Random I-Tunes Song Of The Moment: Unforgiven II By Metallica

For $25 bucks you get an extremely well produced DVD, a deceptive looking gimmick, a pretty amazing trick, and a magician who's a little too proud of his creation a little too arrogant and a little too desperate to get attention from his female spectators.

I'll be the first to admit that maybe I'm missing something. Maybe Fisher's using irony without the sarcastic tone to tip us off to the fact that he's using irony. Something. But here's what I saw. During the performance out in the streets, after the magic moment where the deck vanishes (and it is a beautiful moment), the two female spectators reacted with the typical enthusiasm seen on magic DVDs these days. Then Fisher said, '

can I get a 'Hell Yeah!'?' The emphasis he placed on the word 'Now' makes it easy for one to infer that he'd been begging for this elusive 'Hell Yeah!' for an extended period of time yet coming up 'Hell Yeah-less!' each time.

Then on top of that he asks the spectators for a kiss. Too tacky and too desperate. Then to top that topping off, the explanation was extremely patronizing. I have no problem with him speaking to beginners and trying to keep it on 'their level' but unless 'their level' means treat you like a 5 year old who's learning to tie his shoes, he's missing the 'level.'

My final piece of pain on this project is how overly dramatically he says everything. He was over selling every moment of every teaching segment to the point that it was getting really hard to watch. But for my loyal readers (both of you) I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did.

Though the DVD is very hard to watch at times, the effect and method are excellent. Fisher's provoking patronizing and annoying arrogance aside, he is a good teacher. Every angle and scenario you can imagine is covered and taught well. Though there were a few camera angle issues, but they were minor enough.

If you can ignore all of the above annoyances and you like the trick, you'll be happy with your purchase. I'll throw in my standard supplication here . . . please, please, please, learn the trick and learn the method, but do not; I repeat; do NOT learn anything about presentation from Fisher. I think he's seeming desperation and arrogance are a huge part of what's wrong with magic today. Please don't perpetuate the problem.

Final Verdict:
Ignoring the presenter and focusing on the presented, you get a solid 4 stars with a Stone Status of Gem.