Magic Tricks

There have been many times I got annoyed with a magician's incomplete or incoherent explanations, but this is the first time I have gotten fed up with someone who is too thorough.

Cody Nottingham is pedantically deadly as an instructor in the effects he teaches. He never just explains the effect or slight step by step, all the way through in one go. No. He explains it through the 1st position, stops, goes back, explains it through the 1st position again, stops, explains it through the 1st position a third time, then when you are sure that he has exhausted the 1st position nuances, does it one more time just to be sure you are solidly asleep before starting in on the 2nd position. He then repeats the 1st position and the 2nd position, stops, goes back to the 1st position, reviews that in case you had forgotten it, before showing the 2nd position again. Next he repeats the 1st and 2nd position. Then for contrast repeats the 1st and 2nd positions. One more time with the 1st and 2nd positions, then the 3rd position. This process is repeated over and over and over again for all 107 steps in the effect. As a result, you never get a sense of the flow of the moves in the effect, and are ready to commit violence against him should you ever meet him in person.

There may be some nice effects in this DVD, but I could not stay awake long enough through the explanations to find out if any of them are actually practical. This DVD could easily be 1/4 of its length with proper editing and you would not miss a thing. Unless you are a masochist, give this one a pass.