Titanas,

I think you may have found it or something that looks remarkably like it.

Lol..its funny I had guessed that a while back. Its what I imagined theory11's 1 on 1 to be when I first heard of it.

I'm that's it. site is buggy as heck.

WOW video rentals. now magic can truly progress.

Hi there,

As the link has been posted (www.academyofmagic) it's unfortunate that I have to elaborate on this thread, however hopefully I'll be able to answer some or all of the posters on this one.

First of all, the Academy is a concept from myself and another magician here in the UK called Tom Weil. I thank JamieD and others who have some insight into what we wish to achieve for making positive posts, however I really wish to make it CLEAR that we did not encourage or ask them to do so...and at this point, nor in the future, is it our intention to create or have created any marketing hype...that is simply not what this project is about.

To mine and Tom's mind currently this whole project is in beta-testing and negotiation stage with many people and I genuinely would have preffered it not to have been mentioned at all let alone the link posted, however it's a free world and people are welcome to discuss whatever...but let's be clear we didn't instigate any of it (and nor would we have at this stage).

With regards to my previous mention of Jay Sankey I think this has been taken out of context. I used that name metaphorically to refer to the new generation of creators who produce a lot of 1-trick hyped up stuff and not to directly single out Jay Sankey himself. I am only too aware and have read all of Jay Sankey's excellent material. Apologies if it came across this way, however I believe that if any of you take the opportunity to find out more about our ethos and objectives with this project it will become much clearer.

There are several objectives and dimensions to this new project, one of which is video on-demand. It is our ambition to digitally archive as much magical video and DVD content as possible, particular older and more difficult to get stuff so as to make it available to the newer generations of internet magicians. By cataloging, tagging and sectioning this content it will become searchable so that if, for instance you wish to gain resources on "coins through table" you can search the most comprehensive library of video content and then only watch and stream (pay per minute) the relevant sections of the DVD/video that you require. I do not believe this has been done before, certainly not to any success however I stand to be corrected and would welcome and information regarding such.

Here in the UK the response from content owners has been good and we have onboard already International Magic, Big Blind Media, Full52 Productions, Wayne Dobson, Ettiene Pradier and several other individual content owners for initial trials. We also have interest from A1 Multimedia in the USA and will be flying out later this year to negotiate licensing agreements with them and other large content owners in the USA.

PLEASE be aware...video on-demand is only ONE aspect of the Academy. The ethos and thinking behind the site is to encourage more the development and learning of magic and artistic progression rather than the !@#$%iness and swiping that takes place on so many forums when the truth is we all share a common interest and passion...hence the focus is and will always be on magic and what's best for magic.

The site is not yet launched, however as this thread has now unfortunately leaked some information I have had to respond. Once again I re-iterate it was not and is not our intention to create any kind of hype...to the contrary....whilst it was never my intention to do so, I would invite any magicians who are genuinely interested in what we wish to achieve and what we have planned to e-mail me
lee@magiccave.co.uk and I will send you the pdf's of the Academy overview, marketing plan and projections so that you may make an informed decision as to what you speak of rather than relying on a bit of heresay and gossip. Thankyou in advance for taking the time to mail me and get better informed. I look forward to hearing some constructive feedback and listening to what people have to say once they've taken a look at these documents,

best,

Lee

You directly associated Jay Sankey with illegal torrent sites, 1-trick DVD's, and YouTube videos.
No metaphors were involved, and there is no difficulty in understanding what context you intended it to be in........you outright wrote it down and posted it.

But now (after being called out on it) you state that it was only a metaphorical association?
What a load.

Your post directly displays what's wrong with your track on this project, as the correct thing to do would be to type something along the lines of:

"I would like to offer a personal apology to Jay Sankey. I was wrong to use his name in the manner I used it, and I recognize that tearing down other creators of magic effects in an effort to build up my own apparent stature is also wrong. I won't do it again. Once again, I'm sorry Mr. Sankey".

......but it appears that you don't have the stones to do the right thing, so nothing has changed in terms of how you come across.

Ellusionist, be aware to face your doom!

*scary music*

Silverking, if you were a teenager trying to find out about magic it wouldn't be long before you would stumble upon the huge amount of Sankey promo vids and material available on youtube and from illegal torrent sites....far more difficult to find teachings of Marlo, Vernon, Erdnase, Hofzinser etc.. Likewise, Jay Sankey is one of the most prolific creators of 1-trick DVD's so I make no apology for any of those associations. They exist because they're true.

It was not however my intention to single out Jay Sankey or blame him for the culture which exists currently. I was simply attempting to identify the kind of individuals who would come across this kind of material hence preceding it with "people who only know". I do however accept wholeheartedly that it may have unintentionally come across that way, and for that I believe I have already apologised.

