Bizzaro.'s guide to making your own download links

 One of the things I am pretty proficient at is finding ways to make various things, both physical and technological, do stuff it wasn't intended for. 

"Just like Michelangelo saw the angel in the stone, I look at a guy like Kevin Costner and see a giant peach grub who can fart the Blue Danube!" - Elijah C. Skuggs 

 Much like Karl Marx, I tend to believe the means of production should be in the hands of the people, at least when it comes to selling your own magic products. Obviously not everyone has that desire or ability but for those that do, here is a hot tip for all of you. 

 In an attempt to move into the modern age I decided to make a lot of my DVDs into downloadable videos. To do this I looked into various shopping cart software that wouldn't ding me left and right and that is when I found the company Vibralogix. They have a few code based programs and one of them is called "Vibracart Pro". 

One of the many things you can do with this program is send a download to someone in case something messes up or you just need to send a gift to someone. I realized that it generates a unique download code every time you do this. I realized I could use this to make download slips for my physical products that I sell in my lecture. It also lets me control how many times the download can be accessed and how long until it self destructs. When combined with something like a Tinyurl shortener, I can print out slips and even have QR codes. I made a video below to show you just how easy it is!

 Why is this important you ask? It adds another layer to prevent theft. Obviously once one person has it, they can send/give it to their friends and there isn't much you can do about that. However, this prevents them from just sharing the download link as if it was a password protected YT or Vimeo link. This adds an extra step which might deter some since it has a download limit. 

It will take some set-up but the manual is very robust and yes, they do have a Wordpress plugin to interface with the backend if you prefer that. The nice thing is you never have to implement the shopping cart anywhere if you just need the codes. (I've even used this shopping cart as a personal materials calculator for our escape room company on a private page)

There are places like Amazon that can also kind of do this, but you have to give them money and for a bit more effort, you get to retain control over everything.

If that's your kind of kink, then you might just like this set-up. 

Independent thought....

Vegas is a small community and we all mostly know each other. If someone needs to know something we can get hold of each other pretty easy. Obviously in the rest of the world not stuck in the middle of a desert, it's different. One thing we talk a lot about when we gather is on the subject of creating and crediting. Obviously independent thought happens all the time. Collective conscious and all that jazz. 

However, I just would like to say to everyone who thinks that creating something in a vacuum without seeing someone else's idea gives you the right to publish or sell it... 

IT F$%#ING DOESN'T!!

I don't care if a biblically accurate angel came to you on a DMT bender one night and graced your mind with this golden idea, if you didn't create it first, IT'S NOT YOURS!

"What about things like UBER and Lyft?" That's a service, not an art.

"Well Coke and RC cola..." That's a product, not an art.

"What about..." I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR BULLSHIT WHATABOUT-ISMS THAT YOU TELL YOURSELF THAT CONVINCE YOU IT'S OK!

If you don't get permission from the originator, you are stealing. Plain and simple. All you have to do is reach out and ask for their blessing. Usually they will just ask for credit. Sometimes they will say no and if they say NO, stay... the fugg... away from it. Sometimes you can partner up with them to improve and collaborate on it. Hey great! 

To all of you armchair dickbags on internet forums, the moment I hear any of you say "Well no one owns ideas and blah blah blah" all I ever think is "Spoken like someone who has never created anything good in their life". Take your cover band ass to the back of the line. 

If someone says to you, "Oh that's like so-and so's thing..." and you don't reach out to the originator, then you KNOW you are in the wrong and just don't wanna be told so. That's your inner Jimminy Cricket telling you you're a POS you're ignoring. Just listen to it and...

 

Sage advice...

 This might be my new favorite YT channel. 

Come at me bruh...

Having something be a "hit" in today's world is a double edged sword. You get a bump of clout, but you also get a slew of idiots coming up behind you to steal and expose your creations on the internet.

Knock-offs have been running rampant through our industry for some time obviously but it always baffles me when I see anyone defending it. I'll see other magicians in the comments taking the side of the thieves and ex-posers. This even happens in private magic forums! Some tourists defend shitty behavior and I am here to say something to ANY of you I see doing that, no matter where it is...

