I did't watch these DVD's yet, but I do know that Tamariz, besides being a magician, is also a filmmaker. He studied cinema or TV, and he produced several TV programs and I believe even a movie. So it's safe to assume that even in the worst case, the quality should be acceptable at worst.

My DVD's just arrived this afternoon in San Diego. Of course, I had to throw in the fist disc and take a look. It is just as described, the quality is more than good enough to hear and see absolutely everything that you need to be able to learn. Just watching Juan perform for lay people is a master class in and of itself. I have just seen a little of the first disc, but I noticed he discusses way more than memorized deck theory. He discusses the psychology, attitude, and small touches needed to make the effects miracles. Again…I've only seen part of the first disc but I'm convinced it was money well spent. The packaging (5 DVD slip case) is beautiful, as well. (Imagine these arriving to me before my Williamson Ridiculous set…despite ordering well over a month ago!)

Thanks for your sharing. The better part is Juan and Dave both released their DVD set in 2014, make the start of the year really good in terms of DVD.

I am still waiting my to order to arrive, luckily I got Ridiculous prior to Mnemonica Miracles.

In my humble opinion, both Juan and Williamson are giant / legends in magic of our time.

My set came in the mail today, but I won't have an opportunity to watch any of it until tonight. So far my only impression is the slip case, which is very nice.

Dan and Dave posted an intro clip of Juan explaining a bit about the set and its origins, which may help answer some questions or allow those who are on the fence to make a decision. http://dananddave.com/editorial/introduction-juan-tamariz/

I can't wait to dive into these discs!!

Kevin

After watching all the DVDs all the way through, I thought I'd post some of my (very) humble thoughts/findings in the hopes that it helps others determine what value they might get out of them. PLEASE NOTE this review is intended for those like me: people that have used the stack for years, so aren't interested in an assessment/review of each effect (as they're already intimately familiar with each effect) but, rather, those that want to know if there's any effects/variations that aren't in the book. It's a given that simply seeing Tamariz perform these and discuss his approach and psychology behind them is amazing. This is a definite! I'd enjoy these DVDs if that was all there was to it. But, the question still remains: any new effects/variations?

I'll admit, I would have really appreciated seeing new materials made within the last 10 years added. As these were filmed right around the time of the English release of Mnemonica, there's not really any "evolution" of any of the effects. In Mnemonica, Tamariz notes that he has other effects he would have liked to add, but didn't have time. Unfortunately, there's nothing pertaining to those on the DVDs. The materials is, for the most part, exactly as described in the books (with many of his additional thoughts matching to the "notes" supplied after effects in the book.)

Below is a list of each DVDs and a break-down of items/differences I noticed. Here's hoping at least one person finds it helpful!

DVD 1

Prediction (p91)
- Hofzinser Method performed and explained as per the book.

Telescopic Coincidence (p228)
- Performed and explained as per the book.

All of a Kind (p94)
- Includes Tamariz's "one more note" regarding his handling post-effect for putting the deck back into proper stack.

Answering Computer (p220)
- Presentation of one of the infinite possibilities with this. During the explanation, Tamariz shows a slightly different take on the maze (not that I've ever used it) than is described in the book to illustrate that you can tailor any questions/directions/whatever to the upcoming cards.

Everything in Order (p35)
For me, this was the winner on DVD 1.
- Very cool to see this performed. I've never used the antifaro-4 table deal, but he actually made it seem… not completely ridiculous. Also, in the explanation, his little nuance of ending with a Charlier cut to apparently toss the remainder into the middle… I like that very much.
- Cool point you might miss: his explanation showed a slightly different way to get into staystack that never dawned on me! (He didn't do it in the presentation--there, he did it as is in the book). This one almost flew right past me, until I realized he skipped a step I expected--and I had to rewind to figure out why. I will definitely be using this.
- Also, in the presentation, he demonstrates interesting motivations/effects for two of the processes normally used to get back into staystack (which are the two processes he explains in the book, but I don't recall reading these motivations/effects.)
- Tamariz ends the explanation of Everything in Order with a presentation-to-the-camera and explanation of "A Grand Bridge Deal" (p35).

DVD 2

Any Cards Called For (p211)
- Great performance. It reinvigorated my desire to perform this one again.
- Far better to see his perform the reveal and included psychological convincers, rather than read it in the book.
- Lots of additional thoughts at the tail end of the explanation, all of which are good and that I'll put into use. From displaying post-effect to resetting the stack, they're valuable tips.

Any Card at Any Number (p82)

Cards Called for to Pocket (p129) and A Star is Born (p135)
- The explanations for this one is voice-over with a replay of the presentation. These are performed and explained as per the book.

Come and Go (p214)
- The explanation of this matches the book, but the performance being in a significantly different manner. Tamariz performs the setup of a half stack from a fully shuffled deck. Once finished (far into the performance) only then does he go into the Come and Go effect. For the technicals behind some of the things he's doing during the performance to reset the half stack, the same DVD (#2) has a section on "Resetting the First Half Stack" later.

