In case anyone cares about the opinions of a guy that has been dabbling with magic for nearly 35 years since he went on a 3rd grade field trip to the public library and came home with "The First Book of Magic" clutched tightly in his hands, here are what I consider to be the current premier web sites whose primary focus is promoting the betterment of performance magic.

These sites were chosen during my roaming and from recommendations fellow web magi that have pointed out in my travels. Forthwith and heretofore without further ado here are my humble recommendations:

When it comes to Magic web sites, Richard Robinson appears to be trying to do it all and is doing better than a halfway decent job at it. There's something here for anybody who's interested in magic, from newbies to masters: Regularly scheduled new routines, tips articles written by seasoned pros, news in the magical world, a bit of magic history, in addition to a huge list of links to magic homepages and dealers.

There's something new almost every day. My only complaint would be the number of ads, but Richard has to pay for the site somehow and it's no worse than the printed magic mags so it's a very minor complaint.

A thoughtful resource written by Scott Cram. If you're looking for ways to improve your magic (as opposed to just learning some new tricks), take a look at Scott's list of websites and books. Broken into the topics of Creativity, Presentation, Rehersals, Self-Management, and Strong Material, each resource has a to-the-point capsule review. There is also a link to an essay on magic by Scott that I found interesting and insightful.

Well, if you're into magic, it seems that you either love Penn and Teller or you hate 'em. Ithink they're great and they have a great website, too. Lots of info about the Boys, current news and tour dates, plus some fun interactive stuff to keep your mind active.

Thomas Toth has a small collection of interesting personal rants about magic suitable for beginners and pros alike. Altho his graphics could be a little smaller, he's obviously done a lot of hard thinking on the subject of preforming magic has drawn some interesting conclusions. You may not agree with everything he writes but Thomas's essays may make you think about your magic in new ways.

Brother Paul West has some excellent essays embedded in his site. You'll need some basic card handling knowledge to get the password, but it you've read this far in my list o' links you shouldn't have any problem.

Lookin' thru that Tannen's catalog and wondering if the trick lives up to the ad? Well, check out the product reviews Mike and Dr. Mitch put on this site. You won't find everything, of course, but they cover a nice range of effects and give no B.S. descriptions ond opinions about each one. These guys call spades, spades. Real info for real magicians.

Always an interesting peek into magic history. You can never know enough about how we got here from there. If you think of Copperfield as th greatest magical innovator there is, you need to check out this site. You'll learn that we truly do stand on the shoulders of giants.

One of the better competitors to the All Magic Guide. Best coverage of magic broadcasts I've found on the net. Lots o' good links and one of a kind articles.

Altho there are only the issues of Vol. 2 posted of this defunct magical e-zine, it's all good stuff and Steve stops by every now and then to keep the page from becoming static.

For those of you who are adults (and you know who you are!!) check out Heartless's Holey Haven's Stupid Penis Tricks. It's not really magic but I guarantee it'll bring a smile.