On Outside the Conventional

Posted by: Sean Boon on the Mgic Cafe and The Mentalist’s Asylum
Mon Aug 6, 2007

Innermind productions present :
Christopher Taylor - Outside the conventional DVD

Firstly as reviews go, I'm not going to break this down into analysing each effect as some do. However, I'll attempt to look at this DVD in an holistic way. I don't know Christopher aside from perhaps having shared a few discussions in mentalism groups and forums. I've never met the guy. Upon receiving the DVD and finally catching sight of him on the cover I thought, "uh-oh, I've made a wrong purchase and have bought something that centres on the bizarre." Wrong, on several counts. Christopher has a background in storytelling/bizarre magic yes. But this only seemed to make his mentalism more powerful! I found that I was getting sucked into his stories just as much as the participants, truly hypnotic. After my first viewing ( or should I say skimming? ) I'll admit that I was a little dissapointed, some of the routines being almost too simple that I felt cheated by the sales blurb.

BUT, after watching the interviews that feature on this two disc set
I began to understand Christophers way of thinking a little more and
went back and viewed the dvd with an open mind, taking each routine
for what it is. A performance.

Christopher shares a similar ideology to myself and that is clear in
the explanations of each effect. Keep It Simple Stupid. Methods so simple, practical and direct that I am sure the educated laymen will miss them. There are routines in here that I know I will use, or adapt. Even
one routine which upon viewing I decided was a little too magickal
has gained my interest purely for an idea I have had for creating a
variation of the method to create a whole new effect. A two dvd set priced at £24.99 containing some very pure,practical and USEABLE routines is a bargain these days. So I apologise to Christopher for judging his dvd before giving it my full attention and now am keeping my eyes wide open for other products of his. An absolute pleasure to watch, a performer that I could watch over and over.
Sean Boon