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KingStardog Inner circle 2134 Posts |
Kind of funny, but I always felt that this magazine was a 'second rate' rag that dealers kept on the shelf only, for when thay ran out of Magic magazine, so the racks wouldn't be empty.
Never bought one myself. I always felt the production quality, writers, and covered selection of material was inferior to what is offered in Magic. Ouch! Did I write that? The veiws and opinions expressed above are strictly my own and have no reflection on the Café' or its management.
...think not that all wisdom is in your school. You may have studied other paths,but, it is important to remember that no matter who you are or where you come from, there is always more to learn.
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The Donster Inner circle 4817 Posts |
Genii used to be a popular magazine. there are a few other titles out there more for the pro. I usally don't always agree with the reviews
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KingStardog Inner circle 2134 Posts |
I always picked up Magic, myself. I leafed through a couple of Geniis before but it seemd like the writers were severely lacking to me. I have to put the Linking Ring ahead of it on my list. All my opinion though.
...think not that all wisdom is in your school. You may have studied other paths,but, it is important to remember that no matter who you are or where you come from, there is always more to learn.
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Riley Special user Swansea UK 955 Posts |
The value of any book is in the eye of the reader, not the reviewer or critic!
Houdini was not a good writer (his own opinion), nor for that matter was my old friend David DeVal (David's opinion - I disagreed with him!). . it was one of the reasons why David produced so little, he was concerned what people would say about his writings. Frankly, I have yet to read any book that I didn't get something from, and I know that Steve's book will only be DULL in proportion to the reader's level of understanding! The less I understand, the more dull it appears. As Kondini said of David DeVal's escapology book the reader must "read between the lines". I know from info and advice I have received from Steve Santini that what he has to say will only be truly appreciated by a few. Steve also knows that, as he points out, above. None of us write (or illustrate) escapology books for the benefit of "reviewers". Nor do we do them for "the money". Escapology is such a specialist field that most of us know the REAL value of material without having to rely on the opinion of any reviewer. To write a book on our wonderful art requires a lot of "midnight oil". To write a review requires a cup of coffee Riley |
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thorndyke Regular user Canada 147 Posts |
The basic difficulty with reviews of any item is the level of familiarity the reviewer has with the subject matter. The more knowing the reviewer the more direct the critique. Parallel disciplines can still produce a correct review even if the writer has no background directly in the area discussed. Magic, escapes, juggling, mentalism, and other related arts all have to deal with booking shows, getting noticed and supplying everything needed for that particular art form. The follow ups for future bookings, exploiting publicity, chasing after deadbeat clients who are somewhat slow in paying for your services, licencing, permits, insurance, geez what a lot of work if you want to be a performer.
If the review of Santini's book is not written by another escape artist then I expect them to have SOME sort of familiarity with live performance as well as SOME sort of knowledge of related printed material for comparisons, etc. |
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GreatWizardoftheEast Regular user Knoxville, TN 124 Posts |
Actually, I think Genii is superior to MAGIC in it's content. MAGIC Magazine however is slicker in appearance.
I made this original post because I thought it was neat that a mainstream magic magazine did a review of something escape related. The reviewer gave pros and cons for the book. If a movie gets a bad review that doesn't nessasarily keep me from watching the movie. I've also seen movies that got rave reviews that I didn't personally care for. Some people liked the book and for them that's all that is important.
Harold White
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The Donster Inner circle 4817 Posts |
I do like Genii but it will vary upon what the contents contain in it. one month I might and the next month No.
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SANTINI Loyal user SANTINI 293 Posts |
I just got my copy of this issue of Genii with the review in it for "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Entertaining With Escapes (but no one would tell you)".
