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From http://www.jheff.com/Max_Maven_Nothing.htmlCan also be found here http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=1524THE BLURB:Max Maven traveled from Hollywood to Lake Tahoe. He broughtNOTHINGbut a nice suit. On the way from the airport to the studio,he stopped at a supermarket for less than ten minutes andspent less than ten dollars. Once in his room, he spent lessthan half an hour preparing, and proceeded to go on stageand do a 50-minute performance of mentalism.NO Pre-Show WorkNO StoogesNO ClipboardsNO NailwritersNO Playing CardsNO ESP CardsNO BilletsNO WalletsNO GaffsNO GimmicksNO Special MaterialsNO Muscle ReadingNO HypnotismNO ThreadsNO MirrorsNO ElectronicsNO Rough & SmoothNO Gilbreath PrincipleNO Fillerin fact,NOTHING but solid mentalism and great entertainment.Let’s be clear. This is not a cluster of ‘substitute’ stuffto make up for having lost your props. It is a full-lengthshow of top-notch real world material, much of it revealedfor the very first time. The complete work, includingvariations and options, plus discussion of performancestructure, scripting segues, audience management, blocking,timing – everything thoroughly explained with an unprecedenteddegree of detail.Included is the rare ‘Para-Sight’ routine, out of print forover 25 years; copies of the original limited-releasemanuscript have sold for as much as $400. And that’ssomething!A two-DVD set (with as much content as most three-DVD sets).Running time: 230 minutes, plus Easter Eggs and bonusmaterial. Featuring Eugene Burger, Brandon Combs, GeneMatsuura, Stephen Minch, Jan Rose and Michael Weber. $99.952-volume boxed setCOMMENTS:With this disc, Max wanted to do something different.  Heproposed an idea that would be a challenge: to create anentire act that wouldn’t contain any marketed or standardgaffed items for mentalists, nor would it contain standardprinciples and props that mentalists use.  You can see abovein the blurb what the restrictions were.  Then, Max wouldfilm this entire act and discuss it.  Is this an act thatyou should perform?  Not necessarily.  Is this an act thatMax would perform professionally?  No.  And this is statedin the discussion sections.  But this is a valid, thoughtfulexcercise that gives a raison d’etre to discussing theperformance of mentalism, examining the history of certainprinciples of mentalism, and peering into the mind of one ofmentalism’s (and magic’s) most knowledgeable and experiencedperformers.  For that, this disc is invaluable.The blurb, unfortunately, is not that specific as to thecontents.  Let me detail them.  On Disc 1, you get the act,the extended version of the act, a discussion with Max andMichael Weber of mentalism and the act in general, andanother “hidden” section that contains one of the mostvaluable pieces of the disc.  I won’t spoil the surprise,but Max mentions how to access it at the very end of Disc 2.The act contains six effects.  The first is DisposableColor, which purchasers of the Color Books or Prism shouldbe familiar with.  The second effect dealing with uncannilymatching thought-of numbers, The Nile Derivation, is similarto a piece that Annemann made famous, although the effect’sorigins actually predate him.  Then there’s a synchronisticwatch effect entitled Synchrostic.  The fourth effect isAstrologous, where two randomly chosen people end upmatching their astrological signs.  Psychometier is apsychometry routine with spectator’s objects in envelopes. The act ends with Para-Sight, a magazine test, that Ipurchased as a limited release way back around 1980.  Iloved it then and I still think highly of it.  (And there isstill a handling touch or two that Max held back for thebenefit of those who bought it more than two decades ago.)The bonus effect, Just Chintz, is a Just Chance/Bank Nightroutine which is my favorite piece from the whole act. Unfortunately, Max used a gimmicked prop and thus it didn’tfit the restrictions.  This is why it’s included as a bonusroutine.  He does provide an alternative handling in theexplanation section on Disc 2, but that involves writingdown numbers.  And, because the Nile Derivation is presentin the act, it didn’t fit.  Max explains this on Disc 2.Disc 2 contains a thorough examination and history of theeffects.  Max is joined by Eugene Burger, Brandon Combs,Gene Matsuura, Stephen Minch, and Jan Rose.  Although it’snice to see those others present, Max is pretty thorough andreally didn’t need more than one person.  Jan, Gene, andBrandon say very little, if anything.  I can’t reallyremember what they said if they said anything.  Eugeneprovided some insights and comic relief, but he and Stephen,though they did contribute to the conversation more than theothers, didn’t say much more.As stated above, if you’re getting this disc to simply learnsome great mentalism routines, you’ll be sorelydisappointed.  That’s not what this disc is about.  Oh, whentaken individually, the effects are quite good.  Classic,actually.  But that’s not the point of this disc.  Thepurpose of this disc, as stated in my first paragraph, goesbeyond just demonstrating and teaching mentalism effects, asmost earlier discs have done.  For a novice mentalist, or amagician just turning to mentalism, this disc is a master’sclass in mentalism.  It teaches you that the need to focuson the attention to detail, though important in magic, iseven more important in mentalism.  And for the advanced orexperienced mentalist, it’s a chance to spend a few hourswith one of the top mentalist minds in the country. Of course, that last point may be moot.  This disc has soldincredibly well and so many of you already know this.  Butfor those who haven’t purchased this, it’s a must-have.  Andthat’s probably obvious, too.Enjoy