Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Looking For Angels by Skillet

Ah . . . Tim David . . . The man with two first names. The question always comes down to one thing on these reviews . . . should you buy it?

Well . . . for 40 bucks, you get:

• To Meet a nice and relatively funny guy named Tim David
• A f**ding coin
• A visual coin production
• Multiple bonus ideas
• A ton of ways to use the f**ding coin that you probably never thought of

I have no problem mentioned that you get a f**ding coin because even knowing that will not tip the method. It's very sneaky. Before I dive into the meat of the DVD, let me discuss the actual production value first. When you first pop in the DVD, there is 1 full minute of creepy piano music and chanting before the menu even shows up. The menu screen is there the whole time, but the navigation items are not.

Also, right off the bat, he admits that it's a cheaply produced film by sharing the fact that he's using his home camcorder. He additionally mentions that the f**ding coin that comes with the DVD is 'not the best quality.' If you can overlook these few things, there's not much more negative to cover other than a few places where he kind of rambled and it got a bit boring frankly.

However, he seems to be a really nice and Very Funny Guy! So, on with the tricks man.

S.O.S. Coin Production (4/5):

The main effect is this one show both hands, front and back, cleanly. They are both clearly empty, yet you can produce up to 4 coins, maybe more (depending on something you'll learn in the DVD). The effect is Super Visual, and even though I know how it's done, it still looks amazing!

During the explanation, David gives lots of great tips and tricks. It's clear he's done this a time or two for a wooly mammal or two. He shows you how to do multiple coins. the only complaint I have is that he doesn't talk about how to get into this from the start. When you learn the set up, which is simple, you'll realize that you can't be set up until right before you do the effect. He didn't really cover how to deal with this which is a huge deal for this particular effect . . . lost 1 star for that.

Raze (3.5/5):

This is a good appearance and very clean vanish of a coin. For the appearance however, David leaves out a lot of necessary details without which, you can't really do the production of the coin. Lost a full star for this. On a happier note, there is a lot of good advice from David regarding subtleness and casual-ness in this section.

Coin through face 1 (3.5/5):

For all you street kats, here it is . . . coin through face. The illusion is beautiful. However, the putting of the coin in the mouth doesn't look so hot. The effect is that you put a coin in your mouth. Then you pull it partially through your cheek. The audience actually sees it half-way through your cheek poking out . . . it looks so real! He also gives you a few other bonus ideas on where to make the coin appear rather than pulling through your face. Lost a full point for an extremely involved setup that makes the effect less than practical.

Insight Vanish (2/5):

Both the vanishes and reappearances looked pretty fishy . . . the alternate vanishes, however, looked much less fishy . . . this is a pretty clever usage of the f**ding coin . . . yet another one that I'll bet you hadn't thought of. The effect is a bare-handed-complete vanish of a coin, but like I said . . . it smells like fish.

There's one point in the performance where he talks about positioning your hands a certain way so that it doesn't look like you're holding the coin against the back of the hand. Yet even though he's not doing that, and even though he's holding his hands a certain way to make sure it doesn't look like that . . . it still looks like that. Also, this method is extremely angly, and would never work if there were more than 2 or 3 people.

Coin Through face 2 (3.5/5):

The performance looked ok . . . but nowhere near as clean looking as #1 . . . but more practical and more impromptu.

Ectomorph Production (2.5/5):

Version 1: Didn't look that great. Explanation was extremely long winded and not very entertaining.

Version 2: Pretty clever and somewhat visual.

Eclipse Glass Penetration (2.5/5):

The effect on this wasn't very clear. There is a clever penetration of a coin through a glass, and an ok 'withdrawal' from the glass. During the explanation he gave, what sounded like, a good tip, but it was hard to tell due to shoddy camera work and lighting.

Bonus (3/5):

Think Haunted pack with Coin . . . sort of. However, the main effect is pretty weak, but the finale is pretty startling and visual.

Final Thoughts:

The average star rating of the above listed effects (Note: I did not review every effect) is 3 stars. However, I'm going to add a half star because there are some clever ideas on this DVD . . . ideas that will get you thinking and stir the creative juices.

Final verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of a "rough" gem