The Magic Yeti

DVD Review: V2F by G (DVD) Review

2010-10-03T23:00:00.004-05:00

V2F is very visual vanish or transformation of a signed card followed by a card to impossible location. What you are buying are two "moves" and a few routines and ideas built around these two moves. The two moves are the vanish and a clever method for a card fold (I don't think I'm giving anything away because the demo clearly shows a card folded in quarters). The vanish is simply stunning and the card fold is very deceptive.

Marketing Fluff

"MELT any card with just a wave of your hand. Any deck. Anytime. Anywhere.

Imagine you are caught up to perform something in unexpected situation, and your friend hand you a beat up deck from a bar... Simply have a spectator sign a card, you visually vanish the card, and make the card reappear in your OR EVEN SPECTATOR'S WALLET!!

Visually vanish a signed card and make the card reappear in your OR EVEN SPECTATOR'S WALLET!!

1. Use borrowed deck
2. No Gimmick/Impromptu
3. Perform Surrounded
4. It's a card to any wallet effect without expensive wallet! "

Is the marketing fluff farce or fact? I'm pleased to say it does just about everything it claims to do.

Degree of Difficulty

Moderate to difficult. Easy to do poorly. Hard to perform it effortlessly. First, prepare to burn a few decks of cards perfecting the V2F move. Every time you execute the move you will destroy a card - should be fairly obvious from the demo video. It is rare that I write a review without having performed the effect for real people but I will admit that I haven't perfected this yet. I plan to practice this move until it is perfect before performing for a real audience and I hope you will too.

Teaching

The teaching is good but not great. The teaching segments are silent except for the music and with subtitles to explain the details over the move. You do get some good over the shoulder angles to learn from. G is pretty clear in these segments however I wish there was more detail on the subtleties of the V2F move. It's hard to explain without exposing the method but I found it a bit difficult to find where the selected card is in relation to my right hand when beginning the move and how to hold the deck during the vanish.

Quantity of Effects

I've seen a couple reviews that knock the DVD for lack of material and being overpriced. I don't agree or disagree. I think this depends on why you purchased the V2F. If you are looking for a killer ambitious card sequence, a nice, no-palm card to impossible location or you are struggling to learn the Mercury card fold, V2F may be pure gold. I fall into that category.

It's not a long DVD but I think there is reasonably good value. Here's what you get:

Card to Shoe routine - this is the basic effect and it's very good. Perhaps not a complete routine but makes a great climax for any number of routines.

Ambitious Card phase - G shows you a pretty standard ACR sequence using Marlo's tilt move. Then applies V2F for the climax

Card Under Wallet routine - this is the full length V2F routine. This is a multi-phase routine where the signed, selected card vanishes and re-appears under your wallet. The next phase is where the entire deck disappears except for the selected card. The deck reappears under the wallet. The climax is V2F Card to Shoe. A very nice routine.

Bonus applications:

G quickly teaches several other applications (not full routines) of the V2F move including a torn and restored card, a color change with or without a DF card and finally an "invisible" deck. This is not THE invisible deck that you're thinking of - it is using the V2F move with an Omni Deck (a clear, arcylic deck) to turn a deck of cards invisible.

G Coin Matrix

G throws in an impromptu coin matrix routine. I haven't tried it but it looks pretty good. Four coins instantly assemble under one hand. Like many other coin matrices, this probably requires a pliable, quiet surface to perform on.

Quality of Effects

V2F is pretty impressive. The simplicity of the move is rather genius. It is hard to believe that no-one thought of this before G. Perhaps they had and it just never became a popular move.

The reason I purchased V2F is because I immediately recognized the application of the moves. I've been working on a card-to-ring box effect (ala Tommy Wonder) and V2F has enormous potential in an ACR climax sequence. I think V2F would fry people in conjuction with John Kennedy's Mystery Box prop.

Production Quality

Excellent. Music is tasteful and not too repetitive. Video is clear and the angles are good.

Overall: 7/10

If you're looking for a super visual card effect, a nice impromptu card-to-impossible location, or an alternative card fold method then V2F is for you. I knocked off a couple points for G's lack of explanation on the finer points of the move and the brevity of the DVD. It is perhaps a bit overpriced for the average amateur mage (like me). Then again, if I can weave V2F into my ultimate ACR it will have been worth several times what I paid for it. Only time will tell if this is a keeper or a sleeper.

Note: The card box color change is not taught. It should be obvious how it is done after watching the DVD. The problem is that you'll need to destroy a card case each time you perform the effect or have custom cards printed that look like a card case.

Counthesaurus by Jon Racherbaumer (book)

2010-04-22T13:41:00.001-05:00

I'm a packet trick junkie. After a long hiatus from magic, I returned to packet tricks with a vengence. As my interest in false counts and displays began when I started to create my own own false counts and packet tricks. I sought more resources and began to discover that some of "my" creations had already been published long ago. Independently creating a count has it's advantages though - like developing subtleties, twists and new uses for these counts. Because I was accumulating so many false counts I was starting to forget some of the ones I had learned. I began to record my counts in journal so that I could easily locate and refresh my memory on each count.

Through all of this research on false counts, I came to learn about the two popular books on false counts. The first was Counts, Cuts, Moves and Subtlety by Jerry Menzter. Menzter's book is a small but useful reference on packet trick sleights. The second book was by Jon Racherbaumer called Counthesaurus. Somewhere along the way I also discovered Denis Behr's web-based database of magic (http://archive.denisbehr.de) as a resource to credit and locate published card sleights. I finally broke down and purchased Counthesaurus as a Christmas present to myself. I've spent some quality time with this fine book over the last year.

Racherbaumer states that this is not a book that you will just work through but a resource to look up a count or refresh your knowledge of a count as needed. Of course, being a false count nerd, I've worked through most of the book. Racherbaumer's byline for the books is "An Abecedarian Handbook of False Counts and Displays" which apparently refers to the alphabetical listing of the things taught in the book. The book is spiral bound printed mainly in black and white although there are some color photographs at the end of the book. Although I perfer a hardcover book, the spiral binding is of great benefit when laying open during a heavy study session.

First and foremost, this is an excellent resource that is a great addition to any card magic library. I can recommend this wholeheartedly. You will not find tricks in this book (well not quite). Racherbaumer meant this project as a reference book to be used like a dictionary when needed. Racherbaumer teaches over 80 sleights across over 200 pages with over 200 pictures. He provides some very interesting history and credits liberally along the way. This only left me wanting more detail!

I do have some very minor nitpicking. The teaching is rather sparse in some places. The sleights are described in a vacuum so that you don't always have context to how they might be used. However, Racherbaumer does claim that this is a look-up type reference book so I guess he is assuming that you already have an effect in mind when you reach for his book. Although there is some variations listed, most sleights are just breifly described with no extraneous details. Having studied false counts for a few years now, the are an endless number of variations to each sleight. Some of the counts were taught differently than from other sources I had learned the sleight from.

Overall, the teaching is good and we're lucky to have someone of Jon's caliber to capture the special subject area of false counts and displays in Counthesaurus. This is by no means an exhaustive collection of all false counts and packet trick sleights - not even close. However, it is probably the best single resource published at this time (perhaps I can change that). Racherbaumer covers many popular displays and therefore a good resource for packet trick consumers and creators. Highly recommended.

The Royal Scam (Packet Trick)

2009-07-02T23:45:00.003-05:00

Trick/DVD Review: The Royal Scam

I've had people ask me what is my favorite trick to perform. There are a lot of great tricks but if I had to pick one card trick it would be Twisted Sisters by John Bannon. The reason is that the trick has not one, but three incredible climaxes. It consistently gets jaws to drop in disbelief. So when my local magic shop got a copy of Bannon's The Royal Scam, I was quick to grab a copy. I paid $20 but you can get it for under $15 on-line.

The Royal Scam is a packet trick and a damn good one. If you are a packet nut - this should be in your collection. The trick comes with a DVD as well as the cards required for the trick.

Marketing Fluff

The magician displays several Aces of Spades with the same back design. Explaining how he practices with all the same card, he shows that adding a face-up card can cause the whole pack to turn face up, and vice-versa.

While moves are nice, he shows that while moves misdirect you, he took the opportunity to switch in several cards with various back designs. Of course, in order to win money, several other cards change to a Royal Flush in spades. Ends absolutely clean and examinable!

Bannon's brilliant handling is explained fully on the enclosed DVD, which includes a downloadable e-book in PDF format. Gaffed cards included.

I'm not sure why the fluff states that you get "gaffed" cards because the cards are completely normal - although some have different back designs. The trick is completely examinable at the end.

Degree of Difficulty

Intermediate to Advanced. I had this down in one night and performed it the next day to the amazement of my normally skeptical family. So why would I rate the difficulty intermediate to advanced? Because, I am a false count freak so these counts were fairly easy to learn. If you're Elmsley Count is weak you may have some difficulty. Bannon does teach the Elmsley Count in the "More" section of the DVD. Lastly, the routine is fairly involved although once you get the repetitions figured out, it's not too bad.

Teaching

The instructional material is top notch. John Bannon is a very good teacher. He runs through the Elmsley Count fast but it is covered in great detail in the "More" section. In fact, he does a great job teaching the Elmsley and the covers some sublety that students of false counts will appreciate. Bannon credits liberally along the way and there is even a "Credits" section on the DVD that provides the creator, the move, the year and the source or publisher.

Provided on the DVD is an e-Book (PDF file) that provides even more detail into the credits, the packet set-up is deatiled and the complete patter is provided.

Quantity of Effects

Well, you're buying a packet trick so you get a packet trick. But wait, there's more! Bannon throws in a nifty trick called Living Is Easy. So here's what you'll learn:

The Royal Scam
Hamman Count
Elmsley Count (aka Ghost Count)
Takagi Count
OPEC (Out of Position Elmsley Count)
Glide (as an alternative to the Hamman Count)

Living Is Easy
Marlo Switch as a control (very cool!)
Slip Shuffle
Tilt move

Quality of Effects

The Royal Scam is an immediate addition to your repertoire. It is easy to perform (assuming your counts are good) and has an astounding ending. It is one of those trick like the Color Monte where the spectator just doesn't see it coming. The climaxes are going to fry people's minds.

I'm sure Bannon has been called a genius with packet tricks. He may be, but what I see is a lot of hard work and experimentation to perfect this little masterpiece. I can't imagine not using this as much as Twisted Sisters.

The quality of the e-Book is top notch. It is well written, the pictures are clear and the patter is excellent.

The quality of the card stock is standard Bicycle stock and the odd-backed cards are beautiful and colorful.

Production Quality

Most packet tricks do not come with a DVD. The production is solid. The menus are clear and easy to use. The quality of the video is good excellent.

My one complaint...the music is insufferable! The DVD constantly loops this depressing, morose theme. My daughter walked in as I watch and asked "why does that guy look so unhappy?" I don't think Bannon was unhappy! The music sounded like someone just died. And why play it so loud during the instructional material? Why play any music during the instructional material?

Overall: 10/10

Yes, a rare 10 out of 10. A great trick that you WILL use for years to come. High quality cards and solid teaching. The DVD is a bonus and the e-Book is a double bonus. Bannon throws is an additional trick...all for under $20 bucks. Life is good!

World's Greatest Magic - Cups & Balls Volume 1 (DVD)

2009-05-23T22:51:00.004-05:00

"I consider no man to be a magician until he can adequately perform the cups and balls." Harry Houdini.

There is probably no other routine in magic that exercises more of the classic effects as the cups and balls. Even if one never performs the cups and balls, to practice it will improve your understanding of magic and hone many skills.

I love the cups and balls as a spectator. I don't believe I've ever performed it for others but I remains one of my favorite routines to practice. The reason I don't perform it is because I haven't yet came up with a routine that I can call my own. I'm still looking for the right routine, the right sequences and the right theme or motivation.

As a big fan of the World's Greatest Magic DVDs, I could never understand why L&L Publishing didn't have a Secrets of the Cups & Balls DVD. Such a DVD is exactly what I'm looking for. I alreadty have an encyclodepic DVD set with over 70 moves and sleights. But what I need now is an resource of routines by the best C&B handlers. I need some inspiration!

L&L Publishing has finally come to my rescue with three DVDs of Cups & Balls taken from their vast catalog of magic. I've watched Volume 1 many times and my wrists are sore from flinging those cups and little balls for hours and hours. Here's my review...

Marketing Fluff

Here is the marketing fluff from L&L's DVD case...

"What can one say about the Cups and Balls? It's an iconic trick and has become almost as synonymous with the conjurer's art as the proverbial rabbit from hat. It's certainly one of magic's oldest tricks. But why has this trick endured the centuries? For one thing, a Cups and Balls routine can incorporate many different effects – there can be vanishes, appearances, transpositions and productions. For another, it's always been regarded within the magic world as a kind of measuring stick of a performer's ability."

"The other notable thing about the Cups and Balls is the amount of individuality that magicians can bring to their interpretation of the effect and you'll find no better example of that than the seven performers you'll meet on this DVD. Tommy Wonder begins our journey with his wonderfully self-contained routine with just two cups and two surprise productions and all with no pocket loads! Frank Garcia offers a wide variety of various moves and bits of business with the Cups and Balls, ready to add to your favorite routine, while Dan Fleshman demonstrates his famous sequence with the Cups and Balls, including his amazing five-ball "Fleshman Flash" final load. Aldo Colombini is up next, demonstrating an elegant silent routine that he used to win a prize at FISM followed by the Professor himself, Dai Vernon, along with Michael Ammar, Gary Ouellet and Steve Freeman, discussing and dissecting perhaps the most popular Cups and Balls routine in magic, the Dai Vernon Cups and Balls. Alex Elmsley is next with a great routine that climaxes with a production you have to see to believe while Ross Bertram presents a multi-phase routine with many original sequences that will fool even seasoned Cups and Balls workers."

"The Cups and Balls should be studied, if not performed, by every magician and this DVD is an excellent starting point for new students and a wonderful reference tool even for those who have some experience with this foundational effect."

Degree of Difficulty

Moderate to difficult. Althought the basic Vernon routine is taught in detail, this is not the DVD to learn the cups and balls from. There are better introductory texts such as Mark Wlison's Complete Course in Magic. There are also DVDs available such as Michael Ammar's The Complete Cups and Balls or Eddy Ray's Complete Course in Magic with Cups & Balls. These resources will start with the basics, the props, the vanishes, the palms, and all of the classic sequences and final load techniques.

However, if you're a beginner, I would still whole heartedly recommend getting this DVD just for the sheer entertainment and wisdom you get.

Teaching

You must remember that this is a compilation DVD so you get the benefit of multiple teachers. These guys are all great teachers. Plus you get to hear the Professor, Dai Vernon, pass along his vast expertise with the cups and balls.

Remember the cups and balls are a great teaching vehicle. You'll learn misdirection, vanishes, productions, appearances, transpostions, and almost every effect in magic except levitations!

Quantity of Effects

There is over two hours of cups and balls nirvana from at least eight master magicians. Either Tommy Wonder's or Colombini's routine is worth the price of the admission alone.

Quality of Effects

Let's take a look at each routine on the DVD:

Two Cup Routine – Tommy Wonder

So many people consider Wonder's routine the pinnacle of the Cups & Balls. Tommy solved the problem of dealing with final loads without requiring a coat, deep pockets, a servant or your lap. He solved the problem by using the cups bag and an attached pom-pom tie as the final loads. The final loads are on the table at all times in full view. Wonder is a master of misdirection. Even when you know what he is going to do it is still very hard to catch him because the misdirection is so strong and his audience management is so nuanced.

This routine has a high degree of difficulty, at least to execute it to the perfection of Wonder. You'll also need to acquire a specialty bag and poms.

Cups and Balls – Frank Garcia

Garcia doesn't really show a routine but demonstrates a series of cups and balls sequences. After he demonstrates the sequences he goes into a teaching segment. The moves are rather strong.

Cups and Balls – Dan Fleshman

Fleshman does a seated routine with mini baseballs. The final loads are five baseballs.

Award Winning Cups and Balls – Aldo Colombini

I didn't think I would ever find a Cups and Balls routine I like more that the Wonder routine. Perhaps this is it. This is a beautiful routine that Colombini does without patter. His Can-Can move is worth the price of the DVD.

Classic Cups and Balls Explanation – Dai Vernon

Vernon's routine is the gold standard of the cups and balls. In this vintage footage, Vernon doesn't perform the routine as he no longer has the required dexterity. However, Dai was able to demonstrate many of his signiture moves including his wand spins and vanishes. At first, I got a little bored as I know a lot of his moves. However, as I took the time to listen, you really pick up a lot of wisdom and great advice on these moves.

There is no demonstration of Vernon's routine. This is purely a teaching segment. Micheal Ammar teaches Vernon's sequences as Vernon narrates and expands the basic instruction that Ammar provides. This is a master class on cups and balls.

The Cups and Balls – Alex Elmsley

As big of a fan of Alex Elmsley that I am, I have to say that this is the weakest routine on the disk. His moves are sometimes smooth and sometimes rough and unpolished. For example, his cup through cup move is really rough. Vernon, even in his advanced age did it flawlessly.

This final sequence is what makes Elmsley's routine different. He produces a stream of salt from the final stack of cups - which he pours on a newspaper. He picks up the newspaper and pours the salt back into the cups; filling all three cups. The problem with this is that the initial pour of salt takes so long that it created an ackward moment with the audience. Although this is the weakest routine, I still love Elmsley's creativity!

Egyptian Cups and Balls – Ross Bertram

Great ending to a strong DVD. I'm guessing that this old film footage is from an old television show. The film opens with a little Egyptian magic history reminiscent of an old Disney travelogue. Once the magic starts, you get a close up of Bertram's copper cups - even in this old footage you can tell these are really beautiful cups. His wand is a carved wooden snake. He rhythmically moves the wand to animate the snake as he works his routine. Really a wonderful touch that captures the Egyptian theme better than any routine I've ever seen.

The routine is set to middle-eastern music with no patter. The black balls are quite small and I'm guessing made out of wood. His production of each ball from the tip of the snake's head was a move I've never seen. The same with some of his wand vanishes - very creative and just a bit different.

He appears to classic palm these little balls in a few sequences for some stunning effects. He seems to use the classic palm to drop a ball onto the cup as he waves his hand over the cups. This isn't a misdirection move - he smoothly executes the drop with the heat on the cup and hand. You never really see Bertram's face until the very end of the routine. It's a lengthy routine but one that lovers of the cups and balls will appreciate. Sadly, there is no teaching segment for the Bertram segment.

Production Quality

A wide range of tape quality. Most of the footage is very good. Even the old film of Bertram is not bad considering the age of the film.

The rest is standard L&L Publishing menuing and production. In other words, pretty good.

Overall: 9/10

This is not the DVD to learn the cups and balls from. I learned a plethora of great cups and ball sequences from the encyclopedic Eddy Ray DVD set and the Ammar DVD set appears to be a favorite of magicians far and wide. Once you've worked with the cups and balls you'll find this is a valuable resource to examine different styles and learn some unique moves. Or if you just want to sit back and enjoy some great magic you'll find it a great way to spend an evening.

Packet Trick Picks (DVD)

2009-04-23T14:56:00.003-05:00

DVD Review: Packet Trick Picks by Aldo Colombini

I love packet tricks. So I must preface my review by admitting that I am a packet trick addict. So I decided to check out Aldo Columbini's Packet Trick Picks DVD. This may be the best $10 bucks I've ever spent - well, actually only $9.30 from Penguin Magic.

In fact, all of the tricks and DVDs from the Colombini's are $10. Wow! Their web site has a ton of great looking material that I'm sure to order from in the future.

Marketing Fluff

There is very little marketing fluff to speak of. I learned of Colombini's "everything for $10" deals from the Magic Cafe.

Degree of Difficulty

Easy to intermediate. Several of these tricks are almost self-working but quite a few require false counts and displays which are taught on the DVD.

