Comments On Comments #21: Review Wars. General Ramble

There we go. Hello everyone. Nice to be here. Thanks for coming. Thanks for me not sitting on my own and having human beings there asking questions. That's nice, isn't it? Hi from California. Greg, nice to be there. Robert, I'll answer your question in a minute. Nice to see you, Chris. And Gary, very nice to see you too. Before we carry on with the rambles, can you please like and subscribe and have a look at CardMagic course. I'm going to play with my new screen share thing on here. And this is one of the courses you get in CardMagic course. And this is the Royal Road to CardMagic course. And look at, let me just move this around here. Look at all these that you get here. Why isn't that, it's not doing that, is it? Basically, oh yeah, there you go. So you get all these, we're only up to chapter seven and look how many videos are in there. Boom, look at that. So loads of videos, only up to chapter seven. It's going to be massive. And that's just one course, the Royal Road course that you get in CardMagic course. I'm going through every single trick and move in it. So that's what you want to do. You want to check that out, go to cardmagiccourse.com. If you want a free spread code download, go to cardmagiccourse.com forward slash col. That's it, not spread code, forward slash col. And you can get a free, and that means I'll have your email address and I can send you emails and I can spam you and send you out one email every eight months. So yeah, watch out, marketing guru I am. Right, I can get my head out of the way now and say hello to everyone. Hey, Sujit, hi from India. After Royal Road, you should do Card College. Could you imagine? Royal Road's going to take me about six years. So not much to talk about this week because I only put one video out because I got all busy, didn't I, doing, well, I'll tell you what I was busy doing. I was busy watching all the drama that's going on between CardMagic and, well, magic thing. That's what they do. They have drama, don't they? Very exciting. No drama, it's all very relaxed. But I've also been busy learning stuff to review. The things I've got to review now are taking me, I did that refractor one and I thought I'm going to learn everything before I review it. And then I realised that that would take me about four years and by that time the internet would have changed and the course would be a totally different thing. So it's great, that refractor thing. So any questions about that? But I've got a couple of comments to overcap in there. Actually, we'll do that now. And then I'll get some questions in. Give me something to talk about. I like to have things to talk about. It gives me purpose. That's all it does. Right, so here's the comments on refractor, which I only put out yesterday. So, and it was a live thing, so it's not that many. Maxi Mags. So I got this thing with the People's Palace of Prestidigitation. That's how you say, isn't it? With the Discord server and they put my reviews on there very kindly. And as a return thing, I put, if you look below in the comments, there'll be the details there of the server, which you should definitely check out because it's lovely and people can talk about magic on there and stuff. But I keep forgetting to put it on. And Maxi, he's right on it. Like I'll put it on and like two minutes later I'll have, he seems to have forgotten something. Oh God. So I'll put it on now. So if I forget to do that, I think it's on there. Have a look. Regarding refractor, I've been on the fence about getting it for a while. I think he's just tipped me over to get it. So it's really good. And someone on one of the forums mentioned that it was a high priced product. I don't think it is for what it is. I think actually there's months and years of work there to really nail that stuff. So I'd happily pay for it. And I know I didn't because I'm reviewing it, but I genuinely would. I think twice. It's great. And if you like your cube stuff, the idea of going out with one cube is such a joyous thing. It's like, and actually answering one of your questions in a minute, I like less, not a lot of fuss. When I'm doing Rubik's Cube in my new show, I did, I've talked about it before I did. Oh, I'm having a mental block. It's very exciting watching me think, isn't it? Michael Murray, his Rubik's Cube routine, which I love. I do that followed by Venom Cube followed by Cube and Bottle. But that's great because you're on stage, you've got control over it. And again, it's like the cubesmith stuff and all that and things like that. They're brilliant if you've got time to set up. But repeatability is quite difficult with a lot of cube stuff. And if you want to get around tables and the idea of going out with one cube, I think is really powerful, actually. And it's kind of the same as I