The original unoriginals...

 Tonight I watched a performer do a fairly verbatim presentation of a David Copperfield routine. This is nothing new. It was obviously more prevalent at the height of his popularity, but it persists in our field nonetheless. 

The regular audience didn't know this of course. Non-magicians don't know when they are watching a cover band and when they are seeing original creations. The main reason for this is the fact most people are not exposed to magic on the regular, especially live. Unless they see the same props that are distinctive, (eg: linking rings), they won't know they are seeing something that is not unique to that performer. 

 After watching this, I wondered how doing someone else's act and taking their praise as your own can be fulfilling? Then I realized this kind of performance is the original artificial intelligence. You think you are doing a good job by taking the work of other people and claiming it as your own. You think the applause is for you when you put in almost no creative effort. It's a mediocre product made by a mediocre person. 

The people who make "art" that is a poor copy of someone else don't care because in their mind the applause is for them when all they did was sing a cover song to an audience who hadn't heard the original and has no idea it's not theirs. All they hear is the applause and think they are doing a good job. Their bad behavior has been rewarded and justified when in reality they just watched a video and copied it poorly.

Yes there are many rooms in the house of magic, but maybe there should be a separate house for the imitators. If the domicile we put them in looks the same as the original house, they won't even know they are sequestered away and they can all just steal from each other in one big magic circle jerk.

A boy can dream... 

Dying From Exposure...

Recently someone tagged me in a post of some asshat revealing one of my tricks on social media. This is not the first time it has happened and it won't be last because there are some who believe magic exposure is "The Future" (TM).

I suppose there is a teeny tiny part of me that is flattered something I created is good enough to steal. However, with the rampant exposure and theft on social media it got me thinking about the ratio of people creating magic vs those consuming it for clicks, views, and pennies.

In a previous post I talked about how it takes very little brain energy to steal from someone and put it online. It's the bottom rung on the entertainment ladder. These bottom rung feeders will just keep taking and never contribute. This will cause those who do create to keep more and more to themselves to keep it secret... keep it safe.

Sure there will always be people pumping mediocre magic into the marketplace because it's easy and most of it only looks good on camera anyway. I think that is the reason so much mentalism is being released because it's hard to "reveal" and can't really be done over social media. (And no one really cares)

So to those who attach themselves to the magic community like barnacles I say this: enjoy your ill gotten gains while you can you leeches. One day you will only have yourselves to steal from (more than you already are) and if you show up at a magic function and I steal something from you like your wallet or phone, don't act surprised as to why.

You started this...

 

Lines in the sand...

Magic is a small community. Word gets around fast.

As a creator and prop maker, I have always lauded the practice of properly crediting and to never rub another man's rhubarb. If the lines are blurry between an effect and the other, it's nice to reach out and talk to the other party to come to some sort of agreement or compromise. (Sometimes that can backfire of course and some dick thinks he owns Cracker Jacks or something.)

As the world progresses and evolves, more and more people are ok with engaging in shady practices to get their name out there. As I have stated before, today you are more well known for the product you release in magic than your ability to perform.

This is why it's so very important to leave a pleasant first impression with your initial magic releases (And every other after that but I digress).

Enter this guy....

He's modest too!

Within a matter of months he has managed to piss off a lot of magicians (to be fair, it's not that difficult) and make a name for himself... but not a good one.

You see, magic is (usually) a self-policing entity. We see something that is too close to something else and we lose our fucking minds. Usually it's justified, sometimes it's not. In this case, there is clear evidence of shenanigans. Paper trails and alla that.

You see, even professional magicians are like a car full of drag queens. We can be catty bitches and we talk. OH do we talk. The reason is many of us care about what is going on in our profession because we care about magic in one way or another. This kid's bad rep goes deeper than his lack of respect for magic product releases. Apparently he has pissed a few other people's Cheerios in the magic world in some form or another.

Let him serve as an example of what could happen to you if you think you can fool the foolers. You'll still likely get away with it, but a lot less people will want to come play in your sandbox.

Also, I'm not the only one who sees this am I?

Yeah, you get it.

Do you have a flag?

Over on facebook a magician posted a video where she performs a mask to winged creature effect. In the comments a fairly well known magician couldn't help himself and make a snide comment amount that seeming familiar. He did this because he used to do a mask to dove effect himself albeit using a totally different method.

So this got me thinking about method vs. effect. In cases like this you can argue it down to "Well you are just turning an object into a bird just like (insert any number of people here)".  No one has the monopoly on any certain kind of magic for the most part. Sure some people are known to have "Squatters Rights" to an effect where they are so well known for it that anyone else doing it seems like a rip off but where do we draw the line?

In this case the two methods to accomplish a similar effect were entirely different. If you ask me (which no one did) it's whichever one is the most magical looking and gets the better response. Of course there is no real way to judge that as they are both solid methods.

If there is anything to take away from it all it might be this: Don't be a bully or a douche to others unless they are directly ripping you off. Otherwise you just end up looking like the bad guy and some weirdo might talk smack about you on the internet.

