Why am I stuck in magician Hell?

Let's do a DVD review!!

Andrew Mayne has found himself a nice little niche in the magic world by offering up inexpensive (And sometimes under-developed) magical ideas. His latest bit of merchandise, entitled Maynia, has 5 effects on it. I recently got the chance to see it, so here are my thoughts.

Popfist - First off, do yourself a favor and don't Google that phrase. You WON'T magic. My only problem with this effect is that anyone who isn't a Jehovah's witness will know exactly what you used to make little crappy paper streamers come from your fist. Essentially, he is playing up the point that the loud noise created will get people's attention. Mind you, doing that in a family restaurant might cause trouble... or some old person's ticker to stop. Be careful with this one.

Death Finger - Card stab with your finger. If you can't figure out your own method for this, then study magic a bit more. Not a new idea, but they needed filler I guess.

Finger Saw - This effect is an extension of a trick Lee Asher has on his site (or did have, it's been a while and I am too lazy to go look). So, as usual stepping on the shoulders of giants. IT happens.

Stab'd - With the ridiculous trend of the, "Look at me no stab myself with a pointy thing" effect in magic, this offering is one on the cheap. A bit hokey but can almost be done impromptu. (Which is the one strong point of the effects on this DVD) I can't say too much bad about this... but also not much good about it. It's just what it is.. and looks like.

Drawn From the Light - This is my fave and really the only reason I watched this video in the first place. I like the idea of making a drawing of a light bulb light up on a pad of paper. The way to accomplish it is not bad either. Personally I would get a light that matches the yellow glow of the magic light bulb he uses, but whatever.

So as the saying goes, If you can get one good, usable effect from a (Insert form of media here), then it was worth the money. (A good phrase to remember when you realized how much you paid for some items.) My only problem is, for someone who is supposed to be a film guy, he can't seem to make his video's look very professionally done. Sure, there are some shiny graffics and whatnot, but.. the backgrounds could be a little less... jiggered.

Whatever that means...

Bizzaro.