Jumbled Divination (p240)
Tamariz has described this as one of his most-performed tricks from Mnemonica. Given the seemingly impossible nature of it and how far ahead you are on the amount of information you have available to reveal however you'd like, I would tend to agree. Good stuff.
- Many small, good nuances in the performance that are noted and detailed in the explanation.

Resetting the First Half Stack
- This is the explanation for the first half of the performance in "Come and Go" on the same DVD, pertaining to setting up the half stack. This section is very nice, and provides techniques you can use with any deck, anytime, to get into half stack via entertaining effects.

Rising Cards (p125)
- Explained as per the book. A few additional thoughts regarding motivation, but not much.

DVD 3

Carbuquillo (p119)
- Performed and explained as per the book.

Flying Through Thin Air (p102)
- A few extra thoughts in the explanation that expand a bit upon the notes for this effect in the book. It's nice to see the notes applied in the full presentation.
- Much like in All of a Kind on DVD 1, Tamariz describes his post-effect way to get back into proper stack.

Sympathy (p133)
- This performance actually begins with Divining One Card Out of Thirteen (p293) to set up the lower half of the stack. So, bonus. Very nice to see. Tamariz explains this in a "part 2" of the explanation.
- This presentation is more simplistic than "Sympathy" as detailed in the book. It's the age-old version where the spec names a card, and Tamariz names a number. Not really missing seeing some of the writing-driven versions from the book where both the card and the number come from the spectator, as the ACAAN stacked deck effect is so ubiquitous and straight-forward.

Divination of Card (actually Deal of a Complete suit, Hearts p39)
- This is not a simple memdeck divination (from p79) but, rather, the excellent full deal of the hearts suit.

Any Poker hand Called For (p48)
- Four of a kind (kings), reset of the stack, then the excellent straight flush routine
- The explanation portion is nice, with Tamariz expanding a hair his explanations in the book, and showing how he resets after a deal (same as in the book.)
- I'd really hoped to see him respond to the "straight flush" request with one of my favorites in all of Mnemonica: the optional altering for three (actual) straight flushes, and continuation into the complete deal of all the suits. Alas, nothing on that.
- At the end of the explanation, the camera shows a hand-written chart of some various setups for poker deals, which matches what is described in the book. Various charts/effects from the book pertaining to the effect are shown.

Historie with the Cards (actually Second Story p190)
- Tamariz performs (no explanation is really needed) the Second Story lower-half stack version from the Two Stories effect section. The verbiage isn't as nuanced as what is in the book, but it's the same story. Fun to watch.

DVD 4

The Liar (p218)
- Performed and explained as per the book, with a few extra notes and optional presentation points at the end of the explanation.

The Good Fortune Routine (p71)
- A performance of only Phase 1 of this routine (but with a nice quad-card ending). The explanation goes into Phase 2. All as per the book.

Undo a Real Shuffle (Appendix 1)
- Performance of a basic undoing of an overhand shuffle. This (under the guise of a card selection) is followed up with a very (very, very) short Mnemonicosis.
- The explanation covers the simple divination of a card selected from an overhand-shuffled deck, and a note on what to do when said divination fails.
- After the shuffle undoing explanation, Tamariz goes into some of his thoughts on Mnumonicosis, and various slights, methods, and approach to how he jazzes. This portion, however, is unfortunately far too brief.
- Tamariz follows up all this by noting there are ways to reset other types of shuffles, but no explanation is given--just direction to refer to the book.

Cards Called For to Pocket (p129)
- Like the other Cards Called For to Pocket (on DVD 2) the explanation is given over a repeat video of the performance. This seems very close to what he says/does in DVD 2's. There are a some good thoughts on the psychology/timing of palming, of course.

Super Poker (p31)
- This performance begins with the deck in Mnemonica stack, so you get to see Tamariz take it to staystack in the performance before he makes the necessary corrections to the staystack order for Super Poker (note: he uses the method shown in the Everything In Order explanation to get to staystack.)
- The explanation, funnily enough, has yet another method/patter for taking Mnemonica stack to staystack. Nice.

Weighting the Cards (p197)
- Performed and explained as per the book.

Total Memory (p201)
- Performance of the half-stack version as per the book. Specifically, the Version With Deals (Antifaros) from p203.

DVD 5

I thought this DVD would be a wash, as it seemed to be mostly dedicated to learning Mnemonica and explaining the structure of Mnemonica. But, there was value to be had.
- Tamariz has a nice section on how to remember key cards (glad to know I'm not the only one that's been half-way through a stack effect and thought "Crud… what card was I keeping in mind?") Some good techniques/thoughts there.
- Tamariz covers his style of estimation/checking/correction
- The bulk of the Counting Cards Secretly selection was very basic, but it did end with a nice nuance to spread counting (which I'll undoubtedly start using.)
- There's a section of false shuffles, a section on false cuts, and one on glimpse methods. So if you don't already have a host of those, hey… there you go.
- He goes over the TPC (Tamariz Perpendicular Control) in great detail.
- There's a lengthy portion on deck switch methods which, of course, has some good ideas.
- There's a section on approaching mental calculations better (and be able to do them while interacting with spectators). As one would expect, some good ideas there.
- Ticks That Don't Alter The Stack is basically the same as what's in the book.

