FISM 2006 - We need your input

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John Houdi
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FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John Houdi » March 1st, 2004, 10:16 am

Dear friends in magic,
FISM 2006 in Sweden is in full progress.
All of us involved in this convention have been working hard since last summer and will work even harder from now - to make this the best FISM convention ever.

But we need your input!

We would like to hear from you what kind of acts you would like to see at the gala shows.
Who do you like to see a lecture from?
Which workshop would you like to attend and who should give it?
Have you got a great idea for a magical event at the convention?

Aim high!
Who knows; maybe you will see your absolute favourite magic act/lecturer when you come to Stockholm in 2006

We the members of the FISM board for the 2006 convention will watch this thread with interest in the future.

Sincerely,

/John Houdi, www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 1st, 2004, 1:43 pm

John, I think it's a great idea to solicit suggestions from the magic community!
My first vote is for Rene Lavand. Who does not want to see Rene do his great magic! (And I happen to know what he has dozens of routines which he could perform that have not been seen by most magicians.)
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Pete Biro
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Pete Biro » March 1st, 2004, 2:42 pm

I would suggest themed evening events.

One night: All the Magician's from Spain
One night: All the Magician's from Germany
One night: All the Magician's from the Magic Castle,

etc
etc

Honor past Grand Prix winners

Some how have ELIMINATIONS to get rid of the weak acts in the competitions.

A special ALL AROUND COMPETITION where one must work close up as well as on stage combined scores.
Stay tooned.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Philippe Noël » March 1st, 2004, 2:54 pm

For Close-up, my vote goes to Earl Nelson.
For Stage, Jeff McBride.
For a magical event, Ricky Jay with his act or Persi Diaconis talking about Vernon.
Thanks for asking.

P.S: What about Roger Klause, David Ben, Michael Vincent, Guy Hollingworth, Michael Ammar, Daryl, John Carney, William Goodwin?

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MaxNY
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby MaxNY » March 2nd, 2004, 4:43 am

A bulletin board where I can leave messages for my wife, who is out on daily excursions. ---Leave information with the hotels. When we arrived in Pourtugal, the night before, there was no information given to the hotel about the shuttle buses. In fact they knew zero about anything at F.I.S.M.... It wasn't until the next day when I went down for breakfast that I saw "magician types" getting on a bus. I had to convince the driver to stall, as I quickly went back upstairs and got ready for the day.
--- Play different songs before each competition. The same song over and over and over levels the playing field, but lacks turf! Go with stuff that all sounds about the same, but for God's sake mix it up!
---The David Williams, Mac King impromptu shorts at Portugal were the best thing I have ever seen at a convention. Hire them just to do that, there is no way you could just ask them to kindly reproduce that stuff, they must have stayed up all night.
---Hire acts that are proven. I refuse to believe that the water tank fiasco at Portugal was ever rehearsed.
---Don't forget that the children are the future of this old art, get the kids out, supervise them, and ten years from now they will turn the stuff around and astound us. And that brings me to the biggest suggestion...astound me, please!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 2nd, 2004, 8:16 am

Max, Mago Anton had performed his water torture cell many times while touring around Spain prior to its explosion at FISM, so your point may be well taken, but your example is poor.
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Pete Biro
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Pete Biro » March 2nd, 2004, 10:30 am

Give David Williamson four hours to work and let him bring in a few of his friends.
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John Houdi
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John Houdi » March 2nd, 2004, 1:49 pm

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
John, I think it's a great idea to solicit suggestions from the magic community!
Thank you Richard. Yes, we plan to rely on the internet a lot when communicationg with our fellow magicians before the convention.
The more input we receive, the better the convention will be.

Oh, one more thing; we have today (March 2) opened up a way to subscribe to the FISM 2006 Newsletter.
We have not integrated it yet at FISM.com (right now only at the Swedish Magic Circle's webserver), but it will soon be a link from FISM.com as well.
For now all subscriptions will be managed at:
www.svenskmagiskcirkel.se/FISM-news.html

Keep the good ideas flow. It will be presented regularly to the FISM 2006 group.

/John Houdi
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Philippe Noël » March 2nd, 2004, 10:59 pm

David Williamson was hired at many Fism.
Please not always the same performers.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Nicholas Carifo » March 3rd, 2004, 1:33 am

Not just at FISM, but at any magic convention, I have always wanted to see a NIGHTLY late-night MAGIC COMEDY CLUB lounge set up... either in the existing hotel lounge, or if not large enough, a makeshift lounge... but with FULL BAR, over 21, adult crowd and be able to book great comic magic acts, the likes of Amazing Johnathan, Paul Kozak, Mac King, and you name it....to perform their comedy as they would in a real comedy club format, not having to conform to an 11:00 AM show for ages 6 and up.

