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

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.

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

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

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.

DVD Review: Ultimate Aces

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

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.

The Magic Show 2007

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.

Practice Sessions: Required Gear

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

FREE MAGIC TRICK - Angela's Premonition Card Trick

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.

The Artistry of Manipulation

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.

The Ultimate Magic Showdown: Books versus DVDs

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: Pip-Thru by Tank (DVD)

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

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

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.

REVIEW: Visu-Antics DVD by Jim Pace

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: Mind Stunts and Mind Stunts 2 by Patrick Kuffs

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

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.

DVD 1
Introduction (props, terms and the professional routine)
Essentials moves and Sleights
Holding Out
Essential Secret Loads
Steal Balls from The Tabled Cups
Faking the Load
Cup Manipulations

DVD 2
Wand Manipulations & Moves
Starting Your Routine
Starting Sequences
Middle Sequences
Final Loads
Final Sequences
Final Load Revelations (Rhythms)
Roy Benson Bowl Routine

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 Eddy Ray Advanced Stack Move - loading two balls into the same nested cup.
The Eddy Ray Cheat Move - a better version of the Click Move - this is one of the best moves on the DVD.
Francis Carlyle's Proposition Bet - not really a trick - more of an optical illusion
Four wand spins
Wand Appearance with a silk
Wand Disappearance with a silk
Eddy Ray Wand vanish
Roy Benson Bowl Routine

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.

REVIEW: Ring Leader with Gregory Wilson (DVD)

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.

Basement Secrets

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.