So I am going to be picking up some new DVD's, and I was wondering what peoples thoughts on the 4 John Guastaferro (Brainstorm/Second Storm) DVD's vs. John Armstrong's 3 Disk (Card Magic) set?

I have read a great deal about Guastaferro lately, with his book release, but I have also wanted to get Armstrong's sets. Any thoughts would be great.

Guastaferro all day long!!

Where do you mostly perform? I don't have any Armstrong, but I prefer the Brainstorm DVDs for strolling material, but Second Storm has 'Famous Aces' and 'Vino Aces' for parlour.

Have you checked out JG's site? The lecture notes are really good...

Charlie

Well, I ordered The Storms. I am really looking for strolling material, and it seems like that is what much of the material is. I will most likely get Armstrong's DVDs next. I have seen the Brainstorm set YEARS ago, but don't remember much. I really like Armstrong's column in Reel Magic, so I will just have to wait a little bit.

I really enjoy books, but DVD/Video is much easier for me often, because of the traveling I do.

ALL I CAN SAY IS "Lost and Found" and "Detour" are worth the set alone.... So yeah, Guastaferro.... Also he just came out with a book.

Armstrong has something very special in his set.. it is a blank card 3 card monte. that last year once I learned it the next week he was on tv doing it . It is probably the best thing I have added in years..he also has a couple of easy but very unique things with a frixion pen.. one prediction is terrific.

I ordered J G's book Friday and am sure it is going to be great but Jon Armstrong's dvd's are cherished..

oh there is that oil and water thing and the thing he does with the gal's phone number.. and and and

Marty

Brainstorm dvds are some of the best out there. Hocus was selling both Second Storm dvds for $20 total. Sale may still be going on.

Eric, you kill me. That is a great deal, and only about 24 hours too late. Oh well, lol.

Scott

I have both and like both but Jon's is straight out of his Castle routine that I have seen him perform throughout the years and have seen the reactions that he gets good stuff. Martysh mentioned the phone organizer trick and that is his closer at the Castle a great trick.

Both persons approach to magic it quite different. John G's material is more on the road of variations of allready existing card plots where Jon Armstrong tryes to do effects that are totally different from main stream. Armstrong himself says on the set that he performs so much in the Castle and for other magicians that he doesn't want to perform ambitious card or anything too similar to other magicians. This makes the sets hard to compare and I woudnt even want to do so...

I personally prefer maybe John G's (cant spell his last name ) brainstorm set. Its one of the best dvd's sets ever made by L&L. I didn't care much from his second storm set. Armstrong has his moments as well so it is evry though choise in the end but I would go with Brainstorm set > Armstrong set > Second Storm set.

J-M

Well I got the sets and watched the performances on Second Storm, since I had seen Brainstorm a while back. There was one routine on the 1st disk I really liked, the one with the dice (can't remember the name.) I just gave everything a casual look, so I will have to dive into them more this weekend. One thing that is slightly bothersome is all of the extra gaffs (like the blank dice.) Interestingly I actually have those dice, I picked them up years ago thinking...One day I may need something like this.

John G for SURE! His DVD's and book are incredible.. Highly Recommended.

Personally, I found John's presentations much more entertaining and his DVDs have more variety.

Do you mean John or John?

John or Jon!

There's at least a couple of things from both artists that I'd like to add to my repertoire. I'd say Jon Armstrong's difficulty level is just a tad higher than John G's.

John G, otherwise I would have written Jon.

John Gustaferro rocks!. His book "One Degree" is one of the best magic books in close-up magic in this decade. The layout writing and material are all fabulous. Check out "Lost and Found", "Vino Aces". No pipedreams here just solid stuff!

hbenod

There are no bad choices here. You'll be more than happy with either performer's terrific contributions.

Agreed, both DVD sets are awesome.

Caleb