Return of a Controversial Blog

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Joe Mckay
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Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Joe Mckay » May 27th, 2015, 1:48 pm

After a ten year break - The Magic Circle Jerk is back.

Andy is back and blogging again!

http://www.thejerx.com/about/

Ask around - those who saw his original blog will agree it was the funniest thing to ever hit magic...

Now who is up for posting a link on the magic cafe and getting banned? lol
Last edited by Joe Mckay on May 27th, 2015, 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Return of A Controversial Blog

Postby Joe Mckay » May 27th, 2015, 1:57 pm

For those new to Andy's writings. And for the rest of us who want to remind themselves - you can find most of his old posts here:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://magiccirclejerk.blogspot.com

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Re: Return of A Controversial Blog

Postby Barden » May 27th, 2015, 2:08 pm

"Poof" and he's back. He was the inspiration for dozens of blogs that were just poor imitations. Hope he still has the magic touch.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Steve Mills » May 27th, 2015, 2:25 pm

I thought his first salvo was L-A-M-E. I really hope he gets his groove back. He could be very, very funny.

He will never top his "most boring post on the cafe" contest. Absolute brilliance and the Gang Green Guys were the perfect foils.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Jonathan Townsend » May 27th, 2015, 3:34 pm

+1

pin to start page
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » May 28th, 2015, 8:44 am

What an awesome start. A card revelation hidden in a porn site.

I am so happy.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Jonathan Townsend » May 28th, 2015, 11:33 am

hmmmm

calling our goat... put the x in eXtreme magic?

You think the adult entertainment video business would opt for some "cooperation" with this community and start putting magic props/data in set backgrounds?

I like the magazine header parody art for the new blog. :)
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 28th, 2015, 11:35 am

It's just juvenile and silly.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » May 29th, 2015, 5:09 am

Richard Kaufman wrote:It's just juvenile and silly.


Yes, yes it is. Which is what makes it great.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Tom Frame » May 29th, 2015, 10:34 am

This is my first exposure to Andy's work. I really dig it! He's coarse, funny and he calls it like he sees it. I look forward to future installments. Bravo, Andy!

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Jonathan Townsend » May 29th, 2015, 11:38 am

it's like finding Ren and Stimpy after only seeing Tom and Jerry cartoons.
happy, joy?
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Roger M. » May 29th, 2015, 12:25 pm

More importantly, mr_goat does not equal mrgoat.

One of these things is not like the other.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby AJM » May 29th, 2015, 12:37 pm

Indeed - I was curious about the lack of the accompanying Tony Sagittarius pic.
Odd, very odd.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 29th, 2015, 1:55 pm

I think it's Mr. Goat.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Roger M. » May 29th, 2015, 6:30 pm

Not trying to stir up any sort of problem, but why would he leave the forum as mrgoat, only to return as mr_goat?

Damian and I didn't always get along, but there is only one of him, as there should be only one.

Maybe I'm completely wrong, or maybe Damian got hit on the head ... but it doesn't sound like him.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 29th, 2015, 6:57 pm

Checking.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » June 1st, 2015, 10:34 am

Roger M. wrote:Not trying to stir up any sort of problem, but why would he leave the forum as mrgoat, only to return as mr_goat?.


because I can't log in as mrgoat anymore. mystery solved.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Joe Mckay » June 1st, 2015, 10:50 am

It's not the same without the photo of Tony Sagittarius! :-)

Also - I know you did a lecture about your act. But you should try getting something down in print. Watching your act was one of the most educational things I have ever seen. And I learned so much I could write some lecture notes myself.

Sorry for the effusive praise. It is just it really helped clarify for me how making certain decisions in terms of choice of character can really help a mentalism act. Particularly in terms of explaining away certain weaknesses as regards method.

For those who haven't checked it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhhRWo4Poc0

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » June 1st, 2015, 11:11 am

Joe Mckay wrote:It's not the same without the photo of Tony Sagittarius! :-)


That's on my other machine, will sort later.

Joe Mckay wrote:Also - I know you did a lecture about your act. But you should try getting something down in print. Watching your act was one of the most educational things I have ever seen. And I learned so much I could write some lecture notes myself.


Gosh. That is very nice of you to say.

Joe Mckay wrote:Sorry for the effusive praise.


Don't be sorry. I never tire of that. :)

Joe Mckay wrote:It is just it really helped clarify for me how making certain decisions in terms of choice of character can really help a mentalism act. Particularly in terms of explaining away certain weaknesses as regards method.


I'm really glad you got something useful out of it.

Joe Mckay wrote:For those who haven't checked it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhhRWo4Poc0


Another one here, if anyone cares

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_BftNgm9Zo
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Joe Mckay » June 23rd, 2015, 11:19 am

Andy's latest post gave me goosebumps.