Silverking, if you were a teenager trying to find out about magic it wouldn't be long before you would stumble upon the huge amount of Sankey promo vids and material available on youtube and from illegal torrent sites....far more difficult to find teachings of Marlo, Vernon, Erdnase, Hofzinser etc.. Likewise, Jay Sankey is one of the most prolific creators of 1-trick DVD's so I make no apology for any of those associations. They exist because they're true.

It was not however my intention to single out Jay Sankey or blame him for the culture which exists currently. I was simply attempting to identify the kind of individuals who would come across this kind of material hence preceding it with "people who only know". I do however accept that it may have unintentionally come across that way, and for that I believe I have already apologised.

So.... Magic shop it is!

Who could have called that one.

Oh that's right... We did.

And a rental shop at that. Its a shorter walk to the toilet if you want to get rid of some money.

V.

Lol, can't wait for the official info and the reactions.

Is Jamie D still on your Christmas card list?
Loose lips sink ships.
Ray.

You really don't get it, do you?

You've offered an apology for how it came across as opposed to offering an apology for exactly what it was you typed and then proceeded to post.

You've met expectations though, based on this thread to date.

Silverking

As an objective observer I really don't get what your issues are with Lee Hathaway. You have wilfuly mistinterpreted his post and jumped to erroneous conclusions.

Perhaps you have a private vendetta against him, and perhaps it is validly grounded. If so I, and I'm sure much of the Café would be obliged if you kept it to the pms.

As Lee eloquently explains, and is patently obvious to the average reader, there is no need for him to apologise for any part of his post. His ire was in fact directed to the internet/dvd generation of magicians. His reference to Sankey is a tribute to the volume of work that Sankey has put out and his Sankey's excellent marketing, not the quality of Sankey's work.

Silverking

As an objective observer I really don't get what your issues are with Lee Hathaway. You have wilfuly mistinterpreted his post and jumped to erroneous conclusions.

Perhaps you have a private vendetta against him, and perhaps it is validly grounded. If so I, and I'm sure much of the Café would be obliged if you kept it to the pms.

As Lee eloquently explains, and is patently obvious to the average reader, there is no need for him to apologise for any part of his post. His ire was in fact directed to the internet/dvd generation of magicians. His reference to Sankey is a tribute to the volume of work that Sankey has put out and his Sankey's excellent marketing, not the quality of Sankey's work.

Bit confused as to how digitised downloads of bits of old tapes is any different from the 1 trick DVD approach you castigate but I am sure all will be come clear.

For the mentoring offering who are the mentors who will guide us on to better things...enquiring minds need to know.

Agree with you on the Gilgamesh. I imagine the only difference is better value for money. But then if you don't get to keep the download which I doubt you will under the licensing arrangements then it's arguably not better value.

Also it will inevitably lead to the mass propogation of torrent downloads of videos that had til now been safe.

Of course, how could I have missed that.

English language, (And common sense), Be aware to face your doom!

*More scary music*

Come on Fagio. At least try to make sense.

Hello all,
thought I would drop in to explain some details. as one of the creators we've been spending the last 6 months working hard developing all the technology to offer something new to the magic industry.

we're very proud of our On Demand streaming service which I'll briefly explain for you guys:
what the academy is doing is streaming all the video content from various magic production companies from around the world. this means that it's super secure, helping to prevent piracy of tutorial video (as you can't actually access the files - so file sharing is out of the question - unlike a DVD or a download).

it also allows for a very direct learning process. as Lee mentioned, it will be fully searchable so for those that appreciate what that offers in terms of access to information it will be a very useful resource. as well as just renting access to the content you can watch just the parts of any video you really need without having to purchase the whole thing.
unlike anything out there we will be offering access to great and important videos in a way which makes learning and researching easy.

This is not for beginners, this is for those who know their stuff and are interested in more indepth learning.

also, please bear in mind that this is only 1/4 of what we are doing.

I will just mention, by-the-by, that the front page of the site is still buggy as we've been working hard on the inside. so please bare with us. it's due to be fixed tomorrow

not long now... and that's not hype...

No offense Tom, but streaming video is not secure, as I proved to Vanishing Inc. If anything, its a complete waste of money and time. Plus, its typically very frustrating to the customer. Check out this thread for more info:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......&start=0

I always assume the people that tell you that streaming video is secure are the ones trying to sell you on all the technology to make it happen.

Many people will steer clear because of the streaming aspect. Honestly, read the thread above for a real take on why its a bad idea.