I like that, evolve!!

Brainstorm - The Creative Card Magic of John Guastaferro

This is some rock solid stuff!

My most recent favorites are those by Bill Malone and Richard Osterlind. But I have to make an obsevation - my very first professional table-hopping gig was composed exclusively of material that can be found in Michael Ammar's Easy to Master Card Miracles and Money Miracles sets. I didn't always use Ammar's specific routines, but the effects are all there; Ambitious Card, Coins Across, Card Warp, $5 and $1 Transposition, Triumph, Copper/Silver, MacDonald's Aces, on and on and on. To this day, they're some of the best investments I've ever made.

I enjoy the World's Greatest Magic series and David Ginn, Terry Herbert, Michael Close, and Osterlind. While "Educating Archer" is not L and L, it is another amazing DVD. I have not enjoyed a lot of the "teach in" series, and have been underwhelmed by the presence of some of the "classic" presenters, like McBride and Ammar.

And I also agree with the posters on Harry Allen, whose DVD did not impress (not funny in the least, and with uninspired props and patter).

Posting on my birthday
best l&l dvds... without a doubt all osterlind stuff, the man is just a genious!

My favorite L&L DVDs are Richard Osterlind's MIND MYSTERIES 1-4. This series is the one against which all mentalism instructional DVD series must be measured.

I was very disappointed by Max Maven's NOTHING. I loved his VIDEOMIND series and I was greatly looking forward to this one. I agree with an earlier poster that Mr. maven's explanations are thorough. He also displays a great respect and encyclopedic knowledge of mentalism/magic history. I just didn't think there was any one standout effect that justified the price of this DVD set.

I also love Janelle and I miss John.

It appears, for some reason, that Max Maven is beloved and touted by the inner circle of magic professionals -- which suggests that he's a very nice guy -- but I have to say I've always felt his presentations are slow and soporific. I think I only made it 20 minutes into his "Nothing" DVD before turning it off and putting it on the shelf. After dragging out and fumbling his first few couple of effects and the studio audience appeared to be forcing its enthusiasm, I realized I'd bought another snoozer DVD. Also, there's something about his fey and campy persona that grates on me.

Having said all that, however, anyone who has researched and written about magic history as much as Max has earns my professional respect.

The World's Greatest Magic Series is fantastic. You can watch and learn several different performers take on a single effect that you are trying to develop in your performances. You get to see how different pros approach the effect. I usually borrow/learn a little from this performer, that performer, etc.

As far as the audience goes, John is annoying as all get out. Im glad someone said he is gone. I agree with the other Café member that thought Al Schneider definitely has some strong misdirection going on with his selection of volunteers at the table.

I keep hearing bad things about the harry Allan set.

I would love to get them off anyone who is interested in selling/trade.

Let me know!
Ben

Banachek's PSI series is fantastic. great material, and great advice on how to get work, handle different performance situations, and gain publicity. as well as some cool old footage of banachek. Tommy wonder's DVD's are also extremely valuable as far has his tips on presentation and misdirection.

gotta love front row Frank...

My favourite set is Visions of Wonder. Haven't seen anything recent from L&L, but I'm glad to hear the audience has changed. Not that the old audience was terrible, but a few of them did get on my nerves after a while.

Favourite: Ammar's E2MCM. There are gems on every single one of the nine DVD's. Every one, even if you don't like MA much. And they're well-produced, well-thought-out, class productions. And Hannah Ammar, cor! (As we say in England).

Least favourite: the Ken Krenzel series. OMG how dull are these?! How dull is he? Admittedly, they look like they were filmed at least 15 years ago, and perhaps not even by L&L (L&L may have bought the rights from someone else) as they don't look like the L&L productions that we are used to now. I acquired one that I hadn't seen the other day and fell asleep watching it it was that tedious.

Well I have to toss in a comment is SUPPORT of Max Maven's Nothing. I agree that it may be over priced at $100 for 2 DVDs and s fairly small group of effects but for me it was much more about an overall approach to the field of mentalism than it was about learning any single effect.

Most of what he presents are pretty basic ideas though I did pick up some good stuff. However I love the idea of pulling off a show with no real props or specific magic or mentalism items. I found the commentary Max Gave (there is the standard performance as well as one with his commentary) to be great. His conversation with Michael Weber was even better, possibly worth the DVD just for that.

I tend to agree that his CHARACTER is a little over the top for me and that persona did not play well to the small L&L audience, but if you look beyond that the material is really strong. Most of the DVD is Max being himself, not his character and I enjoyed those parts quite a bit.

I actually ended up feeling that the DVD presented a good value because there was so much history and performance insight given. I do think having 4 people sit around and nod when he explained the routines was needless but overall Nothing is the best DVD I have seen in a while.

I've really enjoyed the world's greatest magic series. I really like the idea of seeing performances of the same types of effects done by different magicians. I know the reviews in magic magazines aren't always supportive but I find myself returning to them as I plan routines or try to figure out what might be missing in a routine I'm developing. And I do sometimes look up the original video they were taken from and purchase it (falling for their blatant marketing scheme :0))if I feel the performer can be a good video mentor for me! It also gave me a chance to see a lot of performers I had not seen before. I'm in Montana and we don't get a lot of magic shows here!! For my favorites at this point I would probably choose Mark Leveridge and Daryl.

Best for me....Daryl, followed by Malone....

Gone but not forgotten.... MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA

You poor kid!

Ah if only I were really a kid again, sadly I am decades beyond that. In that time I have seen hundreds of magic DVDs and videos and many of them bring something new, many of them are garbage, but the majority of them are very subjective, what works for one guy may not for the next depending (obviously) on who they are and what they need.

While I agree that "Nothing" brings very little to the table in terms of the actual routines or methods I enjoyed it on a different level. I just found it entertaining, I enjoyed the bonus materials more than the actual performance and explanations and I appreciate the fact that Maven tried to bring something more to the table than your typical bare bones DVDs. With that said I also agree that it is very overpriced... even at HALF the money it would be over priced. But the question was not what is the best value. "Nothing" is a GREAT DVD if you are looking for something more than a list of 10 tricks and methods.

TAJ, your avatar is great! lol