Well folks, as some of you may already know, an effect of my friend Morgan Bondett was ripped off recently by Jusitn Miller. There was a great post by Morgan on the Magic Cafe that was just deleted.
Fortunately for you guys, I copied it for you. So here it is in all it's glory:
Hello Fellow Magic enthusiasts,
This will be my first, and only, post on the magic café – however, I think it is time that the magic community knows the facts about Trans-fixed, Justin Miller and my effect. Because I have been away from my computer, and haven’t read all the posts – I will restate the story and make my points known.
In 2004, Aaron Delong mentioned to me over the phone that it would be neat idea to mix Anniversary Waltz and Kick back – I decided to create a method. When I met up with Delong, at the magic camp we have worked at over the past few years at the time, I shared what the results were. He loved it, and video taped the method to our co-creation to remember it. I have been refining it and have shown it to Tyler Wilson and Nathan Kranzo at past encounters. In 2005-2006, Aaron states he not only showed the ending to Miller’s effect, but sent him the video handling of the effect because Aaron had my permission to share it for underground performance with Miller – not publication. Miller has sense came up with a “variation” of my effect, and when informed to credit me, felt it was unnecessary. Aaron contacted me to let me know that, yet again, I had been stolen from. At first, I didn’t really care…it has happened before, and it’s only a card trick. After all, I don’t sell magic to make a living; I work a government job and do close up magic for lay people to make my living. I have been ripped off so much, that it has become a running gag with my circle. Tyler Wilson and I have planned a weekend session and on the phone I mentioned I was ripped…again, Tyler was upset for me and magic. He knows that I have time and time trusted the magic community, to be disappointed by those looking to make a quick buck and helped make a name. He decided to call Justin out on the magic café. Not long after the post, I received a phone call at 2 am, from Justin wanting to deal with the issue. Miller and I talked for a few days, as he will call you time and time again if you answer your phone – and he came across as a nice guy. As time went by, and I started to question Justin, and listen to his answers, as they changed by the moment - I started to not trust him. He will say that I kept changing my tune, as we decided that one thing was okay, but the more he talked the more it made me change my mind with the answers he gave and behavior he demonstrated. At one point saying, “I will destroy you, do you know who I am, JUSTIN MILLER! He has ripped off effects from others that have called to tell me their story, and I know for a fact that he has had payment issues for the effect “Believe” with Aaron Delong. I no longer want to do business with him, not because I don’t like him – because that it not the issue, but because I feel that he is living up to his reputation. Here are the facts that make me question his behavior:
Miller will tell you that he did not know of me, nor was he informed of my existence – however, Miller admitted that Aaron told him of crediting “another guy”. Aaron says that he not only mentioned my name, but stated that the friendship we have is more important that a stupid card trick. We must remember that Miller has much to lose and Aaron has little to gain by lying about the facts. Even if Aaron was lying and in Miller’s own words only heard of “another guy”, I feel that Miller didn’t do his homework when he heard of this “other guy”, for what if this other guy was a name like Nate Kranzo, Homer Lewag or Chris Kenner…oh wait, we all know how that turned out? So the credit changed…and fast, as you know Miller released a massive press release, changed credits on his DVD, and added me to his web site to placate me. What does it mean to add someone’s name, as long as your name is on the title, you can still make money off it, and you can make your deal with your magic company to sell your stolen goods? . Miller will come on and say, “I have gone above and beyond to credit Morgan, and make up for ‘not knowing’ that I should have credited him” – fair enough, but how is putting my name on it really a solution? How about allowing me to publish mine first and then publish yours. I asked Miller to take his down until this happened, and he would not. Going above and beyond is a nice thing, but when you make a mistake – that is not the minimum – a mistake that could have been avoided if Justin would have contacted me before he sold the effect.
Moreover, Miller says he never saw my effect – yet he credits Aaron Delong for showing him an underground effect that inspired his effect…hmm, whose effect was that? Miller says he credited Aaron because he “told me too”, which makes no sense. The reason you credit Aaron, was because you saw him do the ending of the effect we created, concept and method, together . Miller says it wasn’t the entire effect – fair enough – but I want you to imagine hearing a great riff from a great song at a concert, and the song was not recorded – then you go home make your own song with that riff in it and record it, selling it before the creator records theirs. Furthermore, the only part that appears different is that he is using a double backer, and I use a double facer, and the expository phase (read Strong Magic), the magical phase is identical. In both of our effects there is a transposition, like kick back, and the cards melt into one, writing on both sides. If my contribution is not that big a deal, then change the ending to your effect Miller – what would you have?