I don't want to embarrass him. But for me and the way I think about magic these days - this is the best trick I have ever come across.

It is a brilliant adaptation of a classic Derren Brown idea.

http://www.thejerx.com/blog/2015/6/22/cellphone-magic

And for those who have not seen Derren Brown's first TV special. Here is the trick that Andy is reworking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQXe1CokWqQ

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Chas Nigh » June 23rd, 2015, 12:30 pm

Steve, can you point me to the most boring post on the magic cafe?

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Joe Mckay » June 23rd, 2015, 1:33 pm

That gag from Andy was genius. It was such a funny idea for a competition.

The idea was this.

Whoever had the most boring post/thread on The Magic Cafe was the winner.

You had to post a deliberately boring/stupid post and forward the link to Andy. And if it did not get taken down by the mods, and Andy thought it was the stupidest post he had being sent - you won.

The funny part was seeing all the legitimate posts from dumb members get taken down by the mods. Stupid posts are constantly being published on the Cafe by dumb members. And it was hilarious seeing the mods try and delete posts they suspected were too dumb to be genuine posts. When in fact many of them were precisely that.

It was the perfect troll job. lol

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby MCJ » June 23rd, 2015, 4:09 pm

Joe is slightly misremembering the contest. Normally I'd let something like this slide, but this is probably the only chance I'll get to accuse him of underestimating my genius so I'll clarify one point.

The contest wasn't, "Whoever writes the post I find the most boring wins." There was nothing subjective about it at all. The contest was, "Whoever writes the post with the least responses and views wins." So what ended up happening was you had people posting countless uninteresting posts, but at the same time they were commenting on all the other uninteresting posts they found as well to try and boost those post's numbers. (Remember, it was like golf, lowest score wins. So it makes sense to try and sabotage your competition.)

The contest went for three days, during that time the Cafe shut down registration of all new accounts and over half of the new posts on the Cafe at that time were entries in the contest. It was as if there was a bizzaro world Cafe laid over the actual Cafe. It was bananas.

The winner of the contest was this thread, which used a couple clever techniques* to fly under the radar:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view ... forum=34&5

If you want to read more about the aftermath, I've re-posted an entry from my old blog on this page of the new site (I'm not sure how many of those links still work):

http://www.thejerx.com/cafe-contest

* Those techniques were 1. Not engaging in sabotaging other threads so as not to draw attention to himself. 2. Replying to himself which was a bit of self-sabotage that threw people off the scent.
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Bill Marquardt
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Bill Marquardt » June 23rd, 2015, 5:24 pm

Interesting that magicians would find mindless trolling of another message board for magicians to be amusing or in any way a productive use of time. Sometimes I have to wonder about the company I keep.

Sorry. I guess my sense of humour is on a different wavelength.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby MCJ » June 23rd, 2015, 5:39 pm

Yeah. A totally different wavelength.

Also, if there are any other readers of my site who would attribute an Edmund Burke quote to the CBS show Criminal Minds, please, join Bill, and hit the bricks. You're not my target audience.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Bill Marquardt » June 23rd, 2015, 7:15 pm

Thank you.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Bill Mullins » June 23rd, 2015, 9:45 pm

It may be from Edmund Burke. But probably not.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Bill Marquardt » June 24th, 2015, 12:10 am

While aware of the futility of explaining one's actions, I must confess that when I first heard that quotation on the TV show, I could not remember the name of the person to whom it was attributed. "No worries," I said to myself. "Some erudite scholar on the Genii forum will supply me with the name." After a couple of month's i finally got an answer, the one above from our good friend, Andy. Apparently his answer is suspect, so I am back to where I started. I had thought originally that putting the name of the TV show within parentheses would serve as an indication of where I had taken the quotation. One does not ordinarily put the name of the author within parentheses. At the time I added that quotation to my signature it had some profound meaning for me, but I do not remember what it was. I would change it, but then it would seem as though I was giving in to intimidation.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Roger M. » June 24th, 2015, 12:26 am

To "attribute" something (absent the proviso "original author") to somebody doesn't automatically denote originality.

A person could be attributed with making a saying popular, or being the first to use "it" without being the inventor of "it".

Criminal Minds is a stretch, but in effect, you're all right ... anybody who quoted it can quite legitimately be attributed with saying it without also claiming originality.

Pedantic? - YES ... that is all.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby MCJ » June 24th, 2015, 1:16 am

They defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance.
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"Juvenile and silly" -- Richard Kaufman

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » June 24th, 2015, 8:36 am

Bill Marquardt wrote:Interesting that magicians would find mindless trolling of another message board for magicians to be amusing or in any way a productive use of time.