am with coins. I love gimmick coins. But when I'm in close up, I don't want to lose them in my pocket. And I'm a person that loses things. Talk to my family members about this. It's a nightmare. So simplicity is what it's all about. So it's kind of made for me. So let's have a look at the other ones. I've signed up for this by Mark Coward. I think that sold it for me, is that you can do these effects with someone else's cube. Absolutely. Looking forward to your interview with Kevin Conning. Yeah, we'll be doing an interview soon. I'm going to do more interviews. So anybody you want me to interview, let me know. I wonder how this compares to the algorithm from Cube Maestro by Evgeny. That's how you say it, isn't it, Carolyn? And what are the PDFs like? Right. Good questions. PDFs, great. The important thing is this left-handed stuff, stuff even, which I forgot to mention on Cube. And with card stuff, left-handed, you just kind of flip it. But with Cube, I could imagine being left-handed and learning it right-handed. I don't think I could do it. I'd be a nightmare. So it's really good that they've put the effort into that. And I will say, they've really put the effort into empathizing with the user on Refractor. They've really gone, how is it going to be for people to come into this? And I love that. So they mentioned Evgeny. That's how you say it, isn't it? A lot, because there was correspondence between them as they do Takumi's Yusui and Stephen Brundage. And they've all communicated, and it's all really cool, apparently. So I think that they independently came up with something, Evgeny and Kev and Colin, and they communicated each other. And actually, it was a different method, I think, or a different algorithm, I don't know. But similar effects, I believe. Other respective moves also depicted with little cubes and arrows, which I don't know, in answer to your question. They might have been a place I didn't see them. I haven't gone through the whole course yet. But they do have a video on reading the algorithm, and I think it's really worth learning. I'm a nightmare with it as well. I find it really hard to learn. But once you get it, it's actually, because it's universal, you can then go online and do it in different places as well. Love your videos. Thanks, Dan. Thank you for doing this review. Refractor is brilliant. It has reunited my... No, this is my passion for cube magic. I'd love to see you perform some of the routines from this project. I will when I can do them well enough. I'm all over the place at the moment. Every morning, I wake up and I've forgotten the algorithm. I was only on the first few. But it does do that, doesn't it? I think when you get into something, if it does reignite that thing of kind of... Same with card stuff, whenever I go online, and like I did with the Jason England thing, I go, oh yeah, this is why I enjoy doing this. Because you get so caught up, or I do, with the performing thing, and just that lovely thing of sitting down and learning is such a wonderful... I just love it. And it can be equally frustrating. Sujit, as you're here, I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. Can you just ask me if the cube matching volume three, ColourTron, I think, is the prediction always a one-way prediction, or is it repeatable? As Dave answered you, it's repeatable with a totally different outcome, which is great. Right, let's have a look at your questions or comments now. That's the cube stuff, and we'll be covering more of that in interviews. What is your favourite beer? Well, that's interesting, because... Well, it's not. I'm just about to say that's interesting, followed by saying a lot of stuff that's not interesting. But to me, it is, because I have big periods of time when I don't drink, because it gets to a point where it takes more than it gives, is what I always say. And it's not... And when you say that, when you give up drinking, people always think you've got a drinking problem. I think we've all got a drink. Anybody that drinks has got a drinking problem to the fact they probably drink a little bit too much. Most people do. And when I do drink, if it gets to the point where I'm waking up a couple of times a week with a hangover, and I get a hangover from one beer, right? So I've just stopped. But saying that, I've had a couple of social occasions where I've had a drink recently. Beer-wise, I'm a bit like music now. I've got to that age where I kind of like them all. I like a dirty lager sometimes, and I like a good proper beer sometimes. You know, like a Bitter or something like that. I'm getting old, you know. So that's the answer to that. Pretty much anything will do, other than Tenant Super and things like that. More magically, what single-gaff card do you choose to keep about your person? I don't carry gaff cards around with