What The Audience Sees:

“Okay, so Friday was really strange- I think we were all hypnotized! Jamie shows us an American one-dollar bill, right? Nothing crazy. But then, all of a sudden, it changed! It morphed itself inside out or something! Jamie told us that he had temporarily hypnotized all of us and that the bill should look different, and did it ever! It was like all reversed, backwardsy, split into quarters, kind of magical weirdnessness! None of us could believe our eyes! And man, did we ever have a great weekend because of it!”

How It Went:

You know, I’ve never really given the Mis-Made Bill premise a go before and I have to say, I’ve been missing out. I only wish I had been able to do it with borrowed money, which all you guys and gals in The States will be able to do. A Mis-Made Loonie just wouldn’t be the same, lol (a Loonie is a Canadian one-dollar coin). On that note, those of you in the US do have a real advantage. Up here, the smallest bill is a Five, but people are never really carrying them around because the smallest bill that most ATMs give out are Twenties. So, if you’re in the US, take advantage of it. However, I digress…

Even though I was using my own bill, and a foreign one at that, it still rocked the house. I was a bit surprised myself, actually. People were giving each other looks like, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” The magic really played with their minds on Friday. I’ve been thinking about it all weekend and I’m still trying to dissect why it went so well, and I think it’s because, unlike normal paper, people know how impossible it is to “make” a bill. And a bill has a feel to it that can’t be faked (well, not legally, lol) so I think as soon as people touched it, they simply fully believed. There is also something more believable about it being the same denomination, I think.

And I have to say, I love Magick Balay’s handling of the switch! It has a more natural sort of feel to me than previous switches I’ve used and it went by everyone on Friday. There is something about the “turning” in Magick’s method that I really like and it seemed to help both me and my audience. I’ll talk about it more in the video portion but I just found it a more believable way of folding something. I found people weren’t burning my hands as much as when I’ve done switches before- perhaps it comes across as more casual.

The Difficulty:

This took me a while to get down and, as you’ll see, I still have to force myself to not look at my hands (when performing for real people, I find that an easier task because you have conversation going on, but it still took a while to get confident). However, this should be well within the capabilities of a solid magician. 3/5.

Best Lines:

“OMG, it’s backwards…no, it’s sideways, OMG! How did you do that?!”

~It’s always better to have someone ask, “How did you do that?” as opposed to, “Where did the other one go?”

“Holy %$^$! This is the same dollar, too!!!”

~I’m not sure what convinced them of that, but hey, I’ll take it!

Angry Bob Rating:

For those of you reading this article for the first time, Angry Bob is a co-worker who has an understanding of some magic because his uncle was a magician. Angry Bob knows that TT’s exist, for example, but he has no desire to become a magician himself. He also has an anger management problem that can be experienced first hand if he can’t figure out how a trick is done. A high rating means he has no idea.

“You %$^$%#n switched it. That’s pretty cool, though.”

3/5. I’m giving this a higher mark than you’d think after Angry Bob’s reaction, but that’s because he still has no idea how I did it. I’ve used a bill switch for a few Magic Fridays in the past, so I’m pretty sure Angry Bob has looked into how it works but I know he can’t do it himself. If you were to do this to someone with no magic knowledge, you’d fry them.

My Rating:

Magic Friday Approved!

Well, I’ve decided to switch (Ha, Ha, get it? I said…never mind) in Magick’s new handling as the one I’m going to be using in the future. When you watch the DVD and you see how fast he is with it, you can see how it will get light years better than how I’m currently performing with it. And, when it gets to Magick’s level (hopefully), I think it will be perfect. The “turning” combined with the “kickup” of the bill is just enough to make me put my old switch back on the shelf.

The JDG Tip:

Watch it here!

The iTricks Idea:

Make sure you crumple your bill up a ton before going live. What I did, was I always kept it in my pocket with another bill. It seemed like the other bills age rubs off a bit on the new one.

