Firstly, my apologies to all for letting my emotions get the best of me yesterday (it's been a crap week; MS Flares, PC crashes, etc.)but the "gent" I went off on has been poking at me in classic smart ass mode for weeks now, especially when it comes to exposing my illusion (for which other magicians have gotten onto him over) and his constant haranguing over my vocational choices, beliefs, points of view, etc. while all the while he is little more than the typical wannabe performer and opinionated armchair guru that's never gotten his feet dirty doing the work vs. reading all the theory. Like anyone, I loathe being damned by such small people; they try to come off as being "above" me on so many levels when they aren't even close to being on the same footing when it comes to actual experience and hands-on research around something "they" want to puff themselves up over and
act superior about.
The way I was raised (to coin a phrase) "Skeptics" go out and physically investigate things. In the 40 years I've been involved with professional magic I've met less than a dozen self-professed skeptics that have actually done that work and I can assure you, that are not nearly as big mouthed as those who haven't done such work nor do they tend to be as childish when it comes to interaction in person or on the forums. As noted, I have never been treated by such people in the manner our friend here seems to insist on treating me (but then , he's just like all the other clones cut from said fabric). His attacks are, like the games played by most skeptics on-line, cleverly worded so they can come off looking like the victim once they push their target over the line... this is ubber-classic when it comes to folks with this mind-set. He escalated his attacks after I said "I should sue him" over exposing my illusion... not "mine" because I own one (which I don't) but "mine" because Ken Whitaker and I developed the thing... how would any of you feel seeing some jerk taunting you and deliberately taking jabs at you by constantly rubbing salt in a wound as horrid as this instance was.
What makes things worse is I just learned that this idiot doing the illusion was given the opportunity to re-shoot the set so he didn't expose the thing and he refused to do so (this coming from the girl in the box).
So yes, I have inferred that csicop is a bit less than human BECAUSE OF THESE ANTICS and some of his attacks prior to said video postings based on my views. It's not that I can't take the digs when they are based on some point of general disagreement but that this individual seems to have little to no respect for me directly or for that matter, the trade he claims to be part of (or else he'd not be exposing something here or elsewhere for shits & giggles, as he's admitted this does... not because of the flub-up but because he knows he's pissing someone off each time he does it.... how childish can you get?)
As stated elsewhere, I think it's jealousy in that he knows he couldn't develop an award winning illusion like Shadow Vision or anyone of the dozen or so other pieces I've either come up with on my own or co-developed with other notables. He knows that he will never be able to actually touch and work with the historical aspects of magic that I have, rub elbows with some of the very people I can call "friends" and perform in some of the top end facilities I've worked over the years such as Playboy, the Flamingo-Hilton, Palace Station Casino (and several of their other properties)... I think you all get the picture on that front, no?
I'm used to this sort of thing but I had hopes, given how comfy this forum seemed to be initially, that I wouldn't have to deal with such a low minded mentality here... I came here to get away from all the magic buffoons and still be able to have some semblance of mature conversation vs. pissing contests or seeing who's is bigger. For the most part there's not really been any kind of real "problem" except for those situations most recently generated by ciscop with the deliberate intent of getting this grumpy old bear pissed off... pissed off enough to go off on him and make him look like the victim... go figure