As I read the comments and reviews for magic tricks being offered to this little segment of consumerism. I find if it sound good to research the trick and find where it is available. Most of the time there is demonstration video or a hype video of the product. Well, the hype video I generally dismiss, as they never give an actual performance of the trick in question.

I recent read about Garcia's "Torn", torn and restored card. Now for years, I have performed the Torn and Restored Playing Card effect, I have many versions and I must say, the new breed and selection are very interesting and good.

I started out in magic by visiting the local magic shop. The owner would show a trick, and I would buy it if I liked it, or had to think about the trick and how I would be using it.

Then I discovered Tannen's, Abbott's, and Owen's magic catalogs that you cold spend hours turning page after page of seeming miracles. There were only short descriptions and usually only a line drawing to convey the magic effect.

Now fast forward to the last 10 years, and the Internet with forums and video on YouTube. I find myself, thinking if the creator/manufacturer is performing his trick so well, why should I purchase it. Coming to the a forum site like the Café, tells me many people are performing it and more and more videos on YouTube of other are showing the same trick, so why should I buy it.

It use to be that many of the tricks offered for sale, the originator did not perform his creation as well as someone that purchased the trick. Hard to believe, I know, but in many cases that was very true. But, I did not have this feeling that hundreds of other people was learning and showing the same trick as I was about to buy and learn.

So now I find myself viewing a product, and not wanting to take the next step and order it, even if I think it is an excellent trick to perform. Video demonstrations have actually made me not want to buy any magic at all.

I think its called progress... We progressed from verbal exchanges, to the written letter to the telephone to the to fax machine to the mobile phone to email and getting more and more impersonal at each stage. Its just the way of the world. Instant gratification a quick fix call it what you will but the video demo is here until next big thing takes over and moves it on....

Video is fine, but it has effected me in the opposite direction then it should. Nothing wrong with progress, I believe this last 60 years has brought more change and progress then at other times in history. Then in the last 10 it has turned society upside down with change. And that is good to experience all these new things.

For those of us that live far away from a brick and mortar, the internet is all we got. Plus no local SAM or IBM where compeers can get together. I have a Daytona magic catalog with a photograph of the inside of their store. That brings back a lot of memories of what it was like to walk into a magic shop. Hocus Pocus in Fresno will give you a video tour of their store, and they got a lot of stuff in rooms after rooms. But it is just not the same. Plus, prices are through the roof. So buying a pretty box to vanish something is out of the question. And I am 74, don't think I'm going to make it to Vegas this time around
Now I spend all my mad money on my catalog collection. I have just about everything from all the major dealers. I like sitting and looking at all the stuff I wanted, and if I had bought it all, I would think of myself as being fortunate.
On the other hand, I just went through some of the Potter auction catalogs for some big names. After you die, everything you have magical becomes meaningless. The only thing left is your friends saying, wow, he had a lot of neat stuff. That's what I said about the Jay Marshall collection. I met him and Lefty during a convention back in the sixties.
So, all I have where I am, is my catalog collection, and sometimes I get to aggravate Father Photius and visit his four story collection of magic books.
It is true, the internet is getting old, not a good place to buy stuff you can't see up close, and you never know who your giving your money to.

For me, internet has become one of the most reliable sources in finding information or news about magic items or props. It is because we don't have many magic shops, even we do, most of them only selling knock offs. Of course I don't want to start the argument why they have to sell cheap knock offs instead of original items. They claim it is to help those who can't afford original items in steep prices.

Anyway, demo videos have also become a helping tool for me in deciding which effect I should buy. They will show if it is suitable for premises, presentations also skills. Many demos have helped me in getting those that are the most suitable for me at the moment. Of course it will be a lot better if I watch the demo live at shops, but they sometimes don't do it much either.

Of course there are demos which are pretty bad in term of flashing or exposing the methods accidentally. Even it was unpurposedly done, they can even give hints of how it is done. Even it will be more exciting for to go to a brick and mortar shop, but I am left with no other option.

The resason that most of the video demos stink are because the "creator" just came up with the trick 10 seconds ago has not practiced it or ever performed it for a real audience. Very few people are releasing effects from the working repetory (for good reason) and the speed of communication has made it possible to create effects and get them out the very same day.

I love video demos, they stop me from buying crap. I am lucky, I work at one of the best brick and mortar stores in the world, Magic Inc. Stop by if you are ever in Chicago or check out our webstore. We have really made keeping the website up to date a priority.

Edd

^ I think Edd's right!

Bill, maybe you are at the level that you could be crating your own effects. I only buy books and a dvd once in a while.

I agree with whoever said that some videos are hasily made and unprofessional. Maybe the solution is to be picky about what you watch, and to support physical shows and stores as much as possible?