Teaching

Very good. You'll need to know the Elmsley Count; a false count that appears to show four cards while hiding the face or back of one card. Colombini does teach the Elmsley count at the beginning of the DVD. Aldo does an adequate job teaching the Elmsley and you'll manage to learn it - however there are better places to learn the Elmsley Count. He starts out teaching the Elmsley with a 5 card packet counting into his right hand - probably not the most standard Elmsley you'll ever see. I'm guessing most intermediate card slingers already have a version of the Elmsley that they are comfortable with.

Aldo also teaches the Hamman Count, the Jordan Count and his Laughing Count (which is a cool alternative to the Hamman Count).

The teaching of the tricks are superb. He credits the creator of each routine.

Quantity of Effects

Count 'em, 10 tricks! That's a buck a piece for some really strong magic.

Prediction Gone Wild (Cameron Francis)
Requires Double Blanks, Blank Backs

A card is freely selected from a deck of cards and placed on top of the deck. The mage displays four blank cards with four different card predictions written on the blank faces of the cards. One of the hand written cards has predicted the selected card. But now all of the hand written cards have the same card written on the face. Even stranger, the selected card is no longer on the top of the deck but it the middle of the packet of hand written cards. It sounds odd but it's a pretty strong effect.

Boxing Aces (Columbini)
An ungimmicked ace assembly routine. Not my favorite assembly either but a nice routine nonetheless. The aces assemble in an empty card box or breast pocket.

A Trick for Jack Parker (Paul Gordon)
Two 5 card packets are displayed. The spectator selects on packet and the other is set to the side. Spectator mentally selects a card from the remaining packet. After a few strange shuffles, the spectators card appears, reversed in the middle of the packet. The packet that was not selected is a royal flush.

Klondyke Cato (Richard Vollmer)
This is a nifty, self working, impromtu prediction effect. You remove 10 cards in a random fashion from the deck. Mix up the 10 cards by dealing them face up or face down at the spectator's direction. This mixing procedure can be repeated as often as the spectator likes. The mentalist reveals 2 written predictions - the exact number of reversed cards and the exact count of the reversed card. I predict you'll use this effect!

Ghost Flight (Peter Duffie)
Requires Double Blanks, Blank Backs

This is the star of the DVD. It is a beautiful assembly routine with four queens. Each queen is placed in a packet of three blank cards (front and backs are blank). The queens disappear from the blanks...very magical looking. The four queens reappear under a placard that has been sitting on the table in full view of the audience.

Oils Well That Ends Well (Stephen Tucker)
Oil & water type routine. Packet of black and red cards are show. The black cards assemble together and four queens appear in place of the reds. Nice indeed.

Update - This continues to be a real gem. I've been playing with this for a few months and it is worth the price of the DVD alone.

Trifle (Columbini)
Man, the killer tricks just keep coming! Two packets are shown - four kings from a red deck and four kings from a blue deck. Spectator is asked to name a suit...say the hearts. The two kings of hearts are turned over to show that they are the only red-backed king in the blue packet and the only blue-backed king in the red packet. The cards are returned to their like-colored packets. With a magic word, the two kings of heart reappear back in their original location. This clever trick is hard to describe but very effective looking. This is likely to be one I use frequently.

Red Blues (Karl Fulves)
Another great packet trick that will test your Elmsley and Jordan counts. Spectator is asked to name any suit. The magician shows a packet of four cards where the named suit is the only suit that is face up. Any it is the only card that is the blue backed card. Furthermore, it is the only card Ace and the rest are Kings! No gaffed cards like in a gimmicked B'Wave or Twisted Sisters packet routine. Brilliant!

The Whitechapel Solution (Ryan Matney)
Yet another simple, self-working trick that by it self is rather dull. However, the provided Jack The Ripper patter makes this an interesting routine.

Minds In Session (Arthur Carter)
Starting with seven cards, the spectator selected cards to be turned over. All cards are blue-backed...until the last card remaining. It is turned over revealing a red-backed card as the last remaining card. Dirt simple...you probably already know how it's done!

Quality of Effects

The quality of these effects are really strong. Because many of the packet tricks are not gimmicked, you'll add at least a couple of these gems into you working repertoire.

Production Quality

It's a fairly low-budget affair as you might expect from a $10 DVD but the video quality is crisp and clear. The menu structure is very simple. For some reason, I can't skip ahead to the next track (trick). You have to go back to the menu to advance to the next trick. The audio quality is fine except that the goofy musical track that plays during the menu is three times as loud as the narration which is annoying when you have to go back to the menu to advance.

Overall: 8/10

This DVD scores very high on value. At $10, you'll find some really good material to infuse into your walk around sets. The only down side is that you'll need to invest in some blanks and blank-backed cards in order to perform all of the effects on this DVD. I'm sure to order more from the Colombini $10 store in the future. Bravo Aldo!

World's Greatest Magic: Matrix/Coin Assemblies (DVD)

2008-12-26T22:32:00.006-06:00

DVD Review: World's Greatest Magic - Matrix/Coin Assemblies

L&L Publishing has produced some of the world's best magic instructional DVDs in a series called the World's Greatest Magic by the World's Greatest Magicians. I'm a big fan of the series because each DVD focuses on a specific routine or prop that has become a classic in the history of legerdemain. These DVDs show some of the greatest living (and past) magicians performing and teaching their versions of the classic routine.

This time we look at the World's Greatest Magic Matrix/Coin Assemblies DVD. The DVD starts with the creator of the Matrix effect, Al Schneider, demonstrating and teaching the routine in his own words. The basic matrix routine is simple, yet striking. The magician positions four coins in a matrix (square) pattern. The magician then covers the four coins with four cards. One at a time, the coins magically gather under a single card.

Degree of Difficulty

Moderate to Expert. This really is a powerful effect that even a beginner can pull off with some practice. You really need a soft surface to work with though. I would suggest purchasing a close-up pad from a magic shop or on-line magic retailer for under $20. The pickup move that is required for all matrix routines is assisted by a little give in the surface. I have done the Johnny Thompson version using a dish towel so you could do that in a pinch or an impromptu setting.

Teaching

The teaching is fabulous - especially the classic Al Schneider routine as taught by Al Schneider.

Quantity of Effects

Al Schneider created this trick when he was just 17 years old showing that even a young mage can dream up magic that will stand the test of time. Schneider teaches the basic routine including the basic pick-up maneuver in great detail. Al covers some subtleties that he believes makes the effect more powerful. After a thorough explanation of his routine he covers some of his personal history of how it evolved. Then he goes on to show other pick-up maneuvers that have been magicians have came up with over the years. The DVD could end here and it would be worth twice what I paid ($18). Great stuff!

But wait, there's more!

Bill Malone's version
J.C. Wagner's Poor Man's Matrix
Harry Allen's Matrix
Aldo Colombini's Chink-a-Chink
Michael Ammar's Matrix
Johnny Thompson's Coin Assembly
Dan Fleshman's Matrix
Dan Harlan's Horror Matrix
Derek Dingle presents the Bertram Coin Assembly
Ross Bertram presents the Bertram Coin Assembly

Is that enough?

Quality of Effects

Every matrix offers some new angle on the routine. I'm not going to cover each matrix but I'll hit my favorites.

A coin matrix was one of the first coin tricks I learned. My version used a cloth towel or napkin and 2 dollar bills instead of 4 cards. This is a great impromptu/dinner table version of the matrix. The coin's are slide underneath the towel and penetrate through the towel. It has proven very effective for me. Johnny Thompson teaches a similar version with a handkerchief and cards.

Wagner's Poor Man's Matrix uses pennies - hence the "poor man's matrix." However he ends with the production of a jumbo penny under the stack of discarded cards. Then produces an even bigger jumbo penny.

Aldo Colombini's version is very clever. He really takes the one-ahead principle to a new level. He employs a clever gaff to execute a 3/4 of a matrix routine only to find that all coins have reversed back to the starting matrix position. Clever indeed!

Dan Fleshman starts with the Schneider matrix then follows up with a reverse matrix. The four coins literally appear back in their original position in a wink of the eye. Simply jaw dropping!

I love a good storytelling routine and Dan Harlan delivers a bloody good version called Horror Matrix. This is the story of 4 teenagers camping in the woods. Little do they know but a homicidal maniac has escaped from the local mental hospital. It's a great little version set to a horror theme perfect for adults and at Halloween time.

My favorite matrix is by Bill Malone. He delivers a two phase matrix that is filled with funny lines and blazing, fast magic. The first phase is the basic matrix. Malone's premise for the second phase is that he is going to expose the secret. Bill's explanation is hilarious and, of course, complete nonsense. The coins pop back and forth creating some magical mayhem before finally assembling under one card.

Dingle and Bertram's versions featured some sleight of hand vanishes and some tricky moves. However I thought they looked fishy in comparison to the more straight-forward handling of the steals and pick-ups.

Production Quality

The production is good. The DVD menus very straight-forward. The video quality is a mixed bag - mostly good but some of the video footage is very old - but that is to be expected when you are hitting the video archives to find versions from some of the older masters of the craft.

Overall: 9/10

So do you really need to learn 11 versions of the same routine? Of course not. However you'll find a cornucopia of matrix ideas and moves. If you watch closely, you will also discover dozens of moves and ideas that you could incorporate in other non-matrix coin & card tricks. For example, even though I really didn't like Ammar's version of the matrix, he teaches the Marlo Spider Vanish and some nice timing and misdirection elements. A much better version of the spider vanish that I had learned.

As with all L&L Publishing DVDs that I have purchased, this is an outstanding value and resource.

John Calvert Lecture - Part 2

2008-12-03T00:05:00.003-06:00

John & Tammy Calvert and Tim

Read John Calvert Lecture - Part 1 here

John opened the evening's magic with a Cigarette version of the Miser's dream. John used some clever devices to produce a stream of cigarettes to which he flung into the air for his assistant, Tammy, to catch in a stainless steel bowl. It would have been fun to see this routine back when you could do it with lit cigarettes but then I guess that is one of those magic items like thimbles that will eventually be relegated to the history books.

Mr. Calvert did two watch steals at different times during the performance and provided insights on how to divert the victim's attention through physical and shocking verbal cues. He did borrow a watch for a comedy routine that included him smashing the spectators watch with a hammer. The watch ended up inside of about eight nested boxes.

Tammy does a wonderful job of misdirecting the action throughout the watch routine. You can see that Tammy is as skilled at her job as John is at his. Not to mention that Tammy looks absolutely great! John did pass along his secrets to longitivity including good clean living and thinking like a young man.

One of Calvert's signiture acts is his comedy Spirit Cabinet. You may remember that the Davenport brothers popularized the Spirit Cabinet during the 1800's Spiritualism movement. The two brothers where bound and seated in a large wooden cabinet with a small window in the middle. Musical instruments strange noises could be heard and seen playing through the small window. Once the cabinet doors were thrown open, the Davenport boys were still tightly bound to their seats.

John turned the Spirit Cabinet into a hilarious routine. He invited Ricky Rowray, an accomplished deaf magician in our Ring, to assist him inside of the cabinet. Calvert was bound with ropes in a straight jacket like configuration. A square curtain formed the spirit cabinet and was lifted by assistants to completely surround the two inside. Immediately, pie tins and tamborines flew out from the cabinet. Next came Ricky's shirt, shoes and an oversized bra! The curtain was lowered to find Calvert with his criss-crossed arms tightly bound and Ricky sitting calmly; half undressed!

John's lecture wove together illusions, escapes, stories, methodologies and wisdom. He talked about the French Drop not looking realistic. Nobody takes a coin in that fashion. John simply used realistic movements and misdirection to pull off perfect coin vanishes. When he brought volunteers up to teach his technique he corrected the student by saying "no, now you're starting to do magic!" Implying, that we magicians too often look we are doing magic instead of doing normal things where magic just happens along the way. Sage advice indeed.

John Calvert Lecture - Part 1

2008-12-03T00:00:00.004-06:00

I have to admit that I didn't remember who John Calvert was when I saw his picture on the cover of the August 2008 issue of The Linking Ring magazine. I was fascinated by the cover story about this world famous magician. A quick review of my Illustrated History of Magic featured Mr. Calvert prominently in the later chapters. At 97 years young, John Calvert is a living legend in magic. When our IBM Ring heard that John and his lovely wife/assistant were passing through the Midwest on his way to an engagement at the Magic Castle, we were able to get him to swing into town to do a little magic and lecture.

Where does one even start to describe John Calvert? Gracious, funny, skilled, inspiring just to name a few adjectives. Calvert is a man who has been a world-famous magician who has performed in every corner of the globe. He began a career in movies decades before I born where he had been a movie star, a screenplay writer, a screen double, and director. John is a life long pilot, a stunt pilot and still flies acrobatically on occassion. He's been the owner operator of yachts and planes. He even displayed some skills in the chiropratic arts!

Out of the magic and wisdom John shared throughout the evening, his tales of his encounters with historical figures were the most fascinating to hear. Calvert is a man who has met and been friends with a huge list of famous actors, actresses and magicians. John described performing at a Hollywood party for stars like Danny Kaye and even using Gary Grant and Clark Gable as stooges during an impromptu magic show. His list of magician friends and acquitances included Blackstone, Cardini, Malini, Page, Kapps, Vernon and even saw Harlan Tarbell as a boy and became friends with Bess Houdini after Harry's death. Calvert has fratrenized with dozens of A-list performers from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s through today.

At 97, one might think that Mr. Calvert would feebly meander through simple tricks from his glory days. Hardly. This is a man who might been a step slower than in his youth but more than capable of dazzling a crowd. In fact, he challenged me and another strapping lad from the audience to a feat of strength (kind of like the traditional Festivus celebration for you Seinfeld fans). Try as we may, John was able to knock both of us off balance. At 97, this dude is strong!

Calvert started the evening by telling us that this is going to be the BEST show he has ever done. That is a winning attitude! John quipped that you never know, there might be a Hollywood agent in the crowd so always give your best performance. Later in the evening, John brought these comments full circle.

When Calvert happened to arrive in southern California to start his film career he happened to be at a magician friend's home (Jack Gwynne I believe) when a casting call came in for his friend. His friend was out of town doing series of magic shows on a west coast circuit so Calvert offered up his own name.

When he arrived at the audition, he found out that every other magician in the area had also been called. Yet the studio executive, without auditioning any of the magicians, told John he had the job. John naturally asked why he was being picked when no one had yet auditioned. The studio exec exclaimed that he had seen John already perform, in Kansas City several months earlier. It pays to perform your BEST show every night because you just never know who is in the audience!

Click to read John Calvert Part 2

World's Greatest Magic: Card To Wallet (DVD)

2008-08-07T23:40:00.004-05:00

World's Greatest Magic: Card To Wallet

One of the most beguiling effects in magic is "card to an impossible location;" card to shoe, card to pocket, card through window, card on ceiling just to name a few. One of the most stunning of the card-to effects would be the card to wallet (CTW). This DVD is a treasure trove of CTW effects by some of the best magi in the world.

This DVD is yet another fine release in the World's Greatest Magic by the World's Greatest Magicians (WGMBTWGM) series. This is the third DVD that I have purchased in this series and it won't be the last. L&L Publishing have taken the best routines from their catalog and created a themed set of DVDs. Each DVD focuses on a particular form of magic; linking rings, ambitious card, zombie ball, stand-up magic, etc. Incredibly, these DVDs are typically priced at $16-$18 per DVD!

Tim's Tip: If you don't already have a wallet, buy this DVD first and then decide which style of wallet is going to work for you. Each magician uses a different style wallet so you may end up needing 2 or 3 different wallets to pull off each routine. Realistically, you're only going to be able to do one CTW in your show. So watch the DVD a few times, pick the routine that fits your style the closest and purchase a wallet that works for that routine. I like the hip pocket, Fred Kaps style wallet the best and the Dan Fleshman routine.

Degree of Difficulty

Intermediate to Advanced. The sleights are not super, knuckle-busters but you'll need a lot of practice to polish these routines.

Teaching

Good to Great. I really enjoyed wathcing Alex Elmsley as he is a legendary figure in card magic. Eddie Tullock is perhaps the hardest to follow simply because of his age; but he's still very sharp and Micheal Ammar interviews Eddie on the finer points of his routine. Micheal Ammar also has his own routine on this DVD and appears or is mentioned is several other routines on the DVD.

Quality of Effects

Average to excellent. A couple average routines but they are a couple killer routines as well.

Quantity of Effects

Realistically, you're only going to use one of the seven CTW routines but you've got some great material to choose from.

Jon Mendoza starts the fun with the Bendix Bombshell. This trick relies on a himber style of which John doesn't really explain the mechanics because it is a marketed item. Even though this is a good routine, I think it is the weakest since there doesn't seem to be any motivation for the trick. It starts with two signed cards. Two other cards are in play and they make up a very basic two card transposition effect. Then the routine abruptly ends with the two signed cards revealed from a zippered compartment in the wallet.

Alexander De Cova presents his Professional Card to Wallet routine. DeCova does demo this for a studio audience so you get a condensed demo presentation of his effect. He gets a signed card from the spectator. De Cova explains that he has a (large) wallet with an enveloped letter from his friend. DeCova opens the wallet, opens the envelop and remove a letter and some varied, casino playing cards that his friend has sent. The signed card is the last card in the small stack of cards. It's a novel effect and the most elaborate set-up of the seven routines.

Micheal Ammar presents his Card in Wallet routine that is really a torn and restored card effect where the almost restored card appears in his un-gimmicked wallet. A spectator is asked to tear their selected card into eigths. The spectator is given a piece of the card as a reciept. Ammar paperclips the pieces together. A wave of the hand and the paperclips turn into a credit card. Hmmm....if the credit card is here then the card must be in my wallet. Cleanly and in full view, Ammar removes his wallet and produces the card. The card is restored except for the corner that the spectator is holding. As you would expect from Ammar, this is a very entertaining routine.

I'm not familiar with Eddie Tullock but apparently he specializes in tradeshow magic. This is a good routine but not my favorite. The specatator scans a quickly spread deck of cards and is asked think of any one card they see. Eddie guesses wrong the first time which gives him an oppurtunity to patter a bit and set up the climax. He then asks the spectator what their card really was. Eddie opens his wallet and removes their thought of card. I think this could be a winnner with a creative presentation. The wallet is un-gimmicked.

Dan Fleshman's Momma In My Wallet is my personal favorite routine on this disk because it is accessible (not too difficult) and has two nice effects. The trick is basically the Chicago Opener that ends with a CTW. The Chicago opener is a two phase routine. One minor problem, the card selected in the first phase has transformed into the second card. What happened to the first card? Fleshman attempts to tie up that loose end by revealing the card from a zippered compartment in his wallet. He has taken a classic trick in card magic and made it one phase better!

Alex Elmsley presents an ultra-fast signed CTW routine that looks pretty impossible. This is probably the most technically challenging routine but it te pay-off will be worth the effort.

Eric DeCamps presents the final routine which looks to have been filmed in the early 1980s.
Obviously DeCamps is extremely talented but I felt like I was watching Dean Martin do magic. Of course, this is obviously a very old video tape so perhaps his style played well back in the 80s. DeCamps instruction is very good though and he provides some great CTW tips and psychology. He has 3 spectators select cards with one of the specs signing the card. After shots the first two cards spinning into the air, he follows a great full deck vanish. This motivates the question; where is the third card? In the wallet of course. Old video and style aside, this is a well taught routine.

Production

Well the minor downside to a "greatest hits" format is that L&L Publishing is pulling material from many different productions from different time periods. Most of the clips are of good quality however the Eric DeCamps is very dated looking. You'll feel like humming the theme to VH-1's I Love The 80s.

The menu system is simple and very functional. L&L provides extensive previews from their product offerings.

Overall: 9/10

Yet another great addition to the WGMBTWGM series by L&L Publishing. The low price on these DVDs make them a great buy. Collect 'em all!

Counts Cuts Moves and Subtlety

2008-07-27T22:35:00.004-05:00

Counts Cuts Moves and Subtlety
A Book of Basic Card Techniques
By Jerry Mentzer

Cost: under $8 at Penguin

If I had a nickel for every time I see someone complaining about how hard the Elmsley Count is I would be rich...well maybe not rich but enough money to buy a new Cups and Balls set! These Elmsley-challenged folk need this little gem of a book to get them up and over the learning curve.