Miller says, “You are not brilliant Morgan, it is only card magic, we could have came up with the same/similar effect. Maybe so, yet when he credited me and we talked about the financial part of the effect and I asked him to buy me out of the effect – he agreed to 50% of the sales. If you really created an effect independently and someone asked you for half of your profit, would you so easily agree? He agreed to the money and to allow me to retain rights of my own effect? This appears like the actions of someone that wants to sweep the facts under the rug and offer me some hush money. This combined with the fact that Aaron has swore on the life of his family and our close friendship, that Justin has seen it in more than one form, made me feel like I was being hustled. As soon as I question Justin about how he would pay for the full buy out, as I had no way to audit him, he backed out of the deal – stating, “You seem unsure, so forget it”. A tactic used by con artists to try and pressure the individual in making a bad decision as he may lose the money.
Miller obviously knows that he was in the wrong, hence the mass amount of work he did to try and credit me. He will state, “What a great guy I am, I credited Morgan for his work”; however, it comes across like a guy that didn’t do his homework and he is making up for a mistake that should have not have happened. People make mistakes, but this isn’t the first time he has made this same mistake. As a magic community, we cannot continue to allow this kind of thing to happen. There is not law that deals with this, no way to make it stop – we have to do it. As a group we can prevent this from happening by NOT supporting those who make a living off the backs of others.
That being said, to do my part to better the magic community, I will be publishing mine very soon…thanks to the premature actions of Justin Miller, but I will be giving my effect away for FREE. I don’t want the money, I want you to have the best product and perform it with respect. I want you to know that you have helped magic by NOT supporting the theft of ideas, concepts, handlings, effects.
Why hasn’t this happened before Morgan? Why hasn’t anyone taken a stand? What is the difference now? Well, I am not Kenner or Lewag, I don’t have a magic community reputation to uphold. I am a working magician, with a University education and a career beyond magic. However, before that I have done magic as a living for 10 years, and used it to pay my way through school. This puts me in a different position – I can speak the truth and not tarnish my “image” in the circle. I have nothing to gain or lose by telling you what really happened – all I hope is that the theft of intellectual property is reduced, if not ceased all together. I have nothing to gain from this matter, but I write this for those that have defended me, as they do have more to lose.
Tyler Wilson is a stand up guy, and put his butt on the line to try and stop this, not just for me, but for those of you that will be or want to publish something. If it was not for him, I may have never have heard from Justin Miller and been able to resolve this, as his post caused Justin to call me within the hour. Aaron Delong is also a stand up guy that just wanted, from the start, for Justin to do what was right. How can magic be better, if we don’t support guys like this that choose magic integrity over magic blood money. When I was about to make a deal with Justin for a large sum of cash, I was going to give half of the money to Aaron, for his contribution, as it is half his effect – he felt, as I did, that it is more important to make a statement of what is right, than profit on this effect – or we would be as bad as what we are fighting against.
Fortunately for you guys, I copied it for you. So here it is in all it's glory:
Hello Fellow Magic enthusiasts,
This will be my first, and only, post on the magic café – however, I think it is time that the magic community knows the facts about Trans-fixed, Justin Miller and my effect. Because I have been away from my computer, and haven’t read all the posts – I will restate the story and make my points known.
In 2004, Aaron Delong mentioned to me over the phone that it would be neat idea to mix Anniversary Waltz and Kick back – I decided to create a method. When I met up with Delong, at the magic camp we have worked at over the past few years at the time, I shared what the results were. He loved it, and video taped the method to our co-creation to remember it. I have been refining it and have shown it to Tyler Wilson and Nathan Kranzo at past encounters. In 2005-2006, Aaron states he not only showed the ending to Miller’s effect, but sent him the video handling of the effect because Aaron had my permission to share it for underground performance with Miller – not publication. Miller has sense came up with a “variation” of my effect, and when informed to credit me, felt it was unnecessary. Aaron contacted me to let me know that, yet again, I had been stolen from. At first, I didn’t really care…it has happened before, and it’s only a card trick. After all, I don’t sell magic to make a living; I work a government job and do close up magic for lay people to make my living. I have been ripped off so much, that it has become a running gag with my circle. Tyler Wilson and I have planned a weekend session and on the phone I mentioned I was ripped…again, Tyler was upset for me and magic. He knows that I have time and time trusted the magic community, to be disappointed by those looking to make a quick buck and helped make a name. He decided to call Justin out on the magic café. Not long after the post, I received a phone call at 2 am, from Justin wanting to deal with the issue. Miller and I talked for a few days, as he will call you time and time again if you answer your phone – and he came across as a nice guy. As time went by, and I started to question Justin, and listen to his answers, as they changed by the moment - I started to not trust him. He will say that I kept changing my tune, as we decided that one thing was okay, but the more he talked the more it made me change my mind with the answers he gave and behavior he demonstrated. At one point saying, “I will destroy you, do you know who I am, JUSTIN MILLER! He has ripped off effects from others that have called to tell me their story, and I know for a fact that he has had payment issues for the effect “Believe” with Aaron Delong. I no longer want to do business with him, not because I don’t like him – because that it not the issue, but because I feel that he is living up to his reputation. Here are the facts that make me question his behavior:
Miller will tell you that he did not know of me, nor was he informed of my existence – however, Miller admitted that Aaron told him of crediting “another guy”. Aaron says that he not only mentioned my name, but stated that the friendship we have is more important that a stupid card trick. We must remember that Miller has much to lose and Aaron has little to gain by lying about the facts. Even if Aaron was lying and in Miller’s own words only heard of “another guy”, I feel that Miller didn’t do his homework when he heard of this “other guy”, for what if this other guy was a name like Nate Kranzo, Homer Lewag or Chris Kenner…oh wait, we all know how that turned out? So the credit changed…and fast, as you know Miller released a massive press release, changed credits on his DVD, and added me to his web site to placate me. What does it mean to add someone’s name, as long as your name is on the title, you can still make money off it, and you can make your deal with your magic company to sell your stolen goods? . Miller will come on and say, “I have gone above and beyond to credit Morgan, and make up for ‘not knowing’ that I should have credited him” – fair enough, but how is putting my name on it really a solution? How about allowing me to publish mine first and then publish yours. I asked Miller to take his down until this happened, and he would not. Going above and beyond is a nice thing, but when you make a mistake – that is not the minimum – a mistake that could have been avoided if Justin would have contacted me before he sold the effect.
