Perhaps this is changing the topic of discussion a bit, but when it all comes down to it, I just can't stand to see another (bland) flourishing video. Artist or no artist, watching a pair of hands do some excessive card juggling is effing boring. It has no life or animation of its own. It's a series of moves. People look ridiculous just standing alone in a parking lot doing the 100,000th version of Sybil and all her distant relatives to some corny techno music in black and white. I'm tempted to call people out, but I'll digress.
What would breathe more life into XCM? I genuinely think live performances of how the flourishes play out in real life would be a fantastic contribution to the magic community. I like seeing people actually respond to amazing skills of dexterity. For instance, I know a lot of people here hate on him for allegedly being too cocky an individual, but Liam Walsh has some of the most entertaining XCM footage I've ever seen. He doesn't even do anything all that spectacular, but I feel his live performances get more props than any De'vo or Daniel Madison wannabe.
The fact that these loners film these corny solo videos does (in my opinion) detract from the performance of magic as a whole. They don't contribute anything to the craft. Referring back to the original topic, Steerpike claimed such things were just (shameful) magical masturbation. It is. And the behavior seems to be encouraged and nurtured here. Everytime a new video is posted, people automatically give it five stars for impressing them. It's undeserved. It's unfortunate too, because I see wonderful performance potential for XCM, and it's not being seized by anyone.
Going back to magic-- look at where magic is now. When you see a televised magic show, the focus of attention is rarely on the actual magic anymore. It's on the animated reactions of people watching. It wasn't always like that. Back in the early 1990s, prior to David Blaine, televised magic specials were all about the magicians onstage. In fact, it could be argued that there weren't even actual audiences at the filming of these events, because they weren't given the respect or attention they deserved. Magic was boring then. Magicians thought they just needed to add more flare, more dancing, and more glitz and glamour to get the appeal they wanted. Doing such things only further harmed the craft and made them look absolutely laughable. It wasn't until the audience was seen as a primary focus of the work that magic started gaining credibility again. I feel there is a parallel between that phase and today's younger magic and flourishing communities. The performance of magic is retrograding due to magic hacks, copycats, bedroom magicians, and television laughing-stocks like Criss Angel who (again) only performs for a camera.
My opinion.
RS.