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The Ulmen 4
Way back, when De'vo first came to America. He started the Superhandz website to help the art of flourishes. He showcased some of his personal pet moves. He did this thinking that people would see and appreciate his creations and that people would become more interested in this artform.
But what he didn't expect was that hundreds of people would steal his ideas and be posting them up all over the net. No one asked him, just saw it and said to themselves "if he was dumb enough to put it on the web, then I have permission to take it" These moves were his own personal ideas and to be completely honest, he had no idea that people would take his moves. He honestly thought that people would be inspired or become interested. He was badly mistaken! So people emailed him tons of videos of them doing his moves and asked him for help! He was a little more than pissed off, because in Germany you do not disrespect someone by stealing their material. Much like comedians taking each others jokes, it's really not cool with the artists. So he watched the many videos of people murdering his material. Over and over again for weeks people sent him videos and questions about the Cobra cut specifically. He met with Jerry his only american friend at the time and asked his oppinion. They decided to release FREE instructionals on their moves to members, and serious flourishers ONLY! They asked this small group of people to NOT give out these instructionals as they were trusting them with some of their favorite creations. And guess what happened?? This small group of people put out the instructionals all over the net and everyone started doing this material, and even worse, modifying it and calling it their own creations. The Cobra cut at this point was not one of the instructionals released thank god. Still more and more videos and questions poured in about the cobra. De'vo refused many times to put out the Cobra cut. He was even asked by Jerry for it to be included in the Encyclopedia, and he refused again. More and more videos of the cobra came about. Many more emails begging the released instructions of the Cobra cut. Again De'vo met with Jerry and they agreed that it would benefit the art of flourishes in De'vo released the Cobra cut(at that time, the sybil and cutkiddie revolution invaded flourishers and had them thinking in a box - Cobra cut would help to open people's eyes and break up their little revolution)- and De'vo painfully decided to release a small number of CD ROMS teaching the correct method. -thinking that the serious performers could benifit their own performances and learn them CORRECTLY! and that people would still be doing his moves no matter what he did. ! They also thought by making the price fairly high, it would limit the performers to only those that were really serious about flourishing. They charged $25.00 for 2 moves only!! They had made many copies but stopped it at less than 50 when more people started posting their previous free instructionals. Next thing you know, BAMN! people have them for trade on servers, illegal copies, his own members selling them illegally etc.. Then his other moves start showing up in people's DVDs, magic videos etc. No credit and performing them horribly!
For a while Superhandz had reached thousands of people and help move our art forward. Our hit counts were over 10,000, A DAY!with people begging for more De'vo/Jerry performance videos. The elemental videos hit all time highs(over a half a million downloads) as well as videos from our other artists(some over a million downloads). This was GREAT for our art! But the copying and butchering of his moves all over the net got to him. So for about a year he hasn't put up any more of his material. The interest died down as well and was not what De'vo and Superhandz wanted to do. They wanted to keep interest and moving the artform forward, but how can you do that if you don't keep things fresh and new??
De'vo wrote a book called "Dreams and Nightmares" which was a compilation of many of his new creations as well as translated moves from his earlier publications. The book was completed, but again, people of the net were doing more illegal acts trying to profit on De'vo's popularity. This book was supposed to revolutionized flourishes with the first flourish history, theories, philosophies, and some of the most killer concept ever from group flourishes to some of the Ulmen4's own material! The constant bashing from magicians and the mistreatment from the people on the net pissed him off for the last time. De'vo put the books on his shelf and didn't sell 1 of the copies he made! He also close the website and forums completely. The special forum remains closed and all members kicked off. He later re-opened the site and open forums knowing that his decision was a rash one and would eventually hurt everything he worked so hard to achieve.
Many more months passed with no updates to the site and many more videos hacking his trademark moves.
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History
He decided that he would try to release more limited quantities to artists, this time he would put some new concepts to work and try to re-stimulate the flourish community he worked so hard to create. CTG was born. After the release of the news that CTG would be created, he recieved hundreds of emails with people bidding on the limited copies. Some of the figures went even higher than the original superhandz CDs that have sold for $400.00 and higher across the net. He had offers of $1000.00 and more for a copy of CTG. His original intent was to price it over $100.00 to keep it out of the curious, and in the hands of true artists. Only problem was that true artists are broke.lol sad but true.
So how could De'vo push the flourish world forward without releasing a product? Or how could he release a product that wouldn't be put on the net all over the world? Extreme limited quantities or extremely high prices FORCE people to pirate and make illegal copies. But then how could he keep the material underground? -The answer is that there is NO way to keep the material completely underground, or keep people from pirating it. If there was a way to keep people honest and his moves underground while forwarding the art. He would. But there isn't.
So he decided to release his material at a decent price, and make 1000 copies. That way those that really were interested could buy it. Also he wanted to help reach those young magicians that have a high interest in flourishes that may very well be the future of flourishes. He also thought it was important for the art to reach people out there that didn't really know anything about flourishes and show them something new. So he made a deal with a company that is great at reaching the younger generation and has mad marketing skills, but at the same time wanted to stay away from the mainstream magic shops and old timers. He bought many thousands of dollars of equipment and his own studio to make this happen. The CTG DVD sales will not even cover his expenses. It will take several DVDs to make up for his equipment and time it took him to learn everything himself! He wanted to teach it all right! That is why he did it himself instead of going with a commercial company that doesn't have his vision.
Shortly after the first day of sales his material appeared on servers for free downloads and even illegal copies, and companies illegally selling his material trying to make a buck off of him. This will happen wether or not he sells the DVD, but by stopping the sales at 1000, it will increase because of necessity. We at Superhandz/Handlordz after reading and hearing the responses from hundreds of people that CTG is doing what it promised. It is increasing interest in flourishes and is working toward expanding people's vision and thoughts on our art! Because of this De'vo will be releasing a second edition of CTG DVDs. The first edition will never be made again. New artwork has been developed and the 2nd editions will be released in a month or so. By releasing more DVDs, it will allow for us to expand our websites and get even better equipment to provide all of you better DVDs and flourish material! Conventions and more publicity is in the works.
So he knows that the CTG material will not be completely underground, how could it? With people putting it up on servers and trading with their friends. So he only hopes that the material will inspire and open people's minds that witness his work. But he also would like to preserve it's uniqueness as much as possible. If everyone does it and has seen it, it is no longer unique. So in an attempt to preserve it somewhat I had asked our members and others to try and keep at least 2 of the best moves on the DVD, the CTG routine and the Heaven Display off the net. Will someone do it anyway? Of course. This won't hurt De'vo or his sales, in fact it would increase it. But this will hurt those that paid for the material and those that want to keep something special in their arsenal. De'vo kept them off of the promos/demos for all of you. To give you something special that isn't common as a double lift. It was his way of giving you something worth while and also to give you a wow feeling when you watched the DVD. How many flourish DVDs really make you cuss outloud when you watch it? Or give you a "Damn that's badass!!!!" feeling? That is what he wanted to give you and from the responses, he suceeded.
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