Magic Cafe Stuff: "Osterlind's DVDs"

Every now and then some pretty silly things are written over at the Magic Cafe. Here's one of them...

Yeesh. One Cafe poster had the following to say about Mr. Osterlind's DVDs.

Osterlind's DVDs constitute, I'm sure everyone agrees, the first mentalism DVD series that has been broadly marketed. He is described as "one of mentalism's leadings minds" ... whoa! After a couple of years of reading about this, I finally got around to ordering these DVDs and just spent some time watching them.

A disclaimer first: I really like the hypnosis routine you can find on youtube (I think it is on one of the DVDs as well, but I haven't found it yet). Very, very impressive. I also like about 20% of the effects he presents on the DVDs, but please! .... He's without a doubt the least charismatic and most unrehearsed professional performer I know! I'm not qualified to talk about the sophistication of his mentalism - maybe that's as far as we've gotten in the 21st century (that's good ... think of all the great things that will be developed in the future). But, for example, the fumbling with the thumbtip, the magazine, the nail writer... I skipped to the end of "change of mind" and "radio sum total", beause it was just waaaay tooo loooong. I know I might now hear "make it your own, do it better" etc., but that's not the point. I spent money on these DVDs to see mentalism by "mentalism's leading mind". And just because that unbearably annoying blonde guy in the audience seems to enjoy himself when O. makes really silly jokes, doesn't mean any of this would go over with an educated corporate crowd.

One more point: You can even see how annoyed Jim Sisti is - I'm serious, he looks like he's going to explode any second on that tape screaming "Aaaaaaahhhh! What am I doing here? Do I have to listen to this guy? Am I getting paid enough for this?"

Definitely one of the bigger mal-investments in my life.

Click here to read the rest of the thread...

So far Mr. Osterlind hasn't shown up to the thread, and I hope he doesn't. This sort of silliness isn't worth his time. I, on the other hand, have more time than anything else, so here's my take on it.

(Before I begin, a friend has pointed out that I need to be more positive, so I'm going to do my best to comment on this without using any swear words or personal insults. If I can manage that, I win a cookie.)

The first volume of Osterlind's Mind Mysteries, where he tips his act, is in my opinion one of the tightest sets that L&L Publishing has ever produced from any magician. It is a lesson in audience management, capitalizing on extras, how to properly routine a set, how to make every moment count. I don't know how others feel about Radar Deck versus Tossed-Out Deck, but one of the great features of Radar Deck is being able, not only to name the card they're thinking of, but also the card they almost thought of. That extra touch elevates this greatly above most mentalism/mental-magic effects involving cards. The Magazine test closer is just brilliant. The Watch Routine and Bank Night also played very well. Thought Scan has a much more fun energy than the usual Q&A does -- of course, if you still want to learn a traditional Q&A, there's a nice method elsewhere in the series.

Speaking of elsewhere in the series, there's a ton of great stuff to be had. People who've used Osterlind Design Duplication System and the Breakthrough Card System swear by them both, and I can easily see why. With ODDS, the construction of it allows you to get more matching details than you have any right to otherwise. As for the Breakthrough Card System... Imagine all the ease of dealing with a cyclical stack, except that you can fan the cards at the spectators without fear of betraying a pattern. Volume 4 has a great method for pre-show work. 5 through 7 have his takes on Mental Epic, a clip line effect on steroids, more cutlery bending, a memory demonstration, a blindfold act... He's even added some things in there that have potential for regular magicians. The glass of water production, the newspaper tear, the marked coin in bottle, the Miracle Flying cards, a very good Six Card Repeat effect, etc. There's some great stuff on there.

His Easy to Master Mental Miracles performances seemed (from my vantage point, anyway) to have a good effect on the audience, and the effects chosen represent some of the true classics of mentalism. It is a great opportunity to see how work from Koran, Annemann, etc. would play live, as well as to get some updated touches on those classics. In my view, the way to approach that series is exactly the same way to approach Michael Ammar's Easy to Master Card Miracles... if you like the effect and think it fits well with your performing persona, absolutely substitute the patter and introduce small touches. Those elements aren't there to be emulated, they're there to be replaced. And the effects are no slouches, neither. I wasn't aware of Tervil before I saw it performed (somebody didn't read his Annemann's PMM closely enough, eesh) and when he did it, I could have sworn there were stooges. You've got the clip line, book tests, Seven Keys to Baldplate, Pseudo Psychometry, peek work, swami work, CT work... I have a hard time thinking that one couldn't put together a very professional set out of the material in that series, even though it's relatively introductory material compared to the stuff on the Mind Mysteries series.

I'm not familiar with his No Camera Tricks DVD series, but given the quality of his work to this point, I'd be willing to bet it's a worthwhile investment.

Perhaps the saddest thing about this is that Richard Osterlind has shown himself to be VERY helpful when asked for help involving any of his products. He's been extremely open and generous both at the Cafe and at the Mentalist Sanctum, and if the person who wrote the above had bothered instead to get in touch with Richard to figure things out, he might have had all his concerns dealt with, to figure out how to get the value he was looking for in the purchase.

I think he deserved better than the superficial analysis given in the above quote. Jim Sisti himself showed up to refute a good portion of it, but apparently, if the discussion later on is any indication, the original poster is clinging to his belief that Osterlind is uncharismatic and lacks polish with his skills.

Regarding the "uncharismatic" comment, that baffles me, because I've rarely seen a connection between a performer and his audience that matches what's on Mind Mysteries 1. The two effects listed in the original criticism are from Volume 3, and fair enough, I can see how some material in the series might not be for everybody, but in my view one of two things is going on here (and I'll try to make this dichotomy a little less harsh than ones I've made elsewhere)... Either this guy hasn't watched MM volume 1, in which case he's missed an enormous chance to see Osterlind at his best, or he's maintaining that opinion despite having watched volume 1, in which case I'm just baffled. Regarding the "lacking polish" comment, all I can say is that when I originally watched volume 1, I wasn't aware of the methods in play, and he got me with everything in that first set (I was ignorant about a couple of the plots and methods, and when I went back to watch them again, looking for tells, I had a hard time finding them). The methods were well-concealed, I thought, and I think it's a fine line that mentalists have to dance, insofar as not being too slick with their methods and prop-handling, lest they risk giving the hands and props too much credit.

Anyways, I'm just having a hard time seeing where the guy's coming from. If I was posting over at the Cafe, the above constitutes pretty much what I'd put in a response. Hopefully some others will try to show the guy reason. I can understand people not totally falling in love with a guy based on an impression they get off a DVD, but Osterlind put so much value in those two series, I'm amazed that it's not being acknowledged. An intrepid reader of the olde blogge might want to consider contacting the guy to purchase them at a discount.

So yeah, that's it. I'll have to doublecheck, but I think there's no swearing in the above. Where's my cookie?