Why Reviewers Are Often Wrong. Comments On Comments #42

Hello, welcome to Real Magic Review. My name is in fact Steve Faulkner, but you know that probably, and it's quite irrelevant anyway. But this is Real Magic Review. Welcome to the live stream. I didn't do one last week, so I feel like I haven't done one in about seven weeks, so I'm a bit fingers and thumbs, but let's see how it goes. Before we do this, if you like this and you want to subscribe to it, do both of those things. Why is things going ding and I want do not disturb? Do the notifications icon, so you get notifications like I just did, and check out onlinemagic.co. Now, rather than me go, it's brilliant because I made it, I'm going to read one of the Trustpilot reviews. This is reviews that people have taken their time to go to Trustpilot and review the course, so people trust it. So here's one for you, from Del. Where do I begin? This magic course is beyond explanation. There you go, that's all you need, isn't it? Hopefully for good reasons. Where else do you get what Steve delivers for a ridiculously low monthly price? Price aside, Steve's a great teacher and an all-around cool guy. I very much like this review. Aside from the price and Steve's skillset, he's an accomplished magician with a knack for presenting the why, what and how of magic. If you want instruction, if you want community, if you want to improve your magic, sign up. It's more than worth it. Thanks, Del. There's a review, that's all I'm going to say about it, because that speaks for itself, doesn't it? There, brulafu. There you go, you're on time. Again, begging brothers, bros, brothers, brother, I don't know. Oh, my throat's not good today. I think it's because I'm not talking much. I've just been in playing with cars for like two days and I've had the kids, but they're kind of doing their own thing. So I'm just kind of like cooking and providing food for people, but that's all right, isn't it? It's the summer holidays. Yes. Which means I think, well, I'm going to do this today and then end up not being able to do it because I forget that I've had many roles. But anyway, what's going to happen today? God, I'm waffling, aren't I? Save me. Chris, how are you doing? Tom, brulafu, begging brothers, mexy-mecs, nice to see you all. So I, a while ago, reviewed Spring by Jonas, Jonas, it's spelled, I presume it's pronounced Jonas, Mengel, could be wrong about that. How are you doing, Gary? And how are you doing? I'm sorry, I can't read your name because of the non-English characters because I'm grossly uncultured, but hello, welcome. How are you doing, Pete? So, yeah, so I reviewed that and it wasn't the best review in the world, I didn't slate it, but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a great review. And then Jonas commented, and a really good comment, I thought it was great, and I thought it'd be good to share it and then talk about the title of this, Comments on Comments, which is, of course, why reviewers can get it wrong. And I know you know that, by the way, you know that reviews aren't all right, but it's just, but it's interesting to know why and what kind of, see it from, I suppose, a little bit of my perspective. This isn't me trying to justify anything at all, but I'll read the comment. So, and Jonas is on YouTube as before I die. I'm sure he doesn't mind because he's put it on public. So it's quite a long one, but I'll sort of come in where I think it's appropriate. So I thought I'd share some points that might add value to your review. Backstory, I came up with the concept of Spring. Just briefly, okay, Spring is, if you don't know, and you're watching this, and because it was a while ago, it was, he commented a week ago, but the video was June 22nd. So it's, you know that the, I'm not belittling, I'm just trying to find, you get a spring, and you get a big, big ring, and you go like that, and the ring attaches to the spring. It almost looks like you've put it through the spring that's attached, and you give it out, and people can't get it apart. That's, and it's very basic form. There's kind of like a two hour, an hour off download, and there's so much you can do with it. But just so you've got some sort of contact. Spring, think, and the spring, again, reminded me, like I said, of the, when you get Christmas crackers, when you, it's a puzzle. You put it in, and then you pull it out, and then people can't, can't do it, or you put it in, and people can't get it out, etc. So, anyway, that's, so backstory, I came up with the concept of Spring back in 2006 without knowing about the puzzle. As I didn't know the puzzle, I also didn't know to care about other people knowing it when I performed. I just had fun with it, and in 16 years, I've had zero bad experiences performing Spring. If you have fun, so