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Because the ads I've seen for the Erdnase project by Madison are so terrible, and so cringeworthy, I have to ask in all earnest; Is that real? Given the cast of characters around here I would normally just take it as a joke, but I'm really not sure.

It's right from his PDF, which he calls 'annotated'.
About the videos, I couldn't go over 45min. The explanations are hard to bear. Me, Myself, I, Me, I am, Myself, Me. 10 minutes to explain you why he uses a mat designed by a mate of his (available at blablabla.com).
That people can spend $100 for it just goes beyond my brain cells.
But for your information, I already ran across a few young guys calling him a genius. A guy turning the Magic into something brand new... Go figure!!

Absolutely ridiculous.

It's not ridiculous, it's 'pure genius' (quoting guys from his website, youtube, facebook, etc.).

@AMcD:
I am starting to get a slight impression, just a tad of a hint that you might not hold Madison and what he does in the highest regard and possibly doubt his true genius.
I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I detect a very slight inkling of disbelieve on your part as to Madison’s accomplishment and ability and perhaps a little envy of his wonderful personality and classy demeanor.
As I say, it is just a guess on my part and can offer no evidentiary substantiation for that assumption, it is just really a feeling on my part.
However, no doubt I am mistaken on that.

From a technical point of view, he's free to do whatever he feels like to do. After all, if some people buy his material, it adds some credit to his behaviour. We live a period of time where money is everything; you make money, you're right. Personally, I'm astonished that people can buy such a poor material, but, again, everyone is free. Everyone makes his own decisions and choices.
What I don't like is his constant an permanent boasting. He's been a former card cheat, he is the best, blablabla. This gets me a bit confused. I'm from the old school and from it, when you talk you have to backup your words with facts. Showdown!
You're good and you say it? I have no problem with it. You have done tremendous things and you boast about if? I'm still okay with it. But when you're not, what's the point to brag? Everyone can see that he's not good at all.
But what amazes me is that all his boasting is just an empty shell. If I'm not mistaken, he's born in 1979, December. He said he gave up gambling in 1998, after almost dying because people caught him cheating. Which leaves us in front of a terrific card cheat career he stopped at... 18 years of age. In what game was he playing in UK at 18 years of age (and less)? Certainly not in pubs, clubs, casinos, etc. Private games? -> LOL. Backyard games, with drug dealers pushing 5 large buy-in? -> LOL again. He probably had an astounding experience playing Pokemon games, but it does not qualify him as a serious card cheat.
The guy is not an idiot, when he explains for instance, you can see that he can talk. But why does he play that stupid role? What a stupid acting! When he asks people who the !@#$ they are because him, he is Daniel Madison, does he realize that he is pathetic? That he is insulting all magicians, card players, cheats, etc.? Say he would be 20 years old, okay, part of the game. But he's a groan up man now...
Again, he does whatever he feels like to do, and good luck to him. If people like it, good for them. If writing four letters insults 5 times per page makes you a genius for the young guys, I certainly regret it, but that's the way it is working right now.
Hmm, maybe I'm gonna name my next opus 'you f* sosn of f* b* are f* f*. Gonna f* show ya f* how to f* manipulate da f* f* pasteboards. F* yeah'. Waddya think dood?

His whole character/persona cracks me up, because if you stop and think about it for a minute, Daniel Madison is the *last* person you'd want to learn cheating moves from. *Supposedly* (according to Madison) he saw some Steve Forte special on TV when he was a teenager and then spent a while playing with cards. Didn't read any books or anything until he had figured out how to deal bottoms, etc (if you've seen his bottom deal, it's not hard to believe that it's something a teenager came up with on his own). Then he went and was playing in some big 'underground' games for 6 months to a year until he got his ass kicked for making a bad move, and he moved into magic after that.
So IF you believe that (and lets say that you do for the sake of argument), there's a guy who spent say 6 months actually moving under fire, and then he got caught and has been doing magic for say 17 years. Why would you ever want to learn cheating moves from a dude who had 6 months of experience 2 decades ago that ended with him catching a beating? The guy you want to learn moves from is the guy who's been getting the money for 2 decades and decides to do something else, not the guy who tried it on the weekends and then moved on to card-corner-to-impossible-location. But, I guess that guy doesn't work for ellusionist, so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
'BUT!' -- I hear you say -- 'maybe he's been hustling on the side for 20 years and now he's really good!' Really? The dude has card tattoos all over his hands. Why would you ever sit down to a real money game with a guy who has freaking card reveals all over his hands and arms (and 1902 across his knuckles). Beyond that, it's trivial to google the guy (I imagine that in real life he walks up to a coffee shop and says 'I AM DANIEL MADISON, and I want a latte') and find out that he works for a magic company. The only people Madison has been playing cards with in the last two decades are fanboys who want to see hit (terrible) bottom deals in person and post about it on Instagram.
It's a character. I get it. He's trying to be the edgier Tyler Durden of magic, and part of that is the 'former cheat who's here to teach you the REAL WORK' story, but it's just so... over the top to defy any possibility of reality for more than a few seconds. If he was an unremarkable, quiet dude with no identifying features, who you wouldn't notice in a room or be able to pick out of a line up, who kept his face out of frame most of the time, and just sat down and walked through the nuances of moves and when/how they can be used, I think that would be way more believable and interesting.
I'm going to take the 8 hours that I could have watched him talk about how awesome he is, and use that time to work on my bottoms, which can always use more time.

