I probably have more than 200 DVDs and tapes in my collection. Some are good. Some are bad. Many contain fluff and filler or routines and/or sleights which are the latest fad and that are not practical in "real world" settings for paying customers. There are only a precious few DVDs/videos that I personally consider staples in magic which contain routines that have and will continue to withstand the test of time. An example of such a dvd/video would be the Don Alan The Greater Library Video/DVD.

I will now include John Mendoza's My Best DVD set (as well as his Live and Personal DVD) as part of this elite category. His routines are polished and refined from his more than 25+ years of performing these routines for paying audiences. That is a very important point. Many routines are developed by people who develope them in a vacuum and have only performed them in a few, isolated and sterile conditions. Mr. Mendoza has developed these routines in the trenches of performing them before paying audiences for 25+ years. He knows what an audience wants and expects from a magician.

There is no flash. No secretly sewn gimmicks to make cards appear in your sock. His routines are meat and potatoes but without the potatoes. Mr. Mendoza's routines are solid and entertaining which will withstand the test of time. These are classic effects and routines that I have and will continue to study and refer back to. Highly recommended.

Michael

Haha his routines are as much meat and potatos as mcdonalds burger and fries are.

boring and same old same old stuff. changing things that don't need to be changed. Knocking methods that are way better than what he says is the best way. BORING and repetitive presentation. Boring and repetitive presentation. Boring and repetitive presentation. And if you call botching a bunch of moves, and fumbling through routines refined, I don't know what to say.

There is some good magic on here, but in the end, I would like to see an entertainer, not Uncle John who does magic tricks.

I thought the "My Best" DVD's contained some kick *** magic and I really like John's performing style. The audience did too. He was funny ( This isn't a trick, this isn't gonna fool you makes them laugh because he fools the pants off them and me ).

Chris

"Boring and same old same old stuff." You mean like Benson Bowl routine or chop cup routine or cups and balls or sigend cards in (Bendex Bombshell) wallet or Translocation. These are classics for a reason. John's variations or fine tuned techniques were developed after a quarter of a century of performing before paying audience, not before friends or cousins. Your tastes obviously are different than mine and others. That is why they sell both red and white wines. I still highly recommend these DVDs without reservation. Do you want flash or do you want routines that are professionally structured and thought out? I have a piece of cloth that you can sew into your pants leg for a flashy card in sock routine if you are interested.

Best regards,

Michael

Thanks for some nice comments. To "toomuchmagic," hey, to each his own. My purpose was to present magic that has earned a living for me for 30+ years doing close-up, not magic club magic or street magic. You may have been bored, but I assure the audience was not and I took pains to be absolutely sure there were no "canned" reactions because I know people think L&L audiences are so set up.

And, I don't know who you are but if you've never done a professional magic shoot, you probably don't realize what a VERY long day it is. I have told some who wrote me for advice, that you can definitely see some spots where the day had gone on much too long and my exhaustion was beginning to show.

One of the unfortunate things about DVD's like this is that uninformed watchers don't realize that the routines are presented out of context. I actually did three full "sets," with a brief break in between each one. The post production team then takes those sets and breaks them up into tricks and explanations presented the order they deem best for the project, so most people don't realize they aren't quite in context. That's one of the reasons viewers did not realize the "build-up" of one of the repeated lines throughout the DVD. When done in context, it makes the performance memorable. Almost 100% of my shows now are return/repeat clients, so that speaks for itself.

But, if it's not your cup of tea, so be it. I, too, find ALOT of magicians to be boring, but then I look at it as an income generating occupation, not a hobby. When, as Jay Marshall used to say, "at the end of every show you are unemployed," you look at magic with a different perspective.

I too own these DVDs and thoroughly enjoy them.

I've also seen on another thread somewhere, criticism of John's style - but for me he has a great presentational approach; understated - of course; boring - absolutely not.

There are some wonderful routines on these discs as has already been mentioned, (Benson Bowl, Cups & Balls [x3], Bendix Bombshell, Chop Cup etc), and seeing the Mendoza touches on these and the two-dozen and more other routines is time well spent.

John's explanations are also extremely thorough and engaging.

Thank you for My Best Mr Mendoza.

'My Best' counts as some of my best purchases this year. The work on the combo cups was outstanding: not only for the routine but for the thinking behind every aspect of it - there's no-one better in the business.

"My Best" also gets my vote as one of the great, cream-of-the-crop sets of DVDs offered to the magic community...fantastic!

A.J.

