Articles

1) Email Responses

Most of the complaints I got in email about the article last month concern the example in the end. Moral MTGParadise readers told me that I should not mock the "example" in the end because it is cruel, wrong and unprofessional etc. Though I am not a very moral person myself, I do know that undermining the work of others is wrong, which is why I used my OWN article as an example. It might be a little bit more difficult then finding Waldo, but there are hints in the article which would have given that secret away such as: a) Its title: Theory behind Magic and b) My name was addressed at the end of the article.

So why did I do it you ask? Well, though humor was one of the main reasons I choose to edit my own work but there is another more subtle purpose behind the joke. Most people write badly when they start writing Magic articles due to a lack of experience but the example shows that even the worst of us will manage to improve if given time and encouragement in the right direction. Due to this reason, I am not mad about the complaints but actually glad that there are people out there who are willing to stand up for beginner writers. Oh and there is no need to feel ashamed if you made that mistake, since at least 20 other people around the world did as well.

In essence, I got complaints about mocking the work of others when I try to avoid it by mocking my own work.

Isn't it ironic.... don't you think?"

2) Article Response

Most of you have probably read the article Jon Becker (not the doctor guy on TV and on a side note I think that Linda chick is hot) wrote on Brainburst about the lack of updates on Sideboard and idiots who write 0-4 tournament reports. I will post a link here in case you missed it since it is one of those rare articles that is actually worth reading:

http://www.brainburst.com//issues/020208e.asp

Imagine my delight when I saw that Jon, a BrainBurst writer and a $50 give away winner have mentioned little old me in his article. I was going to respond to Jon in email but could not find his email address on his article, so I'll reply here. For starters, I do know that the Operation Defecation is a gag article that Team Academy used to annoy CCG prime as I check the site quite frequently for laughs (go read Modhead's fiasco if you are over 18). The reason that I chose to use that article as an example even though it is a "fake article" is because even though the mistakes are intentional, yet these are the very same mistake that article writers make in their work. As mentioned above, I have gone to great lengths to avoid stepping on anyone's toes in my last article, which is why I used the examples from Operation Defecation so no one would be offended. Sure I could have used another example from my old articles, but using the same idea twice is as repetitive and boring as Scary Movie 2.

In relation to the query above, TBS asked me if I really care about what other people think if I use their articles as examples of bad articles? The answer is yes because I do not like putting people in positions that I do not wish to be in myself (no sex jokes please). Besides, who am I to judge who is good and who is not? I might have preferences that I tell my friends but I am not going to say that so and so is a crap writer over the Internet.

Though in the end, the precautions I took to prevent flame wars or comments from other article writers attracted one it self.

Isn't it ironic.... don't you think?

3) Real Life Response

Personal thumbs up (in a non homosexual way) for Scott Hunstad as he is the only one who managed to find a real mistake I made in the article last month (though I pretend that I did it intentionally when he told me in person). Yes, there is actually a spelling mistake in the article that not only went undetected by Microsoft word, but it also escaped the notice of both my editor Rebecca and myself. The mistake was in this paragraph of the article: To top it off, he had the right creature to Rupture just enough to kill me. There is definitely more to it then just drawing the Rupture. (Yes, he also had to open the RAPTURE AND play with it, now we know how to draft, huzzah!)

The only excuse I can offer for this is that I was probably listening to that IO song "Rapture" on the radio while writing the article and it somehow sneaked into my subconscious. Damn the crappy song with their crappy radio station.

In the end, the person who bitches about other people making spelling mistakes made one in his own article in THE EDITING SECTION!

Isn't it ironic.... don't you think?

From the emails I got, I noticed that I've got a few foreign fans from non-English speaking countries. So for your benefit, I've composed a glossary for terms in this article that you might not understand:

Well, to round it up, I am dedicating this article to Nick Smith who is soon going to New Zealand to study rocks or something. Not only as a cheap farewell gift but also because I got the heading idea while he kept singing "Ironic" in Games Paradise a couple of weeks ago and complains that raining on the wedding day is more a kin to pain in the ass then ironic. Well, here are some real ironies of life Nick, hope that you appreciate it.