will the spectator. You have to love what you perform, and it's so important, and this goes into the first reason why reviewers could get things wrong. Obviously, I'm working on what I like, and I know I've said this many times, and it's very obvious, but it is worth knowing that I could have a really strong reaction to something, and just absolutely adore something, and you could love it, but just take that and not, just find it, it doesn't really fit you. You don't know what to do with it. That doesn't mean it's a bad product, or a bad magic trick. It just means that it doesn't fit you, and I've taken out tricks that I absolutely adore, and for some reason, just haven't made them work, and I just can't work out why. It's just something, and I've done it with jokes and gags as well. When I was street performing many years ago, I'll be the first one to say I did a lot of the generic jokes that everybody did, and some people would get massive laughs out of them, and I just wouldn't, and it says something about that, and he's absolutely right. If he's come up with it, and he loves it, and he's performing it, that is contagious. That joy is contagious, and I do think even if there's a trick that objectively, and I'm not saying this is one of them, but there's a trick that objectively doesn't follow the rules of magic that have been laid out in forums and everything that are probably mostly nonsense anyway, but they kind of go in, and we kind of get a little bit brainwashed by them, I think, by reading and listening to them all the time, and for me, this doesn't follow all those rules, because I could see what it was based on, and I thought about a puzzle. Those rules can be broken, and they're not exactly, and if you just come out of it, and you love the concept, and you can do it really well, then I have no doubt this can go down well, and I know that some of the reactions are a bit over the top on the Murphy's Magic videos and all that, but they're genuine, I mean, these are genuine people, they're not actors, so there are people on that video that are lay people, and they are responding to it. People knowing the puzzle. My experience has been that people knowing the puzzle can make the performance even better, because they think they know how the trick works, and want to prove it, but they will fail. There's a specific additional move taught to that. After they fail, they will conclude it's not what they thought it was, and be more confused and amazed when you repeat it, and that's a brilliant point as well. Goes on to our next point, is that we as reviewers, well, I'll talk for myself, I won't talk for other people, have sometimes not, well, often not the time to really delve into a trick. So, and sometimes we can get it right, and sometimes we can get it, I'm not saying I am wrong or right about this, I'm trying to speak objectively. Some magic tricks, even the most simplest ones, if you keep doing them, and keep doing them, the most simple ones, sorry, that's terrible English, will reveal other strengths and other things, and I think it takes an awful long time to get a trick or routine to a point where it's as good as you're going to get it. I mean, you can always improve little things, and I've found that with stuff recently. I've learned, and I could do the trick, but really, you know, so many, many hours of sitting at a table, just getting little tiny nuances, so you don't have to think about them, and then hundreds of performances. So it's a really good point. Bad reactions, I can't give any feedback on your performance and handling, as you didn't have that part of the review, unfortunately, and no, and I was very clear to say I had a, yeah, I don't like, I can't give my handling of it, obviously, because that's exposure, but I wasn't performing it very well, you know, I was doing it, okay, I'll kind of take this out, I will, sorry, I'll take this out, I'll do what I can in the time I've got and get a feel for it, and the responses I get weren't good, but very clearly, I'll say that, again, any reviewer, unless he's reviewed, or he or she is reviewing something they've really taken out and worked in and worked in, is basing it on limited information. We base it on what we feel, what we think, what the possible potential is. Now, I think the longer you've been performing, you're better at that, but it's not flawless, and I think that, actually, I don't think I would get these reactions from it, because I don't feel connected to that trick, I don't feel it, I don't, it doesn't feel that comfortable to me, and some people find that with Rubik's Cube magic, you know, so many people just hate to say, it feels so icky and weird and odd, I connect to it because I love the Rubik's Cube, so I can, so they can feel that I'm, I'm just kind of with