One of my favorite tricks is Twisted Sisters by John Bannon. It's a brilliant little packet trick that has 3 mind-blowing revelations. Sadly, I've seen some people state that they skip the Elmsley Count (EC) portion of the trick. Arrggg! The EC is what sells the trick, it takes a simple trick and turns it into a mind-melting, mental miracle of magic.

When using the EC in Twisted Sisters, the spectator sees 4 red-backed cards and 4 blue-backed cards. By the time the trick ends, two cards turn face up and also transposition colors. Without the Elmsley, the trick is boring.

For some, false counts come naturally. For others, they try and move on. False counts are a staple move in packet tricks and every cardician should know the basic counts. Counts can be quite challenging but with enough practice and this book, you'll handle any count; easy breezy!

Counts Cuts Moves and Subtlety by Jerry Mentzer is a reference guide. Copyright in 1977, this small book is on it's 14th printing. Although I don't own anything else by Jerry, he appears to be a prolific author on magical topics including the book on Card To Wallet.

You'll find no tricks in this book. However, learn the moves in this book and I'll bet you could create some great, original packet tricks in no time. Combine these moves with an assortment of specialty gaffed cards and you're creative juices will be flowing. Here is a little video review to go along with this blog review.

Degree of Difficulty

Intermediate to expert. Some people think learning the Elmsey is easy and some think it is hard. I think it's kind of in the middle. Easy to learn, hard to perfect. I learned the Elmsley Count in a couple days but it took countless evenings in front of the TV, doing hundreds of Elmsley/Jordan sequences, to execute these counts with confidence under pressure.

Quantity of Effects

There is a ton of good material in this book. Here is what you'll learn:

Undercuts and Reversals

Double Undercut - controlling a card to the top of the deck
Braue reversal - this is an awesome move. It appears to be a flourishy cut but it keeps the deck in order and yet reverses one or more cards in the deck.
Concealed Reversal - Yet another reversal

Counts Cuts and Subtlety

The Biddle Move - Secretly steal away a card from a count.
Hamman Count - Swapping two packets of cards during a count
Veeser Cont - Another way to do an Elmsley Count
Another Count - Starting position is identical to the Jordan Count but you end up in the starting position
Flustration Move - Show the front and backs of all cards in a packet but really only show the back (or front) of one card.
Haback Count - Combines the Hamman and Flustration
Olram Subtlety - Display several cards while one or more are hidden
Downs Change - I guess T. Nelson Downs occasionally picked up a deck of cards! I've seen this executed differently as a one card or even a two-card color change. This book shows the move as a way of tabling a card from a packet but changing it for a different card during the motion of tabling the card.
True or False - Yet another false count that disguises the number of cards you really have.

Elmsley, Jordan, Etc.

The Elmsley Count - the "Ghost Count" as Alex Elmsley made famous using the finger-tip method.
The Elmsley Count Comment - the author makes the point that you can using the EC "push/shuttle" of cards between the hands to count 3 cards as 4, or 4 cards as 5.
The Jordan Count - Older than the EC, the Jordan accomplishes the same as the EC but starting with the card on 4th position and ending int EC starting position.
The Siva Count - show 4 face-up cards while hiding a 5th card.
Open Count - a "fair" way to accomplish an Elmsley Count
Smile Count - Apparently 4 cards are shown on both sides - but you've concealed 3 sides.
Pairs Count - variation on the Smile Count
Spirit Count - using ESP cards. 4 cards appear identical when in fact you have 2 like cards and another 2 like cards.

Spreads

The Simple Spread - instead of counting cards, you are spreading a small packet while concealing a card. The bottom card is hiding the extra cards
The Back Spread - the top card is hiding the extra cards
Buckle Count - Spread using a buckle move
Ascanio Count - The Ascanio Count hides the third card in a packet of five. This is a brilliant move that all card slingers should learn at some point in their careers.

Production

The book is has excellent written instructions on the moves and ample photos of the key hand positions during the move. Mentzer does a good job of crediting each move to it's creator and sometimes the trick in which the move was first made popular.

My Parting Thoughts...

This book is a reference guide but not the definitive guide. There are some things missing, in particular, variations on the same move. For example, I purchased this book because I created a count and didn't know what the name of the count was. I was sure it had previously been invented as it seemed to be useful counterpart to the Elmsley Count.

It turns out the the count I came up with was called the Jordan Count. I'd heard of the Jordan Count but didn't know what it was used for. I determined I needed such a count to get the third (hidden) card back into the starting position for the Elmsley Count. I didn't like how some tricks required you to place the last counted card in the EC back to the bottom - that just looks unnatural. Additionally, I had someone ask me to count the cards again - if you don't know the Jordan you're going to be stuck.

Turns out that my Jordan Count is executed differently than the one in the book. My goal was to make the Elmsley and the Jordan indistinguishable to lay people. It would be nice to see an updated version of this book with more variations of the counts and more cuts. There is another book called Counthesaurus by Jon Racherbaumer which appears to be a more complete treatise on the subject of counts. However, it is more expense so it may be a while before I feel the love for that book.

Overall: 7/10

If you're into packet tricks or looking for some material to get the creative process going this is a no-brainer purchase.

Hip Shot Wallet Review

2008-07-16T23:25:00.008-05:00

I was on a mission. To find the fire wallet that I saw demo'ed at an Orlando magic shop. After much research on the Magic Cafe and magic retail web sites, I determined that the fire wallet was most likely the Jardonnet wallet. After reading a lengthy forum thread on fire accidents and liability, I decided to forego the "fire" part of the wallet for now. After narrowing my choices to the best candidates AND to the wallets that were not back ordered, I selected Anthony Miller's Hip Shot Wallet manufactured by Murphy's Magic Supply and purchased for under $35 from Penguin's Magic.

Marketing Fluff

"You love card to wallet... but you don`t wear a jacket that often? Then you should try shooting from the hip. Introducing the Hip Shot! A bi-fold hip pocket wallet made of high quality calf-skin, built from the ground up to function as your everyday wallet. Contains two zippered compartments that can produce your selected cards... One of which can produce a whole deck! A Word From The Pros..."

"A classy prop! The kind of wallet you`d be proud to own and use."
- Rafael Benetar

"It`s easy to use... Is well made and looks great. If you`ve been looking for a wallet of this type, be sure to check it out. Recommended."
- Mike Close

"Tony`s wallets are just like Frosted Flakes... They`re Great! Being a professional magician, I of course have almost no extra money, but I did actually shell out my own dough for one of these wallets! It`s nice enough that even if you don`t do the card in the wallet trick, you`ll be proud to carry it around."
- Mac King

Quantity of Prop

Anthony Miller's wallets seem to have an excellent reputation on the magic forums for high quality and solid design. I was not disappointed. The wallet is made of soft, fine, high-quality leather. This wallet is definitely comparable in quality to any fine leather wallet in a department store. It has become my every day wallet.

I will warn you it is a bit larger than I expected. It seems to fit in my Dockers and Lee jean's pockets without sticking out; but just barely fits completely into the rear pocket. Perhaps in a smaller jean style it might be tight.

Features

There are slots for at least 14 credit cards or a bunch of packet tricks!
Large zippered bill compartment
Small zippered compartment big enough for cards and coins
Two loading mechanisms

Here's a look at the inside:

The documentation indicates that the larger of the loading mechanism can handle a full deck of cards. That doesn't seem practical but it does appear possible and I found some forum posts where magicians were doing full deck to wallet routines. You can use a credit card as a guide into the smaller chamber (a very nice feature) and it also comes with two large, black plastic guides.

The zippers certainly add to the mystery of how the card got into the wallet.

I've been working on the card-to-wallet routine that is supplied with the wallet. The routine is a climax sequence for an Ambitious Card Routine. I'm not quite comfortable with the routine yet but it looks like a killer method of ending the ACR.

I am using it for Kenton Knepper's Kollasal Killer (KK) routine. KK is essentially an invisible deck routine without the invisible deck. There are better wallets for this routine but I did make it work with a little ingenuity. You can use any wallet for the KK effect but the size of the wallet and the zippered compartments really make the KK effect strong.

I performed KK today in a corporate leadership training session and it drew audible gasps. I set the wallet on the table, went through the patter about predicting events and that I have a prediction in the wallet. I opened the wallet to show a normal wallet. I ask a student to visualize ANY card. Showing empty hands and without any hesitation, I picked up the wallet, unzipped a compartment and pulled out the predicted card. Truly killer.

Documentation

There is no excuse for this crappy, pages out-of-order photocopy. Why offer such a quality wallet and provide such a poor quality document? Sorry Murphy's but there is NO excuse for this garbage photocopy.

Paper quality aside, the documentation describes an excellent routine for a no-palm card-to-wallet. The suggested patter is excellent and the card handling is described in detail.

Overall: 7/10

This is my first wallet review so I'm going to rate this a bit low to leave room for other wallet reviews. The Hip Shot lost 1 point for poor quality documentation. Otherwise, this is an outstanding quality prop that I hope will hold up for a couple years. I am kind of hard on wallets so we'll see if it can hold up to my abuse!

Flood of 2008

2008-06-28T23:00:00.006-05:00

The Flood of 2008

I'm setting magic aside for a few moments to record my recollections of the Flood of 2008. You see, I live in the heart of the midwestern United States about 1 hour away from the Mississippi River in a small city called Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Many towns across in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri have been washed away by prolific flooding.

Cedar Rapids is located on the Cedar River but I've never thought of it as a "river town." Those "river towns" are typically towns that line the Mississippi that seem to flood every few years. This year that perception changed in a blink of the eye.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

We were on our way home from a vacation in Orlando when We had heard of the flooding of Waterloo Iowa on CNN and Fox News. Waterloo is another small city north of Cedar Rapids. Because of the emerging disaster in Waterloo, Barak Obama canceled plans to fly into Cedar Rapids for a campaign stop. That seemed to be pretty big news for our little town of 125,000.

Flying into Cedar Rapids, you could see that little streams that meandered through farmer's fields looked like churning, raging rivers. A week of intense spring rains, combined with a winter of record snowfalls had saturated the rich, black farmland and swollen the creeks and rivers.

We quickly learned that of the five bridges spanning the Cedar River, only one remained open. The bridge of Interstate 380 was the sole link between the east and west sides of an Iowa county that held a quarter of a million people. Water was threatening to engulf the remaining bridges. Two railroad bridges were parked with boxcars loaded with rocks in hopes that the added weight would hold the bridges in place. One bridge finally collapsed under the pressure of the raging river.

Traffic was backed up for miles in all directions as the transportation matrix of the city was funneled down to three lanes in both directions. All other bridges were completely submerged. The sight was staggering to behold as we slowly crawled across town on I-380.

Cedar Rapids and Paris, France have something in common; they are the only cities in the world to have their municipal government located on an island in the middle of a river. Driving through Cedar Rapids and seeing the island that contains the city government, county court house and city jail under water was shocking. This is a sight that is unlikely to occur again in my or my children's children's lifetime.

We learned that the previous record high waters crested at around 22 feet. The river would finally crest at 32 feet; smashing the old record. 20,000 people were evacuated. Unlike during Katrina, residents had a little more time to clear out of their homes although many didn't flee immediately because few believe the river would leave it's banks and breach it's levees. By the time the water hit 32 feet, over 420 city blocks would be flooded.

Three of the four city wells were flooded with murky flood water. The city's water supply was in danger of running dry. A water emergency was declared. You could only use water to drink. No showers, no hand washing, no running dishwashers, no washing machines and no flushing toilets. We collected rain water from the brief but intense rain showers that still threatened the area. We could flush the toilets with a couple gallons of rainwater.

Still, the city official angrily denounced any non-essential use of water. Reports of people washing their cars had shown that some people did not fully comprehend the gravity of the disaster. We had stocked the home with bottled water and Diet Coke so we were in good shape for several days. It was quite an adventure for the kids and I think they learned a little about the scarcity of resources and what conservation was all about.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

By Saturday evening, we wanted a brake from the non-stop flood coverage on the television. We decides to see if our favorite Mexican, Villa's Patio, restaurant was open. Sure enough. The restaurant really adapted to the emergency. All food was served on disposable plates and with plastic utensils. Soda pop was served from cans instead of from the fountain dispensers. Hand sanitizer replaced hand washing.

By Sunday morning, the water emergency was slightly downgraded. Homes with even house numbers could use water for limited purposes on even days. And odd homes on odd days.

As the water slowly receded, the depth and breadth of the damage was starting to become clear. Hundreds of families were in shelters. Hundreds of homes were feared destroyed. Hundreds of business were shutdown. The entire downtown area without power. River water containing, sand, silt, fish, dead animals, bacteria, farm chemicals and raw sewage covered hundreds of city blocks.

DVD Review: Ultimate Aces

2008-06-06T21:28:00.005-05:00

DVD Review: Ultimate Aces

Living in a smaller Midwestern city, my opportunities to visit a brick and mortar magic shop is few and far between. Currently, I'm on vacation in Florida, visiting the mouse mecca known as Disney World. So I had to locate any magic shops close to our resort. Luckily, I found at least two shops with a few miles.

One shop is in Downtown Disney under a giant top hat called Magic Masters. Wow what an enormous disappointment. This is an absolutely beautiful magic shop that sells almost nothing. Perhaps 20-30 generic, overpriced magic items with such imaginative names such as "cups and balls." Magic Masters is clearly oriented towards selling tricks to tourists and not people interested in the art of magic.

The second shop was Magic Max in what's know as Old Town or the Fun Spot. This was also a bit of a disappointment however they did have a reasonable inventory of magic and novelty items (gags). The sales dude was a young but capable magician. He rattled off a dozen tricks and gags within the first few minutes in the store. After sizing me up by quizzing me on a few magical topics, he pointed me to a DVD called Ultimate Aces by Magic Makers. I really wasn't all that interested but it was pouring rain outside so I was stuck in the shop, and finally, the $25 slipped out of my billfold.

Here is an example of a trick learned from this DVD:

Marketing Fluff

Amaze people with seven stunning card tricks! These are all tricks with Aces. As Kings become Aces, Aces become Jokers, and Jokers vanish, it is no wonder why this small collection generates big impact. Each trick is performed and explained, plus a bonus section includes three spectator performances.
Special cards needed are included with this DVD.

Degree of Difficulty

Intermediate. You could probably take these on with a little experience in the basics. Ben Salinas teaches all of the sleights so you could attempt all of these tricks with no experience. However, if you are a beginner I would look elsewhere for some instruction in the basics first.

It is a great intermediate DVD though. You'll get an opportunity to work on your TLs and Elmsley Counts. Plus you'll learn the Ascanio Spread which is a brilliant and fun move.

Teaching

Ultimate Aces is my first encounter with Ben Salinas. Ben is a smooth magician and a reasonably good instructor. He appears to be left handed which is a bit confusing on his Elmsley Count explanation. If you have not learned the Elmsley Count you may want to reference additional instructional DVDs on this often used sleight such as the Born To Perform Card Magic DVD.

His patter is good and provides some little jokes to add a humorous flair. The only downside is that his pace is a little fast and he only shows you the moves once so be prepared to rewind a lot. Ben credits the creators of most of the sleights and the routines themselves.

The downside is that the performance videos are just for the studio camera. I'm getting used to the real, on-the-street or in-the-Castle demos on other DVDs. I would rather see real performances for real people as you get a sense of the reactions and how that affects the patter and timing during a routine.

There is also a "bonus" section on the DVD that has Salinas performing three of the tricks for "Ashley" in the studio. Ashley doesn't provide much reaction so this is not all too useful.

Quantity of Effects

Pretty good considering I paid well over retail price, I'm still satisfied with my purchase due to the number of good tricks on the DVD. I've learned a few new sleights including the wonderful Ascanio Spread. All in all, there are seven great tricks on this DVD and you can easily find it for $15 on the internet. That's a pretty good buy if you don't already have these seven dandy tricks.

Plus you get a packet of cards including one gaffed card. The cards are blue-backed Bicycles.

There is also a good variety of effects on here. Half of the routines are pure sleight of hand. The other half employs gimmicks or gaffs.

Quality of Effects

Solid, solid, solid. I've mastered two great tricks in just a couple days (I already am comfortable with the Elmsley Count so your mileage may vary).

Ultimate Ace Assembly (Mc Donalds Aces) - the aces vanish from three piles of cards only to join the ace of spades in a four pile of cards. This is a very visual trick in that one moment the aces is amoung three cards and the next second it is gone. I already have a version of the Ultimate Ace Assembly I purchased as an instant download from Penguin Magic. This is a killer trick but one that requires a good deal of set-up and a dedicated deck of cards, just for this trick. This version is a little different that the Oz Perlman version. Oz adds a few more magical moves in his version but Salinas' version is pretty good as well.

Mo Money Monte - yet another "follow the ace" routine. A good routine, but we'll have to see if it is good enough to replace my Color Monte.

Impossible (gimmicked) - Four Jokers are shown. One at a time the jokers turn face down. The four face down cards are turned to reveal that they were never jokers but the four aces. Really a brilliant trick but it does require some set-up and it is not instantly resettable.

Impossible (ungimmicked) - Virtually the same trick except that it is completely ungimmicked, the handling is a bit different and Salinas uses kings instead of jokers. This might be a great impromptu effect but it is a bit more risky to pull off as you might imagine.

Dai Vernon's Twisting the Aces - I've seen other magicians do this trick but I've never learned it myself. Show four aces and turn them face down. One by one, each ace turns face-up in the packet. Brilliant piece of ungimmicked card magic.

Easy Aces - Taking the 4 Aces from the deck, you give a magical twist and spread the aces in a fancy flourish. One of the aces has turned face down. Each time the move is repeated, a different aces appears face down. This trick teaches you the pretty Ascanio Spread created by Arturo de Ascanio.

Spectator Cuts to the Aces - This is a straight forward, yet completely beguiling trick where the spectator is asked to cut the deck into 4 piles. Taking the top card from each pile, the spectator has unwittingly cut to the four aces. There are other versions of this trick - this is a very good version using a gimmick. I hadn't seen this simple gimmick before and I'll be using it for other situations. I'm still inclined to use the version of Spectator Cuts to the Aces I learned from Greg Wilson's Pyrotechnic Pasteboards DVD.

Production Quality

The overall production is good. The video quality is very good. There is very little editing as each segment is taken in one shot. The menus are sparse but functional. The sound track is okay but a little overly dramatic and repetitive.

Overall: 7/10

This isn't going to tear up the magic community but it is a nice collection of ace tricks. The false counts and Ascanio Spread are great additions to your toolbox if you do not already have them. Plus you get a packet of cards including a nice gaff. A solid value for $15 that will give you some classic effects to add to you repertoire.

DVD Review: Greg Wilson's Double Take

2008-06-01T19:30:00.006-05:00

The Double Lift (DL) is arguably the most widely used sleight in all of card magic. Poorly executed, you'll look like a complete dufus. Perfectly executed and you look like a wizard. Seemingly a simple move, the DL is a tough move to polish to perfection and difficult to nail 100% of the time. For century's, the classic pass was thought to be the most indispensable move but move over pass; the DL is now the king of cards.

Here's a little sample of me performing the Knock-Out DL. Not that I perform it perfectly but it's the one that works best for me. I can hit the double 100% of the time and then handle the double as a single with confidence.

This DVD is a timeless masterpiece.

Marketing Fluff

Gregory Wilson's Double Take puts the world's greatest double lifts at your fingertips. ..even if you're all thumbs. This step-by-step instructional video is packed with more than 90 minutes of dynamic material you can perform anytime, anywhere, with any deck. For nearly two decades Gregory has been teaching his unique style of magic, as well as performing for many Fortune 500 companies. And as your personal coach, Gregory will teach you the nuances of more than 25 different double lifts ~ choose your favorites: from the top of the deck, from the bottom, from the middle, from a fan, from the table, to the table, and even doubles that flip through the air from hand-to-hand! If you're a beginner, or have never even picked up a deck of cards, you can easily perform miracles in minutes with Greg's Quick Start-Up Section. The more advanced will enjoy studying the techniques of the masters, including Dai Vernon, Ed Mario, Martin Nash, and many others.