D-E-D

 

When I see someone defending the theft of another's creation without their consent or permission all I think to myself is, "Spoken like someone who has never created a thing in their life". I am sure our paths will never cross but you better HOPE I don't recognize you if we ever do. You are not a magician, you are a slug doing card tricks and the way you interact with others online tells me plenty about you and your mindset and I'm pretty sure we won't get along.

So take your idiotic "hot takes" and edgy comments and let them wash over you in your mediocrity. You will never be viewed as a professional until you wise up (and that might be fine with you) but don't go around bitching about people who want to take the art seriously when they chide and ignore your dumb ass after you make asinine comments about how theft and exposure is ok.

It's time for you to sit on a tack...

Of a new generation....

 When the topic of exposure in magic comes up you get some really interesting "counter-arguments" from, not only the people doing it, but also.... apologizers? It's wild. They almost all say, "Why was it ok for this person(s) to do it" or, "What about magic shops, libraries, etc?".

It is a tough argument. Why is THIS ok: 

 But when certain other individuals on social media do it, it's not ok? Why is it ok for Mac King to teach magic on a national TV show or what about the masked magician guy? 

These are all fair points. Here are a few counter-arguments:

1. They have a better gaming chair - In the case of P&T, it was done VERY well. It was done as entertainment. It was also something they created so they have the right to "expose" it. They are making fun of magic as a whole, not exposing any one particular effect. There is NOTHING in the current magic world that remotely looks like that. Sure, there are elements at play that one could say "That's close enough to other things" but here is the other part to it.

It's being done as a parody and when you "hide it in comedy" people dismiss it. You can show how something works, but then negate that with a different method. People are simple creatures and yes, while the phrase "if someone thinks they know 10% of how something works, then they think they know 100% of it" is viable, in a case like this, they will never see anything like this done by other magicians in this exact way.

Now, I would be remiss in not talking about the time P&T exposed how a thumbtip worked on national TV but that brings me to my next point...

2. Choice - This is the big one and I think the one that lays these lame what-about-isms to rest once and for all. 

In ALL examples made of why one is ok but another is not, there is always a choice being made. You are warned up front about what is going to happen or are given enough time or warning that you are about to learn something you might not want to know. "Secrets Revealed" showed you how everything looked first and then TOLD you they were about to show you. You could leave the room, change the channel, mute the TV, put a change bag over your head, or otherwise avert thine gaze. 

If you want to learn a magic trick from a store, you have to first make the choice to WALK in that store and engage with that person and then DECIDE to give them your money. Library? Sure, you have to walk in and go to 798.3 and crack open a book and actively look up that info.

Social media exposure is the equivalent of someone running up to you on the street and showing you how a Tenyo trick works and then running away. You have no time to react, you were not searching that out, you were a hostage in that situation. Sure the person is actively searching out videos to distract themselves from their dreary day, but in the world of randomly curated videos and auto-play, that info gets fed at a lightning pace and the "secret" is usually shown in the first few seconds so by the time you realize what the video is, it's too late.

One last thought: This goes back to the P&T video. A lot of times the things people get mad about is the exposure of products others are actively using. It's not THEIR creation to expose. (weird how the people showing how things work, don't expose their OWN creations isn't it?) Imagine that instead of showing how something like vanishing flowers worked, you just created your own version that worked similarly, but wasn't that EXACT prop.

People only know what they see and if the argument is "It's just entertainment man!" then change the prop to resemble something else. You can still "entertain" with something you made instead of something other people are using. Could it be, putting in that extra inch of effort is just too much? Could it be they are just lazy? Maybe for all their talk of "evolving the art" and people need to "get over it" they are just doing it for a paycheck and don't actually give a damn about art at all?

The world may never know...

(PS: I know I have not been very active on here over the years but I'm still around. My life is mainly filled with creating and building escape rooms now, but I still have some thoughts in the pipeline I hope to get to soon. Thanks for sticking around.)