that prop, and I love that prop, so absolutely good point. Handling out the props, I love tricks where you're cleaning can involve the spectators, I see it as the strongest part of spring, the fact that everything is examinable, and even a crowd of 20 people can all be hands-on, they can be, but it's not required for the trick to work. Matter of taste, it is a matter of taste, my taste is that I, that in a professional setting, I like to do the trick and then go into another trick and not spend too long of them looking at things and, and handing things out. Now, in a social situation, with friends and stuff like that, a very different thing, and, and that is where I probably see that, but yeah, it's a matter of taste, and something I sometimes contradict myself on, because with things like, I don't know, like something where I've got a gimmick in play and I switch the gimmick out, I kind of want them to look at it, because I want to clarify that, so I think some, some tricks really, really do benefit from that. So to sum it up, spring is what you make it, it can be a puzzle, it can be a magic trick, it's not enough effort, it is put into performance and practice, you are correct, it might just seem like a puzzle, but it can be both. Javier from Murphy's absolutely loves spring, possibly even more than me, and you can see it in the way he teaches, performs and the reactions he gets to it. So, all the best with reviews and your channel. Yeah, so it's, you know, really good point. For me, so for me, just preference taste-wise, I couldn't connect to it, and it's not something I would probably delve into more, because it just doesn't fit what I do when I've got it, and you know when you get a prop out and you just don't feel it. So, um, I've got no doubt about that, and I think I really, really appreciate you writing in and writing such a well-written comment, and for me to share that, the point of me sharing it is, rather than me every now and then saying, oh yeah, that's only my opinion, which of course it is, when you learn a reviewer's opinion, also something happens, because, something's gone nuts with my Google. I'm a big fan of Mark Kermode, the film reviewer, and I don't agree with him a lot of the time, but because I kind of know his tastes, he slated Thor, the latest Thor movie, now I don't think it was a great film at all, and I thought some of the humour was a little bit off the mark, but I thought some of it was really funny. I thought it had some genuine laugh out loud moments, and for him it was just, there was none of that. Now, I watched his review, and I didn't listen, I didn't go, well, I'm not going to see it then, I just thought, well, I know, I kind of know his taste, what he likes, what he doesn't, but I'll still go and see that for myself. Now, if a film gets slated across the board, that's a different thing, because I'm getting lots of different opinions, and as David always says on Magic Orthodoxy, get other people's opinions, and make your own mind about it, and at the end of the day, if that, what I will say is, if the trick is an honest trick, if that trailer gives you what you're going to get, and you can look at the trick, and make your mind, and use the review to find out how difficult it is, what, are you going to think, need anything extra, is it angley, all those kind of things, but if you like the trick, and all, you know, that ticks all those boxes, then it's worth getting, and I, you know, I can see it being an enjoyable thing. Let me just see if there's anything else I wanted to, we don't get long to play with it, oh yeah, I'm going to talk about bias. A lot of people say, talk about bias reviews, and unbiased reviews, and things like that, there is no such thing as an unbiased review, and what I mean by that is, none of us as human beings are immune to bias, we can't be. There's a wonderful book called Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me, about confirmation bias, and about cognitive dissonance, and what it says is, even if you know about it, and even if you are aware of it, and you're trying not to be biased, you can't not be, because it's impossible. You know, you think about your kids, you think about your friends, you're always going to fall on the side of them, even if you try and be objective. I think with reviews, obviously, you know, if now and then I get accused of kind of always saying things are great, most of the time it's because I only review things that I like, so sometimes there's this thing in me going, oh, you know, I can't say things good again, and it's almost a subconscious thing, so there could be that at play again, that I'm now and then using that confirmation bias, looking for things that are challenges, to kind of tip the scales, and I'm really trying not to do that. I'm