Degree of Difficulty

Beginner to Expert. Wilson puts puts things in order. He assumes you don't even know what a "mechanics grip" is. He ties the introductory material up with a "quick start" segment providing three easy to learn miracles. The material gets harder from here on out. You'll find that some moves and routines have an steep learning curve.

The cool thing is, I really think a beginner could get this DVD as a starting point. There is no more important move than the DL in card magic. This will give the beginner an arsenal of hard hitting close-up magic. Then, as the novice advances, they can work on the more advanced material. Literally, this DVD will take you a long, long time to learn and perfect all of the material.

And the advanced card mage will love the Brittanica-like index of DL knowledge as well.

Teaching

Greg Wilson is like a tenured Harvard professor - only a lot more fun and a lot less boring! Each routine is performed in front of a small audience of attractive ladies donned in vintage 80s attire. He is constantly cracking jokes and flirting with the pretty ladies in his audience. During the instructional sections, Gregory moves slowly through all moves, usually several times in both slow-mo and in tempo.

Wilson has a gift for teaching. He really speaks to the physics of each move; where the pressure is applied, what direction the pressure is taking, what are the opposing pressure points, where the pivot points are located, what the sound of a card should sound like.

Wilson is also good at crediting the creators of the moves. He gives a little lecture on reading books. He downplays his own video as "supplemental" to the real material; the classic books of magic. I actually disagree with him on this one. I think magic DVDs have surpassed books as the primary source of magical instruction with books now as the supplemental resources. But that's a debate for another time and place. Wilson is obviously a very gracious and humble man - sometimes a seemingly rare trait in today's world.

Quantity of Effects

Wow! Like Wilson's Ring Leader DVD is to "ring and string" magic, this is THE encyclopedia of the Double Lift. As if the sleights weren't enough, there are a bunch of great tricks in this gem. It took me well over an hour to document the sleights and tricks that contained with this vast grimoire. So here they are:

Introduction - Greg telling you what he's about to teach you.

Basic DL - Greg does a good job explaining basic DL beginning with the mechanics of the mechanics grip and the thumb count from the biddle grip. It's a littler different from the basic DL I learned.
Strike DL - a very popular DL because of the natural moption and no get ready. Personally, I don't like it because I occasionally get a triple (Yeah, I know...lack of practice!)
Grip Strike DL - enhanced version of the Strike that adds a push over move.
Knock-Out DL - Greg's favorite and my fav as well. A litle flashy and always works for me.
The Basic Replacement - perhaps I wasn't giving this part of the DL enough attention!
Quick Start-up - three tricks to get your feet wet. These are really good tricks so don't overlook them. Includes a very nice in-the-spectators-hand transposition.

Simple Location Trick
Simple Reverse Trick
Simple Switch Trick

More replacements...

Maintaining a break after the replacement
Bernard Bilis Replacement - a flourishy replacement.
Revolve Replacement - flourishy & emphasizes the singularity of of the double (that's an oxymoron!)
Juan Tameriz Replacement - cool out jogged replacement.
Racherbaumer Replacement - another cool out jogged replacement.
Vernon Offset Replacement - Yet another reason why Vernon was a genius. Pick up a double and display it away from the deck in the air for the crowd. Table it and place the cardbox on top of the tabled card. Guess what? It's already back in the deck!

Get Readys...

No Brainer DL
Auto DL
Pinky Count DL
Thumb Count DL

More doubles...

Double from a Fan
DL from a Dribble
Dai Vernon's DL
Color Changes
DL without a Pack
Tabled DLs

Tricks...

Phoenix Aces - pluck 4 Aces from the air, one at a time. This is not a back palm production. It uses some sleights that I was not familiar with.

Weighted Aces - Wilson's version of Doc Daley's Last Trick. Using 4 aces, demonstrate your ability to tell which ace is which by weight alone. Follow up with some amazing"in the spectator's hand" transpositions. Very good trick I use all the time.

Two Wrongs Make A Right - Starts out as a pick a card trick. Only problem is that you guess wrong twice. Take the two wrong cards place face up on the deck. Snap your fingers over the deck and the correct card appears from thin air, face up on the top of the deck.

Jumping Gemini (Darwin Ortiz) - Reminds me of the Color Monte on steroids. This is a difficult trick to master. Not because of the sleights but because there are so many sequences to remember. Miss one sequence and you're fricked. As a little bonus, Wilson does a great job teaching the Elmsley count.

Ambitious Card Routine

Greg performs his ACR but does provide the explanation. It's a pretty good routine that ends in a card to card box. If you don't know the ACR I would recommend the Worlds Greatest Magic by the Worlds Greatest Magicians: The Ambitious Card DVD from L&L Publishing.

Bonus Tricks...

Bizarre Twist (Paul Harris) - I loved this trick. You start with 3 red backed cards. You slide a black seven face down between two face down red aces. Twist the cards apart and the seven is now face up. Do the sequence again and this time when you flip the seven over it is a blue backed card.

Stop Trick - Drop a face down on the table. To the side, deal the remaining cards onto the table and ask the spectator to say stop. Drop the stop card onto the first tabled card. Flip them over and they are both red aces.

Double Monte - Two red aces and a black queen. You show the black queen and table it face down. You then show that you have two red aces in your hand. A quick spin and the two red aces become one black queen. You flip the tabled card over and it is the two red aces.

Quality of Effects

Even the simple introductory tricks are keepers. The people in the audience audibly gasp in each and every trick.

Production Quality

This is the only weak point in my review. This is Wilson's first video back from the days of VHS tapes and when Wilson had more hair! This DVD was obviously recorded from tape and it shows. That being said, the tape quality is pretty good throughout most of the DVD. The sub titles and transitions are were pretty good for it's time. I've seen much worse on DVDs produced in the last couple years.

The DVD menus are pretty complete. Not all of the break points are in the menu but most are and can can skip through to the ones that are not given menu selections.

Overall: 9.5/10

My highest rating so far. This is a resource that you will use for years to come. The tricks alone would make a solid DVD. If you need a resource to determine the best DL for you, this is going to fit the bill. Sure, there may be some lessor known DLs that are not covered here but there is sure to be a few that you'll come to cherish.

Penguin Magic sells this DVD for a paltry $26. That's what you call a no-brainer purchase.

DVD Review: Money Starring Jay Noblezada

2008-05-11T00:48:00.010-05:00

Jay Noblezada has a new instructional DVD on money magic; appropriately named "Money Starring Jay Noblezada." Jay had a smash hit DVD on coin magic called "In The Beginning There Were Coins" (ITBTHC) that is a brilliant introduction to coin sleight of hand. Money magic is a slightly different genre of magic than coin magic. It has a different vibe. People get interested when you're waving valuable bills around. Money magic also differs by relying more on presentation and gimmicks than pure skill.

The format of the Money DVD is quite a bit different than Jay's earlier ITBTHC DVD. ITBTHC was a introduction to coins starting with individual sleights such as palms and vanishes. Money is pure magic tricks. These are hard hitting illusions with paper money.

Marketing Fluff

From the Penguin Magic web site...

MONEY. It's hard to imagine a better item to do magic with. Everybody has it. Your spectators are literally walking around right now with your props in their wallets, pockets, and purses. And everybody cares about it. When there's money in play, you've got their attention. This DVD will take you from beginner in money magic to the point where you can do an entire act with just the money and props in your wallet. The focus of the DVD is four show pieces. These are four of the strongest effects in money magic. Learn these effects and you'll be able to entertain anywhere you go. The DVD also features a bonus section packed with fun money tricks and puzzles. Incorporate your favorite items from the bonus section into your money act.

Degree of Difficulty

Beginner. But don't let that put you off if your an intermediate to advanced mage as they are strong effects. The difficulty is in the presentation. A creative presentation is going to make these tricks appear to be miracles. A good presentation is going to hide the flaws, dirty work and gimmicks associate with your money magic.

Teaching

Jay Noblezada is one of the best instructors I've seen. He is thorough and his pace is slow. He gives you many different handlings and variations. He makes this DVD engaging and fun to watch.

One of the key factors in the DVD format in comparison to books is the ability to show actual performances for real people. You get not only one street performance but multiple street and restaurant performances of the same effect. Although it looks a bit silly, you also get a spectator point-of-view helmet camera!

Jay doesn't credit the creators or reference external resources for the effects during his instruction. You will find that some of the effects are prominently credited within the ending credits. I'm guessing that a few of the originators have been lost. Joshua does credit some of the basic sleights in his effect.

Quantity of Effects

You're going to get a lot of material on this DVD - a total of 16 effects. I'm not sure I would classify any of these effects as a "routine." My definition of a routine is a multiphase trick or lengthy presentation of an effect. With the exception of Cornered, these tricks are quick and hard hitting. Only 12 of these are tricks - 2 are gags and 2 are puzzles.

Penguin is marketing this as four effects. The other material are bonus effects. I think I would have been happy with the four effects so the bonus material is just icing on the cake. Penguin sells a few of these effects as instant downloads so this DVD is a more cost effective method of purchasing a variety of money magic than forking out $10 per trick. Here are the effects you'll get:

Five and 1 Transpo
Two Dollar Window
Cornered by Joshua Jay
Alpha Cash

Joke the Ripper
George Smiles
Torn and Restored Bill
Insta Cash
Pennie Split
Dollar Division
Psychic Steal
$100 Bill Switch
Sweet Surprise
Haunted Dollar Bill

Five Coins
Heads and Tails

Quality of Effects

From jaw dropping to ho-hum. The four "showcase" effects are very strong. Among the bonus effects, Psychic Steal and Haunted Bill are my favorites so I'll review these tricks:

Five and One Transpo is an in-the-spectators-hand effect. It uses a gimmicked bill which is easy to construct. The spectator is holding the $1 while the mage holds the $5. The mage waves the bill and it visibly transforms into the $1. The spectator is surprised to find they are now holding the $1.

Two Dollar Window is my favorite so far. This trick relies on another brilliant, yet easy to construct gimmick. The mage show the front and backs of two $1 bills. The mage hypnotizes the spectators as he/she folds the two bills into a small packet. Without skipping a beat the mage unfolds the packet. In place of two $1 bills there is now a single $2 bill in it's place. You show the bill front and back and you look extremely clean at this point. This is going to be the opener I utilize to grab attention in an impromptu setting.

Cornered is a creative torn and restored bill by Joshua Jay. Joshua provides the teaching and does a great job. He provides some interesting variations that would astonish. This is my first Joshua Jay trick and I would certainly purchase more of his materials in the future.

Alpha Cash is a rework on Patrick Page's classic Easy Money. There are a number of variations of this effect on the market. Extreme Burn, Heiny 500, Hundy 500, Prophet, et. al. If you're buying this DVD just for Alpha Cash then you would be happier with one of the others. After watching the other versions, Heiny 500 is my favorite. The count is more natural than Alpha Cash and the change is more startling.

That being said, Alpha Cash is still a strong effect. The plot is simple; you count out five $1 bills. A quick flip of the wrist and the change to $20s. I haven't performed this one yet. The downsides are the strange count, it is very angle sensitive and very dirty. Plus, if you follow Jay's presentation, someone might walk away with your $100.

At the end of the DVD, Jay shows an alternate presentation of Alpha Cash using ordinary paper instead of $1's. It's a fun bit to watch Jay pay for his restaurant bill with worthless paper - only to shake it into real money for the dumbfounded waiter.

Psychic Steal is the best of the bonus material. It is a dandy little feat of mentalism. Nothing new or groundbreaking but Jay's handling of the revelation is novel. Borrow a dollar bill and divine the serial number. Like most mentalism, it's 2% sleight of hand and 98% acting.

The Haunted Dollar Bill is another Penguin instant download that made it onto this DVD collection. I loved the Haunted Deck! I had almost added it's brother, the Haunted Bill to my shopping card many, many times. The method is be easily discovered if you're not careful with the lighting and clothing selection. Almost self-working, the real skill comes in camoflaging the method and coming up with a scary story. I'm thinking about to to a coin shop and purchasing an old (but not too rare) bill to add to the mystique. In the right situation (Halloween party) this is going to freak your friends.

Joke the Ripper and George Smiles are not tricks at all. Amusing diversions at best. George Smile might be fun to teach your kids - making George Washington smile and frown via a little optical illusion.

Insta Cash is a little ditty that use two credit cards. Showing front and back of each card cleanly (sort of), you shake a bill from between the two cards. Insta Cash teaches you a nice little sleight that could come in useful with credit cards and playing cards.

Torn and Restore Bill has you tearing out George Washington's head, eating the head and spitting it back onto the bill. When Jay demo'ed it on the street it looked great one time and really bad another time. I think any kind of close examination by a non-drunk spectator is going to reveal the method.

Production Quality

Cool factor is high! Noblezada makes the hippest magic DVDs out there. It's tough to completely comment because I haven't receive the physical media yet. This review is based on the downloadable version so I can't comment on the menuing system yet as the download version plays like a video tape. The music is catchy but a little repetitive.

Overall: 7/10

For someone who doesn't have a lot of money tricks in their toolbox, this is a great value. Two Dollar Window is an over-exposed effect but it is a killer effect so don't over look this gem. This trick is permanently replacing the Greed gimmick in my wallet. Pull out this little $2 wonder and you're going to instantly establish yourself as a real magician on the spot in every circumstance.

If you already know some of this material, you might give it a much lower score than I. This DVD doesn't have the wealth of foundational material that ITBTWC does but it packs in a lot of tricks that could fill out your repertoire and add a welcome break from your deck of cards.

Practice Sessions: Getting the Most From Your Practice Minutes

2008-04-02T21:50:00.005-05:00

John Petrucci, the phemon guitarist from Dream Theater, talks about it being a bad idea to approach practicing guitar without a practice plan. Obviously, this applies to guitar but the principles are the same.

Petrucci categorizes practice routines into 4-5 categories; legato, sweep picking, string skipping, etc. He starts with 10 minutes of stretching and then he picks one or two exercise from each catagory and spends 15-30 minutes on each category. His theory is that with a practice regimen such as this, you make better use of your practice time, you don't wander in many directions with little real improvement and you continue to work on a broader range of skills.

I think we could come up with a similar approach in practicing magic. I don't think you could come with a single set of categories for everyone but I think you could come up with a modular practice regimen.

Warm-ups Categories

Stretching your arms, hands and fingers
Florishes
Shuffles

Skill Categories

Skills would be a list of the most common sleights and sequences for a particular school of magic such as cards (DL, TL, palm, back palm, shuffles, controls, passes, color changes, etc) or cups/balls (basic palms, vanishes, opening sequences, middle sequences, ending rhythms, wand spins, etc).

Card sleights
Coin sleights
Cups and Balls sleights/sequences
Thimble sleights
Billiard Ball sleights
Ring/string sleights
Sponge ball sleights

Routine Categories

Routines would include single tricks and multiple sequenced routines.

Card tricks and routines
Coin tricks and routines
Cups and balls - full routines
Thimble routines - tricks and routines
Billiard Ball routines
Ring/String routines
Rubberband tricks
Sponge ball routines

Practice/Rehearsal Categories

Mirror practice
Video practice
Routining (putting full routines together in a sequence, making routines your own)
Rehearsal practice (full dress rehersal performing a set of routines)

Document your skill categories and your routines. These would be living, dynamic documents in that you could add new skill and routine categories over time. In each category you would add new sleights and tricks over time. So you find a new routines or sleights that you want to learn, add them to the list so that you have a method/plan to add the new skill to your practice sessions.

So a 90 minute practice session might look like this:

15 minutes of streching, shuffling, mental preparation
15 minutes card sleights (today I pick the Strike DL, classic pass, turnover pass, and back palm productions)
15 minutes card routines (I pick 1 or two tricks involving the sleights I worked on in the card sleights session)
15 minutes on Cups and Balls (wand vanishes, click move, final loads)
15 minutes on my Cups and Balls routine
15 minutes in front of the video camera

There you have it. A regimen that is flexible, customizable and focused.

The Magic Show 2007

2008-04-02T10:10:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of participating in our IBM Ring 327 charity event. It is amazing that this small, local chapter has so many talented magicians. The show benefited the Helping Hands ministry which provides emergency assistance to families needing help with rent, utility payments and other support services. The two family-oriented shows drew at least 200 enthusiastic magic fans.

Lee Novak performed a portion of his stage routine. This is the second time I've seen Lee's show and he has put together some astonding stage illusions as well as some card and billiard manipulations. The audience loudly gasped at his dove productions and vanishes - especially the transformation of 3 doves into a live rabbit.

Tim Stolba also mystified the audience with a newspaper prediction and several great routines from his act. I also watched Tim perform a couple great close-up routines before the show to several delighted children.

Ricky Rowray, a deaf magician from Cedar Rapids, performed his hilarious style of comedy magic. It is amazing to see him delight and connect with the crowd without saying a thing! Ricky is soon to compete at a deaf magicians competition in California. I think he'll do quite well.

The entire show was expertly glued together by the Master of Ceremonies, Dr. Don Nelson. He performed a brilliant torn and restored newspaper. He also performed one of my favorite effects of the night with his shrinking and expanding head illusion.

Bob Beardsly and his daughter performed both together and individually. Bob wowed the audience with a chair levitation. His daughter (sorry I have forgotten her name) is an extremely talented performer for such a young age. The highlight for me was their execution of the Gypsy Rope Escape.

I didn't get to see a couple of the performers as I was busy resetting (or forgetting to reset) my walk around set. Although I only saw a couple of his tricks, Chris Arthur was wowing the spectators with some mind numbing close-up work including a seemingly impossible linking rubberbands routine.

As a new member, I didn't feel qualified to perform stage routines but I did have a great opportunity to perform some strolling magic. I had a chance to try out a new presentation of my Ambitious Card Routine where I had a child draw a puppy on the card. Instead of a magic flick of the wrist to bring the card to the top, I had the spectator call the puppy home. This was a variation of David Regal's presentation with different moves including Max Maven's Classic Tackler move for the ending sequence. This turned out to be a crowd pleaser and the kids got a nice souvenier to remind them of their magical night.

Winning the War

2008-03-23T11:45:00.007-05:00

This was a post on the Penguin Magic forum that I thought deserved a broader audience. The mainstream media in this country tends to print the negative war coverage on page 1 and bury the positive stories on page 12. This is one of many positive stories that are not getting told. It is from a soldier in serving in Iraq that is using magic to change the world, one person at a time.

Thanks to Jeremy Clayton of Covington, TN for letting me reprint his post on my blog, and even more importantly, thanks for his service and sacrifice in the defense of our country.

OK, I know some of you are probably thinking that I must be insane, but if I may have a moment I would like to share some experiences. I do not post on here often but I have been a member for a few years. I am currently in the military and deployed to Iraq (for the 3rd time now). This time I noticed
something different, the people seemed more approachable. So here I am armed with my trusty sidearm, a scotch and soda, penny and dime, TT, invisible thread, and some sponge balls, I decide to set out to make some friends.

I first showed the vanishing hanky trick to a guy that I see almost everyday and he absolutely freaked out. He was genuinely scared and began backing away from me then he asked me something in Arabic which I totally did not understand. He asked again this time in broken English, "Do you have a ???" the last word was Arabic and I do not remember what it was. Then he said "I think in English it's called a jenny." I gave him a puzzled look as my brain kicked into overdrive to figure out what this guy was talking about. Then I realized it...he wanted to know if I had a Genie. It was at this moment that I realized this was going to be a good deployment.

I have gotten several reactions just like the one mentioned above and I must admit to them that no I don't have a genie that everything is done by slights, misdirection, lots of practice and a couple gimmicks. I deal with a great deal of locals everyday and now every morning when I go to pick up a bus load of about 20 local Iraqi citizens I am greeted by the shaking of hands, hugs and the affectionate term habibi...which means something like brother or family member. The others that know me more closely simply call me magic man and I still get the occasional question about a genie.