It could happen. 

I'm chargin' mah Laser!!

Ok so I just saw this on the big green machine and quite frankly I am a bit pissed off.

As someone who creates magic I don't like to see other performers with unique aspects to their act ripped off. Theo Dari was (and is) the original Laser Man. A few people have ripped him off since he appeared, but this is a DIRECT insult. The fact this a-hole admits it's part of a bootlegged act is just appalling. Selling it is even worse.

The reason I bring this up is to spread the word NOT to support or buy this. Aside from the obvious, it looks like crap and obvious. If you watch the REAL Laser Man act, you can see how sad an imitation this other guy is.

If you see anyone wanting to buy this trick, shy them away from it. If YOU buy it I will find you and put my foot where the laser beams don't shine.

Support artists who work hard... or else.

Rattling the chains...

So my previous post tught me two things. 1. Andrew Mayne reads this (waves hello the Andrew) and was kind enough to offer a counter-point to my ramblings. And B. I need to be more specific in this thing sometimes.

Sometimes I start with an idea and I forget to actually point something out that inspired it, be it tongue-in-cheek or not. When I said I was happy about my stuff being ganked I should have elaborated a bit. (keep in mind this is half-sarcasm coming up) It's nice to see my stuff is good enough/liked enough to be ripped off with the likes of people like Andrew, Garcia, and many others who are revered for their material.

Does this make it right? That's up to you. As stated in another post this kind of stuff doesn't bother me. It's the world we live in now.

Kind of like a Genesis song...

We have arrived...

Recently I discovered some of my magical offerings for download on a magic torrent site (No I won't give you the link). Believe it or not I am actually glad about this. Hell, I might very well be the only magician in the world who is. Crazy you say? Probably. Eating tacos right now? Definitely!

If you got to the big green bean you can find a lot of people in the ethics section bitching an orange streak about how they have been ripped off and pirates are the scourge of the this that or the other. Regardless of where you sit on the subject matter, one thing is for sure, those people are greedy.

If you sell to Murphys Magic then you have made a pretty good penny already off their initial order. (If it's a popular product you have no worries) If it's a download you are of course subject to overnight uploading, but the people who download it are unlikely to buy it anyway or even have the money to do so.

The way I look at it is thus: I would rather have people know my name and like my product to possibly buy future releases. If they like you and what you do they will show it to others and tell them about you. If you are just going to be captain bitchy-pants they will steal from you out of spite.

So be happy they found your items to have the value enough to steal. Then you can release something that ISN'T a damn DVD that they will be forced to buy.

Mmmm tacos.

Den of...

As I am preparing for my lecture in Tuscon tomorrow and looking over random notes, I came upon a thought I had jotted down in my phone.

Thieves are not competition.

Anyone who would purloin someone else's art will never be in your arena to pose a threat to you IF you are a true professional and truly want to make something of yourself and your career. If someone steals from you make sure they know you don't like it, but move on and become bigger and better than them. There is no better revenge than success...

aside from having sex with their girlfriend of course.

OH YEAH!

First up, some news for my fine feathered readers, DOUBLE STUFT NOW AVAILIBLE!! For those who heard my itricks interview thingee, you knew it was coming out soon. Well that soon is now. Head over the the Bizzar-o-Matic and pick up one today!! Remember, there is only a limited quantity being made. When they are gone, they're gone. Want to see what the hell I am talking about? Look over Here.

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In other news, someone in my network of spies and informants passed This along to me recently. I think my main problem with this guy is the same thing that plagues any other artform. He doesn't know any better, nor does he WANT to. He thinks he is totally in the right because it is LEGAL. Problem is, some people in this world or just ethical midgets.

In all honesty, this kind of stuff won't affect me or any of the stuff I do. Real people won't see this site and if they do, I don't DO the material they are showing or selling. This, however, is the problem with our instant gratification society we live in. If you plan to be part of it, you have to take the good with the bad. In EVERY genre there's gonna be a few asshats who spoil the punch for everyone. Short of killing them, there's not much we can do. Problem is, by pointing our fingers at this and going "Oooooh yer a bad person ooooooooh." we are helping it exist. (Before you point the finger at me for doing it, let's face it... this guy is a fucktard and nothing I say here will help him. My readers are smarter than that. I hope.)

Personally, I say let the younger kids do more harm than good to themselves. They wanna screw up their potential careers getting involved in this stuff that will probably fade anyway once they discover sex. (Not GETTING any mind you, just discovering it exists.) Exposure has never hurt magic in the grand scheme of things. We do get flustered about it because it's part of our world and someone traipsing upon our little niche can be quite bothersome. However you have have to realize our position in the world is of little concern to anyone but ourselves. This is an occupational hazard and comes with the territory of mixing lowest common denominators with technology. Someone is always willing to trade their souls for a few bits. With that being said, here's to Jim Jones and Kool-aid....

May all your parties be killers.

Bizzaro.