Price$49.95
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJul 26, 2014
At the Table Live Lecture Series - Season 1
Various
Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
(Based on 2 reviews)
Michael Ammar is a living legend of magic, and he kicks off the launch of the At the Table Live Lecture Series with a jam packed lecture, where he dives into an all new portion where he performs and explains in detail, effects that have never been published before. A solid 2 hour lecture full of magic and theory!
Next, join Joshua Jay as he hosts the live lecture for Daniel Garcia. Garcia is no stranger to magic, having helped sculpt the TV careers of the likes of Dynamo, David Blaine and many others. In his lecture, Garcia presents a fun-filled filled event with his comical touch and explosive and visual style of magic that only Daniel Garcia could deliver.
Jason England stops by to sit with host Eric Jones as he demonstrates what makes him known as one of THE best living card men on the planet. From pure sleight of hand demonstrations to scams, cheating techniques and hustles, anyone serious about their card magic cannot miss out on this rare opportunity to learn from the man himself, Jason England.
Next is Alex Pandrea. He may be the "New Kid on the Block", but once you see what Alex can do with a deck of cards, you would almost think he was possessed by Vernon himself. His 2 hour lecture focuses on some of the moves and routines Alex is known for, but also some effects and moves that Alex has never published before.
Finally, Jon Armstrong sits down with host Mike Hankins, to deliver a 2
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Beat it by Michael Jackson
Review of At The Table Live Lecture Series - Season One:
Five DVDs, 12 hours of lectures and $50 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect/Method
This is a lecture series packed full of tips, tricks, techniques, theory and more. You get five full lectures. Michael Ammar, Daniel Garcia, Jason England, Alex Pandrea and Jon Armstrong each deliver 2 plus hours of material.
These At The Table lectures are one of the best new things to hit the magic scene in a long time. You really do feel like you're at the lecture. Each lecturer made some mistakes in their performances (except for Ammar - as far as I could tell). Some of the mistakes were more obvious than others, but it didn't detract too much from the lecture. Each lecture covered a broad range of material and topics.
Ad Copy Integrity
To get more detail on the contents, take a look at the ad copy. It's accurate and briefly overviews the contents.
Product Quality
This is a Murphy's Magic Production and very well produced. They had multiple cameras and excellent close ups. The format is a little different. Rather than the lecturer getting up there and "doing his thing," there is a host sitting up there with the lecturer. At times it was more of an interview. Most of the time the concept worked well. But occasionally, I felt it got in the way of the performer.
The only other complaint I had was that there were a few effect by Garcia and Pandrea that were not taught because they're sold separately. Also, on the Armstrong lecture, they spent some time with his tiny plunger effect, but it felt like they were picking up in the middle of it, and a lot of the info/details seemed to be lost.
Again, nothing too dramatic, but enough to be a lit bit disappointing.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think that this new concept will be a very important tool for future magicians. I think that now is a good time to make a change like this in the magic world. These lectures are solid and the kind of thing that new magicians need to experience. They're also excellent for experienced magicians. Topics like doing magic on TV are covered. The Ammar DVD alone is worth the price. But you get 5 for $50 bucks. At $10 bucks per DVD, for 12 hours of solid material, it's hard not to recommend this.
Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
(Top ▲)
Here’s The Deal
Wow, what a deal! The at the table lecture series is a wonderful bargain in magic already, for $20 you get a 2 hour lecture from an industry leading magician each week. If you purchase season 1 you get all those lectures for half price. That makes each lecture only $10 bucks, this is incredible value.
Quality
The box set you get is a cardboard fold out box it is nicely designed and of above average quality. In the. As you open it up you find your disks and a list of tricks on each disk. This is not a chapter selection or a menu outline, it is just a list of tricks. On more than one occasion the lecture does not teach the effects named. On all of the disks this list is no where near the actual order used.
The video and sound quality is fair. Remember, this is a live lecture series, so there are microphone problems and interruptions from time to time. The camera has a hard time as well and the performances are not always perfect. This is all to be expected with live magic. The actual disks had problems from time to time, my Jon Armstrong DVD had a few problems where it would randomly repeat chapters.
The Lectures
I have covered each of the lectures on these disks in detail in other places. For a full review and trick by trick rundown of each lecture feel free to contact me personally.Let’s touch on the highlights of each lecture.
Michael Ammar
This lecture was advertised as brand new, it is not. Instead you will learn a handful of Ammars classics mixed in with a few new effects. My favorite effects taught were crazy man’s handcuffs, add a number and his version of the serial bill reading. I also enjoyed his walk through of his appearance on David Letterman. If you are new to magic then this is a great resource, if you are familiar with Ammar’s work you probably won't learn a great deal of new material. His insights and stories were entertaining though.
Daniel Garcia
Here you will learn a few pieces of magic that Danny is known for as well as a few new effects. In one instance you will learn an effect that David Blaine performed on his last special. Michael Ammar made mention that Garcia’s phone in balloon would be taught on this lecture and it is not but there is a lot of other good stuff available on the lecture. My favorites include Timeline 2.0, Serial Shuffle-bored, Dough Boy and Yellow Phone. If you like magic with bills there are a lot of new takes on old effects here. I also loved the performances of other magicians performing his magic and his insights to tv magic.
Jason England
This lecture is broken into 2 parts, classic magic and gambling routines. Jason England is well qualified to teach both. If you would like to learn some of Vernon’s or Charlie Miller’s classics this is a great place to learn them, keep in mind you will be learning the classic versions of the effects not brand new magician fooling versions.