When I get the time I usually throw together a short 15 or 20 minute performance that everyone (including the coalition forces) crowd around to watch. Unfortunately there are no magic lamps or Genies here...just us penguins...trying to make changes in the world one friend at a time.

Learning the Pass - Part 1

2008-03-17T10:20:00.009-05:00

I'm finally getting around to learning one of the oldest manuevers in the book; The Pass. I had not encountered many tricks that required a pass. It seems most tricks rely on double lifts, false cuts, false counts and false shuffles. To get a feel for the power of the pass, check out the following video of a brilliantly executed pass by Jonathan Kam.

The pass is a type of card control. Controls allow the mage to move about a specific card(s) within the deck without the spectator realizing the movement is occuring. Card controls date back at least as far as was published in Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft in 1584.

Royal Road to Card Magic (RRTCM) provides a short history of the pass, implying that for centuries the pass was the most important of all sleights. Early card workers were taught that all other sleights were not important until this very difficult move was mastered. However, RRTCM makes a strong case for not learning the pass until many other more basic sleights are perfected.

In my training as a cardician, I'm certainly going to agree that the pass has not been that important so far. However, I finally came across a really nice Ambitious Card Routine (ACR) sequence that relies on the pass. Instead of the typical ACR sequence of a face down card placed into the middle, with this sequence, a face-up card is placed into the deck. The pass is used to bring the card from the middle to the top. Time to learn the pass.

I found a forum post that catalogued over 100 methods of executing the pass. The grand daddy of them all is the Classic Pass. After many hours of practice, this method is very clumsy to me still. This is going to take months or even years to perfect...argg!

The ACR sequence that I want to learn is from Tommy Wonder's delightful ACR. He uses a rollover pass. I like the look of that pass so I set out to learn the turnover pass. Hmmm...a quick Google search and look around youtube.com and there is no consensus as to what a turnover pass looks like.

So basically I'm making up my own rollover pass, I'm taking a passing action that feels a little more natural to me than the classic pass and continuing with a rollover of the deck. This seems to be a good beginner pass because the motion of the turnover hides the motion of the pass. The rollover movement of the deck matches the patter of the sequence so it all fits nicely.

Unfortunately, this simplified pass looks like weeks of practice to pull off adequately. In the meantime, I'll keep working the classic pass and let you all know how it's going. Perhaps I will post a video of my beginner rollover pass at the early stages and you can tear it apart. Then we can compare it after a few months of practice.

REVIEW: Thimble Dexterity - The Magic of Joe Mogar (DVD)

2008-02-23T11:54:00.015-06:00

I learned about thimble magic quite by accident. In my quest to attain the secret knowledge of billiard ball manipulation I purchased a DVD by Jeff McBride called World Class Manipulations Volume 1. This review isn't about the McBride DVD but that DVD had a section on thimble magic. I had no plans to watch the thimble teaching sections - who even knows what a thimble is anyway? But during an accidental viewing of Mc Bride's thimble routine I was struck by how magical the thimble routines really were.

After mastering many of the McBride thimble moves, I constructed a short routine based upon my limited knowledge. To really make the routine my own, I needed some more material from which to draw sequences and ideas. Logically, I should have purchased the second in the McBride series called World Class Manipulations Volume 2.

By this time I had heard the name Joe Mogar mentioned any time thimbles were discussed. As Jeff McBride and Cardini are synonomous with ball and card manipulations, Mogar is synonomous with thimbles and color changing knives. His DVD entitled Thimble Dexterity was generating some good words from thimble workers.

One note before we go any further. If you buy the Thimble Dextrity DVD you will need to purchase thimbles directly from Joe Mogar at his Magic Stars web site. Any set of thimbles that nest or have a big lip (such as the Vernet thimbles) will not work with Joe's moves unless you have gigantic hands. They are very inexpensive and Joe is a great guy to talk to on the phone!

Marketing Fluff

From the DVD jacket:

"Considered by many to be the world's leading authority on thimble magic, Joe Mogar has finally tipped 50 years of moves and routines on this near-encyclopedic DVD. You'll learn techniques never before taught on video, such as the Explosion and Implosion moves, as well as three full routines for stage and close-up.

Thimble Dexterity is a landmark work on magic with regular thimbles, and a must-have for any serious student of sleight-of-hand."

Degree of Difficulty

Advanced. Certainly a beginner can tackle this material. Joe starts with the basics so there is no prerequisite experience with thimbles required. Some of the moves are relatively easy if you've been doing other forms of manipulative magic while other moves are going to take weeks of repetitions for your fingers to acquire the dexterity to execute flawlessly.

Teaching

Mr. Mogar is a very good teacher. Like most of my instructional DVDs, he moves a little fast but the are several sequences that are replayed in slow motion for several repetitions.

One nice touch that I really appreciate is that Joe provides guidance on how to practice. He gives you warm-up exercises for to develop dexterity and how to avoid injury. He talks about not performing until you're are rock solid to protect the magic from exposure and a lot more than I can cover. Joe also has some pretty strong opinions on thimble magic - what you should and should not do and criticizms of certain thimble moves and performance styles - it's really great stuff.

The bonus teaching section is probably the best of any DVD I've ever watched. He covers a lot of stuff in detail. Like what thimbles work best and what to do with cracked thimbles and maintaining nice looking fingers!

One very minor compliant; I would have liked to see more performance video footage. Most of the material is presented in what I would call a lecture format. Even the presentations feel like a lecture and not a real performance. This is a credit to Joe's phenomenal abilities; he leaves you wanting to see his whole routines just as the audience would see them.

Quantity of Effects

Encyclopedic. If you've read my other DVD reviews you know that I value DVDs that are complete references to a particular form of magic. The reason is that you get an arsenal of moves and sequences from which to construct your own routine. This DVD fits that mold.

Moves

About Thimbles
Thimble Drill
Thumb Palm Drill
Two Hand Drill
Finger Clip Drill plus Front and Back Palming
Mulitple Palm
Thimble Stack
Explosion Move
Implosion Move

Vanishes

Basic Vanish and Reproduction
Natural Pickup Vanish
Natural Pickup Vanish Variation
Finger Switch Vanish
Pinky Steal Vanish
Wrist Held Vanish
One Way Vanish
The Belcher Vanish
Declining Balance
The Four by Four Vanish
Pinch Vanish
Sucker Punch
Protologist Vanish
Tubular Steal
Buckingham Vanish
Macho Vanish
Silk One Thimble Vanish
Tuck, Tuck & Away

Productions

Basic Reproduction
The Gabber
Super Star
Thimble Monster
Twelve Thimble Production
Power Thimble Production
Rag Production

Color Changes

The Wave
The Big Dipper
Isolation Change
Tubular Steal and Color Change
Finger Painting

Flourishes

The Chorus Line
The Flip Transfer
Leapfrog
Quick Transfer and Jumping
Pocket Penetration
Pocket Steal
Stack transfer and Prodution
The Drill Penetration
The Traveler
Up the Arm

Routines

Power House Routine
Presidential Opener
Twelve Thimble

Bonus

Nuggets of wisdom from Mr Mogar

Quality of Effects

Thimble effects are very magical. This is not a single trick DVD so you have a wealth of material to construct a killer routine. I would guess that a good thimble routine derived from this DVD would make great addition to a kids act or stage routine. Joe told me on during our phone conversation that he has performed thimbles for a couple hundred people and that the colorful thimbles are very visible to a sizable audience.

I could see thimbles as a part of a larger manipulation routine, set to music, that might transition to cards or billiards.

Production Quality

The production quality is good. Nothing flashy but the video and audio quality are good. The menuing was a little confusing at first because you have to drill down into sections but that is a credit to the amount of material covered on the DVD. A little background music would have made the production a lot more enjoyable. The slow-mo sections are completely silent and that is unnerving to somelike me who needs some ambient noise or music to feel at ease.

Overall: 8/10

If you're a serious student of manipulation this is a must have for your collection. Joe Mogar is a true thimble master and his contributions have had an enormous impact on the art.

Don't forget to order the thimbles from Joe or you'll have a tough time doing any of the stuff on this DVD.

One final note - I'm going to compare in a follow up blog the Mogar and McBride DVDs because their approach to thimbles is quite different. Also the Shoot Ogawa thimble routines I've witnessed on youtube.com are worth talking about - Shoot is scary good with his thimbles. Both approaches have merits and it will be fun to contrast the two styles.

Practice Sessions: Required Gear

2008-02-04T17:07:00.000-06:00

I loved the imagery in the first Harry Potter novel when Harry first learns that he is going off to school to learn magic. Just like when my kids start each school year, Hogwarts students were required to purchase a basic set of magical books and supplies to begin their foray into wizardry; a wand, a cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) and the Standard Book of Spells were amoung the list. If you're just starting out, like I was not all too long ago, it's hard to know what you should purchase as you're basic set of magical apparatus.

If you ask 10 magicians you'll get ten different answers. After much painstaking research, I'm going to present my starting list of magical supplies. Cards and coins are a great place for a hobbyist or amateur to start because the are very visual, they use common items that people are familiar with and will allow you to build a repetoire of impressive effects however breaking the bank.

I wanted to set an initial budget of $30 so that anyone with a job or a few weeks of allowance will be able to get their foot in the door. My prices reflect the "street price" of the item and not the retail price.

Beginning Cards & Coins Supplies under $30

2-Pack Bicycle Playing Cards $4
Coins (At least 6 Kennedy Half Dollars and a couple English Pennies) $5
Royal Road To Card Magic $10
Modern Coin Magic $10

This modest set of goodies provides enough material to keep a new mage on a budget busy for a year or more. My preference for learning is through DVDs but for $30 you get hundreds of tricks and sleights. Personally, I'm not yet a big fan of Royal Road. But for ten bucks, it is a tremendous value that is chock full of sleights of hand card magic and tricks. The concept is great; start at the beginning and work your way down the "Royal Road to Card Magic." I read it often but it's not an easy read when you've been spoiled by DVDs that provide a more complete learning process. However a single DVD is going to break the budget here. As far as books go, I really like Bobo's Modern Coin Magic.

Cards & Coins under $100

One dozen Bicycles Playing Cards $15 (or as many packs as you can get for $15)
Coins (At least 6 Kennedy Half Dollars and a couple English Pennies) $5
Born to Perform Card Magic DVD $30
In the Beginning There Were Coins DVD $30
Royal Road To Card Magic $10
Modern Coin Magic $10

If you've got a bigger budget, this school shopping list might be the way to go. This fits in with the my theory of learning magic - DVDs provide a superior learning experience with books to provide an incredible reference and trick library. The Born to Perform Card Magic DVD starts out at square one, how to holdthe deck and goes through the most basic and useful moves. It sums up the coursework with 4 killer routines. The In the Beginning There Were Coins DVD is similar to Born to Perform Card Magic DVD but with coins. The instruction is outstanding and there is enough material to keep a novice busting their knuckles for months.

Cards, Coins and Cups & Balls under $100

2-Pack Bicycle Playing Cards $4
Coins (At least 6 Kennedy Half Dollars and a couple English Pennies) $5
Royal Road To Card Magic $10
Modern Coin Magic $10
Cups and Balls (copper or brass) $15
Complete Course in Magic with Cups & Balls DVD $38
Wand $15

The back-to-school shopping list breaks out of the cards and coins. The coins and cards are covered in great detail but adds the age-old cups and balls materials. Everyone wants to learn coins and cards but the Cups and Balls exercise a wider variety of skills that can be the foundation of so many other great forms of magic. Cups and Balls cover almost all of the forms of magic; appearances, vanishes, misdirection, transpositions and teleporations. It also teaches you about piecing together routines builder so that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

I have included the Complete Course in Magic with Cups & Balls DVD. This DVD is taught by Eddy Ray who routinely gets criticized. However this a solid teaching DVD that covers a lot of material for under $40. There may be better DVDs on the subject but this is an outstanding value and fits our budget.

In case you're wondering, the wand is essential in most Cups and Balls routine. The wand is called The Magician's Wand with Brass Tips. It is heavily weighted on the ends which makes it a joy to spin but a pain if you drop it on your foot.

The DVDs mentioned in this blog entry are reviewed elsewhere on this blog.
http://magic-yeti.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-in-beginning-there-were-coins.html
http://magic-yeti.blogspot.com/2008/01/review-born-to-perform-card-magic-with.html
http://magic-yeti.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-complete-course-in-magic-with.html

Magic: Good or Evil

2008-02-03T16:42:00.000-06:00

How does perform magic effects and illusions square away with being a Christian? This has been a hotly debated subject because the bible expressly fobids the practice of magic. Being a Christian, I've had similar misgivings. However the art of magic has little to do with the practice of "real" magic. For the record, I don't believe in "real" magic. I prefer to place my faith in a higher power; a benevolent god.

Although 90% of American's identify themselves as Christian in polls, it is not a prevelant belief amoung magicians. Chris Angel recently remarked on the Larry King show that he felt most magicians are atheists (Angel remarked that he grew up in a Christian home and was a believer). From my experience on the magic forums, this appears to be true.

In fact, I would have to say that, from my experience, magicians can be downright hateful to anyone with a Christian point of view. My guess is that due to scriptural references against witchcraft is what keeps the faithful away from magic.

First a quick definition from the Konjurer dictionary; "magic" in the context of this article and this blog is the practice of an entertainment art form. It is akin to juggling, acting, singing or playing a musical instrument and is meant to bring joy and wonderment to the people who watch. Like the other fine arts, it is a craft that requires hours of weekly practice and years to perfect. Believe it or not, there is no supernatural component to magic.

There is a lot of debate on the subject of magic and Christianity; especially during the rise in popularity of the Harry Potter books. Although I think the practice of magical entertainment as a Christian is a different topic altogether. Magic is an entertainment medium and has nothing to do with the occult or witchcraft except by misguided mediums who are looking to fool the gullible.

Although words like "conjurer" and "magician" may have some historical roots in a pagan practice, they have a completely different meaning today for 99.9% of all modern magicians. For us Christians, if the historical roots of the English language is going to be the standard for when not to use certain words then we're going to have difficulty speaking the English language without researching the etymology of every word we speak.

Atheists accurately point out that the holidays we now celebrate as Easter and Christmas have pagan roots. Should we not use those words or avoid the traditional dates of these holidays because they coincided with pagan celebrations?

So feel free to be a practicioner of the conjurering arts because, in modern times, it simply means you love to entertain people with some skillfully executed, non-supernatural feats. If someone gives you grief about being a magician then look at it as an opportunity to minister to or witness your beliefs.

If you are a Christian and a magician and you are struggling with this whole concept, keep in mind that there is a whole branch of magic called Gospel Magic. You can purchase magical effects that correspond to a Christian message or object lesson. There are a lot of magicians that use magic as a ministry to communicate Christian messages.

Note: Although there is no chapter in my region, you could also join a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians. http://www.fcm.org/

FREE MAGIC TRICK - Angela's Premonition Card Trick

2008-01-25T17:40:00.001-06:00

Another in my series of free tricks designed to get your feet wet. They are simple but effective tricks such as the kind you might find in a magic book in your local library.

If you are not a magician but want to learn, please read my blog entitled So you want to be a magician - START HERE. There is some important information that you must agree to before walking the path of the conjuring ways.

I don't know who to credit this trick to other than a colleague of mine, Angela. I'm calling it Angela's Premonition. If you know, please let me know so I can credit the creator of this trick. I've got a feeling the creator has been lost in the annals of time.

First, I'll quickly relate to you how Angela presented this trick to me and then I'll teach it to you. My boss Eric threw a little party at his house. Eric has been reading my blog and knew that I was into magic. So he ambushed me into doing a few tricks. Angela jumped at the chance to show us a trick she knew. I hate to say it, but Angela's trick fooled me badly.

This trick requires no sleights and uses the "one ahead" principle.

The Effect

Angela grabbed a packet of 10-14 cards from the top of the deck and dealt the cards face down onto a table in a random pattern. She asked the spectator to tap the 7 of Diamonds. She picked up the card that was tapped being sure NOT to show or flash it to the spectator. She then asked the spectator to tap the Queen of Clubs and then picked up that card. Angela then announced that she was picking up the 2 of Hearts and picked a card from the table. She then laid down the three cards, one at a time, onto the table showing that she now held the 7 of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs and the 2 of Hearts.

Angela then repeated the trick with the same pile of cards only this time they were different cards. She seemed to have a premonition of what card the spectators would tap!

The Secret

This trick requires no sleights, no trick cards, no duplicates and no stacked deck. It simply uses a "one ahead" principle that is used throughout magic. You may have guessed it already. I watched Angela do it four times before I figured the secret out. Of course, Angela should have followed the cardinal rule of magic; never repeat a trick!

After picking up the packet of 10-14 cards, Angela takes a peek at the bottom card. In the above example, Angela saw that the bottom card was the 7 of Diamonds. She dealt the cards in a random pattern on the table BUT she dealt the last card, the 7 of Diamonds, farthest away from the spectator. Angela remember exactly where she placed the 7.

Then she asked the spectator to tap the 7 of Diamonds. Angela later explained that she has never had anyone tap the last card dealt and to place it furthest away. Sure enough the spectator would always tap a card from the middle.

When you pick up the tapped card, be sure not to show it. This card will not be the 7 of Diamonds - if it is, the trick is ruined - time to bail out! Simply look at the card. and ask the spectator to tap whatever card you just picked up. Repeat the procedure again for the second card. Lastly you announce, "Now I'm going to pick up the 2 of Hearts" or whatever the last card you picked up was. You pick up the 7 of Diamonds from it's known location.

TIP: You may want to review them first and rearrange them in your hand so that the spectator doesn't see you reveal them in a different order than they were picked up. Perhaps say something like, "Let's see what you tapped." Perhaps moving the top card to the bottom a couple times and then lay them back down in the order they were picked up. I'm sure with a little practice you'll come up with a clever way to reveal the cards that obfuscates the secret.

Hopefully I explained that clearly enough. You've simply got a peek at one of the cards so you are "one ahead." That's why you have to pick up the last card. The spectator is fooled into thinking that they actually tapped the correct card as you requested them but you were just telling them to pick a card that you already held in your hand. This trick will perplex you friends so I say give Angela's Premonition a try at your next gathering of friends.

Stacked Set-ups: Stacking the Deck for Mulitple Effects

2008-01-17T17:19:00.000-06:00

I'm surely not the first magician to discover a method for stacking multiple preset tricks in a single deck; a method I've dubbed Stacked Set-ups. However I can't find any information about deck stacking other than sequential stacking methods such as the Si Stebbens or Eight Kings. Sequential stacking or memorized decks serve a different purpose than the Stacked Set-ups I have employed here. I'm simply setting up multiple tricks in a single deck in a fashion that doesn't look like I've stacked the deck.

I stumbled upon this technique after practicing a series of new tricks. Each night, I would put away the deck into the case with various card packets on top so that next practice session, I would just grab the top cards and work through each trick.

The interesting by-product of that practice regimen was that I found a method of running through a series of tricks, each requiring specific cards, in a way that gives the illusion of working with a normal, shuffled deck.

Let's take a closer look at the problem that I am solving. Just as I've seen many other magicians, in my magic carrying case I have several decks of cards. Each deck has a purpose. A haunted deck, an ace assembly, a deck with gaffs, a deck with two 6 of diamonds, and so on. Most of these decks are setup for one trick. Switching packs between tricks raises suspicions amongst your spectators and isn't terribly practical. So how about packing several complimentary routines into a single deck by stacking the set-ups?

A lot of magicians shy away from tricks that take a lot of set-up in favor of tricks that can be performed with any deck of shuffled cards. That's a valid argument. But that perspective rules out a lot of killer card effects.

Let's look at my accidental solution. I have been working on four great tricks loaded up in a single deck of cards. The tricks are Weighted Aces, Pip-Thru (using a gaffed card), Jumping Geminis and an in-the-spectators-hand transposition. This sequence provides about 15 minutes worth of material package nicely into a single deck. The scripted sequence also has benefits of polishing the presentation so that all four trick flow smoothly.