really trying not to go and find things negative for entertainment value, and to be more balanced. I just want to find things I like, and have appealed to me in some way, and part of this, you know, reviewing certain things, is because people send them to me, and I feel bad for not reviewing them, so Murphy sent me stuff, and I think, I don't want to review that, and sometimes I don't, but sometimes there'll be a couple of things that are interesting enough for me to look at, and this was one of them, it was interesting, it really did interest me, it wasn't just kind of like, I didn't think it was a bad trick, I just thought there was something there to talk about, but there are going to be biases there, and you know, if I'm a fan of a magician, there are going to be biases there as well, so I was so blown away by Level One, and Kristen Grayson, I really like Switch One, that I'm going to start looking for the good stuff, you can't help it, so you know, you do try and step back, and be completely objective, but it's nearly impossible to do, you know, we all try our best, and we do what we can, but you know, those biases, again, hopefully you can learn, and question me, and ask questions around that, so shall I question myself, and I think that thing of me questioning myself, is really important, and you know, I've been wrong so many times about trick, I always talk about the first time, I saw the muscle pass, I was in South Africa, I saw someone do a muscle pass, and I thought it was terrible, I thought it was rubbish, I could see exactly what was going on, I just thought, don't like it, and he did it very well, excuse me, so I had no interest in learning it, and then I saw people like James Brown, Apollo Robbins doing it, and put it on people's hands, and I kind of went, oh yeah, it looks alright, and it's a good way to get to that trick, so I almost learned it as a way to get to the putting the coin on the hand, because I just thought it was great, and under the watch and stuff, then when I performed it, the muscle pass itself was getting strong reactions, the coin on the hand was getting strong reactions, but it's the muscle pass, the minute I do that muscle pass, it just, and it still gets a real gasp, and I couldn't understand it, and I still kind of, to me it's very obvious, but I kind of can't unsee what I could see, I know how it's done, I could see the thing, and I think sometimes, even when we try not to, we will not be able to see what it looks like for the lay person, and you know, I believe in everything that Jonas says in that coin, he's not going to lie, he's not going to say, yeah, I've been doing it for six years, it always gets terrible reactions, but I keep cracking on, you know, it's clearly true, and you can kind of tell when, you know, someone releases something, and they probably know it's a bit rubbish, and he's not in that camp, and it's, I really like being questioned, so that's that, you know, and think about really questioning yourself as well, when you see the amount of people that sort of had bad things to say about Dynamo, you know, when he started out, oh he's not very entertaining, you know, he really connected to something with the lay audience, that people just talked about it, and talked about it, and talked about it, so we are not sometimes qualified to make those decisions, so sometimes we just got to take stuff out, you know, not necessarily buy it, but if something, you know, if there's something interesting in some way, take that and see what happens, and you might be pleasantly surprised. So, just see what, there's a couple of questions here, oh giveaway in a minute, you'll be happy about that, begging, people ask me what I think of things, even though I've got a box full of stuff, I miss so much, okay, hey Gary, how you doing, JJ Herman, how are you, hasty running question, what is your genuine everyday carry, like what you'd have literally just drove in the corner store real quick and grab a snack, always a deck of cards on me, always, always, always, always a half dollar, if I'm going out for a drink, I will have a nest of wallets, just because it fits in the back pocket, and it's not something that's clunky, apps of course, that's pretty much it, I do carry, well my wallet is a Peak wallet, I'm using Looch's wallet at the moment, but I don't usually use that very much, I don't go out often, but there'll be a thing, oh a couple of elastic bands around my wrist, I know people don't, I don't like the kind of hundreds of elastic bands around my wrist, it looks a bit, but I usually have a couple, because I think crazy man's handcuffs is just such a joyous thing, so yeah, it's, that's genuinely it, I mean a deck of cards for me, it's just there isn't it, and there's just so much you can do, and a sharpie maybe, have