Hey Shaun Robinson....Can I have your copy??? I assume you aren't using it.

I have heard it's no good but they only thing I know of it is the ace production and that's entertained most but it's not up to me to decided for you

Doug: Shaun was expressing his feeling about the video. Its contents are soooo bad that advice about it became irrelevent. So...

Jangan (Malay), Bu Yao (Chinese), M Ho (Cantonese), Mai (Hokkien). Don't buy this.

This DVD is one of the worst. So bad that I almost turned it off 3 minutes into it (I didn't because I thought it couldn't get any worse). So bad that I doubted myself whether I had been too subjective and biases, that I had to check online for other people's opinions to confirm mine

On his site, it says "(Rodney) is hailed as the future of magic". Oh my god.

The video is bursting with Reye's over-bloated ego. He's showing off for showing off's sake. His flourishes are constant disturbing his routines and effects. His patter is worse than Blaine's. To be more specific, it's just exposition (put this here, take it there, blah). At least Blaine cut that to the minimum.

He is not a good performer, judging from the video. In my definition, he's not even a performer -- You "perform for" the audience. In his case, he looks more like a "show-off'er".

Trifecta has potential, maybe. But it his hands, it's just a fancy revelation. He did it too fast. Spectators maybe wondering "What's the point of that little triangle?" At least, if you say something about the Bermuda or the mysterious pyramid (hoaxes, according to Randi), the audience would have something to relate to. Besides, the selected card is revealed within the vicinity of the deck. How amazing can that be, compared to Card to Pocket, or other impossible locations. It's too much work for a card revelation. It pleases only magicians, not laymen spectators.

Coining Copperfied is even cheesier. (I feel I am insulting "cheese" by linking it with this effect.) Spectators would shout finger switching, openly or in their minds. They don't know how exactly, but that's there instinctive response. The worst part is the presentation, by mentioning and comparing to Copperfield's grand illusion of walking through walls, he is hammering the already lousy effect to ... I don't know, how low can it go?

I can't comment about flourishes. My personal opinion is that complicated flourishes do not add to my magic.

If this is a "great" DVD, there can never be any "lousy" DVD in the world, ever.

P.S.: But the music is OK.

Doug Brewer has made a great point in that serious questions, particularly from newcomers, deserve serious answers.

Let me state up front that I've seen nothing of the video other than the previews.

I feel that the problem with the video is that it is derivative, reeking of the David Blaine fan club decoder ring set, marching lemming-like into oblivion. (People who know every nervous tic of Blaine's, but wouldn't know Dai Vernon, Slydini, or Marlo if they tripped over their tombstones.)

I can only surmise that Doug is revealing his incredibly generous nature. I have Doug's lecture notes, lecture video, and his book "The Unexpected Visitor."
I firmly believe that any of these offerings is a better magical value than "School of Hard Knocks." (Just the day before yesterday I went back through my copy of "The Unexpected Visitor" and studied the devious structure of a routine.)

I have this dvd and I feel it is very good. he is a great performer and the dvd is made well

I was, maybe still am, a little too emotional about Reye's DVD. He had successfully made a rip-off video that could make me angry just by the mere thought of it. Wow.

Still, despite the tonality of my post, I think I have been serious. I apologize if I sounded other wise.

I am just curious. Magicah123, and for those who actually think the DVD is very good, can you tell why? Can you also name a few more books or videos that you like, or have seen? Perhaps I am missing something.

You were 100%, rodney reyes dvd was pure garbage.