The gambling demonstrations are a little bit different. Jason is well known for his mastery of the difficult card sleights used by cheaters. Here he breaks down a handful of routines that you can do using these difficult sleights. If you are interested in displaying skill with cards these are very good. The highlights for me were his tips on triumph, his use of the breather crimp, Grand Slam for Brother John and Poker Tells.
John Armstrong
This lecture was broken into 2 sections. The first part concentrated on close up magic and the last part breaks down a complete 20 minute act on stage with a deck of cards. I really like Jon Armstrong but when compared to the other lectures this was probably my least favorite. My favorite parts were his new unlink for crazy man’s handcuffs and his amazing work with a marked deck. His stand up show was nice but it was not to my taste.
Alex Pandrea
This was my absolute favorite. I got a ton out of this lecture and I really think that most people will. Alex Pandrea is known for his amazing ability with a deck of cards, I thought that this was going to be a lecture where he showed off but it wasn’t. You get a handful of marketed effects for almost all skill levels as well as invaluable advice on classic moves we use all the time. There are a ton of hightlights for me here, his tips on the classic force, Arson, 4 Quarters, TOP and his ambitious card. I think that most magicians will get something out of this. As a note you will not be learning the domino effect but it is performed.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that this is a deal. My main problem with this set is the amount of performance only magic that was advertised. In many cases I looked at the list of tricks on the box or on the internet and the tricks listed were never taught on the lecture, in some cases they were never even performed. There are some problems with the disks, as mentioned above and it would have been nice to get something other than an exact copy of the original lectures.
There is some great stuff here, don’t trust what it says you will learn online. Check out my full reviews of each lecture and if you like what you see, get them!
Wow, what a deal! The at the table lecture series is a wonderful bargain in magic already, for $20 you get a 2 hour lecture from an industry leading magician each week. If you purchase season 1 you get all those lectures for half price. That makes each lecture only $10 bucks, this is incredible value.
Quality
The box set you get is a cardboard fold out box it is nicely designed and of above average quality. In the. As you open it up you find your disks and a list of tricks on each disk. This is not a chapter selection or a menu outline, it is just a list of tricks. On more than one occasion the lecture does not teach the effects named. On all of the disks this list is no where near the actual order used.
The video and sound quality is fair. Remember, this is a live lecture series, so there are microphone problems and interruptions from time to time. The camera has a hard time as well and the performances are not always perfect. This is all to be expected with live magic. The actual disks had problems from time to time, my Jon Armstrong DVD had a few problems where it would randomly repeat chapters.
The Lectures
I have covered each of the lectures on these disks in detail in other places. For a full review and trick by trick rundown of each lecture feel free to contact me personally.Let’s touch on the highlights of each lecture.
Michael Ammar
This lecture was advertised as brand new, it is not. Instead you will learn a handful of Ammars classics mixed in with a few new effects. My favorite effects taught were crazy man’s handcuffs, add a number and his version of the serial bill reading. I also enjoyed his walk through of his appearance on David Letterman. If you are new to magic then this is a great resource, if you are familiar with Ammar’s work you probably won't learn a great deal of new material. His insights and stories were entertaining though.
Daniel Garcia
Here you will learn a few pieces of magic that Danny is known for as well as a few new effects. In one instance you will learn an effect that David Blaine performed on his last special. Michael Ammar made mention that Garcia’s phone in balloon would be taught on this lecture and it is not but there is a lot of other good stuff available on the lecture. My favorites include Timeline 2.0, Serial Shuffle-bored, Dough Boy and Yellow Phone. If you like magic with bills there are a lot of new takes on old effects here. I also loved the performances of other magicians performing his magic and his insights to tv magic.
Jason England
This lecture is broken into 2 parts, classic magic and gambling routines. Jason England is well qualified to teach both. If you would like to learn some of Vernon’s or Charlie Miller’s classics this is a great place to learn them, keep in mind you will be learning the classic versions of the effects not brand new magician fooling versions.
The gambling demonstrations are a little bit different. Jason is well known for his mastery of the difficult card sleights used by cheaters. Here he breaks down a handful of routines that you can do using these difficult sleights. If you are interested in displaying skill with cards these are very good. The highlights for me were his tips on triumph, his use of the breather crimp, Grand Slam for Brother John and Poker Tells.
John Armstrong
This lecture was broken into 2 sections. The first part concentrated on close up magic and the last part breaks down a complete 20 minute act on stage with a deck of cards. I really like Jon Armstrong but when compared to the other lectures this was probably my least favorite. My favorite parts were his new unlink for crazy man’s handcuffs and his amazing work with a marked deck. His stand up show was nice but it was not to my taste.
Alex Pandrea
This was my absolute favorite. I got a ton out of this lecture and I really think that most people will. Alex Pandrea is known for his amazing ability with a deck of cards, I thought that this was going to be a lecture where he showed off but it wasn’t. You get a handful of marketed effects for almost all skill levels as well as invaluable advice on classic moves we use all the time. There are a ton of hightlights for me here, his tips on the classic force, Arson, 4 Quarters, TOP and his ambitious card. I think that most magicians will get something out of this. As a note you will not be learning the domino effect but it is performed.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that this is a deal. My main problem with this set is the amount of performance only magic that was advertised. In many cases I looked at the list of tricks on the box or on the internet and the tricks listed were never taught on the lecture, in some cases they were never even performed. There are some problems with the disks, as mentioned above and it would have been nice to get something other than an exact copy of the original lectures.
There is some great stuff here, don’t trust what it says you will learn online. Check out my full reviews of each lecture and if you like what you see, get them!