you posted a magic teacher video, I don't, so my, you're asking me about tutorial videos, they're all on onlinemagic.co, which is, you know, my course where you'll get all the tutorials, I don't actually really agree with giving away, you know, a sleight of hand on YouTube, because I think it's something that, it's a commitment, and you know, for a minimal price, you've made a commitment, and you sit down and learn it, it would, you know, there's some things that I'd teach, but I just know if, if I do that, then it will kind of put my head somewhere else, so I'll be mostly performance videos, maybe I'll do some hints and tips, I did find a little hint on the Mexican turnover the other day, that I would be happy to share, because there's certain times when I was missing it, and getting hung up, even though I've been doing it a long time, and just change something very, very simple, that completely stops there, so things like that, I might start doing little hints and tips on moves, but I'm not going to start giving away, giving away stuff, but it's a good question, thank you. Magic Magic Man, if you can only do one trick for a spectator, why would anyone do spring over something like ninja rings? Well, I suppose it's going back to that, I suppose what it, what it does, well the first thing is examinable, and I think that's a really good point actually, even though I say I don't like giving things out to people to look at, I also sometimes don't like it if I haven't got that option, and that is the, now I love ninja rings, I adore, I love linking rings, I just think it's joyous, but with this you can hand it out, and you can give out, and you can, and there is more to be done with it, it's not just a link and an unlink, there are different presentations, there's different things doing it, and it's, you know, I'm sure that if you explored it, it would be, it would feel like a different trick, it does feel like not the linking rings, do you know what I mean? It's just a different look, and a different feel, but you know, some people genuinely, really hate the ninja rings, they just don't like it, they find it too showy, and too, a bit, it's a bit blingy in it, it's a bit kind of the gold ring, you know, it's, it's something about it that some people don't like, I do, but I kind of get it. I'll come back to you, if I, myself watching the Black Phone film, yeah I put on, put on Facebook yesterday that I watched Black Phone with my daughter last night, that's such a great horror film, I just thought it was way, I mean what, it's almost like a bad, it's a bad title, it makes you think it's something else, but I thought it was great, I thought it was really moving, and it was lovely, yeah good film, up it on meds. What do you think about sound deck? Don't know, can't got that, after 30 years I've finally fallen in love with Crazy Man's Handcuffs from Chris, absolutely, it's just, it's, it's a belter of a trick, it really is, done badly, a lot, you know, I see it done badly, a lot, you know, people rush the bit that you shouldn't rush, that bit with Crazy Man's Handcuffs, when you're, when you're in red, you're ready to just separate them, it should be slow, it's a slow thing, you know, some people get into position, just go bang, and it's like, you've got, it's that kind of melting through, that's such an important part of it, so I think that when, when you do, you know, watch, read, you might not have it, but if you've got it, read the Michael Amar, you know, the, the detail of doing that trick, there's so much more to it than just doing the move, and I saw someone do the other day that wasn't a magician, but they'd obviously learned it online, just massacring it, it was just, and the friends he was showing it to, were just, what are you doing, it's all getting tied up, and so, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a stunning trick, and there's so much more to it. Right, have you got any more questions before we go? Giveaway, oh god, right, I keep forgetting, this is what's going to happen, now I said that we did the high, I've already pulled the winner out, so I've done it with the software, we're going to give this away, this is, it's quite good, you know, it's, I remember watching it, social print by Juan Alvarez, all right, thank you to Murphy's Magic for sending it to me, I did review a lot of stuff this, but it's good, I thought it was quite good there, but I just never got around to reviewing it, it's got, it's got quite a lot to it, so you're going to have that, random Tom, yeah, it's random, um, right, so you're gonna have that, but it's not a really cheap treat, you know, it's good, so you're gonna have that, and you're gonna have, I put another couple of things, what else can I put in, I said you could have some more things, didn't