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Woodyland by Woody Aragon Review:

Four DVDs, over 10 hours of one of the cleverest guys in magic and $150 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay Tuned to find out.

Effect/Method

Like all of the one man four disk sets from Essential Magic Collection, you really get to know the artist. This set of DVDs covers a huge chunk of Woody Aragon's repertoire and critical thinking. 95% of the stuff on this set is "self-working" based on well known principles and ideas. However, he has combined them in such a way that you'll be very surprised by what's possible.

In multiple cases, he fooled me with stuff that I'm very familiar with. This is some of the most clever stuff I've seen in a long time. Read the Ad copy to get a sense of what's on each disk, but here are a few points. You get the best routine I've seen using a Jonah Card. If you don't know what that is, that alone is the reason to buy the DVD set. If you do know what this is, you'll have a hard time believing that he's actually using that principle in his Blessed Poker routine. His spelling routine is actually going into my repertoire. It ties in perfectly with another routine I've been doing for years. This routine is one of the cleverest and most entertaining spelling routines I've ever seen.

The methods in use are simple and within the grasp of any level of performer. Though easy for a beginner, this material is more than worthy of the professional working pro's repertoire.

There are a few effects that are sleight based rather than "automatic" based. Even these, however, are very easy. He has a very clever torn corner ruse that's very clever, simple and worthy of your attention.

Each disk tackles a few tricks, methods and concepts and includes a brief clip of an interview with Luis De Matos (interviewing Woody Aragon). Disk one is the live performance and Aragon's take on structuring tricks, routines, shows and even the DVD you're watching. It's a very well thought out section that opened my eyes to a quite a few things. He uses as an example, the live show's structure, as well as the structure he used to create the DVD with us, the viewers, as his target audience.

The second disk discusses a few more effects that were not in the performance as well as some that were. He covers the methods, techniques, subtleties, principles and ideas that make "automatic" and "interactive" magic work.

The third disk addresses routines that require a bit of sleight of hand (a very little bit) as well as his thinking behind his take on the classic Triumph, a deck switch, false shuffle (for Triumph) and a few other ideas and concepts for even more routines that were not in the live performance, plus the explanation of a couple more effects from the live show.

Finally, disk four gives the methods for the remaining effects in the live show as well as soooooooo much more. This disk alone is one of the best crash courses in the Si Stebbins stack I've ever seen. You'll learn how to use the stack in ways that you, likely, never thought of. There's also a very simple (non-sleight of hand) way to get from brand new deck order to Si Stebbins under the guise of a simple trick.

The interviews on all four disks were excellent and inspiring as is usual with these disk sets. I've barely scratched the surface at how much stuff you'll learn from watching this DVD set.

Ad Copy Integrity

Perfect.

Product Quality

The DVD is extremely well produced as are all EMC productions. Thank you Luis De Matos. Spanish is Woody Aragon's first language. However, the DVD is all done in English. You can then choose to watch it in English with no subtitles. Or you can choose to watch to in English with subtitles in either Spanish, French or Japanese.

The interview segments are, however, spoken in Spanish and subtitled in either English, Spanish, French or Japanese. I watched it with English subtitles, obviously. Often, the subtitles flew off the screen a bit too fast to keep up with, but I was still able to get the gist of the conversation. That's really the only "negative" thing, and it wasn't horrible.

Final Thoughts

Gracias por Luis De Matos y la recopilación de magia esencial.

Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of Super Shiny Totally Awesome GEM!