Ok here goes guys, here is my review

Awesome!!!!

Nacho Momma's Triumph - Spectator selects card from a blue deck, then a triumph is used to shuffle the cards face up and down still showing blue cards all around, one flick and the card straighten out all with the exception of the selected card, you say that was easy as the rest of the deck has now turned red, very very good version of the colour changing triumph.

I personally prefer Daniel's version to any others out there, it is a very convincing colour change triumph, I personally use the ego change to change the colours of the cards, a very visual colour change that you will use, I started learning this about an hour ago, and have already floored my wife!
9.5 out of 10

Quarters - A very visual four phase coin through glass routine, only requires a minimal of sleights, but be warned you need a good muscle pass to perform this routine, I personally cannot do a muscle pass, so this is one routine I will have to leave out, however still a very good routine
8 out of 10

Windex - a card is selected, card is then lost in the deck, you then draw a window on the top card of the deck, you then visibly push your thumb through the window now showing a gaping sqaure hole in the card, card is turned over and it is the selected card, card can be signed, very visual routine, I like this one a lot!
10/10

CAAN - Card is merely thought of as you spring through the cards, you then ask a spectator to name a number between 1 and 52, any number can be named, you then show the selectard card at that number, yes it is that clean, a very good version I like this very much, excellent, made me think why didn't I think of the method, you'll kick yourself! 11/10

Joe Blow - Well what can I say, I personally think this is worth the price of the entire dvd set, it is very simple to do and there are no threads or wires, and no you do not blow it over with your mouth, excellent method. I watched this Friday and was performing this for my mates down the pub that night, absolutely floored them, excellent!

Overall these two dvd's (awaiting for vol 2) are some of the best dvd's I have purchased in a long time, it is a very refeshing set of dvd's and daniel is very funny to watch, just try leaving the explanations screen there without selecting anything for about 5 mins and you'll see what I mean!

Overall out of 10 = 15

Get them, enough said, I am watching vol 3 again just for my amusement pleasure!

Thanks for that. It's helped me make a decision about this set.

Thanks Daren. Great review. I was debating about this volume but now think I will add it to my collection.

Eric

I watch my dvd's for the heck of it too-Daniel is pretty amusing! haha Nice review.

What IS joe blow?

With the exception of the halo cut and a lack of subtlety during the neccessary move, CAAN seems a direct copy of Barrie Richardson's Impromptu handling of Card at Any Number (quietly published years ago in a magazine and now available as a stand alone item). While he did give Barrie a mention, does that warrant releasing someone else's trick with only the slightest of difference? I like Daniel but I thought including such a minor variation was a poor decision. I would prefer seeing more of his truly original ideas, rather than the work of others.

Paul Harris must not have problem with it-- Personally if someone makes a trick better, I think it should be released-its the evolution of magic in a way I guess.

If it lacks an important subtlety that Barrie Richardsons version has,how is that
'making the trick better'?.How is that the evolution of magic?

Jamymz,

So, having studied both pieces, in your opinion, why is Daniel's better?

While I will never be one to base someone's authority on a post count (a lamentable practice here at the Café), I do think it reasonable to demand that someone offering an assesment of worth be familiar with both pieces, otherwise we are just playing popularity games.

I have seen Barrie's piece performed live numerous times, I received personal instruction in it in 1997, and have studied his various handlings -including the impromptu version in question - for years, ever since their original releases. It is my careful opinion that the differences are neglible in some respects, and inferior in Daniel's handling in others. (Specifically when it comes to the handling of the most neccessary move as well as Daniel's overall psychological understanding of maximizing the effect's impact. I would rather, in deference to both men, not go into details.)

Daniel is a creative guy, and someone I have seen grow since he was literally a child - which is what I think makes the problem more egregious. But his current popularity does not place his actions above scrutiny. CAAN is hardly different enough to be called Garcia's. I think we owe it to established performers and creators, like Barrie, who have given so much to this art to acknowledge their works and contributions. Simply because someone is now popular does not give them permission to "jump someone's claim" whether intentionally or accidentally.

As for the straw man argument of setting up Paul as the arbiter of judgement: Paul, based on the little time I have spent with him, has an eye for good magic, however he may or may not have been familiar with the Richardson trick to know better. (Complicating this is the fact that the handlings in Barrie's more accessible books are different. His impromptu handling was published years ago in a magazine and now is available as a stand alone item. Those may have been under Paul's radar). We could speculate on why Paul allowed that choice, but we do not know how much creative control Daniel had - which seems to be quite a bit; and we negate the fact that it is the persons whose name is at stake, in this case Daniel, who ultimately must face the consequences, good or bad. Look at Lovick's review of the Wilson DVD's. Much of that material was minor variations - and exact copies it seems - of other's work. Louis is a VERY knowledgeable person, and he "must not have had a problem with it." That doesn't mean it was the right thing to do and it is unproductive to make Louis' acquiesence the rationale behind accepting Wilson's choices as ok.

I wish Daniel great success, but I think CAAN is not only derivative, but a step backwards, and Daniel should have been more forthright with his crediting (and inspiration) so others were not confused into thinking his idea was original in any way.

Can anyone elaborate a little more on what the effect of Joe Blow is? Thanks.

Eric

if you check out the demo video for volume 3 on ellusionist you'll see it performed, basically it's a folded piece of paper, and you repeatedly cause it to fall over from a standing position, even with obstacles (a glass?) in the way to prevent any alledged blowing and stuff.

I have just bought vol 3, Here is my veiws....
Nachos Momma's Triumph: Very nice indeed,great kicker ending
Quarters: Again very nice routine
Windex: I like this nice n visual, nice n easy....
Caan: Ok,but ive prefer other simlar versions(Just being Frank )
Joe Blow: This is BRILLIANT, just buy the dvd.....!

