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lelando New user has stuck his foot in his mouth in every one of his 60 Posts |
Review of "Pathos" by LokI Kross
========= Grades: ========= Methods: A Effects: B Explanations: B Production Value: B Biggest Complaint: Lack of an initial "overview" left me wondering what it was about 'till I watched half the video. Biggest Praise: Exceptional methods and great thinking make it totally worth buying and studying, despite initial confusion. Bottom Line: It's like the "Donnie Darko" of instructional magic videos. Sure, you might be a little confused at first, and you might have to watch it more than once to really get it. But once you do, you'll end up with something kind of awesome. I recommend it. ========= A while back I'd posted a bit of speculation and curiosity about what Pathos might be. (http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......c=583894) The trailer was kind of vague and I honestly didn't know what it was about. Was it an effect, a method, a utility move, a routine? I'd been quite impressed with FAX, not only with method, but in LokI's overall thinking behind it and how to use it (and with all the bonus material, PDFs, etc), so I had high hopes for Pathos. LokI had responded to that post and gave some insight, but I was still a bit unclear. By the time I got my copy of the DVD, I'd forgotten most of what LokI had said in his response. Like the trailer, the instructional video started off vague. There was no initial performance or basic overview of what he'd be teaching. So, to be honest, I was half-way through the video before I had the big picture, understood what he was teaching, and how he was applying it to effects. Once I understood that, I was fine, but just like any news story or essay written for school, I felt it needed a simple little opening statement, a performance, something that would give me a simple overview of what was being taught and how I would learn to use it, right from the start. I just wanted the big picture a bit sooner. That, however, is my biggest criticism of Pathos. Now that I know what it is, I can honestly say that, just like with FAX, I really like LokI's thinking on this, and that it is quite impressive. "But," I hear many of you asking, "what is it?" Like FAX, I feel like the crux of Pathos is that it's more method / utility move than an out-and-out effect. That said, there certainly are effects taught, using those methods. Also, like FAX, there's a lot of deep thinking going on... some more clear than others. Big picture: This is card magic, and like most card magic, it could be applied to almost any types of cards (business cards, flash cards, etc). He teaches two totally different types of card switches -- one relies on a gimmick, the other on sleight-of-hand that seems neither super easy nor super difficult. If you are comfy with a DL, you can probably get comfy with the move (and it's way less-ballsy than FAX, for sure). The gimmicked method allows you to produce, vanish, or switch something held in the deck's cellophane wrapper. The non-gimmicked method allows you to secretly switch a card, in the hands, while the spectator watches. This isn't really a color change... it's sneaky work. He tells a story about Jeff McBride burning his hands, and not seeing a thing. It's a good switch. In my opinion, this method is the primary value of the video. He then teaches several effects using these two switches, both separately and in-conjunction with each other. The tricks aren't bad, but I see them more as a springboard for my own ideas... the presentations don't match my style, but they do inspire ideas that will work for me. Following the explanations, you then watch several performances that are "annotated" (for lack of a better term) by LokI. They are similar to a DVD commentary track, but he occasionally pauses or rewinds/replays parts of the clips. I really like this, and wish other magicians would do it in their videos. But, as I briefly mentioned earlier, I also wish he'd shown the unannotated versions before the explanations. (I think that may have minimized my initial confusion.) LokI also put a lot of emphasis on the emotional connections that we can create with our spectators, and how he uses these methods to do so -- hence the name, "Pathos." However, like the vagueness of the trailer and beginning of the video, his discussion of these things feels a bit disjointed and incomplete. It felt kind of like he was explaining it off the cuff, as I imagine he has probably been doing in conversations with friend-magicians for some time. However, it felt more like he tried to put all of those conversations into a brief presentation, and it felt a bit scattered, like there's a lot more to it. Despite that lack of clarity, I think that, as with the FAX supplements, there's a lot of really good deep thinking going on here, and it's seemingly very dense with material, but either he was having trouble effectively explaining it all, or I was having trouble fully absorbing it (or maybe it was really late when I watched it). Either way, it's probably worth it for me to go back, watch again, and think about it some more. I would really like to see those ideas further explored in written form, like he did with the FAX supplements. Combined with the methods in FAX, LokI's taught a lot of deception that can be done with cards. Which means it's time for me to seriously 'up my game' in terms of cards, and start putting these theories into practice. Honestly, I really do like LokI's thinking on this video; the methods are really good, and I whole-heartedly recommend it. But, like "Donnie Darko," you may need to watch it more than once to really get it. So, if you were as confused by the trailer as I was, I hope this helps you better-understand what this DVD is all about. Cheers! Lelando |
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