Reviews of products by Dustin Dean
1 ★★★★★ reviews
Phenomental!
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 19 September, 2016)
It's almost de rigueur in the mentalism field to put out a book, usually with nine effects, and slap a price tag of $30 on it. And the old adage goes that if you find at least one thing that you'll use, it was a good purchase. I have mixed feelings about Phenomental. First, you get eight effects, but it's more like five effects and three forces/subtleties, not full routines. I'm going to have to try out Vaporize even though I'm not a fan of dual reality. The Up Force is intriguing, like something that should be in Banachek's next volume of Psychological Subtleties. I think Influenza is the strongest routine here, though truth be told, it's a variation on an old Annemann idea, one that Looch and now Alexander Marsh have also gussied up. (And the video performance of it, in front of what appears to be a women's lavatory at a park, is completely underwhelming, especially since it edits out the move that you need to do.) The other stuff, like yet another handling of Out of this World and the WatchStop Principle, which is hardly original, really didn't do anything for me. I will say though that I was impressed that a few things actually used sleights, something that you don't see much of in mentalism, and that's good.
Overall, is it worth the 30 clams? Probably not quite for me. I had kind of the same tepid feeling with the author's Hand Which, where I liked a couple of his ideas, didn't like one in particular at all, and wasn't blown away. Influenza by itself might be worth about $15, Vaporize $9.95, and the Up Force belongs in a larger collection of psi-forces. I think the tipping point for purchase might be if you want another handling of OOTW. If not, Phenomental is probably a pass.
Underground Bottom Tear (UBT)
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Fisanick
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 18 September, 2016)
I've posted a review of UBT on another site, but I like it so much that I am going to tell you here that if you are new to mentalism and don't have a good billet peek, or you are not comfortable with the one that you are using, then you must give this a try. Once you work on it--and it's not that hard to do--you'll use it forever. As I said in my other review, it is a tear of the "instant/real-time peek" variety, unlike a traditional center tear. Bob Cassidy would question why one would use a technique where you take the peek when the audience is burning your hands as you rip up the billet instead of being more traditional and taking the peek on an offbeat or after a logical disconnect. That you have to answer for yourself. Whatever accomplishes the result deceptively is what you should use.
If you use another peek such as a classic center tear, Osterlind's Perfected Center Tear, etc., and it serves you well, you might not need this. Then again, for me, this is a real thing of beauty. It's quick, clean, and straightforward. Highest recommendation.