I have to disagree again with all these reviews... The hype is again much bigger that the end product.

The production values and the look of this DVD are very good and nice different from usual L&L type things. It is nice to see something refreshing. The problem I have with 3rd volume is material. First of all the tape is very very short. Way under hour long and has just 5 tricks and these aren't really earthshaking miracles, at least in my scale. To me it seems that they could have left few out and combined this with vol.1 very easily

About the routines

Nachos Momma's Triumph: ok variation of color chancing triumph. According to Garcia this is developed to fool magicians, but for that it doesn't work in my opinion. For laymen this works and mught work well, but there really is no reason to kicker color change ending and there are also better routines on market, like Dave Williamson and Paul Harris color stunner.

Quarters: 3 phase coin thru glass routine. Nice improptu routine, problem in my opinion is that there really isn't anything orginal in this routine, so why is it published here Some phases are very similar to John Carney over 20 year old routine from Richards almanac and Stevens video and muscle pass thing is John Cornelius idea from way old Michael Ammar tape Classic rentidion. I didn't hear any credit to either of these mens.

Windex: Jay Sankey type routine that I didn't care at all. Just drawn window becomes real on a card. For some reason didn't do anything for me, just left me cold.

Caan: Ok,but ive prefer orginal Richardson method. Again I didn't hear any credit to Richardson. This version how ever can be done standing and it is chosen card to any number, not any named card to any number although the psychology makes it appear so. Also has one very risky move in my opinion. Still, best thing on the tape

Joe Blow: Looks very nice on the tape and fooled me when I saw it. Still I am little sceptical how this might work in real world and that people might guess the method even it doesn't use the method at all phases. To spectators still the method might be good enough so they can sleep in peace, so I don't like it and I don't think I will ever use this.

So, I wont use any of these, or there really werent anything really new on this tape. mr Garcia is very talented guy but I cant recommend this DVD, vol. 1 is much better and I can recommend it more. Shortly this is way too short, too little material, and nothing orginal enough...

I disagree about Nacho Mama's Triumph. I love that routine. But to each is own.

I don't have the set yet but I'm not sure if I want to buy the whole thing. I have Blueprints and a lot of the effects overlap. Vol.'s 2 and 3 look good. To me at least.

I too have been left cold watching daniels project dvd's volume 1 and 3,I am waiting for vol 2 as it has a flaw.
Not too excited about it coming as 1 and 3 I think were very dissapointing.
much of the same unless your new to magic of course,then these might seem a bit better.
I think the performances were a bit dissapointing,i think daniel needs to work on his delivery as he seems to flaf around to much.
his bill change was dull and I like the effect of seeing the silouette of the other bill.
In fact rather than pick fault with every effect ill just say the only thing on both dvd's any good to me was the first phase of the band link.
that's it I'm afraid a very honest review of volume 1 and 3.
I might as well just also mention I wish they would have filmed closer on the explanations.I would have prefered the l&l type dvd format.the style of these dvd's reminded me too much of the street ninja magic dvd's which have cheapened magic.

I am in the process of writing some reviews for this series, I though I'd share some of my thoughts.

I was one of those guys who was super excited about this release (owning most of Daniel's materials including his lecture notes). And although there are some things from each volume that I liked, I feel it's a bit over-hyped... This probably has to do with the fact that most of the routines I liked had already been published by Daniel in one form or another... Also, the DVDs are a bit short and I agree with a previous poster that they could have condensed the material to fit on two DVDs.

Volume 1 is probably the best of the three volumes (in my humble opinion).
Three of my favorite effects are on this series. The first being the first phase of "Rubber Made", which in my opinion is the best effect of the series. This portion of the routine has been published in Daniel's lecture notes "NEXT", so it was already familiar with me. The second effect I like is "Personal Safe", which was also published previously in Daniel's "Blueprints". The third effect I liked from this series was "Twisted" (the bill switch). Although I'm still trying to figure out a cleaner ending for this one...

Volume 2 is the weakest of the three volumes in my opinion, although "Only Four" and "White or Wheat" are interesting effects. I already own Daniel's "Sh4de" and since "Only Four" is like a "Sh4de Lite" I wasn't that excited about this. "White or Wheat" is a cool effect but I had already learned this from his his lecture notes ("Blueprints")... So I guess I have to say that this volume left me wanting...

Volume 3 has a couple of effects that I enjoyed. My favorite effect of this volume is "Quarters", a coin through glass routine. Very visual and not too hard provided you have or can learn a half-way decent mp. I also like "Nacho Mama's Triumph" (which I learned a while back from his notes "Blueprints") as it is a relatively simple color changing triumph routine, although I prefer Dave Williamson's "Funner Color Stunner".

All in all, I think this series provides some good visual magic for an intermediate (or advanced beginner) level magician. In other words, I got some good effects and ideas out of it so I feel it's a good value.

I will be posting a full review of each volume in the near future...

/M

In regards to korttihai_82's reservations about Joe Blow, I've performed it a couple of times for friends since getting the DVD and it does seem to work quite well. With no one really twigging the method. As for the rest of the stuff I guess it's just a matter of opinion but I think that the DVD's are excellent and well worth the money and tbh I'm suprised at the people who didn't think windex was anything special as I've had great reactions when I've performed it but each to their own I guess!

Windex to me was ok but felt very sankeyish. I would rather use one of his moving ink ones or something. Joe blow is definately fun. I also like nacho momma's triumph but I don't have another
colour changing triumph routine like some others mentioned.
anybody know how to get the bonus trick mentioned on vol 3?

I was disapionted too

Curious on what exactly you were talking about and what about a bonus effect I wasnt aware.