Im so glad this video is posted, I saw it months ago, none of what I do is based off of anything Biss does, so I couldn't care less.

This video would only be of concern to the people who use the material he exposed, so, maybe instead of crying about it, you can re-direct your mis-spent energy on inventing NEW things he doesent know about, and therefore cant expose.

so what he exposed the circle/tri force, so did Martin Gardner and so did Ray Hyman over 30 years ago!

so what he exposed his board, I will never use a store/internet bought prop, so if you do, maybe hide it in something new or different.

Oh well, Im glad people like this expose generic garbage that everyone else uses, it FORCES people to evolve, grow, and continue creating new presentations & techniques!

I've never bought any of his stuff...heard some second hand horror stories from people I trust about him, as less as the threads on here...

@stashu - is it ever fair for one man to decide whats right to expose "for the good of the rest of the mentalism community"?

Hey, Biss!

Come to England. We'd really like to repay the favour!

******!

It's my understanding that Biss knocked off the Buma Board so it's not "his board." Further, I wouldn't say the Buma Board and the Mother of All Book Tests are "generic garbage."

It takes a long time and a lot of effort to develop a new idea or technique and even longer to work that insight into a successful presentation. Biss has no right to cavalierly toss the hard work of others into the trash.

Exposure, in any form, is disrespectful to the entire community that has worked so hard to create the effects. I am disappointed in the way Biss has handled this.

Regards,
Mike

What is happening to our art? It seems commercial fees draw people into exposure. The dollar speaks loud and clear. Last months gadget show in the uk did the same thing for iforce, rendering it useless.What a great app until now. My nephew yesterday said "wanna see a cool trick?" This item along with MOAB is reduced to a trick! These people are not interested in magic and everything is becoming trivualised.

Hey all,

I sent an email to Mr. Biss expressing my concern about the videos and he was prompt with his reply.
I know this won't dowse the flames, nor am I interested in coming in the middle of this, I have friends with strong opinions both ways on Mr. Biss...

This is from an email he forward to me to some one else who was expressing their concerns too:

***

Thanks for taking the time to write me and express your intelligent concerns about the YouTube Videos and yet another debate on the Magic Café.

Let me share a couple of things from my perspective that may help. They may restore your faith in me. Perhaps not. But here they are...

First, the performance and lecture were for an elite group of scientists and scholars in my home city. There were a few magicians in the audience as well. I received a donation to my favourite charity for the lecture and I did not authorize it to be video taped. They did so and when I inquired afterwards I was told it was for their archives. This is James Randi's foundation, it seemed like a complimentary request!

Second, the performance and the lecture was great, if I do say so myself. It was dumbed down for the crowd in terms of revelations, but all in all a great night that magicians and hobbyists all over the world have enjoyed variations of. I thought I did a good balance of reveals and psychology and most of all philosophy. (I think most performers today would benefit by vieweing it, but it was for an intellectual group of debunkers. Not layman.)

Thirdly, a while after the entire video showed up as a Torrent. Around the world, without any control on my part, my entire presentation could be downloaded. For Free. This continues. If you do a torrent search there are now dozens of servers with the entire piece. With no compensation or consent for or by me. I have no way of shutting this down.

Fourth, soon after this I discovered the YouTube videos of the same content put up by James Randi's foundation. Not by me. I complained, agressively. I demanded that at the very least, clips 8 through 10 be removed as I was okay with the performance and early lecture portion as it was essentially already in the public domain as a torrent. CFI blamed a (former?) employee's judgement lapse, Clips 8 through 10 were taken down.

Fifth, until your e-mail today, I had no idea that 8 through 10 were back up. I very much regret this as the material is too good for the masses (or couple of hundred people or less who apparently have watched it. who are probably magicians as it hasn't gone viral, but could)

Six, I will write CFI after this and ask them to once again remove 8 through 10. I have no idea if they will comply or whether this will remain down. Unfortunately I have no control of this. (I suppose I can complain to YouTube for breach of my commercial intellectual property?)

Regardless, the whole thing remains out on Torrents around the globe.

I'm pleased with the performance and lecture, after watching again just now. Sorry it's freely available to anyone to watch. Certainly it's totality. That was never my intent or was consented by me.