It is very amusing, and the popularity of the blog proves that. Good thing is, if you don't like an internet site, no one makes you read it. Good eh!?

And I don't think anyone claimed it was productive. It is funny though.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Bill Marquardt » June 24th, 2015, 9:58 am

Firstly, I have made no judgment of the web site itself. I have no problem with the blog. One can either choose to read it or not.

I disagree, however, that purposeful interruption of the running of someone else's message board is amusing or funny. I am an administrator of a non-magic related board. Some time ago it was declared by some well meaning internet outfit as "Web Site of the Month" or some such nonsense.

What followed this unsolicited "honor" was a torrent of posts by newly joined members meant to overflow our bandwidth and disrupt our board. The main culprit created several accounts and flooded our board with thousands of photos that had nothing to do with our site. Fortunately, I was on line when this happened and was able to shut down the process and correct things before any real damage had been done.

So, I have personal experience with this sort of thing. You may find it amusing. I would call it juvenile and silly.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Jonathan Townsend » June 24th, 2015, 10:08 am

Bill Marquardt wrote:... mindless trolling of another message board for magicians...


It's not like folks are planting bogons or even condoning being less than helpful.
The activity was purposeful and designed to increase readership of the target audience.
Not the same as writing ad copy or clickbait.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » June 24th, 2015, 10:18 am

Bill Marquardt wrote:Firstly, I have made no judgment of the web site itself.


I don't recall suggesting you did.

Bill Marquardt wrote:I disagree, however, that purposeful interruption of the running of someone else's message board is amusing or funny.


Good for you. I disagree and think it is very funny. Especially with Steve Brooks' forum, because he is such a figure of fun and his 'staff' are very stupid.

Bill Marquardt wrote: a torrent of posts by newly joined members meant to overflow our bandwidth and disrupt our board. Fortunately, I was on line when this happened and was able to shut down the process and correct things before any real damage had been done.


Thank the sweet baby jebers. But really, someone trying to take down a board and someone mocking a board are not really analogous. Thanks for sharing your story though, it was very interesting.

Few things you could do to stop that happening again.

a) Manual approval of first 10 (or x) posts for new users
b) No image uploads until 50 (or x) posts
c) Move to a proper host. Bandwidth is literally as cheap as chips today. A forum, with static images, could be hosted on a cellphone. If your host is restricting bandwidth, just get a proper host. A forum literally uses no resource or bandwidth in modern standards

etc

All fairly basic stuff to set up in the admin of any decent forum software. HTH.

Bill Marquardt wrote:So, I have personal experience with this sort of thing.


I have personal experience with trolling the magic cafe. Does one need personal experience of a thing to have an opinion about it?

Bill Marquardt wrote: You may find it amusing.


I do, I thought I said that?

Bill Marquardt wrote: I would call it juvenile and silly.


You and Mr K both. You should start a club or something.
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Richard Kaufman » June 24th, 2015, 10:43 am

I have started a club: this is it, and you're a member, too!
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » June 24th, 2015, 11:15 am

Richard Kaufman wrote:I have started a club: this is it, and you're a member, too!


And very lovely it is too!
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby Bill Mullins » June 24th, 2015, 11:39 am

mr_goat wrote: I have personal experience with trolling the magic cafe.


Please share.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby mr_goat » June 24th, 2015, 11:57 am

Bill Mullins wrote:
mr_goat wrote: I have personal experience with trolling the magic cafe.


Please share.


Oh I couldn't possibly.

They really should work out how I create new accounts so easily though.

:D
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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby El Mystico » June 24th, 2015, 1:02 pm

Personal opinion - I think the humo(u)r aspect is related to the quality of the site.

When mr_goat (formerly known as mrgoat) first joined this site, in my opinion he trolled too much, and sad to say I think we lost some good members as a result.

The Cafe, though, is different; and I think there is an argument for highlighting the stupidity of some of the content. Bit like pointing out the stupidity of a lot of Fox news.
It can also be very funny.

I guess it can be a fine line; trolling a good site, bad; trolling a bad site, good. But who decides what is a good and bad site? As Potter Stewart said - I know it when I see it.
And while we can disagree about the middle ground, I think it was Martin Gardner who said something about while twilight you can't tell if it is night or day, most of the time most of us can easily tell whether it is night or day.

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Re: Return of a Controversial Blog

Postby observer » June 25th, 2015, 2:16 pm

Dunno if it's one of MCJ's, but there's a post right now on the MC asking "What are your favorite effects from Greater Magic?" And it's getting responses!

What kind of cod post could top that?





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