So, that's it. I feel it was well worth getting. I'm very happy Tamariz put out these videos. I learned a lot this first run-through of them, and I'm sure I will when I watch them all the way through again… which is right now!

Pasteboard,
Thanks so much for correlating the 20 or so routines on the DVD with the hundred or so in the book. I am just starting to look at the first DVD and your list will save a lot of time finding the written description. Best, Ed

Pasteboard,

That was informative and well-written. Thanks.

Very useful review. Thanks.

Great review ! Thanks VERY much for all this excellent work, bravo !

Does anyone know if these are exclusive to Dan and Dave, or will be sold by other dealers in due course?

Hi Pasteborad,

Thanks for taking the time to comment on the set. Had a question for you if possible, of the 20 effects you graciously listed are stack dependent to Mnemonica? I'm an Aronson stack user myself so would really like to know how many effects that I could use with Aronson stack.

I'll probably get these anyway just to see how a true memorised deck master in action to learn the nuances such as when does he cut the deck, miscalling or pretending that he didn't hear a named card, estimation, glimpses, how he convinces the deck is mixed and in a mess. That would be worth it's weight in gold even if a single trick wasn't taught for me.

Seeing Michael Close in action on his Devious dvds was a master class.

Thanks
Baobow

Baobow, you seem not to own the Mnemonica book.
Even if you are using the Aronson stack you should absolutely get Mnemonica - not only because a good part of the effects work with any stack but also to see Juan's approach to mem deck work!
The book is a bargain for what you get so that's another reason not to wait...

PS: Personally I don't care too much for "built-in Poker hands", spelling effects or stuff like that (and I use a completely different mem deck anyway), but nonethelss I do own all of Simon's and most of Juan's work! Don't miss out the most essential books on this topic!

Baobow

Yes, you can use a very significant portion of the material. Although you'll have to modify some of the instructions for your stack, I believe you should be able to perform all the effects on DVD1 with the exception of "Everything in order"; everything on DVD2, including the fantastic "Any Cards Called For" and invaluable lessons on resetting half your stack from a hopelessly shuffled deck which allow you to perform the half-stack effects; you would not be able to do a fair portion of DVD3, as "Divination of Card", "Any Poker Hand Called For" and "Historie with the Cards" are highly stack-dependent; DVD4's "The Good Fortune Routine" will not be something you can perform, nor will Super Poker, but again you'll get extremely helpful information on DVD4 as tara s undoing shuffles, and the remaining performances on that DVD; DVD5 will be worthwhile as well, as nearly all the information given apart from the "Learning Mnemonica" and the "Structure of Mnemonica" is applicable to any stack worker.

In short: it doesn't matter what stack you use. Every DVD is full of things you'll be able to adapt to your own stack. The same holds true for the Mnemonica book itself, which is (as Nicolino noted above) a masterwork publication on the topic of stack work and contains many, many more effects, techniques, and thinking you'll be able to apply to your own stack.

Hi Pasteboard Alchemist,

Thank you for the great revew. It would be useful to know who you are and where you perform so that I could put your review in context.

My short review: If you don't have the book, get it first. Learn the stack. Perform a few simple effects using the stack. Read some of Aronson's books, and get Michael Close's Workers 5. Books are a more efficient medium for learning this stuff. I know that this is true--the DVD says so!

Then, when you want the post-graduate course, get these DVDs, watch them, and go through the Mnemonica book again. You'll see how Tamariz injects the effects with his personality, timing, and presentation.

My only disappointment (a minor one) is that there was no performance of Mnemonicosis.

Agree, but you can find many videos on the internet with Juan performing Mnemonicosis.

Pasteboard Alchemist - Thanks very much for that thorough breakdown and review!

I watched all of disc 1 and the beginning of disc 2 last night, and I'm very pleased with my purchase already. As has been mentioned several times, the videos were shot in a bit of a "homemade" quality. While it's not the latest and greatest production that you'd usually expect these days, it is still quite easy to see and hear everything you need. I've really enjoyed what I've watched so far.

I'll hold off on posting anything too review-like just yet, since I haven't gone through most of the discs. But so far it is excellent to see Juan perform these effects and explain them.

Can't wait to go through the rest of the set!

Great review! Anyone know if UK dealers will stock it anytime soon or will we all have to pay expensive shipping from US and (since international PayPal doesn't seem available) currency conversion charges.

I'm also enjoying these DVDs and was very happy to see that a lot of information can apply to other stacks.
There's no problem at all with the quality-- it's sort of like watching a standard definition TV show on an HD TV: the images are not as crisp, but really, there's no issues here.

There is a set for sale on the Café.

MM