The project is NOT an 'annotated' version of Erdnase although it may seem like it is.
DM explicity says this is the stuff he learned, understood and created WHILE studying Erdnase. It's HIS stuff, not Erdnase's.
It is not a study on Erdnase; it's rather conclusions obtained from studying Erdnase.

Looks like more a study on Erdnase's book than the Apollo XI landing to me. That said, I don't belong to the young generation, I don't have tattoos, I don't insult people, and I don't spit on the people who were there and did thing before me. Maybe I can't understand that a project mentioning Erdnase 25 times per minute is not about Erdnase.

www.arnoldmcdonald.org

The screenshot of his annotated erdnase PDF shows DM has zero respect to his customers. Besides the foul language, as least he should've typed things up so people can actually read it.

Your post, complete with CAPITAL letters is fundamentally misinformed, and (quite frankly) just plain wrong.
Your attempt to teach us all a lesson has (unfortunately) completely failed.

Madison is annotating and not simply explaining what he learned.
Here are three dictionary explanations as to what annotating means to avoid confusion:

So...Madison is annotating.
Even with the profanity and rambling, it still seems to be defined as annotating.
If he wanted to simply explain what he learned, he would have to write a separate treatise or report.

@ Maxyedid:
It appears you may be a Madison fan and have purchased his material. That's fine.
Out of curiosity, what have you learned from Madison? I am not being critical by asking this question. I am really interested, objectively speaking, as to what you learned and what you liked about him and his writing/speaking style. I realize that Madison has his followers and I am interested in learning why they follow him and what benefit they derive?
Once again, this is not meant to criticize but I am really curious.

Cag,
They follow him because this generation is completely wasted! Check DM's youtube, website, etc. Provided posts are genuine, it just goes beyond comprehension. He's called a genius, a pure personality, what he does is gold, he's awesome, and so on.
The young guys don't read. How do you want them to know about Derek Dingle, Dai Vernon, Larry Jenning or Ricky Jay? Training is boring, learning is tiresome. Watching videos is all they can do. Take a clown, dress him like a tramp, add profanity and then you have it, the hero of modern times.
I know that young guys offending old farts is a recipe known since ancient Egypt times, but, so far, when a new generation wanted to replace the old one, they brought, talent, creativity, etc. But now, it's just a matter of attitude, image. Skills, talent, have nothing to do. Switch your TV on and take a look at all those contests... Guys become millionaires pretending they sing but they don't know how to play an instrument, they don't even know music, some does not even sing, it's a computer which does the job! Some girls become stars just because they say profanity on TV...
DM is perfect for them. They benefit nothing out of him, but he makes the buzz, therefore he's cool and awesome.

There is no difference between a magician claiming he is a Dragon or a Cardsharp. It is simply patter which one goes along with, without question, to enter the spirit of the thing for one’s amusement. Clearly you guys don’t get magic at all. We suggest that you boys read Our Magic by Maskelyne and Devant and then you might get it. In the meantime you might want to ask are questioning the credentials of Dragons, Cardsharps and or anything else a magician claims to be.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy

I read Maskelyne, Devant and co. I didn't notice any profanity, insult or bullcrap.

So what? Profanity, insult or bullcrap are part and parcel of many comedy acts.
Magic derives its humor from its absurdity. Think about for a moment.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy

You are factually correct that there is an 'annotated version' of Erdnase in PDF form
HOWEVER
at the beginning of the first video, Daniel states the following words:
'As I keep saying, this isn't me teaching Erdnase; is teaching what *I* took from Erdnase and how I made it my own thing, that's why is called Erdnase BY Madison'.
I'm not necesarily a Daniel Madison fan, however, I do respect creative output. Daniel has created and contributed many wonderful tricks, sleights and methods which are/were enjoyed by many. Even David Blaine used on television one of Madison's creations.
I believe he has earned a somewhat important place in magic and has left an important impression.
As I said, I don't feel there is clarity on what exactly are we talking about or discussing.
I believe one has to separate content and form. The use of profanity is a subjective decision and if you like it or not is your problem, however, the use of profanity does not change the more objective quality of the work.
On what exactly are you upset about? Is it about the promo, the language, the profanity, Daniel's image and character...?

Creativity... lol. No, wait! L-O-L!
He left an important impression, hold on: R-O-T-F-L.
I'm not upset, he does what he feels like to do. And if battalions of brainless newbies find it cool to buy his material because he's a cool dude, I'm okay with it.
What I don't like is his constant bragging and boasting. Like, he was a card cheat. Yeah sure, he was. He stopped his tremendous career at the age of 18 years of age! I hate that kind of talking.
@tommy. Looks like you defend him... because he is English?

You are talking about a magician but you do not know what a magician does and that is your problem. Look you say Daniel Madison is making an absurd claim! You don’t know it is a magician’s job to make absurd claims. Look you say Daniel Madison is using profanity! As if anybody in anybody in the fraternity gives a ****.

If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy