Wednesday, August 03, 2005

R.I.P. Mark Chorvinsky

Mark Chorvinsky, founder of Strange Magazine has died of cancer at 51. I knew Mark somewhat when I worked at Dream Wizards, his legendary gaming store in Rockville, Maryland way back in the (gasp!) late Seventies. I was never into gaming; I worked the magic counter (at one point, I demoed magic at Dream Wizards and the late great Al's Magic Shop at the same time).

One of the fellow magi I used to hang out with was a talented kid named Alain Nu, who now has his own TV show. On the Magic Cafe Forum a couple of weeks ago, Alain said, "I really mean it when I say that [Chorvinsky] was my greatest influence in mentalism. He was the man who showed me the 'real world' of strange phenomena!"

Unfortunately, at the time I was working for Mark I was a diehard CSICOP skeptic. I knew nothing and cared nothing about the serious investigation of strange scientific anomolies; as far as I was concerned, it was all bunk and those who took such subjects seriously were deluded cranks. Not the best attitude to take if I wanted to be friends with Mark!

Mark was definitely ahead of his time in both the world of gaming and that of borderland scientific research. I wish I could have had the chance to meet him again as an open-minded adult.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And who says you are now open minded? Ok, perhaps you are, you didn't scorn me for sleeping with that shee.... oh wait. never mind.

PeaceLove said...

JB,

Why would I scorn you for your natural bestial desires? It's not like it was a goa...uh, never mind.

Anonymous said...

There's really nothing wrong with sheepherders and goatherders. I don't know where the beastial desires comment came from.

But back to more topical stuff. Have you ever thought that perhaps schizophrenics are in a permanent state of dillusion, much like someone on LSD or some other hallucinogen?