Moreover, Miller says he never saw my effect – yet he credits Aaron Delong for showing him an underground effect that inspired his effect…hmm, whose effect was that? Miller says he credited Aaron because he “told me too”, which makes no sense. The reason you credit Aaron, was because you saw him do the ending of the effect we created, concept and method, together . Miller says it wasn’t the entire effect – fair enough – but I want you to imagine hearing a great riff from a great song at a concert, and the song was not recorded – then you go home make your own song with that riff in it and record it, selling it before the creator records theirs. Furthermore, the only part that appears different is that he is using a double backer, and I use a double facer, and the expository phase (read Strong Magic), the magical phase is identical. In both of our effects there is a transposition, like kick back, and the cards melt into one, writing on both sides. If my contribution is not that big a deal, then change the ending to your effect Miller – what would you have?
Miller says, “You are not brilliant Morgan, it is only card magic, we could have came up with the same/similar effect. Maybe so, yet when he credited me and we talked about the financial part of the effect and I asked him to buy me out of the effect – he agreed to 50% of the sales. If you really created an effect independently and someone asked you for half of your profit, would you so easily agree? He agreed to the money and to allow me to retain rights of my own effect? This appears like the actions of someone that wants to sweep the facts under the rug and offer me some hush money. This combined with the fact that Aaron has swore on the life of his family and our close friendship, that Justin has seen it in more than one form, made me feel like I was being hustled. As soon as I question Justin about how he would pay for the full buy out, as I had no way to audit him, he backed out of the deal – stating, “You seem unsure, so forget it”. A tactic used by con artists to try and pressure the individual in making a bad decision as he may lose the money.
Miller obviously knows that he was in the wrong, hence the mass amount of work he did to try and credit me. He will state, “What a great guy I am, I credited Morgan for his work”; however, it comes across like a guy that didn’t do his homework and he is making up for a mistake that should have not have happened. People make mistakes, but this isn’t the first time he has made this same mistake. As a magic community, we cannot continue to allow this kind of thing to happen. There is not law that deals with this, no way to make it stop – we have to do it. As a group we can prevent this from happening by NOT supporting those who make a living off the backs of others.
That being said, to do my part to better the magic community, I will be publishing mine very soon…thanks to the premature actions of Justin Miller, but I will be giving my effect away for FREE. I don’t want the money, I want you to have the best product and perform it with respect. I want you to know that you have helped magic by NOT supporting the theft of ideas, concepts, handlings, effects.
Why hasn’t this happened before Morgan? Why hasn’t anyone taken a stand? What is the difference now? Well, I am not Kenner or Lewag, I don’t have a magic community reputation to uphold. I am a working magician, with a University education and a career beyond magic. However, before that I have done magic as a living for 10 years, and used it to pay my way through school. This puts me in a different position – I can speak the truth and not tarnish my “image” in the circle. I have nothing to gain or lose by telling you what really happened – all I hope is that the theft of intellectual property is reduced, if not ceased all together. I have nothing to gain from this matter, but I write this for those that have defended me, as they do have more to lose.
Tyler Wilson is a stand up guy, and put his butt on the line to try and stop this, not just for me, but for those of you that will be or want to publish something. If it was not for him, I may have never have heard from Justin Miller and been able to resolve this, as his post caused Justin to call me within the hour. Aaron Delong is also a stand up guy that just wanted, from the start, for Justin to do what was right. How can magic be better, if we don’t support guys like this that choose magic integrity over magic blood money. When I was about to make a deal with Justin for a large sum of cash, I was going to give half of the money to Aaron, for his contribution, as it is half his effect – he felt, as I did, that it is more important to make a statement of what is right, than profit on this effect – or we would be as bad as what we are fighting against.
