I saw a 7 Series DVD collection the other day on this site that was for Beginners -> Pros going over handling etc. I know Oz Pearlman has a DVD but this isn't the one. It was a 7 Series Collection and was $100+ (probably close to 150-200). I was wondering if anyone knows what I was talking about. I can't find it for the life of me.

Had a look on the main DVD page

http://www.penguinmagic.com/DVDs.php

and came across:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=769.

That it?

I got those as a promo, and watching them made me want to cut my wrists.

I'm surprised that quote didn't make it to the product page!

Thats a win!

Yes, thank you. I noticed the comment of someone recieving them as a promo and wanting to cut their wrists? What's so bad about these?

Thank you.

I'm glad AkiraFist got here first. He's much more elegant than I would have been.

This set is terrible. Absolutely beyond saving. I've heard people talk about how great Gerry Griffin is, but this set apparently doesn't do him justice. The hardest disc in this set doesn't touch what you'd learn from Born to Perform. The majority of this set is badly performed, practically self working card magic, that doesn't really have any impact. The only full set I've seen on card magic that's worse than this, honestly, is Gerry's Lucky Sevens DVD, which I LITERALLY could not give away when working at the magic shop in Albuquerque.

On the other hand, if you suffer from insomnia, pick these up. Silver linings are fun.

They don't seem to have any content in them beyond what you could get in Mark Wilson's complete course in magic. Best beginners book ever.

Hands down go with the Wilson book if you don't have it. Move it to the top of your list NOW. I still think it's the best book ever written on magic. Many of the tricks on this set didn't even make the Wilson book, because they're simply not very good.

Just to be sure Mark Wilson's book is this?

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S3603

Correct. If you're interested just in cards, there are two tried and tested classics: "Royal Road to Card Magic", by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue; and the "Card College" series by Roberto Giobbi. The former is better if you're starting out and don't know how far you intend to go; the latter if you know card magic is going to be your life.

I've just started but from my basic grounds I'm interested in cards and mentalism. It seems generally most people love card tricks, but mentalism just wows people even with the very little that I know. I used to mess around with magic when I was younger but never seriously. However, I just picked it up again in the past two weeks or so, so I'm definitely a rookie... but from what I've experimented with, and from my limited perception, mentalism and cards seems the way to go as far as close-up (family/friends/etc) and street magic goes. Is that in the ball park or no?

THIS. It teaches you fundamentals spanning all over the genera of magic. Sponges, coins, and especially cards. It teaches you the applications of slights and some great tricks that I still do. I learned silk through arm in that book and still do it because it's my favorite impromptu trick.

EPIC!

Am I the only one who thought the Griffin DVD set was good?