talkmagic.co.uk

EckoZero, I must inform you that Mark Lewis is not hated. He may be evil-minded, bitter, racist, bad mannered, slanderous, foul-mouthed, an ant slayer and a lover of all Canadians but he is definitely not hated! I actually think he is a lovable guy!

Somewhat inaccurate as usual. I do NOT love all Canadians and I am NEVER foul mouthed under any circumstances. I am a psychic reverend after all and am duty bound not to use profanity and in fact never do. Besides I have led a sheltered life.

Sorry about that Mark - I should check out my sources first! I’ll make a mental note not to believe anything that has been spammed to my email account. But you didn’t deny the ant brutality, so at least I got one right!

Now since we have your attention, how about being courteous and answering some of my previous questions. You could go over to the introductions section like a good little chap and answer them over there if you wish. Actually that would be a good idea! That way we can visit you every now and then when we feel like harassing you a little.

Also, back on topic, another answer you could provide us with is:
Have ever owned any of Brad Christian’s instructional material, and if you have what are your thoughts on it?

EDITED (for the purpose of clarity): Sorry, just to make things clear and to save you from the painstaking task of having to explain unnecessary details to the likes of me and other unworthy people; I do understand that as a Great Magician and superior human being, your knowledge would probably supersede what might be taught in the aforementioned teaching material. But perhaps you have come across something by chance or you were just curious to check up on an old friend.

wow... now THAT's a good question Costas!

come on Mark, for a few days this thread was compelling, absolutely compulsory viewing for many regular visitors to this forum... then you dropped the ball.

i would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the quality of Brad Christian's instructional material. but first, do you currently or have you ever owned any of it???

also, allow me to declare myself: i own the following from Brad, and i make comment of my opinion next to each:

Inside Magic (excellent, well taught, great focus on execution AND presentation, great variety of routines, great additional forum support on E web site. 8.5/10)

How to do Street magic (excellent, well taught, great focus on execution AND presentation, great variety of routines, great additional forum support on E web site. 9/10)

Mind Bender (great trick! clever secret, good opening presentation by Brad, excellent demo by Anthony Co the inventor, mediocre description and instruction by Justin Miller 7/10... trick is great, video presentation only average)

King Rising (clever levitation, well described by Brad, great emphysis on BOTH technique and presentation 8/10)

i also own some other Ellusionist sourced instructionalm products such as Sinful, Royal Road to Card Magic but since they are not directly produced by E so inappropriate to rate in this context.

so... do you currently or have you ever owned any of Ellusionist product???

I don't know anything about Brad's business and have only just become aware he has one. I understand his material is for teenagers, Blaine wannabees and for daft people in Australia. I do not fit into any of these unfortunate categories so do not own any of the said material.

I keep hearing dark mutterings from people I know about Brad and his business. They are very vague about their mutterings and so consequently I have no idea what they are muttering about. I tell them that I know him and they don't and all I remember is a very nice guy who had the good judgement to be a fan of my brilliance.

I keep hearing negative vibes about Brad and his business but I am unclear what the objections to him are. Would some kind person clarify for me precisely what those objections are? Any successful person is going to be criticised but it would be nice to know what the criticisms actually consist of.

I have only heard some vague mutterings about crediting issues. Are there any other things that people are tut-tutting about ? I cannot decide whether to join in the tut-tutting if I don't know what to tut-tut about.

So tut away.

Mark,

i can only speak about the Ellusionist DVD's i own, but in every case i find Brad goes out of his way to ensure credit is given to "an" originator. unfortunately i have no idea if the proposed originator is in fact THE guy but i can imagine this is the kind of mute point that will always plague the magic fraternity. "how to prove who thought of it first???"

example of crediting an originator:

in his DVD "Inside Magic", Brad talks about a teacher he had called "Slydini". this is put into context because he is crediting Slydini for some routines. he says in the DVD words to the effect of he "wishes he knew then what he knows now... he would have appreciated Slydini's training even more because Slydini was a complete miracle maker"...

anything you can add about "Slydini"???

I am aghast and agape that this Bobby Cat personage has never heard of Slydini. Or at least implies that he doesn't know much about him. Since the man was legend on the same par as myself I am astonished at the lack of knowledge exhibited concerning him. He was one of the greatest close up magicians that ever lived.