After seeing all of the negative posts about what many presented here on The Café as a negative review that presented the book in a somewhat less than usefull light, in fact horrible, I was understandably eager to see what the reviewer had to say. Prior to reading the review, I made a promise to myself that I would approach it with an open mind and be ready to take valid points as just that and agree on what indeed may be wrong with the book. That being said, I was certain that after all I had heard here on The Café I was going to be very displeased indeed. In fact, I expected a blistering review. Suprisingly, such was not the case. In fact, the reviewer did indeed state a number of times that the book contained real, practical, and functional material presented by a working professional with much experience to back up his points. It would seem that the man who wrote the review was hoping to settle in for a read of a technical book as opposed to a book that outlined escapology stagecraft, how to design and present an effective escape act, and how to go about getting work with same. This fact seems to be the backbone of much of his contention with the book. He proceeds from the premise that material on how to book onself and promotion, etc has already been covered in other magic related publications and perhaps better too. In this assertion he may be correct but I wrote the book to present methods I had always used for doing these things for my own show and with the understanding that such things had not previously been offered to the escape community in a book that dealt with escapology and the escape performer. I only wrote what worked for me. The reviewer does not deny the methods will work, he just happens to prefer other publications that cover solely marketing and promotion in the magical arts. So here, we run into a matter of personal preference so far as the reviewer is concerned. No slam is directed at the functionality or usefullness of the contents themselves nor are they denied as being such. I get the impression from reading the review that the man who wrote it is a performing professional. He repeatedly takes a stance that suggests that other performing professionals should know all about stagecraft and self promotion and marketing. This is a rather large assumption on his part and sadly is not totally accurate. This is why so many in escapology are working and making a living from doing shows full time because the information I attemped to outline has not been laid out for escapologists before by a career escapist. One comment he made in particular sums up the premise of the book. And that is: "For the neophyte with no experience is theatre of advertising there is a wealth of information here". This comment relfects the real purpose of why I wrote the book in the first place; namely, to teach and pass on experience that works so that others who are considering making a living from escapology can have the tools, besides the props, to go a head and have a good shot at it. Other positive comments in the review are: - "In reading his advice about about safety and audience management, how he chooses volunteers, publicity stunts and a host of other things it is clear he is a knowledgable performer". - "Certainly there is a lot to be learned from anyone who has been performing for more than 20 years as Mr. Santini has. He is opinionated, but is able to back up his opinions with cogent reasoning and stories of personal experience". - "His excellent short chapter called, "Onstage safety" reveals a serious and deliberate professional who considers it a duty to ensure his own safety and the safety of others". - "Where Santini speaks about the specifics of the escape act, this is a compelling read". All in all, it was a rather good review despite the reviewer seeming to miss the point of the entire book. The point was to teach how to "entertain and work" doing escapes. No more clearly is it illustrated just what the reviewer was hoping for when he picked the book up than in these following closing statements: "With the earlier publication of his much more interesting book, "Concealments", Santini paved the way for books that explore the technical secrets of the modern escape artist"... and ... " A book like that would better address everything I ever wanted to know about entertaining with escapes than this one does". Given the large and always getting larger selection of props and technical info already out there for escapists, I wanted to offer something different. In authoring this new book I wanted to teach people into escapes how to work with an audience and how to get work in the "real world". It seems, at least judging from the overall tenor of this particular review, that I succeeded in what I set out to do. So what has this review proven? Well, it certainly proves that like all things and all situations in life, personal bias, earlier life experience, and preconcieved ideas and wishes are what determine what one takes away from anything we encounter. Steve Santini |
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The Donster Inner circle 4817 Posts |
Mr Santini Sir I Applaud your Honesty and Courage to Comment not only on your own product but on the review itself. also other people who have bought the Book have also stated that it does Work. Don,
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SANTINI Loyal user SANTINI 293 Posts |
Thanks Don.
