The Genii Forum

Matt Sedlak

I just checked out that site and saw you guys had a contests forum. It reminded me of this weekly magic trivia contest that some site used to run years ago in a chatroom. I want to say it was Penguin but I don't remember. It was associated with some dealer because the prizes used to be pretty good. ...

Matt Sedlak

I just honestly have no good reason to buy a domain at this time. It just seems to me that it is another indicator that they care very little about the people who actually use their forums.

Matt Sedlak

So I feel like (as expected from that site) I've run into literally one of the stupidest things I've seen. I want to sign up for a magic cafe account but it won't accept any email address because its from a free site. I'm not even sure I know anybody who doesn't use a gmail/yahoo/hotmail account unl...

Matt Sedlak

The issue of thievery aside (though that is hard to ignore!), did anyone one else find it somewhat ridiculous that he passed this off as "mentalism" simply by predicting the date on one of the coins at the end? That was my first thought when I saw this. I was only semi-watching it through...

Matt Sedlak

Nathan, I can certainly get on board with that. Magic is such an individual thing and when it comes to those who make a living through it I can respect their wish to keep things for themselves.

Matt Sedlak

Nathan, I certainly agree with what you said and think it is good advice to follow. However I have met hundreds of magicians, both amateur and pro and I can probably count on one hand the number who either don't agree with what you said or would have the audacity to act counter to it. Of course when...

Matt Sedlak

You can redirect that creativity somewhere else though. Anyway, regarding the Kaps story: That attitude is present in so many ways. Professionals and amateurs, technicians and performers, pretty much any way you could label someone within the magic community you will find disdain amongst those group...

Matt Sedlak

The issue, and I find it hard you are still struggling to get this, is that Derek Lever possibly had threatened to ban several people from attending FISM. Lever is not in charge of FISM and has no authority to ban anyone. I find it hard as well considering that in my first post I stated, "The ...

Matt Sedlak

But do realise, Sedlak, that obviously your post here attacking the way I post could have been done over PM, thus you would have avoided doing what you complain about me doing. Derailing a thread. Zounds, the irony. Oh you noticed that did you. This is clearly censorship. Lever doesn't like what Cr...

Matt Sedlak

Lets follow your logic. You invite me to your house. Whilst there I say, "I don't like your curtains, nor your kitchen. I don't like the people who come here. It smells funny too." I can't be surprised if you don't allow me back or make me welcome? Surely? Am I the only one who finds this...

Matt Sedlak

Goat why do you seemingly always try to politicize these threads and turn them into off-topic debates? Even though I tend to agree with you on things I rarely agree with the way you say them. "Do you think censoring the press is a good idea? A one word "yes" or "no" will suf...

Matt Sedlak

Well if they show the full effect chances are good people will figure out the method and may not buy the trick.

Matt Sedlak

Counterexample: Start with the cards in CHSD order, in sets of 4 (i.e 4C,7H,AS,QD,6C,etc). Doesn't work. I don't have a copy of the original article so maybe you miscopied the procedure. I wasn't sure which way you meant (should I deal all the cards into a pile before moving on to the next or should...

Matt Sedlak

Wow. Magicians will find a way to nerdrage about nearly anything. That the two routines are different is hard to dispute. They are in two completely different categories of magic! Basically what was borrowed (if anything) was a presentational element. But magicians do that all the time. How many of ...

Matt Sedlak

ow, as to the idiot running the magic shop (certainly far from being a "professional") - the clever magic shop operators that I knew only showed the secret to the buyer after money was collected and then to the buyer alone. It was not given away to the group watching the demo. The respons...

Matt Sedlak

David Alexander wrote:I'm curious how you can justify charging the same for a hard copy as for the one made of electrons?

Technically the hard copy has a bunch of electrons too :)

Matt Sedlak

16% less is a pretty substantial savings if someone only cares about the reprinted material, especially with a search feature. Not saying it isn't a good value as available through L&L though.

Matt Sedlak

mrgoat wrote:The remaining 70% they simply drop to their knees and felate me, pronouncing me The Overlord of Magic.

I lol'd...alot!

Matt Sedlak

Actually the article points out why they did it and stated that they have decided they wont do it again. But it turns out the copies they had sold were illegal and the company that had initially offered them didn't have the right to do so. The customers were also refunded for their purchase. It prob...

Matt Sedlak

I think Mr K provides the best resource for them here! The best advice. The most indepth discussions (Erdnase thread anyone?). The best people. The best attitude. Thanks Mr K for carrying it on! Yes but ironically the reason this site is as good as it is, is because those other people aren't here. ...

Matt Sedlak

Brad, I actually find it pretty funny that we all complain about the bad magicians but when it comes to trying to sell stuff to magicians we realize that they make up a large part of the target market. Since there is more money to be made by focusing on those people rather than the "upper end o...