me, because I just love sort of geeking out on flights and things. Saying no, I do carry around the Thy Will Be Done card, which I thought was just great from the 1914, I want to say. Is it? I always get the year wrong. From 1914, but they made it, and it's great. And that's one card you can carry around and do a really nice effect with. So that's what I carry around. And I carry around little blank business cards as well, to do peaks and stuff. And I have Looch's wallet and the Shadow wallet. And I changed them about, actually. Looch's wallet I love, but I know I'm going to lose the thing on it, which won't make sense, but if I carry it around all the time. So I don't carry it around all the time. I save that for certain things. And the Shadow wallet I carry around much, because there's kind of not much to lose on it. And I can kind of feel a bit more confident with that, because as I mentioned, I lose things a lot. So that's what I carry around at the moment. But a few double backers, and Harapan's got some great stuff on this, hasn't he? About his four treasures, about you should carry around these cards with you, and you can create miracles. He's also got a chapter in Principia about doing tricks with the cards you get with, the gaff cards you get with custom decks. You should get like a blank face and stuff, don't you? So he's got a whole chapter on that, which I thought was really, really good. Again, Greg, hi. Oh, the petty stuff, getting a bit boring. Craig and David Penn drama, they went over the line, and they should go back a little bit, in my opinion. Reflect to volume three, because this is the Cubematch routine. Can you elaborate about the volume three? In answer to your question, I can't elaborate volume three, because I haven't got there yet. I kind of realized that if I was going to wait to get there, but I am working through it. I'm not going to... With a lot of things, I review them and just, even though I love them, I put them away, because I've got to then review stuff. But I've spent time with it today, because I think there's so much in it. So I will do. Keep those questions coming in. And of course, come and watch the interview with... I'm not sure whether it's going to be live or not yet. I might try and do it live, which would be fun. But come and watch that, and I'll put a thing on there. Make sure you click the bell icon on the subscribe bit, so you get notifications, so I can let you know. And the Instagram page as well. I'm not just advertising it. If you go on the Instagram page, I'll start putting stuff on there as well, which is just at Real Magic Review. I wasn't going to talk about it, but I think... I watched the David Penn and Craig Petty thing. I just found it a bit weird, I suppose. Yeah, I watched it on the... Sean Aidan as well, I mentioned. I don't want to... I'm not going to take sides and say you should have, shouldn't have. I find it all just a bit odd. I find the idea of having that kind of battle thing. Saying that, and I'm not saying that's why they've done it at all, but it is good for views, isn't it? You know what I mean? And it genuinely is interesting. So it's quite a good one, stuff that happens in a way, but I agree. I think it got a little bit unpleasant, and I kind of put personal digs and things like that, and it's just kind of like, I'm a big one for compassion. I think that... And I will say, giving people the benefit of the doubt, because when someone says something or does something... And you know what? I'm doing live shows. I'm going to say something on there one day that's going to be deeply offensive, because it comes out wrong, not because I mean it. And I think we've got to be very careful about jumping on things that people say, and then creating assumptions around them. And this is, in performance, it's like when you see someone perform live, or maybe they're performing live, but they're streaming it, and they do a bad performance, and jumping on that, and kind of assuming they're always really bad, or if they've got a bad script, or jumping on that and saying the script is really bad. I think it's like, come on, we're all capable of that. We're all capable of saying the wrong thing, or making a mistake in what we're saying. To jump on it, I think, is a dangerous game. And it's something that I feel uncomfortable doing, and I think, in life, I'm not just talking about here, to give people the benefit of the doubt, and say, oh, they said that. Maybe they didn't mean it, or maybe they made a mistake, and that's great. You just kind of made a mistake. You misinterpreted what the language was around the magic circle. I thought that was all a bit weird, that thing of kind of phoning someone up and laughing at someone is kind of getting towards that bullying thing, isn't it, really? This is human, but I always think about, and