Craig,
I know very little about mentalism, although I have been, and contine reading books written by Corinda, Docc Hilford and Banachek. Therefore I won't debate your opinions on this subject, since the general concensus appears to be you definately know your stuff... no question.
Your purpose in starting this thread is intersting. It took this thread two and a bit pages of "back patting" and "high fiving" for things to "hot up". I am going to ignore the temptation to dwell on the quotes that have been alledged to be your's. I simply accept they are most likely true, but without proper context it is unfair to evaluate. For example, what specifically was said to you and in what circumstances in the first place. Without that information, it is unfair to look at those quotes in isolation regardless if you made them or not. Therfore I ignore them.
So to simply address your initial question, how do other members of Talk Magic perceive you? Personally, I find you arrogant, obnoxious and quite "bitter". I also find you somewhat hypocritical, because you often accuse people of not "reading" your entire post, yet I have personal experience of you doing the exact same thing to me and others.
I would NOT dare to challenge your knowledge on your chosen field of mentalism. I am simply not equiped to do so. I also do NOT challenge or evaluate you as a person, a human being... simply saying, I don't know you near well enough to do that, the "snap shot of your personality" that is this forum is only that, a "snap shot" and so please understand I make no judgement of you personally.
So when I say above "Personally, I find you arrogant, obnoxious and quite "bitter". It is ONLY in the context of the posts on this forum I refer to.
The world of Magic has changed. A 15 year old kid can now buy a DVD explaining a routine and be perfoming it to his school mates in a somewhat mediocre fashion the next day. No need to practice long and hard, no need to study, no need to improve, refine and perfect... bang, bang, bang... instant gratification.
Now I dont want to put words into your mouth, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say... I bet you dont like this new ..."instant"... way of learning Magic. I must admit, I tend to agree with you. So to put a word I used above into context now... "bitter", I can kind of understand how you may feel a little bitter about this situation... in some ways, this "new way" of learning magic is screwing up an industry I understand you have toiled long and hard to succeed in. We are all human, that would most likely give any of us the sh*ts if it happened to us.
Please consider one thing. It is not the 15 year old kid's fault.
I also accused you of being arrogant and obnoxious. Well, it certainly seems your knowledge of mentalism exceeds most of us here, perhaps all of us... I am not qualified to know, but I will accept you have a wealth of knowledge, and on that basis we as members of this forum are extremely fortunate to have you as a contributor. however...
when David R says:
Quote:
Past Private Performances have included personal demonstrations for Presidents Nixon, Ford & Carter as well as Dr. Henry Kissenger, Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, The Dom Delouise family, George Burns, Steven Martin, Carl Reiner, Brook Shields, Mike Farrell & Family, Orson Wells, Carey Grant, Lucille Ball, Horace Hiedt & Family, The Van Patten Family, and the King Family... just to name a few...
That, and that alone gives you enough rights to say exactly what you have on your mind, not to mention all of your other achievements.
I must totally disagree. If this above is your CV, it gives you the "right" to be very proud of your achievements, to solicite other similar high profile work and be remunerated favorably, and to consider yourself successful in your field. But the right to speak rudely or in a condecending fashion to other members (which, lets face it, is the under lying context of much of this discussion)? I dont agree.
On the other hand, I must accept it would drive anyone crazy... someone of your ability and knowledge on this subject may be somewhat "underwhelmed" having to debate a mentalism issue with a "sunday hack" or 15 year old kid. That's life in the world of magic forums I guess.
A little humility goes a VERY long way.
anyways, that's just my opinion. For what it's worth, I took your advice and started reading books. On the other hand, I am yet to find the elusive proof that someone once bent a spoon "with their mind"... but I'll keep my eyes open for it... while being quite sure I'll not find it...