Here is the order of the Stacked Set-up deck:

Weighted Aces
A-H, A-S, A-D, A-C randomly placed in the deck

Pip-Thru
2-S (to be forced), 3-S, 3-S gaffed

Jumping Geminis
K-D, K-S, 10-H
4-C randomly placed in the deck

Ultimate Transposition
6-D, 6-D

Biddle Trick (closer)
Doesn't require set up so I just do a real shuffle and perform the Biddle Trick.

To recap, the top-loaded cards in order are:
2-S, 3-S, 3-S, 2-S, 3-S, 3-S gaffed,K-D, K-S, 10-H, 6-D, 6-D

The rest of the deck is random including the cards I pull out of the deck as needed such as the 4 of Clubs for the Jumping Geminis trick. Locating and removing certain cards from the deck implies a randomness that eliminates the need to do a lot of false shuffles or cuts between tricks.

I begin by executing a false cut and then spread the cards face up on a close-up pad. I invite the spectator to look over the cards as I find and remove the 4 Aces. Because most of the deck is in a random order they have little reason to think differently. I turn the remaining cards over and perform the Weighted Aces.

After the Weighted Aces I discard the Aces and retrieve the pack of remaining cards. The next three cards are already queued and ready to go. I force the 2 of Spades from the top and do the Pip-Thru effect. This effect ends with an obviously gaffed card so I discard a double and I'm loaded for the next routine.

Next is the Jumping Gemini trick which requires a 4, a 10 and two Kings. Again, I spread the remaining deck face up, locate and remove the 4 of Clubs. The spectators again sees the cards face up in apparently random order. I take the 4-C and patter about the "4 Card Trick" as I gather in the spread cards and turn over the deck. The I deal what appears to be 3 indifferent cards, face down, from the top of the deck as I remark "this is also called the trick with 4 cards."

There are two 6 of Diamonds next in the sequence at the top of the deck for the Ultimate Transposition.

Finally, a do a real shuffle and finish with the Biddle Trick or Ambitious Card Routine which has no setup.

This may seem an obvious method of working through several tricks that require setup. However there are some subtleties that hide the setups. Not every trick requiring setup would work in a Stacked Set-up. However, it does allow you to carefully script and sequence 4-5 tricks for maximum impact. I'm going to be devising other Stacked Set-ups and I'll report back.

I would be curious if you have run into any resources on this subject or if you come up with any killer Stacked Set-ups that you would like to share.

The Artistry of Manipulation

2008-01-15T22:03:00.001-06:00

Manipulations have always seemed so magical to me. My first recollections of real magicians were silky smooth billiard ball manipulators. Manipulation routines seem to have a theatrical flow; sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic, always artistic.

With manipulations, there is no silly banter, patter or punchline. In fact, most routines have no words at all. Manipulations sequences can have moments of playfulness or humor. Mostly, the sequences are graceful and poetically executed. Expert manipulators often opt for musical accompaniment to facilitate the mood and rhythm of the presentation without the need for words.

I guess what sparked my recent interest in manipulations was watching magician Angela Funovits perform a standard, yet beautifully executed card manipulation routine on a youtube video.

My daughter and I were mesmerized by the video and it reminded me of how captivating a manipulation routine can be for an audience. My daughter, who is not all that interested in magic, grabbed a deck of cards and started performing one handed card fans.

The closest I had ever came to manipulations were some card flourishes I recently learned and an Adams multiplying ball set from my youth. While I am interested in card manipulations, I had seen some billiard ball manipulation routines from the likes of Romaine and Cardini and that really left me in awe.

You hear a lot of the magicians of today speak of Cardini with great reverence. Deservedly so as he created so many of the manipulation effects used by today's masters. Check out Cardini's routine which goes from cards, to cigarettes, to matches, then balls, to silks, and back to an endless flow of cigarettes. If I could, some day, perform a small fraction of what Cardini did I would be one happy manipulator. So I set out to gain some proficiency in billiard ball manipulations.

After careful research I decided to purchase World Class Manipulations with Jeff McBride Volume 1 DVD. This DVD is a bit odd in that it focuses on three forms of manipulation and none involving cards. However, that DVD seemed to get the highest compliments by manipulators. The three forms taught are coins, billiard balls and thimbles. The coins might be useful, the thimbles would be throw away material and the balls would be the meat and potatoes.

I purchased an inexpensive set of Vernet multiplying balls and was all set to immerse in billiard balls. Unfortunately, the many Magic Cafe posts about purchasing quality billiards, such as the Fakini silicone balls, proved true. I could work on some dexterity and sleights but if I'm to be serious about billiards, the expensive Fakini balls are in my future.

Out of morbid curiosity, I watched the thimble section of World Class Manipulations. I mean, come on, do kids even know what a thimble is? I hadn't seen one in decades. And they're so small, how could they "play big" as they say in magic. They just seem corny.

However, after watching McBride rattle off a few thimble routines I was amazed. Thimbles have a magical quality unlike anything I had seen. The appearances and vanishes are so convincing. Sure they may be a dated household item but the moves were so cool and smooth. There are not a lot of thimble routines to be found but I did find a dated, but well down Gary Darwin routine.

I immediately purchased a set of Vernet thimbles and unlike the multiplying balls, I really like their thimbles. The set has four white, nested thimbles and four multi-colored, nested thimbles for a total of 16 thimbles.

I've been having a blast practicing a handful of thimble manipulations. I've found that using a few sleights, I can improvise hand movements that provide a variety of artful presentations. Now if I can just stop the thimbles from occasionally flying off my fingers at high rates of speed it will be interesting to see where this unexpected school of magic takes me.

REVIEW: Packet Tricks & The Color Monte

2008-01-13T20:14:00.000-06:00

Marketing Fluff

"Show three cards; one with a blue spot and two with a red spot. Explain that this is a game for gambling, and whoever finds the blue spot wins a dollar, but if that person is wrong, he must forfeit a dollar. Then explain that you were once taken by this game, and show how you were taken, losing three dollars because every time you thought you picked the blue card, it was red. So, you accused the man of not even having a blue card. He showed the bottom card as blue, so you lost another dollar! So, you said that if it was the card on the bottom, it couldn't be the one on top, but again, you lost another dollar! It is then showed as the center card as well, and by then, there's been six dollars lost. So, you said that you thought he was using more than three cards, but were proven wrong and lost another dollar. So, the gambler gave you another chance, double or nothing. He showed you that one card was red, another as blue, and all you had to do was name the color of the third card. Red, right? Wrong again! It's not red, nor is it anything anyone would expect!"

Degree of Difficulty

Beginner to moderate. This trick is a series of moves using one of the most basic sleights in all of card magic. Each sequence is very easy to pull off. The difficulty is in remembering the story (or patter) that motivates the routine. Practice 10-20 times and you should have it down and ready for showing your pals.

What's a Packet Trick?

A packet trick is a small set cards for a specific trick. Packet tricks are very easy to tuck away in your pocket so that you are always ready to entertain. Packets usually have specially made cards called "gaffs" of "gaffed" cards. Packet trick are usually inexpensive and provide a big impact so you have every reason to buy one. I would suggest Color Monte as a killer packet trick.

You'll probably want to find packet tricks that have Bicycle rider-backs if you use the popular Bicycle playing cards.

The Effect

The Color Monte comes with 3 cards. Instead of normal faces, two cards have a red diamond and one card has a blue diamond (or so it would seem).

This is a "follow the card" trick where you tell the spectator to keep an eye on the blue card. Unfortuately for the spectator, that blue card is elusive and hard to find. Then the red card becomes hard to find. At times, it appears that all cards are red or all blue. Finally, a red card is turned over and a blue card is turned over. The spectator is asked to guess the color of the last card. The spectator will most certainly be wrong as it is neither red or blue!

Overall: 8/10

For under $6 you get the cards, access to the private forum for this effect, a performance web video, and a instructional web video featuring Jay Noblezada. Jay is an excellent teacher and covers the set up and all of the sleights required.

REVIEW: Born To Perform Card Magic with Oz Pearlman

2008-01-10T23:30:00.001-06:00

Marketing Fluff

"This DVD will start you at the beginning of card magic and take you to a working professional's level. You'll progress faster than ever before by focusing on the most powerful moves. This is a complete course in card magic without the filler. There's no reason to spend hundreds of dollars buying a set of 3 or 8 or 10 DVDs when you can learn the core skills (the ones that get used over and over again in thousands of tricks) on one DVD. This is that DVD."

"...once you've mastered these key moves you'll be able to perform anytime, anywhere, with just a regular deck of cards. Imagine how it's going to feel to have that power to entertain. This is a technology that changes you. It's like riding a bike, learning a new language, or flying an airplane. It's freedom... with a deck of cards."

Degree of Difficulty
Easy to Moderate. This DVD is targeted to someone with NO prior card handling skills to someone with some basic skills looking to round out their arsenal. This is a great choice for beginning card magic because covers the foundational skills required for sleight of hand card magic.

Teaching
Oz Pearlman is a great, young mind in magic and has solid teaching skills to pass on the knowledge. He covers each sleight in great detail and demonstrates several times from different angles. The lone exception is the Classic Pass which he goes over slowly, but only once. Pearlman recommends using outside resources to perfect this difficult maneuver.

Oz expertly demonstrates each routine for real spectators on the streets of Vegas. His performances will provide the motivation for learning the routines once you see how people react.

Quantity of Effects
There is a book you can buy that is considered by many to be the ultimate reference for card magic. The book is called Royal Road to Card Magic and can be found for $10. You'll get much, much more material than you would get on this 30$ DVD. However, I don't recommend doing that. Buy this DVD first and get then Royal Road to Card Magic as a reference guide to expand your card magic vocabulary once you've master the sleights on this DVD. You'll learn faster and with less frustration.

This DVD is like a beginner Lego set. All the essential blocks to build some small but impressive Lego creations. It starts with a selection of card handling techniques beginning with how to hold a deck of cards. You're going to learn the language of card magic; the grips, the breaks, cuts, forces and controls. Plus you'll learn just enough eye candy flourishes to give the illusion that you're an old hat at card magic. Plus you'll learn four full routines that make use of your new found skills.

The run time for this DVD is over 104 minutes. Here's the low down.

Fundamentals:

Mechanic's Grip, Biddle Grip, Pinky Break, Thumb Break, Dribble to Secure a Break, Swing Cut, Swivel Cut, Double Lift, Top Palm

Controls:

Classic Pass, Hindu Shuffle Pass, Double Undercut, One Handed Top Palm, Elmsley Count, Spread Cull, Swing Swivel Cut

Forces:

Hindu Shuffle, Riffle Shuffle

Flourishes:

2 Handed Thumb Fan, Le Paul Spread, Springing the Cards, Erdnase Color Change, One Handed Thumb Fan, Hot Shot Cut [Daryl], Pendulum Cut [Hooser], Trinary Cut [Acer]

Routines:

Ultimate Transpo, Two Card Monte, Biddle Trick, Ambitious Card

There is enough material here to keep a beginner busy for weeks or even months of practice. The routines are intermediate skill level so you won't learn and perform these in one day. I beg you not to perform these until you've practice each one dozens of times.

Quality of Effects
The routines that Pearlman selected are versions of some of the classic routines in card magic. Each routine has the potential to blow the minds of your spectators. I've used these routines dozens of times and they are potent.

The Biddle Trick is perhaps the easiest to learn and execute. The spectator makes a free choice from the deck. You slide the card up to give the spectator a view of their selection without taking a look yourself. You square up the deck explaining that you can use estimation techniques to locate their card. You narrow the selection down to four or five cards and ask the spectator to hold the pack. You show the five cards to the spectator and ask them to not to say anything. Once all five are shown you ask the spectator if one of the five cards was their card...indeed it was! Then you guess which one is the card...only you're wrong. You guess again...wrong! Things are looking bleak. Ultimately, the chosen card turns out not to be one of the 5 cards because it has disappeared. Only 4 cards remain in your hand. Their card, the missing card, turns up in the deck in the spectators hand upside down! This is a killer trick.

The Ultimate Transposition is another trick that happens in the hands of the spectator. The spectator is holding a 6 of Diamonds. You're holding a King of Hearts. Somehow they change places from your hand to theirs!

The Three Card Monte got it's start as a confidence game that street hustlers use to lighten the wallets of gullible people. Of course, magicians have ethics and don't hustle people but it makes for a great magic trick. This is a Two Card Monte that will leave you spectator laughing. This is a "follow the card" trick. Just when you think you know which card is which, they switch places in an impossible fashion.

For the newbie magician, an Ambitious Card Routines (commonly referred to as a ACR) consists of a very simple plot; place a signed card in the middle of the deck and it magically rises to the top of the deck. Each sequence in the ACR seems more impossible than the one before. Like the famous Cups and Balls routine, magicians have created many variations and climaxes over the years. This is a basic ACR but very fun and amazing for your audience and challenging to a beginner.

Production Quality
Solid production values. The DVD menuing is excellent. The angles are great.

You're also going to see these routines performed on the streets of Las Vegas for real tourists getting big laughs and eye popping reactions.

Overall: 8/10

For a beginner to intermediate magician or for an introduction to card magic I doubt you'll find much better instruction. The marketing fluff goes a bit far...you won't end up being a card pro but you will, with enough practice, have the power to entertain. I cut my teeth on this DVD - it was my first magic DVD. Many, many DVDs later and I still go back to this one to brush up on technique.

The Ultimate Magic Showdown: Books versus DVDs

2008-01-08T16:52:00.000-06:00

Warning! This blog is sure to offend. Feel free to gently flame me to a crispy crunch in the comments section.

What's better for learning magic; books or DVDs? This debate rages on at places like the Magic Cafe and Penguin Magic Forums. The real winner of that debate is both books and DVDs. It all depends on your learning style. If you like books better, good for you. If you like DVDs better, like me, then I think that is just dandy!

Okay, enough of the fair and balanced crap. I am now going to bloviate from my highly opinionated brain matter. DVDs are really the better choice for most magicians, especially beginner to intermediate mages. And this is blog site is for beginners to intermediate mages. Don't fall victim to magic snobbery that would have you believe differently. Boldly put, I'm going to make the irrefutable case for DVDs over books.

Book Are Not Evil

I like books. I love books. There are a few good things about "classic" books. I'm specifically referring to the great tomes that have stood the test of time such as Royal Road to Card Magic. Many are relatively inexpensive and you get a lot of information. They can be taken places where a DVD isn't always practical or welcome - in bed with your wife or on the toilet for example.

Before the relatively recent invention of motion picture technology, there was one thing you could do with a book that you can't do with all the technology in the world; record the thoughts of the great masters that either lived before the ability to capture moving pictures or were just never captured on film or video. Magicians that now live only in legend can only be read about. Imagine if we had David Devant's Our Magic on DVD with him actually teaching us his methods? So much of the art that wasn't written down has been eternally lost.

But even the best books provide an inferior learning experience. Check out this seminal text from the description of the Overhand Shuffle from Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue:

"...seize the lower half with the right hand between the top phalanx of the thumb, at the middle of the inner end, and top phalanges of the middle and ring fingers at the middle of the outer end."

Say what? Prepare to spent a lot of time figuring out where your phalanges are in relationship to the deck! Okay, enough said about that patently inferior book technology.

DVDs Rule the World

Books are great reference materials but there is almost nothing you can do with book that you can't with a DVD. On the other hand, there are a LOT of things you can do with a DVD that you can't do with a book.

Keeping It Real

With DVDs you can observe real magicians performing real effects to real people, for real reactions, under real conditions and probably getting paid with real money! Usually you get a performance followed by a teaching session. You can watch the performance over and over to see the trick performed at speed and from the spectators view.

Lights, Camera, Action

DVD producers frequently film the instruction from multiple angles sometimes at the same time. The magician can perform the trick mulitple times at differing tempos. When viewing an actual magician you get a spactial representation that you cannot get from a photo or drawing. You can see the angles of the arms, legs and body as the move is demonstrated. You can observe the artful movements; a swish of a hand in an elegant manner as the body turns slightly to catch a good angle relative to the spectator.

The magician can also perform variations of the trick or routine - sure you can write about variations to a routine in a book with some success - but it's not easy to write or read. If you can't visualize one step of the literary interpretation you're pretty much hosed.

Lastly, you can slowdown, speed up, rewind, jump around to different chapters with the touch of a button. Put down that dog-eared text!

I've Got Rhythm

DVDs allow you to watch actions combined with timing and patter. Sorry but you can't effectively show timing with a book. Take Greg Wilson's Napkins Spongeball Routine from the On The Spot DVD. The performance shows Wilson repeatedly using misdirection on a spectator along with the clever vanish of the napkin balls during the "offbeat." Wilson confesses that he can't describe the maneuver using words. You could write a book on this technique but you would never learn it because you could never accurately describe the patter, eye contact, body position relative to the spectator, the arm and hand actions, the speed and the timing of the move.

Non-linear Thought

The thought process of writing is so different from the thought process of performing sleight of hand magic. There is no live person to react to in a book. There are no natural missteps that can be talked about and corrected. When you write a book, you've got to brake down so many little things into a linear set of steps.

The problem is that sleight of hand is not linear. You have multiple actions happening in concert to form an overall effect. When a magician authors a book or article on magic, the process takes him or her out of their element and into a flat, formless space.

I'm not suggesting we have a book burning. In fact, you'll get my Modern Coin Magic when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. However, some people need not defend magic books as the only method of learning with such a religous zeal. Other than person to person, a good DVD will always be a better way of learning a new school of magic.

Flame away my friends!

REVIEW: Worlds Greatest Magic - The Ambitious Card (DVD)

2007-12-26T21:45:00.001-06:00

The full title of this DVD is a mouthful:

World's Greatest Magic By The World' Greatest Magicians:
The Secrets of The Ambitious Card

Say that fast, five times!

World's Greatest Magic By The World's Greatest Magicians is a series of DVDs by L&L Publishing that each focus on a famous trick or routine such as linking rings, McDonalds Aces, Stand-up magic, Coins Across, Cards Across, Zombie Ball, Coin Matrix, Chop Cup, and on and on. It's a really great idea - take new and classic footage of the best magicians all showing their own unique bend on a particular school of magic.

I recently purchased two in the series and I will cut to the chase; these are incredible DVDs and the price of each is stupid cheap (I paid $15 each). If you are interested in improving in a very specific form of magic these are the DVDs to own.

If you don't know what "taking a double" means or you don't know an Ambitious Card Routine (ACR) then you're probably not ready for this DVD. I would suggest purchasing Born to Perform Card Magic with Oz Pearlman which will provide you with a foundation in card magic and also teach you a basic ACR. Then buy this DVD! Even if you are a beginner the performances on this DVD will inspire you to learn.

For the newbie magician, an ACR consists of a very simple plot; place a signed card in the middle of the deck and it magically rises to the top of the deck. Each sequence in the ACR seems more impossible than the one before. Like the famous Cups and Balls routine, magicians have created many variations and climaxes over the years.

Degree of Difficulty
Moderate to Impossible. This DVD is targeted to someone with intermediate card handling skills. I would still recommend this to a beginner because there is so much to learn including the psychology of magic. The DVD does teach the basic routine so you can learn the ACR from this DVD. However, this is squarely aimed at the magician who is looking to interject some new life into their ACR.

One note on Tommy Wonder's climax sequence with the ring box. His sleight for bending a card into eighths in about 1.5 seconds will blow you away - he warns you that it will take a minimum of 50 decks of cards to achieve and perhaps as many as 200 decks to perfect the move!

Teaching
The teaching is outstanding. My favorites are Regal, Ammar and Tommy Wonder. Wonder's ACR is brilliant and he goes through the routine in detail. The real jewel here is Wonder's focus on the psychology. I just can't say enough good things about Wonder. Sadly, Tommy Wonder died in 2006.

Wonder's routine has a very slow, deliberate pace and he really does a great job of teaching why. Clearly he has perfected the timing, humor and subtle narrative that delights the spectators. Thirty plus years of perfecting the ACR and he reveals it in wonderful detail. It's a good contrast to Lorayne's lightening fast routine.

Quantity of Effects
The run time for this DVD is over 2 hours. There are nine magicians performing and teaching. With the exception of Dai Vernon, each magician performs and then teaches.

