Hey guys! Hey im 14 and love chris angel tricks! I was wondering on which dvd of his shoudl i get? thanks for your time guys!
Magically Yours,
Adam

Lol, I love how say you're a big fan of Criss Angel, yet can't even spell his name right!

Just messin' man, welcome to the forums.

I suggest you don't buy one of his DVD's if you're a beginner. All they teach is one trick, for a lot of money.

Buy the book Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic instead. That's the standard bible for all magicians and could possibly be the most valuable thing you own. It should be available at your local book store.

Lastly, don't get an image of the art of magic based off of Angel. He makes everything seem so cool and badass, but that's truely because he has a lot of money and his own TV show. It's alright to be a fan, but just don't try and be like him, because it doesn't work in the real world.

Don't get one of his DVDs, get the Royal Road to Card Magic, Modern Coin Magic, 13 Steps to Mentalism, and Mark Wilson's Complete Course in magic. These will definitely get you started.

First off work on your spelling and grammar. What are you 5?
Second, if you like this guy so much, learn to spell his NAME!
Third, he is not nor ever will be better than houdini. Its not a competition, and you ant beat a legend.
Forth, most of what he performs on his show isnt his. He learned it in books... so take a hint and get some books. Not his [edited] dvds.

Hey thanks for the replys. I appreciate it! By the way i am not a beginner i am a intermediate. Thanks for your time.

get what you want.

anyway, have you ever seen a performance by harry houdini? how can we say who is better, if there are probably no videos available to watch houdini perform.

A few films exist of Houdini's performances. They mostly appear on historical documentaries about his life. Plenty of photographs exist, just check out The Secret Life of Houdini. Lots of great information and photos.

Now, on the the absurd notion that Criss Angel can even remotely hold a candle to Houdini's accomplishments. I have never heard such a ludicrous thought. Well, okay, I have, but this one is pretty well up there with them.

In my opinion, Angel is in no way, shape, or form, even remotely in the same caliber as Houdini. Angel may be a showman, but he is a cheap knockoff of Houdini, a pale shadow if you will. Angel will never, ever, achieve the same status as Houdini.

Conduct a true poll, with a diverse demographic, not just the emo goths who think Angel's stuff is real, but a wide range of human beings, of all ages and nationalities. Ask them to name the most famous magician of all time.

You will get two answers that stand out, statistically.

Harry Houdini and David Copperfield.

Angel and Blaine won't even make the statistical cut.

Who the edited voted "YES"?

Once I see a video of Houdini preforming a card manipulation routine.

Sadly James Angel is becoming as famous as Houdini and Copperfield. I'm sick of hearing about Angel from people coming into the magic store I work in. But Angel, AND Copperfield won't beat Houdini. Houdini had the right presentation, approach, and attitude about magic, and thats what made him famous. As far as skill, some of the most talented magicians never become famous because they aren't talented when it comes to things like their approach to magic. But Houdini excelled there, so he was very successful as a magician. He also performed what his audiences wanted to see as well, which is another thing a lot of magicians forget about. People loved escapes back in Houdini's time, and so he gave them some awesome escapes. So there are a few important reasons why Houdini was a good magician.

houdini hardly ever did magic, mostly escapes, at one point he didn't consider his self a magician but a escape artist

Yeah but I think thats a bit of a misconception. Houdini began doing more and more escapes for a couple of reasons, the first being that he was good at them, and the second being that people loved to see them back then. So the more famous he got the more escapes he did naturally. Its just like Angel seems to do more and more levitation the more famous he gets because it gives his show higher ratings. However, that doesn't mean he is only a kryptonian, he is still a magician. Most magicians do focus in one area of magic and perform more of that than anything else. But that does not make them solely part of that branch of magic if they still do other things.

Also the way Houdini presented some of his escapes made them magic tricks more than escapes, like swallowing a lock pick, then being searched for a pick, then escaping by regurgitating the pick. Since the audience thought he had no way to escape, in other words no key or pick, then it was perceived by his audience as something out of the ordinary, and not perceived as an escape that took skill to do. The audience looked at it like he somehow escaped despite impossible conditions. So those types of escapes are tricks and not escapes really, kind of like metamorphisis, but not quite the same. An escape, which Houdini did sometimes do, is usually done in a way that makes the escape artist look very skilled, but the audience usually knows whats going on, but its just something they can't do, or its done so well they don't think its possible to do.

Calm down Dave. He's new and clearly doesn't know much about Houdini.

Welcome to Penguin. Dont buy any of Criss' DVD's except for maybe quarter through can. If you want a DVD get Born to Perform by Oz Pearlman. But the best thing you can get is Mark Wilsons Complete course in Magic. Its a billion times better than any of Criss' overpriced DVD's.

Whoops i didnt read the post where you said your not a begginer. Well in that case still get MWCCIM.

adam dude if your trying to develop criss's style use a little bit

ok what i mean is dont onlycreate his style your style but make his style mix with your style like many famous magicians today

yo nikiel man i agree with you but criss angel is an good magician with reasons why he makes these dvds so if adam wants it i suggest he does his research in these dvds