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Why Johnny Magic Would Say - Vote For The Ferrett Or Else It Will Be Bad Times For Becky - Heh
By Peter Watt
04/29/2002
Okay, so I mercilessly plagiarised every catch phrase of the person I am asking - nay, telling you to vote against. Boo ya!*
The short of it is that The Rizzo** was an entertaining read. Granted, he wasn't for everyone and certainly not every article was good - I never did finish his Seventh Edition review - but The Rizzo could raise a smile while still drumming something reasonably deep into the back of my cranium.
And hell, if he was still into the Magic scene I would vote for him because of that - not that The Ferrett doesn't raise a smile, but alas, to the fickle and uneducated, winning a Writer War means constant articles. I am a child of this media age, and resting on your laurels doesn't swing it here, dammit. (Of course, this ignores the fact that the Ferrett maintains one of the best websites on the net, reads and rewrites everyone's articles - and then, every once in a while, convinces us that piercing is essentially putting a very sharp item through a piece of tender living skin.)
My point is that the whole ethos of Rizzo and Magic was one of a man who loved the game to the point where he needed to share that with anyone - hell, everyone. Someone wrote that Rizzo was Magic, and it actually felt that way when reading his articles; he was immersed in it so much that he needed to give back to us a piece of what Magic gave to him.
Until it couldn't give him that anymore, so he stopped.
It seems as simple as that to me; Rizzo reached the end of the road, looked around, and set off down another.
So why congratulate him for that?
Most of us read the posts on the site and the forum last week. We doffed our caps to one of the best writers, or scorned the mourning as over the top. Yet we paid our respects, 'cause he was one hell of a prolific writer... And that alone will create a gap that will be tough to fill as consistent as Rizzo was.
The Writer War should be to promote writing on the net, to give people who work hard (please notice the tense) to promote Magic some recognition. I think Rizzo would groan inwardly if he won the war, because I feel we'd miss the whole point of what Magic was to him. It was for those who play it to support each other, share ideas and tales, keep the game alive for all of us.
So vote for The Ferrett - not just for last few articles alone****, not just for maintaining this website with quality daily updates (just savour the enormity of that last feat alone), not even for dodging whole year's worth of articles by qualifying at his first attempt (honestly, the cheek of it) but because he still is involved in Magic.
Because that's what Johnny Magic would tell us is the right thing to do.
Because that is what Johnny Magic would do.
I salute Rizzo for his contributions. He will be missed, but I respect his decision to part with something that no longer provided what he needed.
Keep reading the posts, keep writing the articles, keep flopping the cards, and may you be lucky - just less lucky than me.
Lucky Lucky Guy
* - I missed one.
** - I think he justifies the The, just so's people realise we are unique.*** and that being the next Rizzo does not mean we should be the next Rizzo, if you get what I mean.
*** - Scenes of Life of Brian flash through my consciousness.
**** - Which have been blinders; Rizzo may have been Issue Boy, but the controlled ranting of The Ferrett is a joy to read.
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