Closing Thoughts:

Congrats to NYMP for making such a great DVD. It was nice to watch something that just showed me the performer going through the steps. Sometimes Magic DVDs get so complicated that I want to throw myself out the window and this was a refreshingly straightforward instructional video. Very well done.

Have a Great Week Everyone!

Jamie D. Grant
www.whatizit.net

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Corey Martin is a regular contributor to iTricks Raves.

There are countless DVD’s out on the market that focus on the art of card flourishing. Many are rich in visual “eye candy” but very difficult to master. Then there are the select few that look fantastic but are much simpler to master.  Aaron Fisher’s One-Hand Popover is a beautiful piece of slight of hand that can be used as a visual production, a slight or even just a flourish. It combines elements that many magicians use everyday combined with Aaron’s incredible insight and teaching to create a fantastic piece of magic. The DVD is broken down into sections to focus all the attention on the most important parts of the move.  The Grip, The Popover itself, and then taking the actual move an applying it to effects and routines, both as a visual production and a slight.

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Card Magic, Close Up, DVD, Flourishes | Comments

What The Audience Sees:

”So Jamie has become some sort of ninja, apparently. You should have seen it man, this guy is so quick! He showed us his ring, but then he took it off his finger so that he wasn’t wearing it, but simply holding it. Then…BLAM! It was right back on his finger! We were all like, “WHHAAAAAA??!” So he does it again- Ring On, Ring Off, BLAM! It was like Bruce Lee stuff! Or maybe he took his ring off, hypnotized us, went out for a coffee, hung out with some druids, wrote a few spells, had a hamburger, came back, put the ring back on, and unhyptnotized us. Who knows! All I know is that it rocked. ”

How It Went:

I’m a huge fan of ring magic. Ring Thing, Pinnacle, De’Ring, all of this stuff- I really enjoy it. I can also confidently say that the audience enjoys it too. De’Ring is a bit of flash that just looks super cool! And rings just have a sort of magical quality about them- I think that if I was going to do magic with something I’m wearing, then a ring seems to make sense, as opposed to, say, a belt, lol. De’vo, if you read this, I would love to see a wicked belt manipulation video! That would be fan-tastic.

So Friday went over really well. De’Ring is one of those effects where it it’s not such a mystery as to what’s going on but as to how it’s going on (literally). Well, maybe that’s not a fair thing to say. Because De’Ring does fool people. Most people won’t know how you got it back on your finger, that’s for sure. I think people come away with a feeling that I’ve done a specific task and that I’m good at what I do. It’s almost like a confirmation of skill in all aspects of what I’m performing. In a sense, I felt like people thought, “Of course, Jamie can do that. He’s so good,” which puts them in a fantastic thought process of “What’s next?!” And people’s reactions were great! It’s just such a shock to see it back on.

And of course this is all thanks to De’vo, who is such a talent it’s freakin scary! The things he can do are absolutely stunning and look like the kind of things you’d only expect someone with superhuman gifts (which he has) to do. I think he’s not into magic so much as manipulation but, I’m sorry De’Ring, when done well, is real magic. It was especially powerful when people didn’t realize that it was back on my finger right away. Instead of a ‘travel’, it was a ‘disappearance’ and an ‘appearance’, Two for the price of one!

The Difficulty:

I’m not going to lie to you and say that you’ll be busting this out in ten minutes. It takes practice. It’s not as hard, by any means, as some of the other stuff that De’vo puts out though. Also, you’ll also be throwing your ring all over the place (well, at least I did!) so don’t practice with something expensive, lol. 3.5/5.

Best Lines:

”WHHAAAAAAA??!!! DO IT AGAIN!”
~Lol, Imagine walking up to someone and slapping them in the face. But instead of it hurting, it feels good. That’s what this is like.

”How the %#^# did you get that back on there so fast?! That’s amazing!”
~Simple, Practice.

Angry Bob Rating:

For those of you reading this article for the first time, Angry Bob is a co-worker who has an understanding of some magic because his uncle was a magician. Angry Bob knows that TT’s exist, for example, but he has no desire to become a magician himself. He also has an anger management problem that can be experienced first hand if he can’t figure out how a trick is done. A high rating means he has no idea.

