Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Any Way You Want It By Journey.

For 40 bucks, you get about 10 tricks, some live close up performances and a few stage performances. The DVD quality is decent . . . no real complaints there, so it's a question of the effects.

Out of everything on the DVD, the only thing that I would perform in my own show is the comedic portion of Baby Ghost. I would actually leave out the magical portion of that effect. That doesn't mean that there isn't some good material on here. There is. It's solid stuff, but stuff that either involves techniques I don't like or can't do (or won't do).

For example, if you're a Bill S***** kind of guy (or gal) then you absolutely must add E.T.E to your repertoire. It's a solid routine with a final kicker of signed card and signed bill to sealed envelope. If you've got the time and the energy to master Losing Face you'll have a very powerful visual routine, but man it'll take you forever to learn and master.

Flypaper is a 'Three Fly' effect with a torn playing card rather than coins. It's a nice routine, but using cards doesn't really add much to the effect other than the restoring of the card at the end.

If you're an ITR gal (or guy) then you'll add Smoked to your arsenal right away . . . assuming you perform for people who smoke. Think of this: borrowed pack of cigarettes . . . the spectator holds the box while you cause a cigarette to rise and ultimately jump out of the box. It's awesome.

My 'problem' is that I don't work with Thread. I don't do Bill S*****es, and I'd rather do 'Three Fly' with Coins.

There is another effect that I might consider, but again it uses principles that I'm not a fan of, but for those who like those principles then you'll have a great effect if you decide to learn Thinking of You.

So all in all, what I would tell you is that if you watch the trailer and you like what you see, and you're willing to put in some pretty heavy time to learn and practice these effects, you'll be happy with your purchase . . . though you'd probably be happier if it were about 5 (maybe even 10) bucks cheaper.

Additionally, there is some 'bonus' footage of two other magicians performing . . . plus Van Der Put performing in a dragon costume . . . weird. The two effects from the other magicians were a bit weak and way too much dancing and prancing on stage with pretty much no magic. The dragon costume thing was a bit strange. However, he had a killer card stab routine he performed as the Dragon. But he doesn't teach it, and the 'all rights reserved' alert that pops up right after his performance of it seems to imply that he doesn't want anyone else doing it. I could be wrong about that part, however.

Finally, you get a PDF with the DVD that has pretty much the same stuff as the DVD plus a few extra things.

Final Verdict:
2.5 stars with a Stone status of grubble(a little bit of rubble and an 'ok' amount of gem).