Hey guys, got my Anaconda dvd in the mail today, watched it, so I thought I'd write up a little review. I'm going to get a lot of flack from this, but I don't think I've ever been so dissapointed with a flourishing dvd. Atleast I laughed my ass off at Showoff 3.
First of all, I knew I wasn't going to get revolutionary/new techniques on this dvd. I knew the material is kind of old, but I did see that Bones Anaconda did look pretty slick and the bonus moves looked pretty tight in the preview. I also thought the teaching would be second to none. I was wrong on most of these things.
The teaching section for the Anaconda clocks in at an insane 4 and a half minutes. Are you freaking kidding me? I spent 30 bucks on 4 and a half minutes?! They discuss NO tips or extra things to help get your dribble longer. There is NO new technique. NOTHING NEW. Unless they claim catching it in a straddle grip to be new...
All he teaches is the very basic technique. How to dribble the cards from a centimeter away from your other hand. Nothing is said on how to control the cards when you hands are 2 feet away from each other. Anyone whose tried this move knows its pretty tough to get huge and land clean. This isn't even discussed either. They have a SINGLE caption which is somewhat helpful, and its about catching the cards. A SINGLE caption. This is not enough to make any signifcant difference whatsoever.
Another thing that pissed me off is no where on the dvd can you find a performance of the dribble that isn't in slow motion. This is supposed to be a real laymen friendly flourish. Last time I checked you can't slow yourself down when performing.
The bonus moves are cute at best. Hindu Tornado is cool, we've all learned Hot Stones, the one handed T display is kind of cool, the one handed cut is kind of meh and the shot, Butterfly, is one of those things that anyone whose been handling cards for a while has done. I kind of look back and wonder why I got this dvd. Fail on my part.
Honestly, I have gained close to nothing from this dvd. Only thing I liked was Hindu Tornado, and I don't even know if its an original move(I'm pretty sure Jerry does it in one of the companion discs to EPoCF.) Seriously, you can learn the Anaconda from the old tutorial, its the same exact thing as this. The one thing that reeeally pissed me off was they never went over height at all. Its just...I don't know. the guy in the preview said its broken down so a laymen can learn it. I will quit flourishingthe day I see a layperson do an Anaconda as big as Bones from watching this dvd. Lemme tell you something...I ain't quitting flourishing anytime soon.
Couple an over-hyped dvd with ****ty customer service, and you get an angry flourisher. I DEEPLY regret buying this dvd.