"Laser Anywhere Volumes 1 and 2" DVDs by Adrian Man In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 10
Everything you want to know about the stage manipulation of CDs, from soup to nuts. Vanishes, productions, transpositions, color-changes, size-changes... even complete routines are covered. This is a master's course in a relatively new area of stage manipulation.

Practicality: 10
It all depends on where you go with the routine, of course, but for the most part you just need the CDs and the skills. For the stage worker, that's pretty much a godsend.

Quality of Production: 10
The video is extremely well-shot, with tons of nice features like slow-motion, multi-angled shoots. Really top quality stuff here.

Quality of Instruction: 8
Man does a superlative job of teaching the moves and, considering the intricacies of some of the material, that's no mean feat. Be prepared, though; the instructions are en English translation (as a voice-over) from Cantonese, so some things are lost in translation, which is remarkably enough not a huge detriment to learning the techniques.

Presentation: 10
It's all about the visuals, and Man has polished those wonderfully. His routines are elegant and gorgeous.

Manipulation CDs Box Set

The "Manipulation CDs Box Set", designed by Adrian Man and produced by Live Magic, is the perfect collection of fake CDs to use with Man's excellent "Laser Anywhere" CD manipulation discs.

Yes, the CDs are fake. Really fake. But they look very, very real and will be seen by audiences as being the real deal.

The first thing you notice about these CDs is the thickness. As it says on the box, you're dealing with CDs that are .6mm thick. That's about half the thickness of a regular CD. That right there makes them perfect for stage manipulations (if you have doubts, go by a deck of manipulation cards, which are about a third the thickness of a regular playing card -- it's amazing what a little slimming will do to manipulation work).

But, as is typical with Man's thinking, there's more to the story than just one feature.

The "Manipulation CDs" also have a larger hole in the center more suitable to the thumb than to a spindle. This allows some of the handlings Man is so fond of to be done much simpler and more convincingly.

Also thinking ahead, Man designed these discs so that one side is the reflective mirror finish, as you'd expect from a real CD, but the reverse side is colored a flat black. This allows for a bit of black-art work; if wearing dark clothing, the CD becomes much harder, if not downright impossible, to see.

Lastly, the "Manipulation CDs" are more flexible than regular discs. Needless to say, we're back into the territory of Making Things Easier and that added flexibility really makes palming them a breeze.

The "Manipulation CDs Box Set" comes in two flavors: standard and deluxe. The only difference in the two is the number of discs you receive; the discs are the same high-quality, well-designed gaffs that the serious CD manipulator needs.

And "needs" is the right word here. If you're into CD manipulation, if you've gotten "Laser Anywhere" and the bug bit you, you really do need these discs. They are so much easier to handle, made so specifically for sleight work, they will save you a great deal of time and effort over using regular CDs.

REVIEW BY MAGIC BROADCAST

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Laser Anywhere DVD Volume 1

Adrian Man is a young up and coming magician skilled in this area of manipulation and has really worked out the various card manipulation-style palms to CDs. Many moves are inspired by standard and advance playing card manipulation moves, jumbo card moves, billiard ball acquitments as well as Gary Kurtz's Flurious moves (side-note: you MUST check out his DVD if you're into cards and coins!!!).

Man goes through the basic palms, vanishes and productions with clarity so understanding the moves come easy to you (yes, even if you're a total beginner). DVD 1 contains 4 complete CD manipulation routines, even including a jumbo CD routine. So yup, once again, the teaching is very clear and the techniques are well within the reach of anyone willing in to put in the time and effort ;)

You probably could use regular CDs but Man's special manipulation CDs are also available for sale which would work so much better. Also, you will have to buy specially made CDs available from the manufacture if you want to perform some of the more varied effects like the colour changing CDs, jumbo or mini CD manipulations.

The DVD has English dubbed audio but if you understand Cantonese, you can choose that audio version and hear Man teach and present in his native language ^_^ I guess the only small issue I had is the way the DVD flows. There is a voice-over title sequence before each section and each DVD has over 20 sections so this is repeated over 20 times, making it a tad repetitious. Still, it does kind of help drill the moves into your head :P

All in all, this DVD comes highly recommended if you are thinking of adding some solid CD manipulation to your stage act!

Laser Anywhere DVD Volume 2

Clear, precise and well taught, this DVD focuses exclusively on the sleights and manipulation of Mini-CDs. The style and production value of the DVD is identical with Vol 1. The technical moves for Mini-CDs are similar to regular CDs with some modification in grips and holds.

Due to the smaller size of the Mini-CDs, Adrian Man also teaches moves that cannot be performed with the regular sized CDs. An experienced manipulator will be able to adapt the techniques taught in Vol 1 (read the review!) to Mini-CD manipulation. But, that is also the reason why Vol 2 is significantly cheaper than Vol 1.

So, if you are serious in learning everything there is to know about CD manipulation, you might consider investing in this volume to complete the set, as well as, the manipulation CDs also created by the manufacturers :)

Manipulation CDs Box Set by Adrian Man

The Deluxe set contains 30 CDs and the Standard Set contains 15 CDs. Other than the difference in quantity, the CDs are the same - a razor thin 0.6mm! B) The CDs themselves are custom-made and well thought out. Designed specifically for CD manipulation, this is the equivalent to card manipulation cards with more design features than just being thin. You cannot make these yourself or modify a regular CD. The thumb holes are bigger for a much better grip for one ;) All in all, if you intend to add CD manipulation to your act, these CDs are a must… and probably the only professional set available in the world!

REVIEW BY SHANE OF ONLINE VISIONS