talkmagic.co.uk

How about a section where people can ask/discuss what "the best 'whatever'" is? I've seen a few threads recently asking which 'common' trick/product is the best. To find out usually takes reading all of the reviews of similar products, and while this is fine, I think the option to discuss, compare and contrast would be very useful indeed.

For example if someone wanted to know what the best silks were, or what the best book test was, or whatever. I think it would be really useful to have a section like that.

What do you think?

t first sight, it sounds like it would be the inverse of the reviews section, in that it would be subjective, but without the framework. because of that, I'm guessing it may come to need fairly heavy moderation.

Yeah I guess you are right

Mahoney wrote:How about a section where people can ask/discuss what "the best 'whatever'" is? I've seen a few threads recently asking which 'common' trick/product is the best. To find out usually takes reading all of the reviews of similar products, and while this is fine, I think the option to discuss, compare and contrast would be very useful indeed.

For example if someone wanted to know what the best silks were, or what the best book test was, or whatever. I think it would be really useful to have a section like that.

What do you think?

You are talking about "Masturbative Contemplations" and unfortunately they tend to be the kind of trivia that newbies (primarily) feel they need to bring up constantly in order to find a way into a group. Who is the best, what is the best, etc. are, especially in our business, a matter of perspective. I personally loathe David Blaine as a performer and do not see him as being a genuine "showman" but others would swear that he's the greatest thing to come along in the past century. I'm a bit biased admittedly, in that I have worked with the best in the business for most of my life and with but one exception (Copperfield) none of them have ever lowered their standards so as to depend upon "creative editing" and "stooging the audience" the way many of today's "Big Names" do... these guys (and a gal or two) acutally PERFORMED MAGIC.

The other problem with this kind of category that few consider, is that not everyone on these forums are between the ages of 12 and 25 or "new" to magic. Even this quaint little forum has a far share of experienced characters, which in my opinion, are the thing that give us a unique sense of quality here that's no longer found on other forums that have become so big and overly popular. Personally, I prefer the smaller and more casual forums like this (reminds of of how the Bunny Hutch was a few years ago as things were getting off the ground).

Bottom line is, even if we were to create a niche area for this sort of discussion we'd still have those who can't seem to read or following direction posting whatever they want wherever they feel like it, the whole of which would flow along the lines of curiosity... who, what, etc.

Craig Browning wrote:Who is the best, what is the best, etc. are, especially in our business, a matter of perspective.

Yeah the idea wasn't for performers as such, but more about discussing the pros and cons of similar products. So I would expect varying views on each topic. But I can see what the problem would be with a section like this. I can imagine it just being an argument fest. It would sort of encourage disagreement, which often ends in tears. I can also, as you say, imagine people going overboard with the kinds of questions. Questions that there is no real answer to, like "what is the best card trick", or "what is the best small object vanish".

In conclusion, I still think the section could be useful, but I think in reality it would be a bit of a mess.

When it comes to products there are other issues that would come to the surface, especially in today's world where replication of a given design is looked down upon. In the days of my youth you could get a Thin Model Sawing in Half from just about any reputable dealer, this was the norm throughout the industry e.g. competition existed along side creativity.

Now a person like myself can generally tell you at a glance which of the major builders probably built most props like a Sawing cabinet, just by looking at it; each manufacturing source has certaing signature bits they do that make their's different with (in my opinion) the Gaughan and Bill Smith versions leading the pack when it comes to quality and deceptivity.

Many blame our current situation on "greed" when it comes to personal royalties and credit on effects and as a designer that's been around the block a few times I can say that greed certainly ain't the point... left to the commissions collected on designs most designers, including the big names, would live rather lean. The real culprit centers on the ethical side of the equation and who has an agreement with the designer to sell a given effect or concept as well as those who may develope improvements on somethign another came up with. Rand Woodbury and I both have come up with ORIGAMI styled illusions that are totally different from the original Stinemeyer but when we ran the ideas across Jim he had no compunction about giving us his blessings on our variations. At the same time he was very up-set with another "designer/builder" who simply took the basic idea behind ORIGAMI and ripped it off, calling it a NINJA BOX... but then this same source was known for borrowing and marketing other people's stuff in ways that were "questionable" for years.

I hope I've made some sense on this.