Useful Crap

Here's a useful link - Google Magician Directory - which contains a list of many magicians by geographic location. If you're not on the list, get back on the ball and submit your site to the Open Directory!

What's interesting about this directory is that it allows you to see a ton of different magicians' websites, allowing you to pick and choose and make the best website for yourself.

Here's a list of things you can learn from these magicians' sites:

- Spend the money and get a real web address. For example, David Caserta's web address is http://www.angelfire.com/ma/magicdave/, which is just not professional. He'd be much better off with magicdave.com, don't you think?

- Make sure your page loads quickly. If that means deleting all of those stupid Flash movies you have before your page loads, then do it! For example, Craig Stone (who break the first rule and has a web address that's too compliacted) has an animated intro and then another one when the first intro is over and the page itself is loading. Don't waste your potential clients' time.

- Don't put too much crap on your page. SIMPLE is the key word. That's why I love sites like Ryan Oaks' and David Olivers'.

I'll have some more tips for you tomorrow. Please e-mail me me suggestions or magic sites (really good or really bad) to i_am_pagliacci@hotmail.com - I'd love to get more input for the next post!

Ali Grap

Ali G on David Blaine: "Can G-d do better stuff than David Blaine?" "So ain't G-d just like an overhyped David Blaine?"

Check out the whole interview here: Ali G Discusses Religion.

America's Got Crap

Quick spoiler: Sylvester the Jester will be on the new NBC show, America's Got Talent. Cross your fingers that he gets further than any other ego-driven magicians who thinks he or she's "got talent" but actually is fodder for editors to create a "worst of" reel.

By the way, like Last Comic Standing, this NBC "reality" show actually recruits professionals to "audition" so that the shows aren't total crap. (You wouldn't want to actually see 20 completely new comics, would you?) Thus, we can at least rest assured that there will be a few pros like Sylvester the Jester representing the magic community.