I have always said that the best close up magicians are all dead. I don't feel that well myself come to that.

It is becoming obvious to me that Brad is marketing his stuff to beginners and now I think I see what people are muttering about. He is selling to the masses and in my capacity as a psychic reverend and medium I have been receiving irritated messages from a certain deceased lady called Sophie Smith concerning the matter.

I am not concerned about his crediting issues however. Ethics are not a subject with which I am unduly concerned. I am somewhat uneasy about him marketing to the great unwashed from Australia and other places. After all magic is supposed to be a trifle protected and secretive. I am very old school about this.

On the other hand Brad has to make a living and I would do exactly the same thing if I saw great gobs of money coming in the door.

There is an old saying "art for art's sake and money for Christ's sake"

If this blaspheming should shock those of you not from Australia (where they are very unholy people) then I should merely mention that I didn't invent the saying - I am only reporting it.

Besides I am a man of the cloth myself and am not offended. So naturally my word should be gospel in this matter. No pun intended.

Now is there anything else to tut-tut about concerning Brad?

mark lewis wrote:I am aghast and agape

Agape?!? From Mark Lewis?!?!! Now there's a first! .

aghast: Struck by shock, terror, or amazement.

no need to fear me Mark!

agape: In a state of wonder or amazement, as with the mouth wide open.

hmmm... yes seems your mouth is often open Mark.

so, since one's attention to detail is reduced during periods of "openmouthedness", it explains much of the problem.

Slydini: one would expect you to have a greater knowledge of the man than most on this forum. your self proclaimed experience in the art, and of course your obvious "vintage" suggests that. however, that does not automatically mean others are not aware of him, only that you are (a) invited to share your additional knowledge OR (b) admit you have none. (a) or (b)... there is no (c) such as an invitation to be condescending, your vain attempt at such most literally unwarrented.

therefore, since it seems you have some intimate knowledge of Brad Christian's background it would interest other forumers (myself included) no doubt to hear of any similar knowledge you have about one of his teachers, Slydini. should you have no such knowledge... dont be afraid to admit that. we will not think less of you just because you admit you dont know everything... it will not exactly be "headline news" to most of us.

since it appears you do not own any of Ellusionist's products, and so it also seems you have not seen any either, i will withdraw my earlier question asking you what you think of it since you are not qualified to answer. unless of course you do secretly own the entire collection in which case i would welcome your well considered thoughts.

Quite frankly if you don't know who Slydini is then you must be a beginner in the art. If Brad has taken lessons from this great master then you are very lucky that he in his turn is teaching you. I only met him once. Brad is lucky to have had the experience of actually spending time with him.

I do quite a bit of Slydini material myself and can vouch for its effectiveness with laymen.

An old friend of mine and Brad told me today that the reason that Ellusionist is controversial is because some feel that it cheapens magic since it is sold to all and sundry. I have been puzzling as to what the controversy is about so now I know.

I think what really cheapens magic is bad performers of whom there is a great and horrendous multitude. If Brad's teachings (and I don't know much about them) are as good as is reported then he is doing a service to the art by making better magicians out of people. That can only be a good thing and far from cheapening magic it uplifts it.

Since I am rather old school I am not keen on every horrible kid doing magic on street corners. I abhor "magic camps" where lots of horrible urchins are doing linking rings and zombie balls when they should be doing their homework and studying boring things like geography.

I have also sold magic to the masses albeit in a smaller way than Brad. However I have always made sure that the customers have never been able to do the tricks. I have always made sure that the svengali deck instructions were quite incomprehensible. Furthermore if anyone ever asks how to do the tricks after they have bought them I always snarl at them "read the instructions" and hope they go away. I feel that by doing this I am upholding the art of magic and not giving away secrets.

Brad seems to have a different philosophy on the matter and I suppose this is because he has to encourage people to keep coming back and buying more. I have never been a great advocate of giving value for money but this seems to be the modern trend and I find it a very sad state of affairs indeed.

It seems to be working for Brad though and good luck to him.

