If you're willing to spend bucks just because of who the instructor is and how fast he is, spend
the on Showoff and...PRACTICE!!
This was a disappointing buy and I am still kicking
myself.
Warning: Don't buy this DVD. Almost no one can actually do the stuff you're about
to see. It's aggressive, showy, complex, impossibly fast, and freakish. Once you master it, your
spectators may notice only one tenth of what they're supposed to see... and only one one-hundredth
of what is actually happening. That's no way to live... pick up a svengali deck and be happy.
This is NOT a clever sales pitch using reverse psychology!
DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKE!
16 of 17 magicians found this helpful.
This dvd, although inundated with magical sleights and fabulous routines, is not for the average
user or apprentice in magic. The moves are not explained in any great detail, as one would expect
from an instructional video. It is a DVD where Tudor "shows off" his moves and expects you to learn
them from quick examples. This video is also poorly edited and recorded, since Tudor continues to
explain an effect, when the images viewed do not match his descriptions of them. There is definitly
a large delay between his 'scripted' description of the effect, and the video presentation. Tudor's
voice also sounds extremely lethargic and leaves no excitement to remain entertaining, as if he was
stoned recording his dialoge. His whole teaching style of " you should already know these moves " is
uninformative, and dry, especially the "Tudor Cut" description. Therefore I rate this dvd as sucky.
12 of 13 magicians found this helpful.
This DVD really is packed with card moves! Of course you need to expect that when you pay this much,
but I just want to state it first.
However, I have never seen a more uninspired magic
teacher than Brian Tudor. He talks with a low, monoton voice and with no excitement. He also
explains many moves briefly. I'm sorry, he is not my kind of guy, but if you like his style and
technique, the DVD may suit you. By the way, much practice on the way. Small hands, stay away! At
least for the OH cuts.
Pros:
Ashtonising tricks/moves.
Much content.
OK
film production
cons:
poor and brief teaching
difficult to hear Tudors voice
very special type of magic. Your goal should not be to learn and imitate everything here, rather
pick up some goodies here and there.
7 of 8 magicians found this helpful.
COVER AND GRAPHICS 4/4
I can tell penguin spent alot of time on this. I have almost all
the penguin produced dvds and this one has the best graphics. it must have been made on photoshop or
something. The cover art is incredible, and in the dvd and the menus, they actually play the parts
of the dvd and the sound and lighting is good. they have excellent music which I think is funny
because brian lectured how much he hates the music. and every cut and scene is something different,
although I wish each scene was cut into the flourishes. so I give this 4/4
TEACHING 3/4
the teaching made this very hard to understand. I think this is why they say almost nobody
can get half of this stuff. and the trailer, was edited. he made it so much faster than he actually
performs them. but still good. he teaches really fast too. I guess there was a time limit. but I had
to watch it about 3 times to get them down. and usually with penguin dvds, they go over the
shoulder, but they only did this once. so it's also very hard visually. and I think he is a little
slow since he is saying watch my right hand and hes clearly using his left hand, so that made it
weird too. so 3/4.
OVERALL 4/4
I gave this an overall of 4/4. I definetlly have
to highly recommend it. It's just so entertaining. watching him perform and watching the old clips
of him in the bonus section was just fantastic. The music is entertaining and his sleights are up to
date and very advanced but still done good. but one thing I need to complain about is becasue he has
HUMUNGIOUSLLYLARGETASTIC (VERY big) hands, he naturally teaches them fast and fluid like which makes
it harder(I forgot to mention that) but it's still good. And dont worry about the price(I got it
free with my 50 buck bonus on penguin) but still, its worth it all the way. I really enjoyed this.
WARNING/NOTE: if you can palm cards comfortably without flashing or getting caught, cough
up the kizash and buy this dvd. you wont regret it. You will be able to do all of this stuff if you
could. That's the problem with a lot of people. They cant palm cards so they can't do this stuff.
Thanks for readng my review
7 of 9 magicians found this helpful.
I would consider myself an intermediate card magician, so I just want to say if you're a beginner or
somebody that doesn't like practicing, don't get this DVD.
A lot of these moves/tricks are
extremely hard and you should be really good or willing to practice very hard if you want to get
those moves down.
It doesn't help that the teaching absolutely sucks. This was one of my
first purchases, and since then I have other dvds where the teaching is much better.
I
only gave it 3 stars since I did learn some stuff from the DVD. If you're an advanced card magician
that's willing to watch this DVD repeatedly and practice, buy this DVD then.
5 of 6 magicians found this helpful.
Penguin doesn't lie when they say no one can do this!
I've been doing magic for 4 and a half
years, and still cant do anything from this DVD, I'm lucky I got it in the 5 for $99 deal.
It is amazing to see Brian Tudor perform and go through this stuff, his hands move faster than I
can see, even in the explanations!
overall, it's just fun to watch the cards being twisted and
turned, but it is almost impossible to do this.
only buy if you are studying these kind of moves
and sleights
5 of 6 magicians found this helpful.
this video isnt bad if u r into xcm or just want to spice up your magic.its not as hard(not all of
it)as u might think.some of the stuff i do not want to learn.its super hard so i didnt get hung up
on it.i stilled walked away with alot.if u have small hands or havent been doing magic or xcm for a
while u might be frustrated with this.he gets a little cocky on the dvd and his teaching style is by
far the worst ive seen.he uhhh..talks like..uh..this in this monotone voice the entire time.there
are good teachers with personality that you can learn quickly from and then there's...mute this,play
your own music and just hit slo-mo and copy him.
5 of 6 magicians found this helpful.
a regrettable purchase. There is no instruction, I mean, his teaching style is the WORST.
Basically... "look watch me... whaddya mean you don't get it... didn't you just see me do it" There
is no insight to the subtleties of the moves. But he will throw out "this one is challenging" here
and there.
I expected some of this to be difficult requiring lots of practice.... but I didn't
need this video for that... i could have easily just found a performance on youtube somewhere and
then practice the crap out it. Thumbs down.
4 of 4 magicians found this helpful.
It's true that he's not a good teacher, but that's not the point. Penguinmagic gives you a clear
warning about buying this if you're not prepared. If you haven't gone through all the beginner and
intermediate standards like Born to Perform time and time again, you don't stand a chance with this.
And even if are ready for it, you still will be incredibly frustrated. He presents the material,
it's up to you to learn it and practice it over and over until you can finally do it without
dropping the deck. But if you are willing to put in the work, you can make people's jaw drop with
"showoff" alone - you don't even need to do a trick. If you bought this and you don't think you're
ready for it yet, just set it aside, bulk up on your card skills, and come back to it in a few
months. You won't regret it.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
BE CAREFUL!
this DVD is packed with amazing feats but unless you are willing to practice for at
least (and im not exadurating,) 4 hours a day non stop, DO NOT BUY THIS DVD. if you have relatively
small hands DO NOT BUY THIS DVD. if you are a beginner or even intermidiate, DO NOT BUY THIS DVD.
the only reason it has more than one star is because the contents are truly amazing but can only be
performed, in what you would actually like to call a performance, by Brian Tudor himself. please,
unless you have nothing else to do with your show but sit there and TRY and show off, dont buy this.
im warning you.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.