Magicrap & beyond

I've met all too many youngsters that have learned magic from "You Tube" (and I can't say I blame them, there is an amazing amount of information online there... there's also an amazing amount of BAD magic online there)  In general for the total newbie I send them to the book shop to see if their interested enough to #1: make that much of an effort to try and learn & #2: follow up on #1 (by actually learning something from a book)

Man - oh - man, I can't imagine a more challenging endeavor than trying to wade through the muck of magicdom in this day and age. There is SO much CRAP out there, it's unreal. Go ahead, Take a look http://www.murphysmagic.com/ (but keep your wallet in your pocket! at least for now...)

If you are a beginner or know someone who is:
I generally suggest Josh Jay's "The Complete Course". It's well written with some strong material (some say too strong) and he includes DVD which can be immensely helpful when learning this stuff. For under $20, you can't go wrong (heck, I bought it for my kid) Here's the Amazon Link
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Complete-Course-Joshua-Jay/dp/0761149872/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386086991&sr=8-2&keywords=josh+jay

Note: Josh also runs Vanishing Inc (Along with Magi-bud Andi Gladwin) I think they have one of the best online magic shops in the business. Your can pretty much throw a dart and insure that whatever you're getting is gonna be good.
They've also released some great FREE books for the neophyte and you could do much worse than take a peek at Over and Under offers some great newbie advice: http://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-downloads/free-magic-downloads/under-over/  and once you're ready to tread into the deep end, check out "Magic in Mind"

Along with VInc there's some other great resources online.
One is Genii / Richard Kaufman's Magi-Pedia (think Wiki-Pedia, but all things magic)
Check it out:
http://geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Main_Page
Here's one worth researching :) http://geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Doug_Conn

Genii also has a forum with some well informed magi that visit their pages, it's well worth joining
http://forums.geniimagazine.com/
Another forum that's chock full of info is "The Magic Cafe" (though at over 20,000 members, you get ALOT of bad with the good.) use any info attained from anyone online carefully: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/index.php

Another wonderful resource (one that often offers some GREAT freebies) Is the
"Conjuring Arts Center"
http://conjuringarts.org/

and along similar lines:
Lybrary.com
an online e-book resourse with some truly wonderful freebies:
http://www.lybrary.com/free_ebooks.php?osCsid=97e6777ab24d9d9ada4ffb1a85e6c5d3

Perhaps the best course of action is to ask someone you trust. Meet some magi & acquire a mentor. Maybe Join a local magic club / organization, make some acquaintances.. Both the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians offer publications and clubs in most of the major cites in America. The fee for each is nominal and you get a magic publication (magazine) with each one that keeps you up to date with what's happening in the magic world.

There's lots of options and I just wanted to suggest those that who've limited their learning to youtube (or just video / DVD) that  you explore some of the other options available. I hope some of these options help someone somewhere out there.

If you need more help, I'm always available. Fire a question.

NewZ

I'm sure I've mentioned this before
I feel it's worth repeating (and perhaps I'm wrong about the above)
There's a wonderful (& FREE) E-Zine that comes out of New Zealand
http://www.magicnewzealand.com/  (sign up and have some extra stuffs to read once a week)

He's on issued 1027 (WOW!)
It's often trivial but the % that is good... is often great.

Today was wonderful, I got to view a clip of the Great Blackstone Sr.
&
It's a wonderful example of how to perform magic medicorately
(but you do get to see him produce a lil donkey (a donkey!) and his dancing hank & buzzsaw)
& he smacks his assistant around... It's wonderfully poor.(especially the finish piece with the jumping ball / paddle trick.. yikes) Don't get me wrong. I really disliked this. Especially the 'classic' handkerchief that was completley overacted.

Here: so you don't have to search, to see this master:

Is it just me?
Perhaps I just awoke on the wrong side of the bed today?
I'd love to see some footage of Kellar to compare this with... (ah to dream)

tube

man, I wish I had youtube when I was a kid

I just stumbled through a ton of unmentionables (that taught some really great cardstuff)

along the way, I happened upon this link

http://youtu.be/bdYto9Ehrj0

This is Ricky Jay's "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women" special from a couple decades ago ;)

there's a ton of other Ricky Jay stuff out there as well (easy nuff: search for it)

I also found this excellent series on the history of magic (some wonderful artists & clips)
Enjoy the 'Grand Illusions of Magic'

http://youtu.be/bdYto9Ehrj0
http://youtu.be/BQRgceYrqAs

Or maybe "The Worlds Wildest Magic" (and/or any of the other Gary Oullet / Bob Jaffe special from the 90s') This guy has 25 killer clips:  http://www.youtube.com/user/770pratik/videos 

Inluding Penn & Tellers invisible thread & Dai Vernon's "Spirit of Magic"  http://youtu.be/C_Pg-OTXYu4

wow... so much...

gotta go (I'm busy)

Video killed the Radio Man

This post will feature a few of the magi-net-casts I enjoy watching.

Lets see... we'll start with

The Wizard Product Review
These guys have been going strong for awhile, with hundreds of reviews/episodes.
They're based in the UK, specifically in/out of the 'World Magic Store' and as such, I have to believe their reviews are a bit biased on the magic-store side of things... regardless, the show is fun & informative.
Their YouTube channel consists of both the latest product videos, as well as their "Wizard Product Review" show. You can check out both here: http://www.youtube.com/user/worldmagicshop/videos

Regarding reviews (and more) on this side of the pond, I highly recommend Luke Dancy & his "Magic Marketplace" you'll find Luke's broadcast over at http://themagicsession.com/
This wonderful site not only hosts the review show, but also has (free!) online lectures  (**and some really good ones at that  (Aaron Fisher, Caleb Wiles, Jamie Dawes and more.)
The Magic Session is also home to an online video jam site that is loads of fun (think Skype for magi)
Members only... and you could do worse things with your time than become a member.

Here's a few more:

Theory11.com is home to cutting edge close-up, cardistry & more.
They have featured artists, member videos & their new 'wire' gives up and coming 'artists' a chance to showcase original material. *the jury is still out as to whether or not 'the wire' is a good thing... I for one, find it worthwhile to lookin on (but haven't purchased anything.)

Dan & Dave Buck continue to stay on top of what's new & hot in card magic (and more) and they have a buttload of video covering both the basics and the latest... here's linkage to both:
http://www.dananddave.com/learn/media/ is the section of their site that covers the basics of card handling. You'll find all the basics there. Their store http://shop.dananddave.com/magic-tricks.html is home to some both great magic & accessories.

and last but not least
If I'm ever bored... I need do little more than type in 'Magic... ' (Followed by any genre) to discover an insane variety of video-clips. There's a few guys I subscribe too... you'll find your faves, here's one of mine

Jack Carpenter: http://www.youtube.com/user/Snappyhands57 he has dozens of clips & uploads regularly.
I'm sure I'll have more video suggestions to post in the near future...
 but this should be enough to keep you busy for awhile.