I'm glad to hear that most people on The Café appreciate professionally routined and thought out magic as performed in the 3 DVD set of Mendoza's My Best. I am grateful when we have an opportunity to watch and learn from magicians such as Dai Vernon, Frank Garcia, Don Alan and John Mendoza who have worked in the trenches before live, paying audiences as magicians to earn their daily bread.

Michael

There are enough professionally routined effects on all 3 DVDs to keep anyone busy in praqcticing and perfecting them not to mention being entertained by them. The Bendex Bombshell routine (Signed Cards in Wallet), Benson Bowl routine and Translocation (not to mention many others) are alone worth the price of all 3 DVDs.

Michael

What did I miss? I must have gotten different dvds.

I never said the material doesn't work, or anything like that. There is some great magic on the videos, I just say it could be more entertaining.

I will watch them again.

Magicinsight,

I am impressed - would you care to list your top 10 DVDs/Videos?

Thanks

andy

I know I wasn’t asked but I'll list a few of my favorites so you know where I am coming from:

1. The Magic of David Regal set
I watch these over and over. This guy is hilarious and so very entertaining. Oh yeah... the magic will blow your mind.

2. Scott Alexander's 10 o clock show and midnight show.
-again a class act entertainer, and great magic that will really knock the socks off your spectators.

3. Michael Close's The Ultimate Workers
-Mr. Close has magic down to a precision science. Follow his philosophy and you will never go wrong in magic performance and presentation. Oh yeah, the guy could entertain you for hours before doing a single trick. Again, I watch the performances over and over simply for pleasure.

4. David Regal’s Power, Premise and Participation set
-This guy is absolutely brilliant. If you want to see the ins and outs of good magic and more importantly how to do it and why you do it, get this set and take notes.

5. Eugene Burger's Magical Voyages
-All I can say about Mr. Burger is that he takes magic a step further than the norm. One can learn so much from just witnessing his "out of the box" style.

Bonus. Aaron Fisher Live from London
-Performance is everything (right) and Aaron has that down pat. But let us forget this video and talk about the book which it compliments, 'The Paper Engine.' In fact lets forget the tricks and moves altogether and instead think about the psychology and the real work behind presenting magic for your audience. What works and why it works. And after all that, if you want to go back to the tricks and moves, he has got those too. And they’re good. Real good.

There you go. Over 15 videos. But there is only so much that can be said in a couple of hours of footage so please, don’t forget the books and manuscripts that go along with them.

And I so terribly neglected Simon Lovell. May 1000 demon hamsters dance on my grave.

Mendoza has my vote....

This set of DVD's is on my "sterling" list. A lifetime of great, classic, fine tuned material...but that's already been said!

Pax,
Br. Don

He's a pro for a reason!

Waters

All I can say is "Wow. Just wow." John Mendoza's magic is boring but Aaron fisher's Live in London lecture is what you would call having performance down pat? I know Mr. Fisher has improved since but his Live in London video is one of the worst things I have seen.

The Burger Magical voyages DVDs are the worst things that Eugene has released. I like many of his writings and his earlier videos, but that DVD series is next to impossible to sit through.

The "My Best" DVDs occupy a special place in my library and in my heart. They are one of the few DVDs or DVD sets to be in my most-valued "If you want them, you'll have to pry them out of my cold dead fingers to get them" category.

The material is killer and has been honed through a lifetime of practice and tweaking. Compared to some of the slop that is hurredly filmed and hurredly released these days, John's material is in a different time zone.

Very well thought out and relatively easy to perform. Will it take some work to learn and to perfect? Certainly. And yes, a lot of John's material does require at least a modicum of sleight of hand ability. But, that said, it does not depend upon any of the Ellusionist-type or Devo-type of knuckle-busting moves for his routines to become the true audience-tested and audience-perfected highly entertaining material that it is.

Just, IMHO.

Mike

I was asked for videos so I listed videos....
Yeah Fisher's Video isn't the greatest, but as I clearly stated, I was more referencing his book and his thoughts about what you do and why. ("But let us forget this video and talk about the book which it compliments,") I have seen Aaron Perform live twice now and he just plain blows my mind. I can't even watch the magic because I am laughing so hard and enjoying myself so much.

Magical Voyages may be the worst thing Eugene ever release, but that's like saying its the worst ice cream you ever had. Its still ice cream and it is still delicious and refreshing. I chose this series, because of its call for those to watch it to think a little bit differently about what they are doing and why. To create possibly interesting and unique presentations for their magic. It is much more thought provoking than many other videos etc.

I have yet to rewatch the JM videos.

Maybe you don't understand what is on John's DVD's. You need to put this material into context. For example, while Morrissey invented the combo cup set, John Mendoza was the first person to write and publish a routine with it.

This material has taken John around the world more than once.