RushRhees

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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{Help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! Chris Troutman (talk) 17:32, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

Copperfield

Hi, I just read your message on my talk page. There were two reasons why I removed your contribution: first, "explained in detail" is POV, since it is not up to Wikipedia to decide whether an explanation is right or wrong; second, for various reasons Poundstone has already been deemed in the past an unreliable source by Wikipedia standards.

"The only mention that gets a bigger eye roll from professional magicians/illusionists than the mention of Criss Angel's name is Copperfield's making the Statue of Liberty disappear silliness. Otherwise, Copperfield is pretty well-respected": eye roll seems a little excessive, surely magicians often understand the method of an illusion performed by a fellow magician before other people do, but this doesn't cancel the fact that the masterfully performed and presented Statue of Liberty illusion was one of the first larger than life illusions, which made Copperfield famous worldwide, and the illusion is still listed in the Guinness World Record as the biggest piece of magic ever performed. I wouldn't call it "silly", and the "otherwise" in your phrase seems a little strange

"Given your comment immediately above this one, I find your objection to my edit and reversion to be ironic": which comment are you referring to?

"I'm not going to edit the article back": thanks for that, this way we will avoid the risk of an edit war.

"Peace": peace, and good luck with your magic career. Now I am going to sleep since it's about 00:35 AM here in Italy. Bye. --Newblackwhite (talk) 22:36, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

"Hello! Thank you for not taking my response/criticism harshly": well, it seems that we have managed to avoid a controversy, which I feel is always a good thing.

"It's difficult to make money performing for most of us": I have heard about that, and I hope it will be better in the future

"He isn't better than Ricky Jay (probably the greatest living illusionist), Lance Burton, and a few others": well, I guess this is a matter of opinion. For me he is: he has more Guinness World Records than any other magician, he did the most impressive things which were never done before (big vanishes, flying -which took seven years to master- etc.) and has a certain "something" that I feel nobody else has about combining magic, performance and entertainment. I'll never forget the Christmas night of 2006, where Italia 1 broadcasted the extended version of the Tornado of Fire special! Before that I only read about him in 1998 in a book for children which listed some of his famous illusions, and eight years I read an article about his recent Italian tour (October 2006) and the upcoming tv special...the rest is history, as I used Internet to find videos of other specials, even though they were in English. Anyway, even if we disagree about who is the best, Wikipedia won't be damaged by this, since Wiki articles are supposed to be neutral and never say ""This guy is the best in his job".

"Take care!": thanks, and you too! --Newblackwhite (talk) 21:54, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

True, once an illusionist reaches the level of Copperfield or Ricky Jay, then it really does become a matter of opinion and taste. I grew up watching Copperfield, too, and I watched all of his specials when I was a kid, here in the USA. Same with Doug Henning, who is entirely different than Copperfield, and Copperfield was seen as the best. My reason for preferring Ricky Jay today has less to do with feats and more to do with his ability to stump other magicians. Copperfield's illusions are grand, but mostly understandable on reflection. Ricky Jay does things that I cannot figure out. Watch the documentary Deceptive Practices: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay. It's on Netflix now, tho if you don't have Netflix, you can probably find it on YouTube. The ice block trick in the restaurant and the trick that is discussed where he pulls off an impromptu illusion in the shower boggles my mind, LOL! Another interesting up-and-comer is sleight of hand master Apollo Robbins. Look him up when you get a chance. Here's a start: http://www.ted.com/talks/apollo_robbins_the_art_of_misdirection Peace!RushRhees (talk) 18:14, 30 June 2014 (UTC)