Regretably, in 2010, this is the reality of the Internet. Thank goodness, the content is as good as it is. I'm sorry that there is nothing in it for me than the growth of my beloved art.

I'm going to avoid wading into the craziness of the Magic Café and the handful who like to stir up debate. I really don't have the time to get involved in that sink hole. The quality of the material and its popularity speaks for itself. (With the exception of my new and wonderful Remote Control Change Packs, I'm sold out and out of print of everything. I must be doing something right and desireable. I've had no reviews of late or ads.)

Say hi to the gang on the Café. I wish them well! Share any of the above if you wish to those with open minds.

Thanks John for your support and encouragement. I hope this addresses at least some of your concerns.

Warm regards,

James

***

...and?

Uh, no.

CFI (Center For Inquiry)is NOT a James Randi Foundation. It is also not a branch of CFI Transnational, but is a local organization. Nor is it an elite group of scientists and scholars, although there are some very qualified professionals and academics on CFI Canada's Advisory Fellows: http://www.cficanada.ca/about/cfi_canada......irectors

It is an organization with membership open to anyone with a similar, rationalist point of view.

It appears that James was performing for the Toronto organization, CFI Canada.

I've written Randi to get his "take" on James' comments re: Randi's involvement in posting the videos.

- entity

...I also thought the randi stuff was off.

Thanks for clearing that up Tom.

J

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is NOT James Randi's organization. It is the successor organization to CSICOP when it merged with the Coucil for Secular Humanism. See Wikipedia's entry where the organization's history is laid out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Inquiry

James Randi's organization is JREF, the James Randi Educational Foundation.

This particular file was uploaded as a torrent in late November, 2008 in 4.66GB. It's a large file that doesn't seem to be particularly popular as I saw one site that noted it had been downloaded 10 times and another 23. It was uploaded by an anonymous source.

Yep, keep drinking his Kool-aid. When he first published his book he had to re-edit it from all the complaints about his stealing.

Then the IMB board. Everyone who had a Buma knew this was nothing new. Of course, Biss had the answer: This was specially made for him by his special team that he always called Oompa-loompas. Then it was shown that some people knew about where the board came from. Once again that oh-so-nice Biss came onto help everyone by coming clean and telling everyone the name of the boards. Of course, he gave the wrong name so when people did a search they couldn't find it.

He knew the name. He knew these things he found were from another industry that used them and at no time did he have a special team manufacture them for him. Finally someone outed him and now everyone knows where to get the boards and know that he added nothing to them except the routine.

I'm sure he'll always have an answer to his shady ways. Step right up! Get another large glass of the marvelous grape Kool-Aid. It will blind you from the truth and help you buy some more "original" product from this fine fellow.

I know too many places and people he has stolen from. No thanks. I'll skip his excuse.

Greg

So it ok to expose to "elite groups of scientists and scholars" but not to average people? Give me a break. That was totally uncalled for.

Exposure anytime is just that. If you want to illustrate a point use an optical illusion or the colored words or something else that gets the point across without discussing actual methods.

Just my opinions.

Dan

The fact he won't come on here also shows he's hiding for a reason...

I've seen both Banachek and Jamy Ian Swiss lecture for the JREF and NEVER do they expose anything! They use their magic/mentalism to illustrate their points and that is all.

The fact that these exposures are being done in front of a room of skeptics/scientists is absolutely not justified. To make matters worse, the fact that he's revealing things that are not his own creations is simply malicious.

I'm sure that Mr. Biss has complained about his books being uploaded to share sites, but really what's the difference between uploading the actual book or uploading a video with all of the instructions?

It has been said that mystery entertainment is a dying art and it is clear that Mr. Biss has at least one hand on its throat selfishly helping to choke out any remaining life.

-rob

To mis-quote Selma Bouvier: There goes the last vestige of my objectivity.

His justifying e-mail is pathetic. Nothing can rationalize his actions.

>>>>>>>>I'm sure that Mr. Biss has complained about his books being uploaded to share sites, but really what's the difference between uploading the actual book or uploading a video with all of the instructions?<<<<

The majority of the information in his books don't belong to him.

Can you substantiate that?

No, he may have others work in his books but I would be suprised that more than 50% of his books are others.