talkmagic.co.uk

good stuff, please take it to heart you curly haired friend

Can I just say something here... I usually just keep out of the bickering you have going on, but I thought I should speak up.

Michael is 14 years old. Now, without sounding patronising, he's trying his best to be part of a community which is supposed to help each other, not slag each other off?!

We should encourage him to develop, rather than just having a go. Ok, if it's old material 'remixed' and not credited, then that's not on, but Michael has clearly apologised for that and has changed his book. A lot of magic concepts come from old ideas - as long as they're credited!

Give him a break?!

The issue was that Mike wasn't (or at least didn't seem to be) taking excellent advice seriously. He seemed narcissistic.

He's trying to get better now

timlic wrote:We should encourage him to develop, rather than just having a go. Ok, if it's old material 'remixed' and not credited, then that's not on, but Michael has clearly apologised for that and has changed his book. A lot of magic concepts come from old ideas - as long as they're credited!

The copy I was sent still had material which had already been published (and done better). In my lengthy critique of his notes I mentioned this - and for my hour of writing received nothing in response: no thanks, no acknowledgment that he would take out or alter or even credit the published material.

I agree, though - he is 14, and I do think that in time and with more experience he could be contributing some great magic to the community.

I agree with Timlic, we should encourage Michael to develope and enjoy his work. I think his flood of postings and his big ego has turned a lot of TM members hostile.

A small advice (in well meaning) to Michael: Put a muffler on your ego, trim down your postings and keep in mind: though you might be a great magician in the eyes of a lot of family and friends, you are not the greatest magician.

You should also remove the detailed describtion of each magic trick on your website, because you hardly leave anything for the spectator to experiance during your magic show. If you explain in details what you do in each performance, you ruin it before you show up. Weather a signed coin penetrates a solid glass once, twice or three times, is irrelevenat for the spectator to know before he arrives at the show and sees it.

I have also viewed a few of your vids on YouTube and I think you should retouch those too. There is a lot of exposure there.

yeah...he's got brass ones to offer out his material for all to see...

all i'd say is to lay off the sankey - that might be what's causing the ego side of things...

mr. kras - you seem to be a polite young fella, you obviously love yer magic, and you are obviously keen on feedback...all i'll say is, give yourself time to breathe, take a step back from it all and maybe draw a little line under things...

I'm not saying stop - I'm saying, listen to who you really are, project yourself via the magic...people usually like magicians for who they are, not what they do...people like sadowitz love his magic, but they are more likely to remember him too...

same as derren brown, the charming devil-bearded mind fiddler...you might remember individual effects, but you remember him most of all...

i'd say keep your magic flame burning, but devote more time to being you, and allowing others to see that, rather than anything else...

Unfortunately, Micheal tends to ignore advice.

A lot of people have taken time out to give detailed and useful critiques. But for the large part, it's all been ignored.

We've tried to be critical, constructive, encouraging.

And yes—some people have resorted to downright rudeness (myself included) out of sheer frustration.

One must not be rude to Canadians. The concept is quite foreign to them and they do not understand it.

I haven't read this thread thoroughly so I have no idea what it is about. Generally speaking I have a great antipathy to 14 year old Canadian children doing magic and think they would be far better off doing their homework and not torturing people with card tricks which they always do badly.

However he seems a polite young man in his responses and that is in his favour. As for his alleged ego 14 year olds are supposed to be obnoxious so he should be let be on this point.

I expect I have met this child at some point or other. He seems to live in the same city I do. If I have not met him and he wishes to approach me he must use great judgement and do it when I appear to be in a good mood. I am liable to growl at him with great ferocity if I am in a grumpy mood which I am 90 per cent of the time.

I do hope he doesn't try to sell me any of his material.

mark lewis wrote: I am liable to growl at him with great ferocity if I am in a grumpy mood which I am 90 per cent of the time.

You mean there is 10% of the time that you are happy!! Strike me down and blow me with a feather Do you mind coming on here when your in that 10%

Ok.. joking aside.. Mark has a point.. At 14 I was pretty obnoxious, when I wasnt getting beaten up!! I think most of us were, and Michael does seem to have very good manners for a pubescent teenager.. theres no Kevin in Michael !! I hope

And he HAS calmes down now.. and stuck around.. so its time now to welcome him..

Lawrence.. I think Mike's ready for one of you hugs

I am trying to read advice!

We know you are trying Mike.. that's what we have just been saying!!

Oh Mike.. I read you notes by the way.

I cant really call them lecture notes, as a lot of the material is not your own, but you can be a good writer with practice, and your own material.

I wont comment on a lot of the content as it was re-hashed versions of other peoples material, which.. I'll give you credit for trying to come up with your own versions.. but nothing made them different.

Salty edible knot was quite interesting though, it got my mind going and I have some ideas to improve it, and I may at some point even use it if I do a Kids show or something.. so THANKS for that

The explanation was though.. largely incomprehendable ( sorry for the spelling, I didnt major in English!! ). There is no way in Gods earth someone with no experience with rope and no knowledge of basic knots could understand your explanation. I still have no clue what you are talking about there!! But I changed the method slightly in my head to a workable one.

The idea is nice though.. work on getting some pictures done to help explain it. Over the next year or so.. you can replace the other effects with new ones as and when you create them.

Good effort lad!! You should be proud of yourself.. not Proud proud, just humbly proud.. inside!!

Thank you for your thoughts ID! Glad you liked ASEN.

I got the "notes" and painfully read them. Even let a very close friend (whos been doing magic longer than me) read them, and who does magic as his profession too.
We were at a loss for words.
I cant review it.... its just not worth my time nor his.

Thats our opinion, and its not going to change.

David,

What was so "Painful" about them?

Ah wel.. at least Jon Racherbaumer likes my magic..

Since you dislike it, I will send you a much better manuscript. Emial please?