People like seeing things that they don't understand. As a race, we're naturally curious. That feeling of astonishment is incredible and its becoming progressively more difficult to find in our modern world. This means that some people will put up with an awkward, otherwise entirely non-entertaining wreck of a performance just to see if they can be fooled again. The bar for getting a reward (a positive audience reaction) for your performance is often very low because of the inherent nature of magic and the effect that it has on people.

Now, because the poor performer is often rewarded, he makes no attempt at getting better. He (which I use as a generic pronoun, there are bad female magicians too) continues to learn magic from people who are often just as inexperienced as him, never really knowing or understanding what these effects could have been.

Instead of an interesting moment in the middle of a bad performance, he could have created something genuinely affective and dynamic. A moment that his spectators will remember for years to come. A story that they will begin telling by saying, "I met the most interesting person yesterday," instead of saying, "Some annoying guy did something really cool yesterday."

For a perfect example of this, I would recommend that people check out Control by Wayne Houchin. Watch that DVD. Learn the effect. Then ask yourself if just the secret alone would have been enough to create the same type of impact that he has on his audience.

Dana

 

[DavidMisner]

My 2 cents on how YouTube fits into this equation:

There are two major problems with learning magic from YouTube.

Problem 1: It sucks.

Problem 2: It will probably also suck in the future.

Since I'm preaching to the choir here, we're all just going to assume that those two premises are and will always remain true and that I win the hypothetical argument right here and now. Still, I'm going to keep typing.

The issue here is the system of psychological rewards that magic offers to its performer. Assuming that your performance is terrible and your patter is terrible and you're on autopilot the whole time spewing canned lines and corny jokes that haven't actually made anyone laugh in over a decade but you just barely perform the actual effect well enough to fool people, it's still possible to get a good reaction.

People like seeing things that they don't understand. As a race, we're naturally curious. That feeling of astonishment is incredible and its becoming progressively more difficult to find in our modern world. This means that some people will put up with an awkward, otherwise entirely non-entertaining wreck of a performance just to see if they can be fooled again. The bar for getting a reward (a positive audience reaction) for your performance is often very low because of the inherent nature of magic and the effect that it has on people.

Now, because the poor performer is often rewarded, he makes no attempt at getting better. He (which I use as a generic pronoun, there are bad female magicians too) continues to learn magic from people who are often just as inexperienced as him, never really knowing or understanding what these effects could have been.

Instead of an interesting moment in the middle of a bad performance, he could have created something genuinely affective and dynamic. A moment that his spectators will remember for years to come. A story that they will begin telling by saying, "I met the most interesting person yesterday," instead of saying, "Some annoying guy did something really cool yesterday."

For a perfect example of this, I would recommend that people check out Control by Wayne Houchin. Watch that DVD. Learn the effect. Then ask yourself if just the secret alone would have been enough to create the same type of impact that he has on his audience.

Dana

Well said Dana well said.

By the way, we missed you yesterday at the party. Good luck with the music stuff!

David

 

[Deleted member 2755]

Well said Dana. Presentation is everything. As Wayne said, if you just stopped your pulse sand said "I am one with Dead." (I laughed at that part), the reaction is.... nothing. I know that a lot of people are disappointed with the method of Control (personally I'm not as I was expecting something simple), but with the correct presentation, you can make it into a miracle.

That's the problem with a lot of new magicians as well. A lot of people think knowing the secret to something is everything. Knowing the secret is only part of it. People need to get used to this.

-Doug

 

[DavidMisner]

Well said Dana. Presentation is everything. As Wayne said, if you just stopped your pulse sand said "I am one with Dead." (I laughed at that part), the reaction is.... nothing. I know that a lot of people are disappointed with the method of Control (personally I'm not as I was expecting something simple), but with the correct presentation, you can make it into a miracle.

That's the problem with a lot of new magicians as well. A lot of people think knowing the secret to something is everything. Knowing the secret is only part of it. People need to get used to this.