Tenacious Climber - David Regal
Ambitious Card - Harry Lorayne
Ambitious Card - Frank Garcia
Ambitious Card - Michael Ammar
Ambitious Card to Wallet - Paul Wilson
Ambitious Card - Doc Eason
Ambitious Card and Card to Card Case - Al Schneider
Ambitious Card Plus Ring Box - Tommy Wonder
Ambitious Card Story - Dai Vernon

Dai Vernon's section is more of a reminiscing of the past while showing segments & psychology of the ACR.

Quality of Effects

Top-shelf magic. All ACRs are very good but some are better than others.

Regal's Puppy Dog routine is really sharp and comedic. The spectator draws a puppy on the card and it always responds to it's master's call. This is a super fun ACR!

Lorayne ACR starts by forcing the ambitious card from behind his back. Then he goes through a dizzying sequence of moves. He is obviously a master but I tend to agree with Wonder that the slower pace has more impact. I could not keep up with what he was doing so I'm sure the spectator is overwhelmed. His teaching is solid.

Frank Garcia doesn't teach a routine but a couple moves that you can use to enhance your routine. Good stuff indeed!

Micheal Ammar's ACR is what I consider the classic routine that ends by crimping the card, placing the crimped card in the middle and having it "pop up" on top. If you are new to the ACR, this is probably the one to learn the basic routine. The performance and teaching is paced nicely.

Paul Wilson's ACR climaxes with a card to wallet sequence. The performance is okay but a little low key. However it is a really nice routine with some new twists including a gaffed card that is sure to produce some laughs. Now if I can just figure out where to buy his gaffed card!

Doc Eason is good at entertaining a crowd. I learned a lot just from watching him get the audience shouting, clapping and having a great time. He's full of great one-liners. His "card under glass" ending is classic misdirection - you'll leap for the rewind button on your DVD remote control.

Al Schneider's mechanics are a little different. It's a good routine but a little unnatural for me. He ends with a "card to card case" that might be a good alternative to your ending.

Tommy Wonder's ACR is the pinnacle of ACRs! Blew me away. His sleights and timing are impeccable. His one-liners are just brilliant. Wonder quips in his quirky Dutch accent "I'll do it this way so that you can see that all cheating is absolutely honest."

Wonder starts by setting a ring box on the table in plain view of the audience. He ends by making the card appear in the ring box in clear view of the audience. It is a mind boggling effect and causes a spontaneous standing ovation.

Card tricks do not get better than this.

Production Quality

Solid production values. There is some old video footage that is limited by the age of the taping technology. The newer footage is top notch. The DVD menuing is excellent.

Overall: 10/10

Ok, I've already gushed enough over this DVD. The performances and teaching are simply superb.

REVIEW: Pip-Thru by Tank (DVD)

2007-12-24T10:28:00.002-06:00

After Greed and Spun, I made a solemn vow to avoid single trick DVDs. Not because thoses DVDs were not worth the money but because there are so many good DVDs that offer a smörgåsbord of tasty effects on a single DVD. If you've read my other DVD reviews, you'll see that I value a healthy mix of quality and quantity.

So why would I buy I single trick DVD such as Tank's Pip-Thru DVD? This purchase was the result of attending an excellent lecture by renowned mentalist/magician Kenton Knepper of Wonder Wizards.

Although Knepper luggage didn't make the flight into Iowa, some of his merchandise did. DVDs available for purchase quickly sold out. I was stuck choosing from a few remaining products. I choose the Pip-Thru DVD because I thought it might be similar to an effect I once saw where the pips melted off a card.

Alas, I would be disappointed. But stick with me for a just a minute as my opinion eventually improved. Pip-Thru is fun to perform and I learned a hand full of moves that were new to me.

The Marketing Fluff
"Tank brings you all of the tools you need to manipulate the perception of reality for your audience. Not only does the card visually change in front of their eyes, they see PROOF of physical transformation."

Degree of Difficulty
Easy to moderate. An intermediate card magician won't have any problem with Pip-Thru. If you are a beginner it will be challenging but not overwhelming.

Teaching
J. Tank is an adequate teacher but he could have made this so much better. The pace of the DVD seems rushed. Frequently Tank looks over to his notes to see what he is supposed to talk about next. The explanations are quick with very little attention to the supporting details and nuances that might help a beginner master the moves.

Quantity of Effects
I have to admit that I was very disappointed in the short run time of the DVD and the shortness of the trick itself. The demo of the trick clocked in at about 65 seconds. I guess that I'm spoiled by some great DVDs that are fully loaded with great moves, effects and routines.

Upon further ruminations (a second look), I'm a little more excited about the material. Here's what you get:

* gaffed card - Wonder Wizards generously gives you 4 gaffs in both blue and red backed Bicycles.
* the roll-over force
* handling of the gaffed card
* bonus section teaches two color changes and a really nice false cut
* Kenton Knepper teaches two more color changes

Kenton also shows an psychological effect for showing the same card to two spectators; yet each person sees a different card. He doesn't give you a routine using this effect but he plants the seeds for you to build your own.

For a beginner to intermediate card handler you're going to pick up a few new moves that you can reuse in other situations.

Quality of Effects
Pip-Thru is a fun, easy miracle to perform. It has a visually striking transformation that will have spectators doing a double and triple take. My biggest compliant is the shortness of the trick that is supplied. This a utility effect that would best be applied as the climax to a larger routine.

I really enjoy the rollover force and Tank's false cut is awesome. I follow the false cut with a Trinary cut and it makes for a showy effect that look more complex than it really is.

The quality of the gaff is very good.

Production Quality
Poor. This bare bones production appears to have been hastily assembled. The menu system has no flair or style. The performance appeared to have been video taped in someone's living room. Apparently it was laundry day at Tank's house as he was sporting a plain white tee shirt. This whole thing just looked rather thrown together.

Overall: 6/10
In the end, I'm happy with my Pip-Thru purchase because I'm going to get some great mileage out of the trick and gaff. Hopefully, I will think up some creative way to incorporate Pip-Thru as a climax to a full routine. If you are a beginner to cards, you're going to get a lot of use out of the force, color changes and you'll learn an impressive false cut.

Pip-Thru did lose points in my rating scale because of lackluster teaching, poor production quality and brevity of material on the DVD. The strength of the DVD is the strength of the gaff card and the effect it creates. With a standard color change, there is no evidence that the card physically changed; because it didn't really change. With Pip-Thru, your spectator will see evidence that the card underwent some kind of physical metamorphosis. And that evidence is going to leaving your specs laughing and amazed.

A Kenton Knepper Christmas

2007-12-22T23:41:00.000-06:00

Living is a small, mid-western city means that the magic scene is rather limited. So when a well known name in magic like Kenton Knepper comes to town, two days before Christmas, you just know you've gotten an early present. As I understand it, Knepper is an Iowa native who returns to his home state for the holidays. The local IBM Ring 327 hosts this annual event and Knepper is kind enough to be the honored lecturer.

The weather was bad as Kenton's flight into Cedar Rapids got diverted back to Chicago. Kenton and a few fellow passengers rented a car and finally made it into Cedar Rapids sans his luggage. Kenton did a great job of working without his personal effects. Thankfully, some Wonder Wizard merchandise that was preshipped did make it on time. So I ignored warnings of the imminent snow storm and prepared myself for a blizzard of mental magic. Knepper did not disappoint.

Kenton opened with some quick-hitting, yet softly applied hypnosis. I was the first to undergo the soothing gaze of Kenton. I followed Kenton's suggestions like Pavlov's dog. One of the key knuggets of knowledge that Knepper passed on was that you can weave hypnosis into your magic act without the dramatics that are often hallmark of traditional hypnosis acts. Many of the techniques that he worked are detailed in his new book Ultimately Under.

Although Knepper appears to be notable for his mentalism, he proved to be an expert card handler. Kenton demonstrated a few tricks from his Cards of Influence book that were impressive feats of mentalism through cards. He also demonstrated some really cool tricks with double faced and double backed cards.

Lastly, Knepper presented some floating cane manipulations using an ungimmicked walking cane and golf clubs. Once magnetized, the cane clinged his open palm for a very convincing illusion.

It was a great afternoon of magic and learning. This was my first ever magic lecture and what a great one to attend. I'm all juiced up to join the local IBM magic guild and perhaps this will be the first of many great magic lectures that I will be privileged to attend.

FREE MAGIC TRICK - The Best Card Trick Ever

2007-12-20T11:53:00.000-06:00

Since this is a blog about amateur, hobbyist or beginning magic, I thought it would be fun to start a series of free tricks to get your feet wet.

Before you start read this early blog entitled So you want to be a magician - START HERE.

This series of free tricks are good first tricks. However, I encourage you to learn the really cool stuff that takes practice and skill. While hard to learn, these routines are the most eye-popping, jaw-dropping illusions and are thrilling to perform. So start with my blog entitled So you want to be a magician - START HERE. Then come back and learn this trick.

Here is a great, self-working magic trick that every beginner should know. I learned it as the "Best Card Trick Ever." I've also heard it referred to as the "21 Card Trick." While it's not the best trick ever, it is probably one of the best self-working tricks.

Even though it is self-working you will need to practice this 4-5 times or more to get comfortable with the presentation.

The "Best Card Trick Ever"

Set-up:

An ordinary deck of cards

Effect:

The spectator mentally selects a card from a stack of 21 cards (called a packet). The spectator shuffles the cards and hands the packet of 21 cards to the magician. The magician lays the cards into 3 columns of 7 cards and asks the spectator to point to the column with his selected card. The magician collects the cards and deals out the cards again and repeats this process two more times.

Note, the trick is done - the rest of the trick is pure acting on your part.

Now the magician deals out little piles of cards in a "star" shape. Here is where the fun begins. The spectator selects piles of cards to remove or keep. This process of removing card piles is continued until one pile is left. The magician separates the four remaining cards as asks the spectator to continue selecting cards that are removed until one card is left. Amazing, the magician flips over the last remaining card and the spectator gasps because it is their selected card. It appears that the spectator has randomly removed 20 cards and the last card remaining is their selected card.

Instructions:

Count out 21 cards and hand to the spectator. Tell them to shuffle the packet and mentally select a card. For kids and larger audiences, it may be a good idea to have the spectator write their select on a piece of paper so that the can reveal their choice at the end. That makes it a little more exciting to the rest of the audience. Take back the packet.

This is important, you must deal these 21 cards out the 3 rows of cards exactly as described here or the trick will not work. You must also pick up the cards in the order described.

Deal the cards face up into 3 columns, one row at a time, until you end up with 7 cards in each column. When dealing into a column, overlap the cards in each column. This will make it easy to keep the cards in the correct order as up pick them up. Ask the spectator to point to the column that contains his/her card.

Square up each card column into three piles - if you overlapped them they will be in the order dealt. Place one of the piles that the spectator did NOT select on top of the pile the spectator DID select. Then place that stack onto the remaining pile that the spectator did not select. In order words, the column of cards that the spectator selected should be in the MIDDLE. Therefore, the selected card is somewhere between the 7th and 15th card. You are going to repeat this process two more times.

Once again, deal the cards face up into 3 columns of 7 cards and repeat the process.

Once more time, deal the cards face up into 3 columns of 7 cards and repeat the process. Now their selected card has worked it's way to the middle of the packet. Stack up the cards as before and their card is the 11th card in the packet. At this point the trick is done - their card is the 11th card.

Some versions of this trick will have you turn over the 11th card and the trick is over. However add these next steps really misleads the spectator and makes this a true miracle.

Remember this one fact, do not forget where the 11th card is! If you forget the location, the trick will fail.

Create card stars by dealing four cards, face down in a little star-shaped pile. Create another star. Count the cards (quietly inside your head) and keep track of where the 11th card is located. You'll end up with 4 piles of 4 cards and the last pile will have 5.

Now you are going to give the illusion that you are turning the trick over to the spectator to control.

Ask the spectator to select two of the card stars.

IF one of the two card stars contains the 11th card then remove the other three card stars from the table. ELSE if one of the three remaining card stars contain the 11th card then remove the two card stars the the spectator pointed at.

Ask the spectator to select one of the remaining card stars.

IF the selected card star contains the 11th card then remove the other card stars from the table leaving just the one card star. ELSE if one of the other remaining card stars contain the 11th card then remove the card star the the spectator pointed at.

Continue this pattern until only one card star is remaining. Separate the 4 cards into a row keeping track of which one is the 11th card. Ask the spectator to select any two cards. Again, repeat the pattern of either keeping the two cards that contain the 11th card or removing the selected two if the 11th card is not one.

Now you are down to two cards. Ask the spectator to select one card. If they pick the 11th card, turn it over to reveal their card. If they pick the card that is not the 11th card, simply remove it from the table leaving just the 11th card and then reveal their card. This trick will fry their brain! Try it.

Magic Under the Christmas Tree

2007-12-18T14:44:00.000-06:00

Christmas, that magical time of year. Magical, as in I finally get to order a bunch of magic stuff! My wife gave me a budget for Christmas this year and told me to figure out what I wanted. Upon informing my wife that I had placed an order for $155 worth of magic stuff she quickly chastised my reckless purchase.

"What's the big deal," I exclaimed. The order was well under my $200 gift budget. Come to find out, she really didn't mean to go and actually purchase what I wanted. Apparently, some of that budget was already allocated for things I "really" wanted like underwear and a new belt.

I foolishly thought that the remaining $45 would go towards other magical essentials; like a couple dozen Bicycles or some silks. After getting the "voice" (you long time married guys know the "voice," a tonal quality somewhere between disgust and fury) and the evil eye (you don't even have to be married to know that look), my wife told me that the remaining $45 had been already spent. Probably on socks, steak knives and an Old Spice gift pack.

But my woeful tale of Christmas' magic gifts doesn't end here. Oh no, it doesn't end. Yesterday, a little box from labeled Penguin Magic showed up at my door. My wife, in all of her Christmas wisdom, decided that she must immediately wrap my gifts and place them under the tree with a joyous little sticker that says "Don't open until x-mas!"

I doth protest this Christmas injustice! It's not like I don't know what's in that box. I argued that at least I should be able to keep the free promotional items that I received.

My next argument was simple and logical. I must inspect the shipping manifest to determine whether all magical items and apparatus were accounted for. Only one who truly knows magic, can account for all of the mysteries held within that little cardboard box. She bit on that subtle misdirection as I palmed a DVD into my breast pocket. Well, something like that happened.

My wife had acquiesced to my infallible logic. She said, "Okay, but just the free DVD." Now I had to make a quick decision. Think, think. I only get one so which one shall I tell her is the free DVD. Of course, I knew well that the free DVD was "Brian Tudor's Extreme Generation," a highly rated DVD treatise on extreme card manipulation.

Now Extreme Generation is the "Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events" of magic DVDs. You don't really want it, don't order it, it's too hard, you can't do it, remove from cart now. Did I want that as my only source of new magic until Christmas morn? Hell no! Think, think.

After a few hasty milliseconds of indecision, I lunged for the "Double Take by Gregory Wilson" DVD. My DL needed some attention and this DVD had some routines I could actually show-off at Christmas dinner with the in-laws. "Yep, here's the free DVD!" I proudly exclaimed as I snagged the treasured DVD.

So far I am happy with my split second decision. My basic DL is so much better and I've learned a couple other DLs that will be an awesome addition to my arsenal of finger trickery. Although my appetite for magic is temporarily sated, I yearn for Christmas morning when my nimble fingers tear into a cornucopia of new magical knowledge and wisdom.

There is a lesson to be learned here - don't wait for your magical Christmas gifts to come to you - spend early and often before well meaning spouses or parents buy you that cool Scooby-Doo Chia Pet.

In case you are interested, that gaily wrapped shoebox under my tree contains the following magical bling:

On The Spot with Gregory Wilson (DVD)

Pyrotechnic Pasteboards with Gregory Wilson (DVD)

World Class Manipulations #1 with Gregory...just kidding...with Jeff McBride (DVD)

Worlds Greatest Magic - The Ambitious Card (DVD)

Worlds Greatest Magic - Stand Up Magic (DVD)

Two books, a silk and a set of Vernet Multiplying Balls

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Festive Festivus!

Konjurer

REVIEW: Visu-Antics DVD by Jim Pace

2007-12-12T23:29:00.002-06:00

The Marketing Fluff

"Jim Pace is one of magic's most visual close-up artists. Working 4 restaurants per week for over 20 years has taught him to create flashy, attention-getting magic that makes audiences scream. It's magic that's low on set-up and high on pay-off. The video is jammed packed with some of the best gags, stunts, and magic routines you're ever going to see. Best of all, this stuff is easy and you'll wind up doing most of it!"

Since this blog is oriented towards beginning to intermediate magicians, I would say this DVD is going to be an average addition to your DVD library. If you are a working, walk around/restaurant magician, I think this DVD will be more valuable to you. Overall, your going to get some good, quick tricks with high impact.

Degree of Difficulty
Moderate. Some very easy tricks and some are going to require moderate practice depending on you skill level with coins and cards.

Teaching
Jim's style is easy-going with some dry wit. Overall he is easy to understand and explains the tricks in adequate detail. There is one uncomfortable moment in the video where Pace pulls a pocket watch out of his fly. It is out of place and a little creepy. In the end, Jim Pace is a likable guy who's seems to have been performing magic for a long, long time.

Quantity of Effects
You get reasonable value for your money as there are 20 effects. There is a real odd mix of stuff; coins, cards, sight gags, pen tricks and mentalism. I see this material as supplemental tricks; attention getters or quick hit tricks between your bread and butter routines. If you only find one or two usable tricks then you probably won't be happy with the DVD. However, I think anyone should be able to take away 5 or 6 really good tricks from this DVD.

Quality of Effects
You'll find some really good tricks and some ho-hum ones. Some of the tricks are not 100% guaranteed to work as they rely on certain principles that your spectator might not follow. Here are my favorites.

I have read other short reviews where the favorite seems to be Crushed. This involves the appearance and disappearance of a 20oz. soda or water bottle. This illusion is quick and eye-popping. Pace gives you a variation with a silk that looks pretty magical. Plus it makes a cool noise that gives you an audio component to the illusion.

The Impossible Color Change was almost worth the price of the DVD and has become my default color change. A wave of the hand and the card changes. I like this because of the economy of motion - unlike the Erdnase which requires a longer motion to achieve the change. Plus you can be much more dramatic with the magic wave than with an Erdnase.

Quick-o-Chink is a super fast coin matrix effect. Four coins are arranged in a typical coin matrix (square) pattern. A quick wave of your hands and all four coins jump under one hand - very cool indeed.

I don't remember seeing this vanish in Bobo's Modern Coin Magic. The TV Coin Vanish starts with a coin resting on a couple fingers, the coin is taken into the other hand. The first hand is opened to show that it is no longer in that hand. Then the other hand is opened to show that it is clean as well (sort of anyways :) Then the coin is plucked from mid-air. No sleeves or gimmicks are necessary.

The Bet involves a free selection of 3 cards by the spectator. The magi inserts the cards into the deck and the deck is squared. The magi pulls an valuable object from his pocket as a motivator for winning a bet. In one swift motion, the deck vanishes and the magi snaps the specators 3 cards from thin air.

If you're a seasoned pro (ie, someone who earns money doing magic) then you've seen most or all of the sleights on this DVD. For an amateur, you'll probably pick up a handful of new skills.

Production Quality
Poor. There is a single hand-held camera for most of the DVD. The camera is shaky but not overly annoying like in some other DVDs I own. Is owning a tripod too much to expect for a video producer these days? To show an alternate angle, the camera man simply walks to the new angle and Jim repeats the move. The menus have no style and no frills.

Overall: 6/10
As the name of the DVD implies, these are visual gags and effects. No five minute routines here - just smash 'em upside the head tricks. The material is probably most useful as supplemental material for a close up magician. Jim loses points for mediocre production quality and the overall usefulness of the material is not as good for amateurs as would be DVDs that specialize in a particular form of magic like just cups, just cards or just coins.

Watching some of the tricks your going to think "duh, that's kinda stupid." However these are Pace's time tested tricks that should impress an audience of lay people. As Jim frequently says "just give it a try."

