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I like this a lot, not sure why!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRSdnl0R-d8

Much love

Aza

This might open a can of worms for those in the know?

But routine and idea was first used here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWzykwFc5WU by Russ Stevens.

Still a great piece to this day.

Lee.

Oooh dear, i hope i haven't caused any upset, i was just YouTube-ing and found it.....

Sorry

Much love

Aza

I admit this is a bit of a sticky issue. On the one hand I do think Shawn's version is vastly superior to Russ's version (as does every person I've shown it to and everyone on youtube, 236,316 views and 27 dislikes to 31,383 views and 45 dislikes). On the other hand there is a street performer I know who plays music from a band called 'Circus Contraption'. I really like the music and there's one song in particular I would love to use in my show, but I don't as I feel I would be ripping him off.

The difference being I suppose that we would both use the music not in conjunction with a performance but just play it while we're setting up so I wouldn't be adding anything new to it, I wouldn't have put any of my own work into it, I would just be copying him.

I think it's very likely Shawn Farquhar saw Russ Stevens performance and thought 'I want to use that music' and then came up with a routine to go with it. It's also possible he just heard stings song and, like Russ, thought it was great music to make a card routine to.But the routine is different and that's important, he didn't just copy Russ Stevens.

To explain my view I'm going to talk about comic books now because I know more about comics than magic. Firstly practically every comic book character you've ever heard of other than perhaps Spiderman and V (as far as I'm aware) are a rip off of another character. But the one I want to talk about is Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel was created in 1939 by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck and published in Fawcett comics. The plot was simple, whenever the child Billy Batson uttered the words Shazam he was hit by magic lightning and became the adult Captain Marvel with the wisdom of Solomon the strength of Hercules the stamina of Atlas the power of Zeus the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury, also he can fly because he was in many ways a rip off of Superman.

Captain Marvel became the most popular character of the 1940's even bigger than Superman, this pi**ed off D.C (then known as Adventure comics) who sued Fawcett claiming copyright infringement of Superman and they won. Fawcett lost the rights to Captain Marvel and went out of business.

But here's the problem, D.C won the rights to Captain Marvel and they then started publishing his stories. If Captain Marvel was just a carbon copy of superman and nothing more there would be no point in continuing his series. Obviously despite the fact that he was a rip off D.C thought he was unique enough to warrant becoming a separate character in the D.C universe.

The reason Captain Marvel is still popular and published to this day is because despite being a rip off he offered something new, something unique, and he isn't the only one.

The matrix was a rip off of 'The invisibles', every film based on an Allen Moore comic was done without his permission. 'The lion king' was a rip off of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' and 'Kimba the white lion', 'Forbidden Planet' was a rip off of Shakespeare's 'Tempest', 'Top Cat' was a rip off of 'Sargent Bilko', 'Family Guy' was a rip off of 'The Simpsons' which was a rip off of 'The Flintstones' which was a rip off of 'The Honeymooners'. 'The Magnificent Seven' was a rip off of 'The Seven Samurai' 'Green day' along with many musicians are accused of ripping off riffs, lyrics and tracks. Every Zombie film is a rip off of 'White Zombie', Every sci-fi writer after 1898 has ripped of Garrett P. Serviss who created the concept of Ray guns and Alien abductions in his book 'Edison Conquers Mars' which was in itself a rip off (or unofficial sequel) of H.G, wells 'War of the world'. Justin Timberlake ripped off Michel Jackson's dance moves, every comedian in the world ripped off Richard Pryor's comedic style (some more than others) every mentalist who credits or alludes to N.L.P. is ripping off Derren Brown, hell even Superman was a rip off of a pulp character called 'Doc Savage.'

The recent Criss Angel / Dynamo beef is a perfect example of how anyone can claim a rip off if they look hard enough. It's very rare for anyone to come up with something totally unique, and usually (possibly always) the best works in any entertainment field is a combination of multiple minds or ideas.

I'm now going to prove that I talk too extensively on any subject by summing up my argument in one sentence.