EDIT: This was typed up before Sir Lewis' last response. He beat me to it and managed to clear up certain issues - especially regarding the Svengali Deck.

mark lewis wrote:I am aghast and agape that this Bobby Cat personage has never heard of Slydini. Or at least implies that he doesn't know much about him.

At least Bobby shows respect for the art by taking an interest and asking about him. By the way, everyone has got to start from somewhere even Slydini. Where did you start from? Actually save that question for your Introduction Thread!

mark lewis wrote:Since the man was legend on the same par as myself I am astonished at the lack of knowledge exhibited concerning him. He was one of the greatest close up magicians that ever lived.

I can hear Slydini turning in his gave!

mark lewis wrote:I have always said that the best close up magicians are all dead. I don't feel that well myself come to that.

"It’s a cruel act of nature that artists tend to reach the pinnacle of their fame once they are deceased and are unable to enjoy it." Costas The Great 1970 - 3212

mark lewis wrote:It is becoming obvious to me that Brad is marketing his stuff to beginners and now I think I see what people are muttering about.

I must correct you there, Sir Lewis; as I do not believe all his material is for beginners; but in saying that I also do not think that there is anything wrong with teaching or learning the basics, as we are all mere novices for every new effect or sleight we encounter. And we were all complete novices when we picked up our first book on magic .

mark lewis wrote:He is selling to the masses and in my capacity as a psychic reverend and medium I have been receiving irritated messages from a certain deceased lady called Sophie Smith concerning the matter.

Sir Lewis, you do realise that there is a fine line between being psychic and just plainly suffering from psychosis !

mark lewis wrote:I am somewhat uneasy about him marketing to the great unwashed from Australia and other places. After all magic is supposed to be a trifle protected and secretive. I am very old school about this.

Is that why you spent a good portion of your life promoting Svengali decks to the “undeserving public” ? And as far as your concern goes regarding Australians and their convict heritage; I prefer to view them as failed British magicians who were caught out while trying to accomplish a trick ?

mark lewis wrote:If this blaspheming should shock those of you not from Australia (where they are very unholy people)...

We could be a lot worse! Can you come over and teach us a thing or two ?

mark lewis wrote:Besides I am a man of the cloth myself and am not offended. So naturally my word should be gospel in this matter. No pun intended.

Yes, it is definitely psychosis you're suffering from !

mark lewis wrote:Now is there anything else to tut-tut about concerning Brad?

Coming Very Soon...

mark lewis wrote: I have also sold magic to the masses albeit in a smaller way than Brad. However I have always made sure that the customers have never been able to do the tricks. I have always made sure that the svengali deck instructions were quite incomprehensible. Furthermore if anyone ever asks how to do the tricks after they have bought them I always snarl at them "read the instructions" and hope they go away. I feel that by doing this I am upholding the art of magic and not giving away secrets.

It is sad how difficult it is to get ahead in life when your loyalty lies within two places !

Mark... how lucky you are to be born with the knowledge and talents you currently possess and therefore at no point have you ever needed to learn anything.

how poor is your attention to detail when you persist with condeming someone for "never having heard of Slydini" when the actual comment was NOT "who the hell is Slydini?" it related to simply asking you if you knew him and could share some of that knowledge with the rest of us because...

wait for it...

here it comes...

I NEVER "MET" SLYDINI!!!

if you could somehow overcome your fixation with Brad Christian and simply share your knowledge, i am quite convinced you could become a very valuable contributor. in other words, OK... i get it, you question the long term benefit/effect of making magic trick "know how" available to the massess on the basis that at least a significant portion of those in the "mass" will either reveal a technique intentionally, or do it so poorly and reveal it by accident!

fair position. and i think that could be a very interesting foundation for some interesting debate...

since you say in your most recent post you have met Slydini personally once... which by my counting and feel free to double check the math... is once more than me, i a quite sure we would all benefit by you sharing the circumstances that lead the meeting, your evaluation of Slydini as a man, anything else you care to share.

of course if you would rather keep that to yourself that is also fine... as long as you read things a little more carefully before you jump to conclusions going forward. it makes you seem somewhat "scatter brained" and foolish... and clearly you are not foolish.

I'd just like to say I was thinking of Mark's comment about agape in the sense of the Christian ideolgogy of unconditional love for all .

LOL