I, because people put the effort in, not many people did, it was for the Haiku poem, it took commitment, but I've got something in my bag, I'm gonna give you, oh my gosh, they've come out, I'm gonna give you a deck of cards that I've opened, but not used, they've just all come out in the bag, they've all been creased up, I'm not, I'm being very careful, oh no, it's a deck of cards, you can have a deck of cards, and they haven't, I swear they haven't been even shuffled, but they have just fallen out of the bag, so, all right, there you go, there might be a few missing, oh what a shambles, these are the cards, I'm gonna get them all in order, a deck of cards, and I'm gonna do some more proper giveaways, I've been in touch with some people, I've been in touch with some people about, because I get stuff to review, I don't like selling it, I do donate it, giveaways sometimes, but there's tricks that I actually think are great, but I'm just not gonna use them, and if you see my Instagram, and do check out the Real Magic Review Instagram, I'm doing loads more on stories now, so go on the Real Magic Review Instagram, you'll see me just waffling on all day, getting stressed about things, so Mike Davis has said I can give away first class, which is very kind of him, because I said to him, look, you know, it's a great trick, but I can't fit anything else, I'm not performing loads at the moment, and I have asked someone else, I wonder if they've got back to me, so no they haven't, so I've asked another few people, that might, that have said that I'd probably be able to give away stuff, but that will be later, so we're gonna, they're gonna get better and better, that's what I'm trying to say, but at the moment, Chess Club cards, that's not gonna work, there you go, right that looks knackered doesn't it, but it's not, so that's what you got, Chess Club cards, they're very nice, they're brand new, I'll stick them in, and I'll chuck another deck of cards in as well, I'll chuck a deck of cards that hasn't been opened, all right, so let's see who the winner is, two decks cards, and that Facebook trick, is YouTube random comments generator, Peter Green, and his haiku poem was, ah wrong, Artist Stevie, he rambles on live each week, tune in and love it, so that is a free line poem, that does sound very much like haiku, it's a proper one, and it wasn't the best one, it was just a random, so Peter Green, you have won the Facebook trick, and two decks of cards, and next time the giveaway is going to be first, it's a good trick this, so I really like it, I'm just not going to do it ever, so just putting it, sitting there, um you might as well have it, and you could make use of it, so thank you so much, um for Mike for saying I could do it, we'll do a proper one, so uh two elastic bands, staples, can we pick something as a giveaway, I have, I have mental dice please, yeah, yeah of course you can Gary, I'll give you, I'll give him a Pete Smith if you want, and my um my SB watch, um should we get a nose job, I don't want one, I don't need one, no, um where's our skin, so that's going to be that, that's quite good to get that for free, isn't it, for writing a poem, so here's the thing, I'll do a separate video, I'll do a separate live video for a giveaway, when I think of something, and um and I've got a couple other things here, that if I get permission, I'll give you as well, so Peter Green, get in touch, uh you should put the word giveaway in the video, so I'll get more comments, I will do, this is kind of the end of a giveaway, isn't it, so when I do a giveaway, I'll do a separate one, I'll do a separate live, I'll do, yeah, I'll work it out, I'm not very good at it, am I, let's face it, I'm quite good at making the videos, but I don't get it at all, all the things you're meant to do, like the regular, I'm going to do the same days every week, aren't you, I'm going to make videos the same days every week, every Monday, Wednesday, I'll try, that's never going to happen, never going to happen, I'm going away tomorrow as well, so it's going to be very little this week, but I'll do a load of live rambly stuff, and check out the short I did for Harapan's trick, I think it's a sweet little trick, so thanks a lot for your lovely support, it's very much appreciated, after this, if you just pop on, pop online and have a look at onlinemagic.co, I think you could maybe sign up for for the price of a coffee a week, for all that stuff, it's going to be good, isn't it, and we've got a lovely, lovely community, we've got the live session in half an hour, I'm very much looking forward to it, and then I'm off on the holidays to see my family tomorrow, so it'll be quieter, but there'll be things going on, begging brothers, thank you very much, see you everybody, have a great one, take care.