From: sirtwistalot@juno.com
To: laststraw@thelaststraw.com
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 17:56:42 -0800
Subject: assessing vaule

Hello everyone~

I recently posted a question, as to if anyone had heard of a video. I
have recieved many responses, "THANK YOU, eveyone who responded." Joel
makes a very valid point: 

"If the material here saves you from buying some props then it is easily
worth it.  More difficult is assessing avalue to learning from an
excellent entertainer and gaining new insight into
entertainment."

I have a pretty straight forward way of deciding a video or books value:

1. Does the item live up to the write up?
2. Is the material useable?

Tmyers does an OUTSTANDING  job on doing his write ups, you will pretty
much get what is in the write up. Sometimes it is what is not in the
write up, where one will have problems. A good example of this: John
Homles tape the people's choice (an outstanding tape, which I love). The
write in the catolog reads:

Some experience necessary! vol 2 pub. 1998 about 1 1/2 hour 

John asked all the twisters he could find on the internet what they would
like to learn. Here is the list.

Includes: Gun Totin' galute!, Honey lovin'n yeller Bear, Nap-attack
Orange cat, booby prixe space ship hat, Monster's Hairstyle by a hare
with style, a duck's alien (TOR)mentor!, Quick tip tid-bits, EAR! EAR!

(This tape was on clearance at Tymers, if it is still there get a copy,
worth the money)

When I got the tape, I discovered John uses glue on some of the figures.
Had that been in the write up, I would not have bought this tape (at the
time).

Does this tape live up to the write up? Yes, it does. You will learn to
make the above list. However some of them require glue. If you can deal
with that, good deal. But what if you couldn't? Let's see, you pay S and
H both ways, you are now out $8.00 for something you did not use, nor
will you. 


I personally feel the glue part should have been in the write up, maybe
others will disagree with me. The glue not withstanding, it is a good
tape. Along the same lines, I wish T would give a more complete list of
balloons used on a tape or book, so I can order both at the same time. I
ordered a book, that needed 160q's once, but it was not in the write up.
I had to order them on my next order. No, big deal.

As to my second standard, "Is the material useable?"  I would not use
most of this tape for a line with  the exception of the Booby prize space
ship hat and the Monster's Hairstyle. But those two items alone have REAL
vaule and for those alone, it is worth the tape. Why? Simple, I can make
them fast and reduce them down to possession in short order. As to the
other stuff, all really good but would take me too much time for a line,
but I know I will them as nice gifts for people or I will make them in
more personal settings and just charge more ( I once got a free oil
change for a time consuming balloon, that I was making because, I had
time to kill)

The write up on the 20 minutes with a balloon reads like, a to good to be
true ad. Will it live up to my two standards, which are not all that
high? I do not know? I do know,  this one tape runs a little over $20
more than most balloon tapes. The jury is still out.

Those are my standards at any rate.

Just me Sir T
Vegan's understand that gentleness cannot be a product of violence,
harmony cannot be a product of strife, and peace cannot be a product of
contention and conflict.