it's like when you're reviewing something. Unless something is offensive, unless someone's brought something out that is so bad that people need to know about it, which I don't get much stuff at the moment. I don't get boxes of stuff sent to me, so it doesn't really happen to me. People send me stuff that they're very proud of, so I don't really get bad stuff, and if I did get bad stuff, I'd tell you it was bad, but I think there's a thing that Stephen Covey talks about, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and he talks about courage and consideration. You've got to have the courage to say things that people might not want to hear. In leadership, this is, but I think in life, if someone wants your feedback, or they've asked you to review something, then you're open to say you don't like it, if you've been sent it, and that's completely fair, but you've got to do it with a consideration that that person is a human being, and I think that whenever you're talking about someone else online, I always think that's someone's son, that's someone's dad, how would my son feel if he heard people talking to me like that? It'd be heartbreaking, so I think that there's, even though it's quite fun to watch, I think you've got to be quite careful with this, and I thought actually Craig's response was very measured, and slightly disappointing, I don't know if he's going to kick off now, but actually, I kind of went, yeah, fair enough, but like you said, these things can go on for too long, but you know, I think in magic, in an industry that is run by ego, or can be, or has been, which isn't so much anymore, I think, and like Craig said to this thing, it's like, ego's part of it, and it's just wrong with it, but I think to go the other way, and just say let's give people the benefit of the doubt, and if they do something that's similar to someone else's thing, just go, you know, did you know that's similar, and if they pull it, they pulled it, they did the right thing, so that's my kind of opinion, but I think that it's probably not done anybody any harm really, well maybe it has actually, because certain people didn't come off that well, but I'm just being as sort of devil's advocate as I can be, isn't it, as a kind of observer watching that, but as you said, if it goes on and on, it wasn't boring for me, because I haven't really been watching it, I don't get time to watch other people's stuff, which is a real shame, because I'd like to, but it says a lot, doesn't it, when even I make the effort to have a look, when things are kicking off, so keep it going, more, more, if someone says something nice, no, don't say something nasty about me, I'll get sad, and I won't be able to sleep, because it will do me any, practice is therapy, Glenn, that is, lovely to talk to you today Glenn, Glenn Morphew is an absolute diamond, and a brilliant magician, I've reviewed his stuff, do check out his stuff, Glenn, put your, if you're still here, put your link, put your stuff in there, link to your, your site, but do check out my review of the ring routine, Glenn's ring routine, it's just great, yes, so yeah 1914, in the cube maestro by Henry Harris, matching routine, ah, okay, like do the audience really have a free choice for mixing the cube, or is there some restrictions, I don't know, I'm getting a cube maestro, I think, because that's that little book, which I haven't read yet, so I'm gonna, here on my lunch break, magic corner, how you doing, so yeah, I'm hopefully going to be review, I've been really trying to clear that, I got sent loads of stuff to review, that was big, that was like big things, that you couldn't just sort of, not like a trick, where you can learn it, and review it, so now I'm, I'm going to be up to date, I think, and yeah, so that is that, right, I think that's about it for me rambles, don't think I've got anything else, do come along on Thursdays, tell people about it, share it, you know, say to people Steve does a show on Thursday, go and watch it, because that'd be lovely, and I will have time to publicize this thing more, when things come down in my life, but they are far from calm at the moment, but they're getting there, so do like and subscribe, and check out cardmagiccourse.com, do it, I'm very very proud of it, and it's, you get a lot for your money, and like I said, we're last week, that's uploaded onto the course, so even if you've got the silver membership, and you don't come to the live things, you still get that, and I'm going to say that we've got Vinnie Sague next, coming up soon, and there'll be people every month, that aren't just me, thanks a lot, have a great one everybody, take care, and for those of you watching, I'll see you on the live session in about 40 minutes, bye. Oh, do a review for Trico Dice by Wendolfson in the future, yeah, will do, cool, bye.