Magicians hang in the hotel bar till the wee hours anyway... this will make that bar a lot larger and more fun, and ahve something no other convention is doing...

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Steve Bryant
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Steve Bryant » March 3rd, 2004, 6:13 am

Great idea. One year at the Desert Magic Seminar, at the Tropicana, Michael Finney was performing at the Trop's comedy club. He was great of course, and it seemed part of the convention in that it was in the same hotel and packed with an audience of magicians.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 3rd, 2004, 7:47 am

I'd suggest inviting some laymen to participate in the judging.

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Pete Biro
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Pete Biro » March 3rd, 2004, 9:17 am

The Comedy Club idea is great.... but... but... think about it...

Do the stand up comics talk slow... do they speak French, German, Italian, etc. etc.

What if all the comics were from Iran and spoke Arabic?

At a FISM you have to be able to play to a very wide cultural/language audience.

English is understood, somewhat, by all, but only if clearly spoken, slowly, etc.

Williamson is an exception, he can be understood without knowing what he says... he is so VISUAL.

Even British comics in the USA are hard to undestand, it seems like they talk so fast...
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John Houdi
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John Houdi » March 3rd, 2004, 10:17 am

Originally posted by Philippe Nol:
Please not always the same performers.
No, we will actually try not to use the same acts and lecturers that have been seen on the last FISM conventions.
This is one of the reasons why we go out so early and ask our fellow magicians for advice.
We will look for some well known names, and som names never heard of from all parts of the world.

Two years to go, and we have already seen a lot of good ideas in theis thread. Thank you all so much. Keep the ideas comming.

/John Houdi, www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 3rd, 2004, 10:53 am

I'm certainly biased by what I see at the Magic Castle, week in and week out. We have the great fortune to get to see a huge variety.

Steve Valentine
Shoot Ogawa
Fernando Keops
Jeff Ezell
Brian Ochab (the first IBM AND SAM people's choice winner)
Whit Haydn
Brian Gillis
Tom Ogden
Henry Evans ( a GREAT lecturer, in addition to his great skill as a performer)

All of the above are close-up experts, although most also have acts for "parlor" settings.

Grant McSorley
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Grant McSorley » March 3rd, 2004, 12:26 pm

There are tons of people I would love to see, but one who just popped into my head is Bebel, to either lecture or perform in the close-up gala. Also, on the topic of close-up, monitors projecting the performance so that the whole audience has a clear view would be great.

See you in 2006,
Grant

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Jacky Kahan » March 3rd, 2004, 1:19 pm

Intresting topic!!

what about:

Armando Lucero
Tom Mullica
Bebel
Bill Goodwin
Lennert Green (that will not be difficult) :)
Amazing Johnatan
Bob Kohler
Bill Malone
Max Maven
Simon Lovell
Rene Lavand

:D :D :D

Cheers
Jacky

John McDonald
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John McDonald » March 3rd, 2004, 1:56 pm

How about a group from Cirque de Soleil?
Best John

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Glenn Farrington
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Glenn Farrington » March 3rd, 2004, 3:11 pm

The bulletin board is a GREAT IDEA. There is so much going on, your daily life changes quite often from the original plan you had in the morning. If there was a way to communicate with friends, besides cell phones, that would be a great addition. I like that idea so much I will definitely use it at the World Magic Seminar.
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Danny Archer » March 3rd, 2004, 8:02 pm

I will second the vote for monitors for the close-up lectures ... some rooms had them and some rooms didn't at the last FISM ... close-up magic is what the majority of magicians do, and greater attention should be paid to it ...

also thinking about monitors ... at the recent FISM they had video monitors broadcasting the stage acts .. but without volume! ... not good at all for the speaking act and even the silent acts are diminished as music plays such an important role ... some monitors were positioned in areas (dealers room) where sound would be distracting, but I sure there is a way to provide sound along with the picture ...
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MaxNY
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby MaxNY » March 4th, 2004, 3:54 am

Haz Marc Salem ever done a FISM? He held up the SAM NY convention well. I get jealous when I read about the re-creations built by Caveney and crew for the collectors group. They sound so fun, but have mighty limitations.