Sym-Pathetic Magic....

 Thievery in magic is nothing new. Hell, in the world it's pretty commonplace no matter what practice you engage in. I have encountered my fair share of sticky fingered fuckery and it's always amusing to hear the justification for such behavior. 

Sometimes it's a legit case of independent creation. However, in the this digital age, it's pretty easy to debunk certain claims or at least cast a dubious light upon their statements. 

When someone who has created something with or without the inspiration of someone else's hard work you tend to encounter two reactions to being told they have re-invented the wheel:

1. "I am so sorry. I had no idea. I will remove it/take it down/etc. How can I make this right?"
   
   Or...
   
   
2. "Wellllllllll......"

Obviously, the first response is the favored one but it seems to be the more rare of the two. Have you ever heard someone joke about a magician saying "You use a red deck while I use a blue so they are totally different". Well, that is more than a jape my friends. The moment someone gets defensive, they move from "independent creator" to thief and should be treated as such.

If you are a creator who has been taken from does this little ditty sound familiar?

    "I have had things stolen too so I know how you feel"

 It's almost as if they think this gives them license to steal from others because of some sort of "dicked over club" you are all part of now. In a sane world, that statement would mean they know how much it sucks and don't want to do it to someone else, but when used as a battle tactic their deception becomes transparent.

What's worse is companies like Murphy's Magic have made it easy for a knock off effect to spread like wildfire before anything can be done about it.

Did you know most of the online magic shops have their stores tied directly to Murphy's database and when something new gets uploaded to the site it gets pushed out to ALL of these online shops instantly? Most of those online shops have NO idea what is listed on their site. You have to go to the source to get the infection removed and by the time they decide to contact you back (Anubis forbid it's a weekend) 100s of people have probably bought the stolen effect and is well on it's way to being exposed on youtube.

You see, you always give up something for convenience, and in this case it seems to be a bit of artistic integrity.  

So what do you do when someone shows you their ass? That's kind of up to you. Naming and shaming is time and soul sucking. Ignoring it to prevent the "Streisand Effect" can work but that means the offending idea is in the wild. You can threaten bodily harm or litigation but that can come back to bite you in the ass. I sadly don't have an answer. Sometimes you can shut it down before too much is done, provided you have the right amount of evidence in your favor but even then the damage could already be done.

At the end of the day, it sucks no matter which way you slice it. Hopefully these words of "wisdom" have prepared you to be a little less taken aback if someone 5 finger discounts your work.It helps to know the warning signs and know you are not alone.

And if you have to punch someone in the face to feel better so be it.

The Departed...

 The last year or so has been rough for magic to say the least. The world is eating our workers and I want to talk about one of them.

An Amazing Guy

 I met Young Fred Gwynne Thom Peterson early on after moving to Vegas. He and his awesome wife Annabel was visiting and we chatted a bit at McBride's Wonderground. He was from MN and had moved to the UK so it was a rare sighting.

Right before the plague ship rolled into the USA, they had decided to move back to the states (good timing right?) and I got to see them a lot more, but looking back now, not nearly enough for my tastes. 

Now you might be asking yourself, "Who the $%^#& is this guy?" and you'd be right to do so. Aside from being in another country, he was a worker. That means sometimes no one knows who you are because you are so busy doing private gigs and corporate work you don't get to show off publicly too much. He was underground in plain sight. His lecture was full of original ideas and presentations, great magic, and clever comedy. (He created a topit that allowed you to access your pockets and have it reset again for Anubis' sake and no one knows about it!)

Thom and Annabel moved to LA for a change but when you ask the universe for that, you need to be VERY specific or it might change your world for the worse. Back in March, Thom succumbed to something wicked that came his way leaving behind a grieving widow and a legacy of unknown and amazing magic (as well as the memories of a great funny smart guy).

I'd been meaning to write a post since the day he shook off his mortal coil but never found the right mood. I mourn not only the loss of his physical form, but the ideas that will never be, the laughs never to be had, or the late nights discussing the unforeseeable future.

A future that is a lot less amazing for those that knew him.