Excuse me for not jumping in a bit sooner on this discussion.

I think it is a mistake to try and compare videos by pitting one against another. Each work reflects the artist's own personality and take on his performances and often has a different goal in mind. Dan's videos show wonderfully his ability to pack small and play big and I love his thoughts about routining, etc. Every viewer should do his/her best to learn from what is presented and try to apply those principles that appeal to them to their own act.

It has always been my desire to try to help magicians and mentalists become better performers by showing them they must each be unique and to alter, tailor and scrutinize what is presented by others and then change it for the best for them. Dan presents wonderful ideas that give this kind of food for thought.

Richard Osterlind

Dan and Richard: Many thanks to the two of you for your willingness to share your thoughts and performances on this craft with aspiring and current performers. You have both made quite a contribution to this field.
Sincere thanks,
David

I have all of Dan's Pack Small Play Big videos, and I like them all - they have good, practical ideas.

I would say that most, if not all performers would get at least one idea from each tape (assuming they do the type of show to which the video is aimed at), although I would not expect many people to perform an entire show from a video, but rather choose items from it that suited their style.

I would recommend getting these - I wish I'd boght them on DVD now rather than video, as they'd have taken up less space.

Best wishes,

Brian.

I have re-ordered Dan's Mentalism DVD to have another look. I value the opinions of others in the Café and want to be more open.

I didn't really care for the mentalism DVD. I like Dan and like his other work, but thjought this one was a little off.

And played just as big! yuk yuk yuk

I love it !

Whenever I watch a video I try to focus on what I can use for my own show. For example, I have a mixed show (All Purpose, so to speak), and therefore would like to have ONE mental effect in it, just for the sake of variety. So now I ordered Osterlind's DVDs to find out if there is something on them for me. I try Osterlind first, because he is more known as an expert on mentalism than Harlan. Maybe I will give Harlan's Menalism Show a try also to have a look. I have his All-Purpose Show and I got some valuable ideas for my show. That is more than I got from most other tapes I own. I don't like his presentational style much either, but that has not much to do with the value of the tape for me. In other words: If you criticize somebody's video because you don't like his style means that, to my mind, you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

I agree with you,oldwilson_2000.

Dan Harlan might not be good in performing mentalism but he's surely a creative guy. Otherwise, he won't be that famous among all magicians.

There are many good interesting stuffs in this video. I would recommend it highly to working magicians though.