talkmagic.co.uk

This is a great DVD, extremely well produced as usual by RSVP magic. The DVD is very easy to navigate with clear menu's which are split between performances and explanations. Being mainly a card magician I didn't think I would get much material from the other routines on the DVD, however I'm pleased to say I was proved very wrong!
Turbo Cup - I watched the performance of this on the DVD and thought it looked amazing (especially judging by the reactions Mark was receiving when performing it), I did fear it was perhaps going to be far too complex to be able to follow, especially as I've never used a chop cup before however I was pleasantly surprised watching Mark take you through the explanation, of how easy this is to do if you put a bit of practice in. I'm now strongly considering buying a chop cup and adding this routine to my repertoire.
Thought of Card under Glass - This is something I will use, very clever using just a little bit of misdirection.
Omni-Bitious - I liked this one so much I went out to buy an Omni-Deck on the strength of it. Very visual magic and again guaranteed great reactions.
IDR - I've never used my invisisble deck for a long time but have dusted it off when Mark reminded me what a great trick this is. I will be using the ID following the Omni-bitious routine as it makes that bit more sense to start with the "ID" of cards.
Chicago Quadropener - Watching the trailer of this originally is what made me want to purchase this set of DVD's. I cannot rate this routine highly enough and as soon as I watched the explanation I went to purchase the 2 items required to be able to perform this. I've already been using this now for the last 3 weeks and have performed it many times, always to great reaction; spectators think the trick is over and another phase of it just keeps on coming. I've performed this for magicians also and it has fooled them.

Overall - I can't find fault with this DVD (make sure you purchase set list 2 with this, I'll review this on another thread), Mark is a great teacher and I like the humour that he injects into his routine too. As mentioned I thought I would only benefit from the card routines however I was very wrong thinking that.
Chicago Quadropener is actually worth the price of the DVD by itself as far as I'm concerned. 10/10 - an essential purchase.

I couldn't resist... I just stuck my order in.

As a newbie, it would help my confidence a lot if I had routines to work from and evolve from. At the moment, everything I am learning seems to be single tricks and although they often give hints toward improving the presentation and impact of the effect, it teaches you nothing about putting them in context.

Getting this one cos I liked what Russ Stevens did with 'Corporate Close-Up' (Martin Sanderson) and because I've bought some great, usable stuff from Mark James at my local magic shop!

Mark is a great guy in the flesh who is really personable and helpful! It's meeting guys like Mark James that just make you wanna keep supporting your local magic shop!

dgm