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acesover Special user I believe I have 821 Posts |
I am curious about others thoughts on the project "13 Steps" on DVD by Osterlind.
To be honest I do not feel that it is up to Osterlinds usual impecable standards. That is to say that the performances, the audience all seem to be strained and flat. It does not seem to flow. Even the discussions seem strained and flat. I am a huge Osterlind fan. That may well be why I am disappointed in this effort. I just feel it has not lived up to his other productions. It was actually painful to watch the chess demo with the knight. I might add that Iam a chess player. So as one does not think I am just making this statement on the chess performance I feel the nail wrwiter production was very boring as with many others. I never give a bad review..as a matter of fact I do not do reviews. It is just that I was extremely disappointed in this effort because I expected so much more. I purchased this early on and was probably one of the first to own it. I actuallyhad two copoies and sold one. The other one is well...on my shelf. No it is not for sale as I have all of Osterlinds productions. Maybe this is a project best left to book format. Please do not beat me up to badly because as stated earlier, I am a huge fan of Osterlind's other projects. I am sure others here differ with my opinion. We all know about opinions.
If I were to agree with you. Then we would both be wrong. As of Apr 5, 2015 10:26 pm I have 880 posts. Used to have over 1,000
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
I don't have the set, but there are some comments on this thread :
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=111
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
mormonyoyoman Inner circle I dug 5,000 postholes, but I have only 2440 Posts |
Sorry if you didn't like it, Ace. If you didn't learn anything and didn't improve your act (You have an act, right?) then just be flattered that you are in the 1% of people who won't get anything from the DVD set or the book.
*jeep! --Grandpa
#ShareGoodness #ldsconf
--Grandpa Chet |
acesover Special user I believe I have 821 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-12-11 16:19, Review King wrote: Seems like everyone liked it but me. I guess I just expected more. By the way I love the Paul Harris TA set.
If I were to agree with you. Then we would both be wrong. As of Apr 5, 2015 10:26 pm I have 880 posts. Used to have over 1,000
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acesover Special user I believe I have 821 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-12-11 17:26, mormonyoyoman wrote: Don't put words in my mouth. I have and love the book for many many years. Maybe if I did not have the book I would feel different. As to your question do I have an act? Yes and I shamelessely use Richards opening with the nail writer by asking a person as soon as I come on BANG>>" Think of a number between 1 and 100". Been using his book test for 3 years now and have to admit that it is very close to his performance. I do not mean in quality but I mean I have copied a few lines from it because I will be darned but I cannot improve it on my own. Not flattered by any means that I did not improve my act from it. Just disappointed, in that I thought it would have more oomph to it. Sorry if I offended you. I have been using Richards material for quite a number of years now with great results including the BCS (took a while to get down)..this just did not do what I hoped it would. Probably just to much expectation on my part. I don't know what I expected...maybe something new. I read and knew that it was just his take on Corinda and should have know what to expect.
If I were to agree with you. Then we would both be wrong. As of Apr 5, 2015 10:26 pm I have 880 posts. Used to have over 1,000
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The great Gumbini Inner circle 3062 Posts |
I got some helpful info from the DVD. I too have the book but there are things in there that I have had a little trouble with. You know you read something and sometimes the way it's explained and interpreted can be two different things. But I love the book a lot. The DVD for me was a great help. The performance and Mr. Osterlinds' style may not be for everyone. He has a somewhat serious yet fun style. I personally think it's unique and I like it---others may not. I like the idea that he played to a real audience (even had a lady who thought she knew what he was up to) and not people who knew what was coming. But when a DVD has this demo style with an audience some will like it some won't. But over-all I'm glad I got this set. I like Mr. Osterlinds' personal take on some things as well. This will be a set that I keep and review over the years.
Good magic to all, Eric |
Richard Osterlind V.I.P. 2213 Posts |
I am actually going to defend Acesover a bit here.
This series was an incredibly difficult one to record. The situation was far from the norm as far as the actual performances. For instance, I found myself having to do a complete series of swami effects one after the other. Then card effects. Then book tests. And so on. There was no way to arrange these items into complete shows and keep the flow and integrity of the book. Consequently there is no real routining and all those related subtleties that I always try to put into my live performances. You have to remember, Aces, that any mentalism show, and its individual effects, build from each other within the structure of the whole. The audience is conditioned as you move along. This series, more than any other one I ever did, forced me to work in a very contrary way to that philosophy. Just to do more than 2 swami effects in a row is crazy in real life and yet look at how many I had to do one after the other for 13 Steps. There has to be give and take in a specialized event such as this. I felt it was far more important to demonstrate the principles of the book and their practical applications rather than trying to make myself shine. And please remember, who the heck actually DOES all these effects as part of their regular performances? I probably do more than most, but still I found myself having to do effects I had never done before or even types of mentalism I had really never approached. I did preview many of these items in my private shows before the filming, but that is not quite the same as doing material I have done for years. Also, Jim and I did our best to make the discussions the primary target ground. Even though there are countless routines demonstrated on the set, we probably described 10 times more possibilities in our discussions. But the bottom line is that I am happy with the result, Corinda is happy and everyone I have heard from seems to be. That's enough for me! Richard |
MovieMan Special user 569 Posts |
Richard, thanks for your insights into what it took to produce the 13 Steps DVDs. I really enjoyed them--perhaps in a different way than I've enjoyed your other DVDs--and even though I've owned the book for many years I still got a lot out of them. Learning a bit more about what it took to actually produce the DVDs makes me appreciate them even more.
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Robert M Inner circle 2482 Posts |
I can't imagine how hard it must be to do an L&L instructional DVD in front of a live audience particularly when it's all mentalism or all cards or whatever. And, I can only imagine how hard it must have been to prepare for this given the scope of the material.
I think this DVD set is a major accomplishment. Seeing these tricks performed live is amazing. And, Richard's modernization of the material is worth the price of admission. Robert |
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