Russ Steven's is allowed to be annoyed, but he doesn't own the rights to sting's song, he did not come up with 'Shape of my heart'.

There is no issue. I know the guy who made the video, and he told me Shawn told him he likes it. Shawn approves. There is no controversy over anyone ripping anyone else off.

sleightlycrazy wrote:There is no controversy over anyone ripping anyone else off.

That's not how Russ see's it




And

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:practically every comic book character you've ever heard of other than perhaps Spiderman and V (as far as I'm aware) are a rip off of another character.

V? Not a rip off?

And surely Spiderman is just a rip off of spiders?
Like Squirrel Girl being a rip off off of squirrels - But she can pwn Doom![/quote]

Lawrence wrote:



And

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:practically every comic book character you've ever heard of other than perhaps Spiderman and V (as far as I'm aware) are a rip off of another character.

V? Not a rip off?

As far as I'm aware dammit, Who's he meant to be ripping off?

Oh right, guy Fawkes. Ha. Ha.

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:

Lawrence wrote:V? Not a rip off?

As far as I'm aware dammit, Who's he meant to be ripping off?

Oh right, guy Fawkes. Ha. Ha.

And Zorro.

And Mr Immortal is just a rip off of Jesus.

You know I'm right!

Cracked had an article recently that showed that Spider-Man was a ripoff of an older comic "Spider Queen."

But back on topic. No one who's directly involved with the routine finds there to be any controversy. People on the other side of the world can speculate on the internet, but Shawn approves of Albert's routine. That's all there is to it.

sleightlycrazy wrote:Cracked had an article recently that showed that Spider-Man was a ripoff of an older comic "Spider Queen."

But back on topic. No one who's directly involved with the routine finds there to be any controversy. People on the other side of the world can speculate on the internet, but Shawn approves of Albert's routine. That's all there is to it.

I don't think there is a problem but I think the original point was that Albert came up with the routine before Shawn. Also which Cracked article is this? and V is nothing like Zorro!

Albert came up with it after Shawn. He actually credits Shawn as an inspiration for the routine.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20026_5- ... fs_p2.html

Ok, just read through this post and see a conversation wheeling off in three dimensions of misunderstanding.

No-one has said there is any controversy concerning the original post video by Albert, which is quite nice, it has merely initiated a conversation about a much older controversy about two routines using the song between Russ Stevens & Shawn Farquar. A misunderstanding compounded by Jean Eugene getting unfortunately confuddulated in his last post and typing Albert instead of Russ, due to sleightlycrazy's prior confusicationalism about the nature of the discussion.

Confusion clarified,I accept paypal donations.

How the ORIGINAL debate ever happened is a mystery to me, two routines with no similarity happen to use the same piece of music?? In the last month I have heard one particular Rolling Stones song in about 20 TV shows & films, there must be a sue-a-palooza going on! how dare a song be played more than once!
Almost as staggeringly nonsensical as the Apollo Robbins "I own the idea of putting a coin on a shoulder" comedy. Seriously? last night I did Coins Thru Table on a marble bar top, take note people, that's mine now, don't let me catching you doing it.

sleightlycrazy wrote:Albert came up with it after Shawn. He actually credits Shawn as an inspiration for the routine.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20026_5- ... fs_p2.html" target="_blank

And

CutToTheAce wrote:Ok, just read through this post and see a conversation wheeling off in three dimensions of misunderstanding.

No-one has said there is any controversy concerning the original post video by Albert, which is quite nice, it has merely initiated a conversation about a much older controversy about two routines using the song between Russ Stevens & Shawn Farquar. A misunderstanding compounded by Jean Eugene getting unfortunately confuddulated in his last post and typing Albert instead of Russ, due to sleightlycrazy's prior confusicationalism about the nature of the discussion.

Confusion clarified,I accept paypal donations.

Mind=Blown.

Sigh, never mind, continue.

I wasn't trying to take the *. I was saying you blew my mind. I had no idea I'd confused the name, you were right.