Matt Sedlak

No I don't think people are done with a magic book when they read it. It was a simplification. But much of the value is lost after reading a magic book the first time. Many of the great works of fiction, for example, are just as exciting during a subsequent read through, if not more so. You should r...

Matt Sedlak

Damian, While I tend to agree with you on alot of these kinds of topics I also see Mr. Kaufman's point of view on this as well. People buy magic books for differing reasons than they buy many mainstream books. Once you have read a magic book, other than for future reference you are essentially done ...

Matt Sedlak

To be honest..I didn't realize just how many of your older books you still had available until just now when I checked out that section of the site. In the past, if I wanted a Kaufman book the first place I looked was eBay, then some of the used book stores and finally some of the forums. The though...

Matt Sedlak

Because the article seems to state that one of the main reasons teens don't use Twitter is because of the cost of sending a text but this is not an issue for the majority of American teens. Granted the teen who wrote the thing was European but if American teens aren't using Twitter it is for a very ...

Matt Sedlak

Here's some pertinent news on the larger issue http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/13/twitter-teenage-media-habits apparently the market has evolved again - so how about a video game where you get secrets for points? Interesting article. The only thing I take issue with is the reason teens ...

Matt Sedlak

David, Your post is correct but mostly for the magician who is also a professional. Most magicians are amateurs. Hobbyists who enjoy the art for much more than its performance aspect. While these people may perform for others on occasion it is not their main interest. Learning and creating new magic...

Matt Sedlak

There just isn't enough variety in magic for it to be as popular on television as movies and music. Sure we as magicians can see that there are a ton of variations on pretty much everything but to laymen so much of it is the same. I think the public can take magic in chunks (i.e. a couple of magic s...

Matt Sedlak

We probably shouldn't discuss Kant either, because he CAN be understood by reading just his own writings. All reading benefits from discussion, regardless of it is is about magic or any other topic. It seems to me that the Cervon notebooks would benefit more from discussion than other texts. (Note t...

Matt Sedlak

Perhaps. People do tend to avoid using words or phrases that become associated with negative things, or conjure up negative images, and rightly so. Languages need to be able to evolve as Latin showed us. I doubt many Germans use the word fuhrer anymore even though it was once a harmless and common t...

Matt Sedlak

Mark, no one pays a kid's family 22 MILLION dollars to make a civil suit go away before trial unless they're guilty. The kid in that case gave a deposition in which he described Jackson's genitals in detail. That reminded me of a Dave Chappelle skit from awhile back: http://www.comedycentral.com/vi...

Matt Sedlak

From that link I don't really see their plans working out too well. At the very least they certainly can't have 1G of my hard drive space no matter what they offer in return. Maybe it will work but I doubt it. At least they were smart to only give half of the sale price in cash, the other half is in...

Matt Sedlak

Well I would agree that bad magicians are killing magic too. But most people have never seen a magician, at least in my experience, other than possibly on television. Even still the public has this stereotypical magician in their minds. The one with the cape and top hat where the rabbit is pulled fr...

Matt Sedlak

Travis, Sure I think that using a box effect from time to time is fine, as long as the entire act isn't merely box effect after box effect. The problem with doing one of these on a show like AGT where you have a short amount of time to do something is that the impression they will get of your act is...

Matt Sedlak

I respectfully disagree, Matt. If I may defer to to an excerpt from Jim Steinmeyer's The Secret No One Tells You , as he states the case quite nicely. Toward the conclusion of this lecture, he mentions that he has often listened in the lobby at intermission to audience members discussing a magic sh...

Matt Sedlak

I've liked Jay Mattioli ever since he was on the Lance Burton Young Magician's special. Of all those great performers that were on there I always felt he had the most potential and I think he can be the next Copperfield. Copperfield was able to mix popular culture with his magic and do it well and I...

Matt Sedlak

No I get that, but since I don't know their plan I still think it strange to take over a site rather than start it out on your own. The Pirate Bay is a well-known name sure, but most of those users will be moving to other sites when the content no longer becomes free. Users have already commented th...

Matt Sedlak

I don't understand the thinking behind the purchase though. Making the site legit probably won't do anything but kill it. It worked for Napster because at that time there really weren't many other easy ways to download content. Today, if you want to find content to download legally there is rarely a...

Matt Sedlak

I get a kick out of how so many people after watching this DVD set are saying how surprised they are at seeing that Marlo's stuff has commercial value. In the previous, and highly lauded, Bill Malone videos there are tons of Marlo things. Marlo's influence on Bill is easily seen and he has been doin...

Matt Sedlak

Oj was acquitted...and since he has damn near admitted to doing it since then.. If someone without Jackson's fame had admitted the things he did and stood trial my guess is that the outcome would have been different. We have a history in this country of letting certain people get away with things wh...

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