Steve Santini |
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The Donster Inner circle 4817 Posts |
Steve Anytime I like The Main thing is the Honesty about your opinions to. Don,
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Cindi Loyal user Palm Bch, FL 285 Posts |
Steve,
Thanks for sharing "the rest of the story" and the positive points of the review. It is now obvious that those who do not have much to "stand on" had to scrape the bottom of the barrel but in the end only bent over exposing themselves C |
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truthteller Inner circle 2584 Posts |
In re-reading the thread, I do not see how those of us who offered a synopsis of the review misrepresented what they gleaned from its content. I also think that
"spinning" the negativity toward the posts on the Café is inconsiderate to those who posted with the sincere attempt to provide requested information regarding an article to which some do not have access. However, I have taken the time to look at several "escape" threads and what I can see is the cause for this "tension." Back biting, name calling, posting under false names.... So, allow me to at least give my comments context. My name is Brad Henderson. Though I am not an escape artist I have performed several escapes for various events and have consulted on escape events for magicians. In truth, I have no desire to become an escape specialist, however I feel that it is my duty to study all branches of the art as the lessons learned CAN be applied to my specialties. Consequently, I am always looking for "best sources." So I was very interested in Eric's review of what sounded to be a promising title. What I took away from Eric's review was that this book did not cover the type of material that one might reasonably assume it would from the title. Further, as someone who makes his living from performing, I do believe that knowledge of the concepts of stagecraft, theatrical direction, and business are CRITICAL to a performer's success. Since we all want to spend our time actually performing, it only makes since to seek out the best materials in those fields as well. What I received from Eric was that there are other books in print for the performer which address these issues with greater depth and clarity. While Eric states that those unfamiliar with these concepts would find value from the book, I think it does the community a great service to be made aware of this before purchasing said book. I do not consider this "blistering" at all. Just an honest clarification. So, hopefully, my earlier posts will not be seen as some personal attack on the author , which given the climate of this segment of the magic Café, would perhaps not be an unwarranted reaction. Rather, I am someone who has a sincere interest in empowering myself with the best materials available. And I concur with Eric, that a truly "encyclopedic" book on the art/craft of escapes would be warranted. |
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The Donster Inner circle 4817 Posts |
TruthTeller/Brad I see nothing wrong you just said what you thought plus your honest to admit it. I know I don't like the extra/fake names etc on this board here I'm hoping some day it will all blow over and evreyone will be helping one another here. Don,
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truthteller Inner circle 2584 Posts |
Thanks. I'm not a fan of "pile on" games and just didn;t want to be seen as part of that.
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Riley Special user Swansea UK 955 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-10-09 15:38, truthteller wrote: Unfortunately, I doubt that such a book will ever be written. Any book is a person's view or experience, and nobody (to my knowledge) has an encyclopedic view or experience. HOWEVER, there is so little written work available, on our wonderful art, that to expect any book to be "the last word" is probably unrealistic. Many working pro's keep their methods to themselves, at least while they're working. I, for one, am really grateful for any information or methodology that I hadn't heard before! I've found EA's to be amazingly generous with their ideas. Regards Riley |
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truthteller Inner circle 2584 Posts |
I think your statement is a bit overreaching. The Card College series is encyclopedic but yet does not contain everything known about card magic.
To assemble a very thorough book on escape methods would require a handful of diligent researchers to comb the printed records, and the lead assistance of 2 or 3 of today's "experts" to act as editors and flush out information from others where the printed record remains lacking. Giobbi pulled it off, I think the escape world could to (of course, do they really want to?) I know I would buy the book. |
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x-treem Inner circle 1133 Posts |
Hi Truthteller, hope all is well with you, again thanks for the help with Blood Evidence. I made another version of the effect that will be used is a haunted theater run by magicians, without your help I would have had to come up with something else to fill the gap.
To be honest I don't think enough of us could get along long enough to get a project like this done funny but honest. I mean look at EOE there are more magicians than EA's writting that thing. But that's just me, the stick in the mud
A direct from text adaptation : The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Starring Mickey Rooney in his final role.
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The Donster Inner circle 4817 Posts |
Card College is a Good Book but like Brad said it is not complete nothing ever will be Complete. there are always new ideas coming out and new things being invented. Don,
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