McAig
Groin Knife Ninja
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« on: July 19, 2007, 03:15:40 pm » |
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The Trilogy dvd by Dan and Dave Buck
there are some decent and extensive reviews of this on the web, in text and on youtube, which list the contents and difficulty of the various tricks and moves one by one, so i'm going to take the chicken (or 'streamlined' as i prefer to think of it) way out and not do the same.
i bought this fundamentally despite the fact that i understand that the way i do tricks is not sleight- or flourish-heavy, and i see myself progressing in this same way. but, i have come to the conclusion that handling the cards at least competently, preferably confidently, and ideally elegantly, does not in any way detract from tricks, and in fact allows them to flow, and gives me great enjoyment and satisfaction too. and as i'm not and am not going to be a professional, the personal enjoyment rates pretty high of my list of priorities. i've always shunned dvds that teach you how to do the latest hop-skip-and-jump-razor-kick-cut or whatever it might be, i'd rather read up about a good trick or try to learn a basic sleight that i know will serve well for a trick or as an out or whatever
but i read the reviews of this, and, although it's a hefty price overall, i thought that the combination of tricks, flourishes and 'everything else' in a 3-dvd set looked like a good way to get to know more about the more sleight-heavy side of things, and i could maybe pick up some general tips on handling the cards and so on. plus, having at least one fast-paced 'wow' trick up my sleeve (so to speak) would do no harm. so i bit the bullet and bought it. and i love it.
the presentation isn't the most important part, but it's your introduction to what you get when you open up the package, so i'll start there. maybe not everyone cares about it as much as i do, but i'm a professional at design stuff, and this is grade A beautiful. something that only looks good is not good design, but something that looks great AND functions exactly as it should to achieve its aim IS. and this is. the graphics, camera work and overall 'look' are perfectly suited to just getting on and describing the information you bought the dvds to find out, and the menus are pared down and simple to navigate. it's been crafted, and just works
the descriptions of the tricks etc, with only one or two tiny exceptions, were MUCH more user-friendly than i'd imagined. i won't be locking myself away until i've learned the sybil thank you very much, but it was fun to watch. and there are many, many things on the dvds that ARE of direct interest to me, and these include a couple of the tricks, false cuts, and the improvements to my ability to fan the cards and so on, things that aren't flourishes so much as nice ways to move the cards around while doing the tricks i do anyway
i've been very surprised at just how interesting i've found this. i was anticipating something that was more 'flash' and with less content, that the Bucks would be going out of their way to prove how difficult their moves were, and shooting from 'dynamic' camera angles to prove how 'street' they were. it's the opposite - they break down the moves very clearly, explain them simply and understandably, and the camera work is very straightforward and doesn't distract at all
as someone who would go for books over dvds in most instances, it has to be said that there are times when the visual clarity of the dvd wins out without question, and this would be one of them. "the trilogy" sets the standard in many ways. i think this will become a classic, and deservedly so
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