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Pete Biro
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Pete Biro » March 4th, 2004, 9:37 am

Bills Wells and I started the "re-creations" with Johnny Thompson, Mike Caveney and others doing "THURSTON" with John in full makeup... Thurston's daughter saw him and said, "Daddy...."

It was a spooky moment.

This is a good idea.

John Gaughan/Jim Steinmeyer/Mike Caveney could do a full evening, or maybe a single item each evening... that would be historic.
Stay tooned.

John Houdi
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John Houdi » March 17th, 2004, 1:02 am

Some news at our webpage www.fism.com

* You can now register on-line!
* You can now register free for the FISM 2006 maillist

The earlier you register the better will your seats be. We can welcome over 3000 magicians and we will double all shows EXCEPT the final prize-winning gala (that by obvious reasons only can be shown once).
This show will be opened for the first 2000 participants. The rest will follow the show from outside the Victoria Hall on large video screens.
So my advice is to register early.

/John Houdi, http://www.houdi.se
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

Jonathan Levey
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Jonathan Levey » March 18th, 2004, 12:51 am

- A commemeration to Sigfried and Roy?

- A special performance by Copperfield?

- Specialised mini competitions (best matrix, best truimph, best cups n balls etc etc)

- A DVD release featuring highlights from the opening ceromony, lectures, performances, competitions, closing ceromony and just funny out takes and impromptu pieces...

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby James Foster » March 18th, 2004, 6:00 am

Originally posted by Pete Biro:


What if all the comics were from Iran and spoke Arabic?

Hmmm...that'd be interesting since Arabic is *not* widely spoken or read in Iran.

J.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Jonathan Levey » March 22nd, 2004, 6:13 pm

Arabic IS very widely spoken... Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates all speak Arabic as a first language.
Don't forget that there other countries (in Europe) who have a large population of Arabic speaking people.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 22nd, 2004, 10:36 pm

Originally posted by Jonathan Rubel:
Arabic [b]IS very widely spoken... Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates all speak Arabic as a first language.
Don't forget that there other countries (in Europe) who have a large population of Arabic speaking people. [/b]
Yes, but Farsi (Persian) is spoken in Iran. The Iranians are Persians, not Arabs, even though they share the same fixed alphabet.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 24th, 2004, 3:40 am

I like the idea of a Scandinavian evening. There should be plenty of magicians to chose from:

Lennart Green (He can do the most amazing sleights with cards)
Tom Stone (A great thinker and a master of misdirection)
Carl-Einar Hackner (combines magic with humor)
Joachim Solberg (Top notch sleight of hand)
Rune Klan (Highly skilled coin magician and stand-up comedian)
Joe Labero (Stage magician with a cool show)
Christian Engblom (Creative close-up magician)

..and many others.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 25th, 2004, 8:20 am

My first choice is defintly Bebel! Seeing Rene Lavand and Tamariz would be amazing too!

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Pete Biro
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Pete Biro » March 25th, 2004, 9:30 am

Book me :eek:
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 25th, 2004, 9:40 am

Speaking of Bebel...
Segue to street magic...

Some of the worlds best magicians are out there working the streets (Gazzo, Dante, Nick Nickolas, etc.) How about "inviting" some of them and devoting an entertainment 'slot' to street magic; Instead of a "formal/stage" show, the attendees would stroll from magician to magician.

Sidenote: This idea was used in one of the T.A.O.M. conventions...

Perhaps some of the convention organizers from the Texas Con would have some input?

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John McDonald » March 25th, 2004, 12:53 pm

Originally posted by Nick Lacroix:
My first choice is defintly Bebel!
My first choice too!
Best John

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 25th, 2004, 1:52 pm

I THINK THAT COMPETITIONS ARE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN A FISM, IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT, SO PLEASE TREAT COMPETITORS AS HUMAN BEINGS.
LET THE COMPETITORS HAVE AT LEAST 15 MINUTES EACH ONE FOR REHERSAL ( IF THERES SOMEBODY THAT WOULD MAKE AN ELEPHANT APPEAR, LET GIVE HIM 20 MINUTES IF NECESSARY, BECAUSE THEN, THE FOLLOWING COMPETITOR WOULD NEED 10 MINUTES INSTEAD OF 15, SO THIS BALANCE THE MEDIA TIME.
PLEASE COMPETITORS ARE HUMAN BEINGS SO TREAT THEM LIKE THIS. THIS WAS ONE OF THE MISTAKES IN LAST FISM. THANK YOU
ADOLFO FROM MADRID

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Q. Kumber
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Q. Kumber » March 25th, 2004, 4:09 pm

How about a totally original convention where all the shows and lectures are by magicians who earn their living performing in the real world?

