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Well, for me this year was most disappointing.
It was my 8th time at Blackpool, so maybe I am getting over the whole lecture thing... i don't know. For me Blackpool is more of a catch up with friends...
As for the conevntion, I thought that the lectures were not great (and there were a lot less lectures than previous years).
I am getting a bit sick of these lectures that are sales pitches... For me the best lecture was garrett Thomas' which was covering theory, and trick that he will release in the future! So no sales pitch, and super interesting stuff on how to present etc etc. I was sad to see all these people leaving because it was not a "tricks bonanza"... Anyway.
I really like Chad Long's as well.
I was looking forward to Andy Nyman's lecture (for the people that were there, I was the birthday boy); it was interesting, but mostly a sale's pitch.
But was disappointed in most other lectures.
I didn't bother going to Friday night's show as I figured that it'd be manipulation galore (I'm sick of card dropping in a top hat). Although, as mandrake pointed out, the dude who was asked to come back was amazing.

I was surprised that the dealer's rooms were not over crowded compared to previous years... it was actually nice not to be shoved / pushed.
But it remains mainly the same c*** (not the best) every year, so I ended up spending very little. Couldn't get excited about this Iphone thing.

So I was expecting a lot for the 60th convention but was left disappointed. Maybe I am just turning into an old fart, I don't know...

I don't rate the iLogo at all. It can only be used on the small percentage of people who have that model and it'll be out dated in a couple of years meaning you'll hardly ever use it. While it can be incorporated into an iPhone routine, on it's own it's too quick and routine-less to be worth bothering with. As a quick flashy trick to do to your friends, it's ok.

The same goes for that £2 in a bag trick... no where near worth the price.

I like those little throwaway effects that you can stick into a close up set (broken & restored wine glass, card peek & reveal, taking viagra bottle out of someone's jacket, glass production from their jacket etc). The limitations are there with iLogo & I reckon I wouldn't have paid full whack for it when they release it properly but the 20 quid Blackpool price was ok. I've seen some going on magicweek already (oddly for £25) but I got great reactions when i've used it.

Maybe I'm a stickler for items that offer an arsenal in a small package, a pack of cards being the classic example.

My purchases this year were mainly DVDs to help learn basic routines that I can add to and items that can be incorporated into routines as building blocks to make routines better.

I'm with you on that point. I think it's because I wanted to curb the card tricks a bit from what I do. It will be interesting to see what the actual price is after the proper dvd has been shot. I reckon it should have come with a black & a white gimmick in each pack.

DaveM wrote:Maybe I'm a stickler for items that offer an arsenal in a small package, a pack of cards being the classic example.

My purchases this year were mainly DVDs to help learn basic routines that I can add to and items that can be incorporated into routines as building blocks to make routines better.

+1