REVIEW: In The Beginning There Were Coins DVD

2007-12-11T16:25:00.002-06:00

The Marketing Fluff
"In the Beginning There Were Coins contains THE moves and sleights you NEED to know, taught in the most clear, direct, and simple way possible. If you're looking for every single variation and every move imaginable, you're in the wrong place. If you want to get the BIGGEST return on your investment of time and hard work, you've found the training DVD for you. But, before you start, know this: Noblezada isn't on this earth to put together a beginner course that's gonna leave you looking like a beginner.

This course will take you from beginner to pro in coin magic."

"Take you from a beginner to pro" might be a little strong but it will give you a great foundation in coin magic. This is a high quality DVD is all ways. This is a building block DVD - you're given a bunch of basic magic "Legos" that you will use to build a lot of different tricks and routines. So let's take an in depth look at Jay Noblezada's treatise on introductory coin magic!

Konjurer's Tip:
While you are waiting for your DVD to arrive, visit your bank and pick up a 6-8 50 cent coins (aka Kennedy Half Dollar). If your bank doesn't have them (they are probably too lazy to get a roll from the vault) then call around to other banks. These are easy to find with a few phone calls. Also stop by a coin shop and pick up a couple English Pennies. These are relatively easy to find and inexpensive. The English Penny is the same size as the Kennedy half dollar and it has a nice brown copper color that will work well when performing a color change effect or transposition.

Degree of Difficulty
Moderate. There are no self working tricks here. This is pure sleight of hand magic with the simplest of props. You'll need to spend weeks or months practicing this material.

Teaching
Jay Noblezada is one of the best young teachers on DVD on the planet. He is an accomplished sleight of hand magician who demos his routines for real people, on the street, for jaw dropping reactions.

Jay goes over each sleight in glorious detail. He shows you how not to do the move. You won't have to pause and rewind as much as some other instructors.

For the most part, Jay chooses outdoor settings to teach; a California beach, a city park and a boat on Lake Mead. I have seen some people disparage his choice of locations but I think it is refreshing. You feel like Jay is just a friend, sitting bare feet in the grass, in a city park, teaching you one-on-one.

Quantity of Effects
This is a packed DVD full of a lot of material. Of course, the gold standard in teaching coin magic is Modern Coin Magic by J. B. Bobo. It covers only a small portion of the material in the Bobo book. However, it covers the meat and potatos of coin magic including the basic palms, concealments, passes and vanishes.

The DVD is broken up into:

Essentials
Tricks
Routines
Pro Tips
Extras

The Pro Tips have some stuff from Bobo like what to do if you drop a coin. Jay teaches a lot of subtle tips for selling you sleights like "breaking the wrist." He also gives you the Slide Vanish which is a very convincing vanish.

Quality of Effects
Tricks are fast effects that can be incorporated into a multiple phase routine; Coin thru Pants, Coin Thru Pocket, Coin from Thin Air, Cranium Vanish, Tenkai Pennies, Coin from Pencap. The Tenkai Pennies and Coins thru Table are really mini routines and the best of the Trick section.

The Routines are a nice Coins Across using two spectators, a PK Coin Bend, a One Coin Routine and a Three Coin Routine. I really like the One Coin Routine and have developed my own version called the Stinky Coin (see my video below). Lastly, there is a routine called You and Me that is really powerful. These are all great close routines that you'll likely use if you are doing walk around or bar magic.

Production Quality
Top notch production. The menus are hip and fun. The variety of locations and sets alleviate any chance of boredom. The video and sound quality are superb. It is filmed with at least 2 cameras and Jay shows you the key angle shots. The on-the-street demos are a joy to watch.

Overall: 9/10
This is just a fun DVD. It is a great selection for beginning coin magic. It is also a great supplement to Bobo's Modern Coin Magic (MCM) for beginning and intermediate coin magicians. Most of this material is covered in MCM but you'll get so much more out of Jay's solid instruction, expert demonstrations and his subtle maneuvers that really sell and polish the presentation. Everyone's learning style is different but I would personally recommend this as a first introduction to coin magic and follow up with MCM.

So you want to be a magician? START HERE!

2007-12-08T23:04:00.000-06:00

Where do you start when you want to become a magician? Well, first I think you must decide why it is you want to learn magic:

a) I want to impress chicks/dudes at school
b) I want to be the next Criss Angel or David Blaine
c) Because I love magic

If you answered a) then you picked a great answer! Too bad you're not cut out for magic though. If you picked b) then you have lofty goals but I doubt you'll get there because you didn't pick c).

c) is the best answer and THE place to start.

Note that a) and b) are the results of c).

To be a good magician you'll need to develop a love and respect for the art of magic. Plus you'll need patience and a strong work ethic in order to put in the hours of practice necessary to get to the point where you can perform in front of another person.

If you think you are ready for the next step, repeat after me...

As a magician I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, unless that one swears to uphold the Magician's Oath in turn. I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic.

This oath is sacred and must be followed. As in all things we must live by principles and morals and that set us apart from all other living creatures. There are some key ideals in this oath that merit your attention.

Never reveal. People will ask you for the secret, perhaps beg you. But they don't really want to know. Once you tell the secret a couple things will happen:

You will no longer be respected as a magician by the spectator.
The illusion is shattered and the entertainment value is gone.
Every trick you do after that will not be as impressive to the spectator.
You've let down you brothers and sisters in the fraternity of magic.

The secret is never as impressive as the illusion so don't ruin it for the audience.

Next, find two or three good tricks and practice them until your fingers are raw.

Practice in front of the mirror
Practice without the mirror
Use a camcorder to record your practice sessions, record from different angles, review the video and fix the mistakes
Work on the patter (your narration of the trick) make it interesting and rehearse it dozens of times until it flows from you without thought
Make the trick your own. Come up with your own patter, your own slant and add your own character.
When you think that you are ready to perform the trick, go to step one and repeat.

A good trick will take weeks or months to perform. I read comments from young mages on forums that speak of a trick like this.

This is the best trick ever, I was performing it flawlessly in 5 minutes after I got it!

First, it probably isn't the "best trick ever." No best-trick-ever takes 5 minutes to perfect. And you did not perform it flawlessly. If you watched it in front of a mirror or camcorder, you would have known that you were not as flawless as you thought.

Next step. By now you probably really enjoyed one of the tricks more than the others. Focus on that style of magic; be it cards, coins or reading minds. Go out and buy the "bible" for that form of magic. They are usually inexpensive and you get dozens of magic tricks for your money as well as the bread and butter training. Or if you are more of a visual learner, like me, get a DVD that covers the same material as in the books. Here are some examples:

Books:
Modern Coin Magic - J.B. Bobo
The Royal Road To Card Magic - Hugard & Braue
Practical Mental Magic - Ted Annemann

DVDs:
Born to Perform Card Magic - Oz Perleman
In the Beginning There Were Coins - Jay Noblezada

Lastly step before performing a trick; watch the masters. We live in the Internet age. Go out to youtube.com and watch other magicians perform the same effect - especially the masters of the craft!

If you study one form of magic for 1-2 months and you are willing to put in an hour or two each day, you'll be ready to begin impressing your friends and co-workers. Don't try to learn 20 tricks - just 2-3 killer tricks to get your feet wet and you'll fry people's brains with the simplest of illusions.

Note: In The Linking Rings section to the right is a link to the Theory 11 Beginning Magician's video. This is highly recommended as a place to start.

REVIEW: Mind Stunts and Mind Stunts 2 by Patrick Kuffs

2007-12-08T10:43:00.001-06:00

Patrick Kuffs' Mind Stunts and Mind Stunts 2 are a collection of original mentalism routines presented in Kuffs quirky style. Let me preface my review by saying I'm never been all that wild about most mentalism routines. So if you are thirsty for new mentalism, this may be the ticket.

Degree of Difficulty
Easy. There are no tricky sleights to learn. 90% of the routines are timing and acting. However easy these may be, I don't think this would be a good introduction to mental magic.

Teaching
Kuffs plays both magician and spectator and uses editing to portray both roles. I prefer seeing trick performed for a real audience to gauge the reaction to the presentation. Combining a thick accent and goof-ball style, this teaching style was really hard for me to watch. Perhaps his style works in front of a real audience but we don't get to see that, now do we?

Quantity of Effects
There are a total of 7 effects and Kuffs blatantly tells you that he is not going to show you the last trick, Nostradakuffs and to figure it out for yourself. So 6 tricks for your hard-earned clams.

Quality of Effects
These tricks don't do much for me but I think that some of the material is usable. The Book Test 4 Dummies was my favorite. The name is appropriate because someone who is not a dummy might be suspicious of the method. If you are not familiar with book tests, it goes like this; some picks a random page from an seemingly normal book. The mentalist then reads the mind of the spectator and predicts the word. In this trick the spec selects the first word from a random page out of a truly random book and writes the word on a business card. Then the magi does the same. Viola, the words match!

Blindfoil uses aluminum foil and duck tape to cover the mage's eyes. The mage then is then spun around to a random heading and sketches the scene in front of his face. Wow, it matches! Kuffs does this outside so he can accurately draw some trees and a park bench. Yawn.

Watchism is a watch prediction with the spectator's watch. Perhaps this would work on a blonde - but it seems too obvious for a brunette. (Just kidding, you blondes!) Again, I might be more convinced if he used real spectators for the demo.

Dangerous Monte is a three bag elimination were the last bag contains a broken bottle. Don't worry, you're never really in danger - even if you make a wrong guess. The spectator mixes up three cards number 1, 2 and 3 and lays them in front of the paper bags. The cards determine the order in which the magician crushed the bag. I feel danger in the air!

Production Quality
Kuffs using little vignettes in a variety of settings to frame each trick. At times there is clever editing and the video quality is good. However the hand held camera work is all over the place. Zoom in, zoom out, jerk the camera this way and that way. Kuffs was trying to be overly clever and comedic with the presentation. It just wasn't my style of humor and I'm not a fan of hand-held videography.

Overall: 4/10
I think if your a fan of mentalism, you're going to find a way to use some of this material - especially if you are mixing humor with your mentalism act. I have to be critical of any DVD that shows you a trick and then doesn't provide the secret. Isn't that what we're paying for? Mind Stunts 2 is more of the same so if you think you might like this DVD, I would suggest getting both. Personally, this wasn't my cup of tea.

REVIEW: Complete Course in Magic with Cups & Balls

2007-12-07T19:37:00.003-06:00

I hadn't seen a review of this DVD set so I thought I would post my first review. I received this DVD set as a promo about 6 months ago and just got around to really spending some quality time with the material. I wanted a Balls and Cups DVD and Penguin had it as a promo so I went against the conventional wisdom (Michael Ammar Cups and Balls DVD #1 and #2) and got Eddy Ray set instead. This is a two DVD set and currently sells for 37.95.

I can't really compare the quality of this set to the Michael Ammar Cups and Balls DVDs because I never seen them. However, I did a move by move comparison and they are very comparable from a content standpoint. The Ammar set appears to have a little material that is not on the Eddy Ray set however the reverse is also true (more on that in just a sec).

The Eddy Ray has about 80 sections broke into the following categories.

There are also 2 performances clips

The DVD is well produced. It has a classical music sound track which I like (I can imagine some people might not). The teaching is a tad dry but very good. Ray occasionally flashes but overall he seems to be a very capable Cups and Balls performer.

Being a noob to the Balls and Cups, I didn't understand the organization of the material at first. Once I got midway through the 2nd DVD it all became clear and I got excited about the possibilities. You really are given the building blocks to creating your own routine. The building blocks are roughly presented as a series of beginnings, middles, and endings.

There are a few things that are on this DVD that I gather may not be on the Ammar DVD. These are:

The Roy Benson Bowl Routine is a bonus. Basically a single cup (bowl) routine with sponge balls. His final load is a deck of cards so it is a really great transition routine.

My only complaint was that I wish Ray provided a little more instruction on misdirection, acting, patter and presentation.

I have 12 instructional magic DVDs and this is one of the best I have so far. I give this DVD set a 8/10 rating. He lost points for some lazy editing on the second disk and a dry presentation.

Editor's Note 10/6/08: I have 33 DVDs now and it's still one of my favorite DVDs simply for the sheer wealth of material.

Improvising From The Classics

2007-12-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

Teleportation, mentalism, restoration, productions, vanishes, transpositions, levitations, penetrations and escapes; the classic forms of magic. Then there are the classic routines; Cups and Balls, Multiplying Balls, Cut and Restored Rope, Coins Across, Linking Rings and other timeless classics. And the best classics are the ones with numerous sleights, variations, tricks, sequences and endings.

I've sworn off purchasing "tricks" or one trick DVDs such as Greed and Spun. These are great tricks and well made DVDs but I've found that I just didn't learn much from them and I rarely perform them. It seems so obvious now that a beginning to intermediate magician should avoid these one-trick ponies and throw their efforts into a really worthwhile discipline.

Therefore, the best magic DVDs and books are the ones that are an encyclopedia for one of these classical schools of magic; the true reference materials like Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, Practical Mental Magic and Royal Road to Card Magic. The best DVDs are the ones where the teacher is imparting nuance and experience; ideas that can be applied to all areas of your magical apprenticeship. From these tomes you can pick effects, choose transitions, arrange the sleights and flourishes to invent something uniquely your own. I find that the sweet spot in magic is when you master enough effects in a particular school that they flow from you hands without thought or effort.

When a guitar player improvises, he takes the little bits of scales and progressions, techniques and tonal qualities and lets them flow freely from his soul. The more practiced and accomplished the guitar player, the better he is at improvising. The more pieces of material within his (or her) deep well of licks and riffs, the more interesting and moving the music.

The same applies to the conjuring arts. As we build depth within these schools of magic, the results are more rich, colorful and entertaining and ultimately more satisfying to perform.

REVIEW: Ring Leader with Gregory Wilson (DVD)

2007-12-06T22:19:00.001-06:00

The Effect
"Picture this - A spectator's ring is magically plucked off the center of a rope and just as effortlessly thrown back on - without letting go of the ends! In a flurry of non-stop action, the ring takes on a life of its own - it hops and pops, slips and slides, jumps and bumps, moves and grooves. In other words, you can't stop it!"

The DVD comes with a ribbon and a ring so you can get right to it. There are no gimmicks involved so you can literally use your shoe string and a borrowed ring and you've got material for a killer routine - although Wilson doesn't like using shoe strings.

Degree of Difficulty
Moderate. These are pretty easy sleights to master and perform. It will take you a few weeks of practice to perfect a good routine.

Teaching
Greg Wilson has to be one to the best teachers in magic and a very funny guy. He moves slowly, provides patter ideas and suggests alternative presentations. He has a jewelry store story line which provides the motivation for the tricks. He goes over the source books (where he learned from) and credits the inventors of the effects. He provides a lot of subtilities and misdirections that help to sell the tricks.

Quantity of Effects
There are a lot of tricks. Once you get good at these you can start with the Jewelry store patter and improvise a five minute routine with ease. You are given the Ring Leader routine that Greg demos - it is an okay routine but there are so many great effects that I suggest weaving in 3 or 4 other effects for a full routine.

Quality of Effects
It may not seem like a ring and string could produce jaw dropping effects but they do. These little illusions are visually striking. There are a lot of good closing effects so you can build up to some great climaxes such as the Gold Medal Insertion. Some of these effects have audience participation elements. My favorite effects are:

* You thread the ring on the string, then unthread the ring. Then you throw the ring at the string and it pops right into the middle the string.

* With the ring on the middle of the string, you hand one end of the string to a spectator and the other end to another spec - then pluck the ring from the middle of the string - mind blowing!

Production Quality
Not a flashy production but video and sound quality are good. You are often given multiple angles.

Overall: 10/10
This is the DVD reference encyclopedia for ring and string effects. I now carry a string and ring with me so I can practice or perform anywhere. There is enormous value and all of the routines are very usable in any number of settings; kids and adults, parlor and close up. You just can't go wrong with Gregory Wilson's Ring Leader.

What's a Magic Yeti?

2007-12-04T15:18:00.000-06:00

"Magic Yeti" was the result of a randomly fired neuron within a friend's fertile gray matter as I stared blankly at the Create Blog screen saying nothing.

Although the Yeti is considered a magical creature, he is not a magician. In fact, their big furry fingers are not suitable for a DL. And while they do have an opposable thumb, the largest TT is still too small and the flesh tone does match the pale, gray skin of the Yeti.

Yet the Yeti can vanish a coin into their thick furry coat without any complicated muscle pass sleight. Bobo considered adding the Yeti Utility vanish for extra hairy men but it was taken out by the editor for the first edition of Modern Coin Magic.

Basement Secrets

2007-12-04T15:12:00.000-06:00

I recently found the remnants of my boyhood magic secrets in my parents basement; an old tin breadbox containing a handful of broken magical apparatus, mail order catalogs and illusion plans. The old illusion plans revealed some really cool stuff like a Transylvania substitution truck and plans for the famous Doll House illusion. There was even a 12 page Mark Wilson Course in Magic!

The real gem was an old Marshall Brodien Magic Catalog. This catalog was the 1975 paper equivalent of penguinmagic.com and was the object of all my heart's desires. One hundred and twenty six pages of the cheesiest looking tricks you've ever seen. Here are some of the jewels of magic that I purchased as a lad (I think a lot of these are still available):

The Imp Vase - a little plastic vase that won't fall down. Remember the Weebles (they wobble but they don't fall down), same principle but with a secret that makes the Weeble fall.
Multiplying Billiard Balls - I like the crocheted red balls better but this is really a good trick. My son got a set at some retail store and I had instant flashbacks.
Mystic Smoke - goo in a tube. Made little wispy things that looked a little like smoke when you tapped it between your fingers. Just like playing with a booger.
Money Maker - Yes! Encourage your kid to become a counterfeiter - change a one dollar bill into a five! Of course I was a poor child so I only changed white page into a dollar bill.
Coin Penetration - the magicians dental dam! Also doubles as a birth control device in a pinch.
Chinese Sticks - Two wand-like sticks with strings attached to one end of the wand. Although not connected on the physical plane, there seems to be a supernatural connection between the strings. So what do the Chinese really use these wands for? I think to get the lint from between your toes.

The crown jewel of my magical purchases was the White Zombie. The Zombie Ball is a classic routine were the magician levitates a ball from under a large silk. There were a few other Zombie Balls in the catalog but I went for the $5.75 economy model. Still popular today, it was an amazing effect for a 13 year old boy in 1975. Unfortunately, the brittle styrofoam ball could not hold up to the coat hanger gimmick and only lasted for a few glorious performances.

Magic, it's like a bad penny

2007-12-04T00:02:00.001-06:00

It's been a year since I renewed my interest in the art on conjuring. Magic is one of those hobbies of mine that, once ignited, turns me into an obsessive compulsive sponge. One year and over 20 DVDs later and I'm hooked; line and sinker included.

As I may have implied, this is not the first time I've gotten carried away with a new hobby. My first major obsession was with magic, oh, back around 1975. Then along the way I got sucked into music, guitar, home brewing, game programming, fishing, song writing, recording and then full circle, back to art of magic in December of 2006. Things always have a way of coming full-circle now don't they.

The second phase of my obsession started when my 8 year old son needed a magic trick for his cub scout magic show. There was no Internet when I was a 13 year old magician. I gleaned all of my knowledge of the art by checking every magic book and magician biography from my school and city libraries.

Looking for a magic trick for my son's show, I found a web site called Penguin Magic and a whole new, magical world, previously unknown to me, was opened. After a couple instant trick downloads, my hunger for magic grew out of control.

My first DVD was Oz Perleman's Born To Perform Card Magic. Wow, did this material blow any any card tricks I had previously known. It wasn't so much the tricks but the techniques. These basic building blocks that so many routines were built upon; time tested, digital maneuvers that require muscle memory and repetition to acquire. It became clear that learning these sleights would take a great deal of practice and patience to perfect.

This blog is the story of my journey and hopefully, other aspiring, amateur magicians may follow along and we can all learn from the wisdom of the collective.