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Pete Biro
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Pete Biro » March 25th, 2004, 4:37 pm

Can't afford their prices, and they can't afford to take the time off to do a convention.
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Q. Kumber
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Q. Kumber » March 26th, 2004, 12:39 am

Interestingly Pete, for the National Speakers Association of the US, it is considered an honor to speak at the convention. You have to apply to speak or lecture, go through a vetting process and pay all your own expenses, registration and accomodation.

And the registration fee is more than double any magic convention I've ever been to.

As far as I'm aware all other Professional Speaker's Associations around the world operate on the same principles.

It is also interesting to note that professional speakers get paid many times the fees of magicians.

I'm not saying this is good or bad. I'm just pointing it out.

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » March 30th, 2004, 7:53 am

Henry Evans and Rene Levand appeared at the Blackpool Magicians' Convention in the UK, and they were both great. Boris Wild has some pretty good card stuff, too.

Others that I'd like to see at FISM include Eugene Burger, Juan Tamariz, Paul Harris and his Australian brother Ben (OK, so I'm just kidding about that last one).

OHS.

John Houdi
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John Houdi » April 1st, 2004, 9:40 am

Originally posted by D. Conn:
[QB] Some of the worlds best magicians are out there working the streets (Gazzo, Dante, Nick Nickolas, etc.) How about "inviting" some of them and devoting an entertainment 'slot' to street magic; Instead of a "formal/stage" show, the attendees would stroll from magician to magician.
Actually that is something we are working on. You see in 2006 we will try to "open up" the convention to the general audience a lot more than before. The whole week will hopefully be a "magic week" in Stockholm and there will be a lot of magic happening all over the city. There will definitely be room for a lot of street performers at FISM 2006.

/John Houdi
Webmaster
FISM 2006 GROUP
www.fism.com

John McDonald
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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby John McDonald » April 18th, 2004, 6:41 am

How about booking Darwin Ortiz? Two of his books which are out of print are the most sought after on ebay. Cardshark and Strong Magic. I would love to see him give a lecture on his work in casinos or on creating strong magic.
Best John

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Re: FISM 2006 - We need your input

Postby Guest » April 18th, 2004, 7:46 am

I think it is a mistake for Quentin Reynolds to suggest that only professional magicians should be booked to perform and do lectures.

By using that criteria Vernon would never have been invited to do a lecture. He was basically an amateur magician even though he did some professional shows.

Some "professional" magicians have never had an original thought in their lives.They perform the stuff that the amateurs invent. They usually do not have the gift of creativity (or the time to develop such) that amateurs often have.

Amateurs are the ones who produce the ideas that professionals use. Take for example the 5 minutes with the pocket handkerchief that Quentin has marketed. All from Martin Gardner's book. I remember Quentin asked me to purchase this for him and I remember the routine in there. I learned the routine myself and taught it to various people. I wish I could remember their names.

My point is that Martin Gardner was an amateur magician. So was Paul Curry. I suppose if he was alive he should also be banned from lecturing.

Amateurs are the absolute backbone of magic. No magic shop would last without them. No magic convention would survive without them. No magic club would be able to operate if they only had professionals in it. It has been tried before but never succeeded.

I do think some professional magicians get a bit snobby and pompous in their attitude to amateurs.
They shouldn't.
I often think that the amateur has much more fun than the pro and gets a lot more out of magic than someone whose goal is making a living.
And sometimes they are even better than the pro. Not always. I just said sometimes.

And they are only prone to petty backstabbing such as gossiping etc; Pros are far more prone to ruthless backstabbing because money is involved. I have seen far more unethical pros than unethical amateurs.

Not all pros are unethical of course. But some are. These are usually the least competent where performing skills are concerned.

Never look down on the amateur. They are usually more giving and generous where information is concerned. Some of the more selfish pros are only giving if they can make money out of it. And often what they give isn't worth it anyway. I have often noticed that pros market rehashed stuff galore and imply they have invented it after making minor changes for the sake of propriety.
And who are their customers? Amateurs of course.For the most part anyway.

I am not against professionals. I have been one all my life. I suppose a scam artist kind of professional. However, I have always admired and respected the amateur magician. After all I was one once. And so was every professional magician on this earth.


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