-Doug

Speaking of funny presentations for Control, I'd like to share Randall's with you all:

"Do you believe in the dead?"
"....Yes?"
"Well, there are dead people."
"....."
"I'm going to die for you!"

David

 

[Deleted member 2755]

Speaking of funny presentations for Control, I'd like to share Randall's with you all:

"Do you believe in the dead?"
"....Yes?"
"Well, there are dead people."
"....."
"I'm going to die for you!"

David

LOL! Perfect example. Good call there Dave. I laughed so hard

This is how you perform Control. Dress like Randall, chase someone down as they are going into a store and ask them if they believe in the dead. See what happens.

-Doug

 

[DavidMisner]

LOL! Perfect example. Good call there Dave. I laughed so hard

This is how you perform Control. Dress like Randall, chase someone down as they are going into a store and ask them if they believe in the dead. See what happens.

-Doug

Better yet, stand on the corner saying, "Magic show, right here. Only 5 dollars!"

Or, you can burst out laughing while you are "dying". That always gets 'em.

David

 

[Medifro]

As an avid reader and DVD watcher, let me say what I think about this debate in simple points.

The fact that there is a visual learner is simply crap, as Simon Lovell say, simply an excuse for someone who's too lazy to learn how to read a book. Learning from books is not hard at all, but its hard because people think its hard. With that in mind, what I HATE about magicians, is many say "Don't watch DVDs, read books", this is rubbish at itself.

Lets compare:

Books:
- Deteiled explanations of sleights and effects. ( Timing is taught too, but seeing it is better )
- Alot more effects in one book.
- Alot of great books are not in DVD form, like Carnycopia. Some are, but the DVD doesn't explore all the items in the book ( Steel and Silver by Paul Gartner ).
- Added deteils on the explanation of effects ( Darwin Ortiz books contain "Analysis" section, which is very valuble, yet not in the DVD set.

DVDs:
- Many great effects are on DVD form rather than book form.
- Learn the timing of doing the sleight, which although explained in books, seeing it done is different.
- See the performance section, which is always a joy to watch, not to mention its a superb learning experience.

So, with that in mind, a magician limiting himself to books only is wrong, a magician limting himself to DVDs is wrong. Because not only he's missing out great magic effects on both forms, but he's missing the detailed explanation of books, and enjoying performances and learning timing in dvds. Thats why many books actually have a performance DVD.

 

[Dom Kabala]

So, with that in mind, a magician limiting himself to books only is wrong, a magician limting himself to DVDs is wrong. Because not only he's missing out great magic effects on both forms, but he's missing the detailed explanation of books, and enjoying performances and learning timing in dvds. Thats why many books actually have a performance DVD.

I don't believe a person limiting himself to books or DVDs is wrong, they are just confining themselves. I own both, (books & DVDs) but I prefer to learn from books. Darwin Ortiz summed it up as written in my signature...
Dom Kabala

 

[jimbowmanjr]

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? Which method of learning do you prefer & why? How do you think YouTube plays into this? Also, what are your thoughts on the lack of physical magic mentors? It use to be fairly commonplace for an upcoming student of magic to "apprentice" under a professional. Are videos taking the place of the physical mentors? Is this a good thing for the art?

Been a busy weekend sorry for getting in late on the discussion here

When I first started out I learned by books and through personal instruction from "that uncle" who knew a few tricks. This was quite a long time ago and well before there were videos to teach sleights that were as widely available as they are today. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread to be able to pickup a book and learn the secrets of magic.

Today I still feel that the core of my learning comes from books but I supplement that learning with videos to get down the timing and watch how a magician moves about during the course of their presentation.

Books have and should continue to remain the core of learning for individuals serious about learning magic. There are far too many excellent books out there to ignore them simply because there is a HD video that looks flashy and teaches a few tricks. Books also force you to think a bit more about what it is you are learning by reconstructing the effects and sleights almost blindly aside from the few illustrations usually provided.

