i've been considering purchasing the Max Maven Videomind series (even though i don't much care for his Old-School mentalist persona, which borders on parody) based on the almost universal acclaim these tapes/DVDs have drawn. It's hard to believe they can be as good as Richard Osterlind's Mind Mysteries (which are brilliant, IMHO), but they are clearly quite popular. i'm assuming there's a reason for that and i'm almost willing to take the plunge...

Just one thing: TWO of the three discs feature routines based on the "fabled" (yeah, right) Birds of Prey tv series. Now, while i enjoy a good leather-clad superheroine (or three) as much as the next red-blooded heterosexual male, i also know that there was a reason for this series being summarily cancelled: It sucked. That said, are the effects in Videomind that are based on this lame show still usable in another context?

There must be some misunderstanding. "The Mockingbird" and "The Hawk" are not based on any TV series, and make no reference to anything outside of the world of mindreading. They are part of a series, though -- a series of of brilliant mental card effects that Maven/Goldstein released a while back as "The Birds of Prey" series (very hard to find now). And yes, Videomind is a rich source of mental material and, more importantly, is a marvelous glimpse into the mind of one of the foremost thinkers in mentalism.

what neil said...

im also looking forward to his gilbreath book which will have more of this beautiful stuff

Hi, im new to mentalism but am VERY keen to get into the mental side of magic. i have seen many reviews about Max Maven's Videomind and was very close to buying them but could somebody please tell me more about this Richard Osterlind guy..i havent heard of him. wot dvd of his would you reccomedn to somebody who wants to learn some really good mentalist stuff (close up not really stage)?? Thanks

mark strivings' mobile mentalism. osterlind's dvd and maven's dvd has mostly stage and parlor mentalism. one of the maven dvds is dedicated to close up though.