A little plug....

So recently I added a news feed to my storefront. I've got a poll up about a possible new product right now so if you have a second go take a look.

While I have you here I wanna talk about magic products. In the last year I was working with a couple companies to release a few products for various reasons. The main one was to see what it's like. It was... interesting to say the least.

Regardless, I realized something along the way to here. We see a lot of guys in magic who seem to only make their living creating and selling (at times mediocre) magic effects. They flood the market with whatever leaks out of their ears. While some of it has merit they are seldom fully formed ideas and need more work that just a webcam audience.

This led me to the revelation that if you release too much it ceases to become special.

Magic companies fall prey to this too. They pump out other people's tricks at an alarming rate and therefore the items that could have a very long life in the sun only briefly get to bask in the light before they get buried under a deluge of crap. Thus I have become very careful once again about what I put into the hands of others. I want to know if it's something they actually want or would like, not purchase as an impulse only to die a slow horrible death in the dungeon of unwanted magic effects (ie: a virgin's er... magician's magic drawer).

I advise any of you reading this who want to release product to heed my words. Don't let your babies grow up to be magical landfill...

or cowboys.

Learn from your mistakes...

Every so often a new product pops up in magic making claims that it simulate something that is "too hard" to do. You know where most of these products end up? Magician Limbo. They spend the rest of their days being bought, sold and/or traded at magic auctions or on websites. Eventually they come to rest in the back of a closet or buried under other regretful magic purchases in a drawer soaking in the tears of yet another hobbyist.

Why not save yourself the grief and the next time some shiny new toy claims it "makes you a pro without learning the skill" just go and learn the damn skill? Sure it might take longer but it's more gratifying, far more impromptu usually and it costs you nothing but your time (time you usually spend bitching on magic forums anyway).

Sure there will be that handful of guys who will effectively utilize this wonder gimmick and it might even be their gateway drug to learning the real deal but those mythical dedicated people are few and far between. Learning some actual moves won't kill you I swear...

And if does no one will know.

Supporting my weight...

"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member" - Groucho Marx

Apparently the SAM has decided they want to get 2400 likes on their new FB page in the next 24 hours. Some say it's too little too late. I say why support an organization that doesn't support you?

There are a ton of magic organizations that want your money. If these groups have actually contributed to your magic life/ career in any positive way then by all means give them your moolah. However if you have been nothing but rejected and seen other others ignored by these groups due to their close minded good old boys club elitist mentality then why would you bother?

I am sure they would tell you it's for the good of the magic community. That's great but what if you shy away from the magic community or vice versa. Organizations are not for everyone (tho' they will tell you they are) and some come to this realization too late and after the damage is done.

I also understand some people love magic so blindly that they want to be involved in anyway they can to help magic. There are those who truly want to take these groups out of the dark ages but the problem is most of them are run by people who are between the ages of 80 and death. Until they are out of the picture younger guys with innovative ideas get pushed to the side, squeezed out, or ignored.

There is a dark side to the magic world and dammit if I have to be the one lone voice to point it out and take the brunt of their ire for the rest of you so be it.

Thankfully I am not alone.

Prose and cons...

Dear magicians,

Reciting or performing over the recorded track of a poem you did not write does not make you creative or unique... especially if you are doing it to gypsy thread.

That ship has sailed.

Thanx,
The Mngmnt.