DVD and assorted videos can't and shouldn't be ignored simply because the old school of thinking dictates that books were where magic started and where most of the currently well established magicians found their way. Video gives you the visual presentation that alleviates that need for imagination when constructing how an effect should be performed. Video also often gives you critical timing and pauses that should take place during routines. On top of all that you get to watch magic which as Wayne said all of us enjoy and likely what got us into magic in the first place.

Personal interaction with another magician is a priceless part of learning magic and finding your way in magic in my opinion. Whether it is through lectures, sessioning, or just hanging out at a convention with other magicians. If you ever have the means or there is a magician nearby you that you can spend time with I would highly encourage it. Over my time in magic I have been very fortunate to spend time with magicians who have given me advice and insights I would never find in a book or on a video. These insights are the result of real world experience, successes, and failures these individuals have had throughout their careers in magic. Marc DeSouza, Nick Verna, Justin Miller, Danny Garcia, John Born, and Steve Duschek are just a few of the guys I have spent time with either in person or through e-mails and learned some of the most valuable lessons I will carry with me for my entire life. Now they may not have know what their influence was or that they were mentoring me in some fashion but I think that is entirely on us as students of magic to take in everything you are told and digest it to make yourself a better magician and performer. I would say that anyone who dismisses the value of learning in person from another magician is doing themselves the most extreme disservice towards their progression as a magician.

I think distance learning can work provide it is dynamic and not static content. There has to be some measure of back and forth either via e-mail, phone calls, or video conferencing. Distance learning isn't as valuable to me when I get the same cookie cutter video that everyone else is going to get with a few added changes here and there. This isn't personal training and it certainly isn't one-on-one education in magic. This is no different than learning from a multi-effect/sleight DVD. Without the back and forth you aren't really sessioning or brainstorming to push yourself in magic. Without that individual to push you and motivate you to better I find it difficult to envision real growth in magic. Performing for friends who pat you on the back or give you a complimentary "nice one" isn't real constructive towards getting better on magic. Performing for someone who will tell you the real deal and not mince words about what was good and bad in your performance is worth it's weight in gold.

I think the reason you don't see more of this these days is because we are living in the world of being politically correct and scared to hurt anyone's feelings. How is that type of approach really going to help anyone? I am not trying to say people should be an ass to one another, just be honest and tactfully give your opinion in a constructive manner.

I don't think it is a good thing period of videos do take the place of personal education. I think it takes away from the social aspect of magic and the brotherhood of magic. Getting out and talking with other magicians is part of socializing and developing those social networking skills. Learning from a video sitting in your office or bedroom isn't giving you any of that. Again though this gets back to the way our society is headed where socializing is headed more towards text messaging, internet forums, cell phones, and all around asynchronous communication. My advice, get out of the house and socialize to develop those "people skills" that I find so many people in the younger generation seriously lack these days because they were bottled up playing the Xbox or computer games talking over some chat server.

Anyways just some random thoughts from the edge....

--Jim

 

[adjones]

I'm like Wayne... I would prefer a book over a DVD any day. I think that a lot of the newer magicians are spoiled being able to learn from DVDs and all that. When I first started five years ago, which admittedly, isn't that long ago, I didn't know there were such things as DVDs to help me learn magic, cool custom decks, Instant Donwloads... all available at the click of a mouse.

I started with Nicholas Einhorn's Practical Encyclopedia of Magic... a very condensed version of Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. For two whole years, I learned from that and that only. My only performance material came from that book. Looking back on those two years, it makes me appreciate DVDs even more.

Maybe it was because of how I got started in magic that I prefer to learn from books. I'm just more comfortable sitting down and reading it, learning a few things as I go along.

However, DVDs do have great advantages. Things such as visually seeing how to do sleights, moves, what the effect looks like in real time. You get to see how the performers pull off the effects, what their body language is, etc.

And because of those things, I don't mind learning from DVDs at all... in fact, I enjoy them immensely. But I still prefer books over them... for reasons listed before, and because they give you more material for your money.

Just my two cents...

 

[Ampersan5340]

I enjoy both but I think book's could hold more trick's and cost less.

