DVD Review: Money Starring Jay Noblezada

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: 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

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."

What's a Magic Yeti?

"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.