Anyone has the newest edition of magic magazine? I don't have a subscription but I heard there was a review for Oz's Stealing Pips in it by Mike Close. Anyone mind giving a brief overview of the review by Close?

Mike Close gave it a very poor review. Pretty much stating that there was nothing new, some ideas made the effects more confusing, and its to easy for people to put videos or DVDs on the market resulting in poor material.

Rich B.

Well I disagree with Mike Close. I think Stealing Pips was very good and not really confusing at all.

I think Close was making the point that all the material is something you may already have in a book/vid eventhough it is advertised as new or new handling.

He gave it one of the worst reviews I've seen.

Hello:

Mike Close gave it a pretty lengthy review, but said it could all be wrapped up with three words, "Save your money."

Ron

I also thought stealing pips wasnt bad. I liked his explanation of the bertram change. I did find some of the tricks cumbersome and not one actually went into my repertoire. but that is just me I guess. as for the SAC move being revolutionary...ummmm...riiighhhtt. and the Oz Alignment Refinement?? that cant be considered a "move" really. furthermore, I was reading some more of David Regal's Constant Fooling 2 and realized his sticky mama is almost exactly the same as penguin magic's red hot mamacita instat download...im curious as to which came first.

Hey David,
Sticky Mama was published before Red Hot Mamacita, and in the magic world that's all that matters. (Although, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that Oz didn't credit Regal)

Tyler Wilson

Mike Close has a daunting job, I think he does really well with it.
I tend to agree with his reviews (I manage a magic shop) and I use them to make purchasing decisions concerning new product.
Mike is correct that today with the abundance of home desktop publishing putting out a DVD (of which I too will soon be guilty of) or book can be less noteworthy than in times past.
Jason

Close realy blasted Oz in his review. Seems he took old effects and renamed them.

I have a question.... Why do you think Close's review is negative while the reviewer for Genii Magazine, Joe Turner, gave it a relatively good review in this month's Genii?

S.Segal

Hey S.Segal,
For the same reason that you and I may differ in opinion about a product. Everyone has their own opinion as well as their own criteria for what they consider to be valuable. Columnists are no different.

Tyler Wilson

Mike reviews "new"card effects to see if they are new or just re-workings of old effects by the Masters.

Maybe close was also trying to attack the whole new trend of youngsters producing DVDs.
I do not know Mike Close's motives but I can relate to arguements of this type although they can generalize to a large extend.
I also thought OZ's video was nothing new (to say the least - if it was not a public forum I would use harsher words)
people just have to understand that creating new ambitious card routine or incorporating a color change in a routine does not make you a magical thinker.
I think the magic community just suffered from the new plethora of "young blood" DVDs the material is of lower quality, the presentations are mostly "Blaine wannabe style" and the magical thinking is very poor.
just because it is very easy to make a DVD these days doesn't mean that everyone should.

Hey Nir Dahan,
I think THAT is the problem most people have with this DVD. However, it never stated to be full of new ideas or techniques so judging it based on originality isn't exactly fair. That's like judging a beauty contestant on her reading skills.

It must be noted that I don't own this DVD (nor want to) and am not a particular fan of OZ. I just wanted to clear up a misconception.

Tyler Wilson

....and that's the reason why you shouldn't decide ONLY on background of a columnist's review.
Columnists give in their valuable but subjective opinions, and at least what I do, is to get that opinion verified by others.

Sven

Close gave Stealing Pips a very bad review, summed up by his words "Save your Money". He called it "crap" as I recall.

He was very convincing, but I felt it was somewhat harsh. Maybe that is how it should be.

At any rate, he turned me away from it.

I thought stealing pips was beter than some of close's videos..

Well maybe my definition of a good magic video is different...

I also strikes to me as odd the fact that the Review on Magic Magazine was bad, while the one on Genii was really good; Any comments on this?

Alex

This has already been asked and answered above.