I only have one book and it's very old, published in the 90's, surprisingly I found it in my garage and read it.

It was spectascular, it didn't look appealing but I learned 3 new forces and a lot of great new tricks.

It also had a variation of the luke jermay's poker deal. But the trick itself has been around for a long time

 

[Steerpike]

But I still prefer books over them... for reasons listed before, and because they give you more material for your money.

I've been turning this over in my mind for a while now, and I'd like to put forward this consideration:

When you buy a DVD, is it the quantity of material, or is it the quality of the teching of that one effect or small handful of routines that matters more?

I know people have been throwing the Simon Lovell quote around a lot, the one about people who learn from DVDs being lazy. I personally think that's mostly crap, but there's a grain of truth.

The visual learning principle can become a crutch for some, but the fact is that most beginners as I've stated do best learning by example. Raise up your hand and place your palm on the top of your head. Easy, right? But there was a time in your life where you couldn't do that. You had to figure out how to will the muscles in your arm to move. Then you had to control your fingers and hand enough to keep the palm open. Then you had to be able to coordinate your arm to move in the direction of your head. Then you had to gain enough awareness of your body that even though the crown of your head was out of visual range, you could still locate it without having to fumble around for it.

And how did you do all of that? You learned by mimicking the movements of adults. You saw the way they moved and instinctively tried to copy that. You slowly gained awareness of your body and were able to develop your motor skills. When your mother touched her ears, you could do the same. When she touched her nose, you could do it too.

Eventually, it was this gradual mastery of motor skills, coordination, and spacial awareness that allowed you to learn to walk.

Humans are programmed by nature to learn by emulation. This is what DVD instruction offers us. And though this is most natural and advantageous for the novice, the advanced practitioner would have to be a complete rube to believe he has nothing to learn from the medium himself.

 

[DavidMisner]

As an avid reader and DVD watcher, let me say what I think about this debate in simple points.

The fact that there is a visual learner is simply crap, as Simon Lovell say, simply an excuse for someone who's too lazy to learn how to read a book. Learning from books is not hard at all, but its hard because people think its hard. With that in mind, what I HATE about magicians, is many say "Don't watch DVDs, read books", this is rubbish at itself.

Lets compare:

Books:
- Deteiled explanations of sleights and effects. ( Timing is taught too, but seeing it is better )
- Alot more effects in one book.
- Alot of great books are not in DVD form, like Carnycopia. Some are, but the DVD doesn't explore all the items in the book ( Steel and Silver by Paul Gartner ).
- Added deteils on the explanation of effects ( Darwin Ortiz books contain "Analysis" section, which is very valuble, yet not in the DVD set.

DVDs:
- Many great effects are on DVD form rather than book form.
- Learn the timing of doing the sleight, which although explained in books, seeing it done is different.
- See the performance section, which is always a joy to watch, not to mention its a superb learning experience.

So, with that in mind, a magician limiting himself to books only is wrong, a magician limting himself to DVDs is wrong. Because not only he's missing out great magic effects on both forms, but he's missing the detailed explanation of books, and enjoying performances and learning timing in dvds. Thats why many books actually have a performance DVD.

I think that's BS. Being a visual learner means you can absorb more information by seeing pictures and videos instead of just reading. I'm sure there are lazy people who don't want to read, but there are also people who do better when they are watching something.

In school, I'm like that. Textbooks don't really help me, but informational videos and the like do.

David

 

[Deleted member 2755]

I think that's BS. Being a visual learner means you can absorb more information by seeing pictures and videos instead of just reading. I'm sure there are lazy people who don't want to read, but there are also people who do better when they are watching something.

In school, I'm like that. Textbooks don't really help me, but informational videos and the like do.

David

Math comes to me a lot easier when my teacher writes it on the board and does example problems rather than me read it out of my textbook. I am as well a visual learner. I can learn from text and pictures in magic books, but it is a lot more difficult. However, I can cope with it.

-Doug

 

[CDarklock]

What are your opinions on the current state of how magic is being taught in a 'distance learning' environment and the serious lack of actual 1-on-1 training and performance?

I think a lot of people who would have simply walked away from magic twenty years ago have options now. I don't think they are the best options, but they're something - and they're better than anything else we've had. Ever.

Nobody ever really developed a passion for magic out of a book. They developed it from seeing a performance, from having that bar set before them. YouTube puts those performances in front of more people than anyone else, and that means it awakens those passions more than any of us ever could. How many of us are going to be in Medford, Oregon this year? Or, like, ever?

YouTube is. YouTube is everywhere. So when some kid in Medford thinks "I'd like to know how that David Blaine trick works", he can go to YouTube. And most of the time, he'll watch the levitation trick and go "oh... that's lame" and he's done. But every so often, he'll go "that was lame, but what about this?" and keep checking out different stuff.

What makes the difference is when he thinks "I could do that". That's the magic moment (no pun intended). But he has to be interested. He has to see the trick, seek out the explanation, and then go try it himself. If you make it hard to seek out the explanation, sure, you only get the most devoted and dedicated people - because a lot of only slightly less devoted and dedicated people can't get in at all.

It's always worried us when more people are allowed into the fold. When IBM first said you could get in just by having a couple people agree you knew a few things, there was concern. When SAM said you can just pay your dues (yes, SAM is older than IBM, but it had much stricter membership requirements in its early days... similar to those of the Magic Circle in London, England), there was concern. And when local magic clubs started saying you can just show up... yeah, you guessed it, there was concern. YouTube doesn't even make you show up; all you have to do is look.

But each and every time we've opened the doors wider, it's been good for us. It's made magic stronger and better.

So I'm very much in favor of YouTube, no matter what people do with it. I think it will go the same way as any other mass communication outlet: first it will be used to "fight the power" and "buck the system" and "stick it to the man" by stupid and immature people, and then over time the power and the system and the man will co-opt it for their own profit-motivated purposes. Somewhere in the middle, Good Things will happen, and around the time we're all agreed it's gone down the toilet - an alternative will appear.

I think the short and inexpensive one-on-one format Theory11 is pursuing is a better option than the $60 magic course DVD or the $30 single-trick DVD, even though - when you really get detailed about it - you're paying a lot more for it.

Do the math. You buy a $60 DVD to learn magic, and it's got four to six hours of stuff. That's 16 to 25 cents a minute. You buy a $30 single trick video, it's got an hour and a half - 32 cents a minute. A $5 one-on-one?

Well, the average here on Theory11 is 9 minutes (exactly nine minutes, shockingly enough: 19 videos totaling 171 minutes), or 55 cents a minute. The best value is the 24 minute card fundamentals, at just over 20 cents a minute - about the same cost per minute as the $60 instructional DVD - and the worst value (on a pure cost-per-minute basis) is the 2 minute Hugh Scott shuffle at a whopping $2.48 per minute.

And yet... I doubt anyone who bought the Hugh Scott 1-on-1 is complaining about it. Because the complaints about the other formats are largely that you paid for minutes you didn't want. I'll bet the Hugh Scott shuffle 1-on-1 is exactly what it says it is: two minutes of instruction on how to do it. No bloopers or gag reels or outtakes or performance videos. Just pure balls-to-the-wall "do this". Zero filler.

And that's the future of instruction. We just plain don't want the hype anymore. More and more people are saying "just shut up and give me what I wanted". Split that $60 DVD into sixty individual lessons and sell them for $5 apiece, you get $300 for the exact same thing. But because I get to pick and choose the ones I want, I can skip all the ones I think are stupid, and all the ones I already know, so I don't pay $300 for it. Chances are I pay around $60, because I only want a dozen or so lessons.

But even though I paid just as much for less stuff, I'm happy. I don't pay $60 and say "80% of this DVD was crap I didn't want". I pay $60 and every single thing I got was something I wanted. I like that. It's what the modern consumer expects: everything I want and nothing I don't. People are willing to pay extra not to have all the crap.

And here's Theory11 right on the cutting edge. Go-go gadget magic.