”You %#%##’n put it on your finger, ^^&$&((*$.”

Yeah, I know. I put it there. So does this “fool” Angry Bob? I guess not. 1/5. But, does it impress Angry Bob? I would think so. I mean, it’s a display of skill, as well as being a great effect. For me, it’s almost a no lose situation, If someone has an idea how it’s done, it doesn’t phase me because it simply looks so great.

My Rating:

Magic Friday Approved!

Like I mentioned above, I love Ring stuff and De’Ring is an effect I use daily. No kidding, I probably do De’Ring for someone every single day of my life. How many other effects do I have that I can say that about? So for me, De’Ring is an absolute must-have! I also love the fact that it doesn’t take up any more pocket space. If I could wear a deck of cards on my finger, I probably would, lol.

The JDG Tip:

Watch it here!

The iTricks Idea:

Check out your finger before you walk out the door. Lol, this might sound crazy, but depending on the weather, how much ice cream you’ve eaten, etc, your performance can really differ. So just do a quick check to make sure you’re ready to roll before you bust it out!

Closing Thoughts:

Thanks for reading and watching! If you’ve got a minute, please leave a comment and let me know you came by for a visit! And…

Have a Great Week Everyone!

Jamie D. Grant
www.whatizit.net

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Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”Holy Smokes! Jamie brought in an envelope of some crazy weird photos on Friday- they looked like Angry Bob as a baby, Ha! Seriously, they were these four strange photos of some Shrunken Heads that were totally bizarre. On one of them, Jamie had a message on the back, and he gave it to me and said to not read it yet. He then had me select, from the remaining three, one of the photos for me, one for himself, and one to go in the envelope. Well, you’re not going to believe this, but after I made the selections, he told me to look at the back of the photo I was holding… I looked on the back…and it said exactly what I had done!!! It was creeeeeepy awesome! Big Ted started to take off his shoes, and I went running to look for some Garlic and a wooden stake. Those Heads must be stopped!!! ”

How It Went:

Sometimes there’s magic that you know will stay with people. A special moment of time, an image, a thought, ~something that they won’t ever forget because it made such an impact. 3 No Evil is one of those effects that provides that magic. Not just because of the outcome, but because the story and the pictures are so interesting. I don’t think many people have seen a Shrunken Head before, let alone four of them, and they caused mucho discussion on Friday. Note: It helps to have a little bit of knowledge of the history behind Shrunken Heads and I encourage you to read up a bit about them- they’re absolutely fascinating and will give you some great discussion material!

Most people on Friday were absolutely fascinated with the pictures, which is great, because they can be studied to no end. There’s nothing to find, which makes the ending so strong and I really emphasized the selection process, which is quite clear. As a result, the reveal came across as a real kicker. People just weren’t expecting it. I think because this effect is so hands off that it just played a bit differently, which was nice. When they read the card, there’s an element of mystery, in the sense of, “Who wrote that message? And when?” It’s deeply intriguing.

I love magic like this. It brings something into play that is totally outside the norm for most people. I mean, if I was a piano player, it probably wouldn’t make sense to be carrying around an envelope with four Shrunken Head pictures in it, lol. That’s why it’s so great to be a magician. Where else can I introduce these kind of things into someone’s life? Awesome.

MUCH MORE INCLUDING THE iTRICKS IDEA AFTER THE JUMP

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Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”Today was MY day, man! I’m thinking of starting my own mind reading business! Jamie comes in and busts out a deck of cards and tells us that today is going to be good. He asks me to think of a card, any one I like, and then remove it from the deck. Them HE selects a card, and we’re all laughing because we’re pretty sure he’ll be able to find that one later. Anyways, once our cards are back into the deck he tells me to “’read his mind’! Yeah, like right. But he insists. He tells me to concentrate and pull his card out of the deck, but to not show him. So I just pull out some whatever card, you know what I’m sayin, and he has me put it into my pocket. So I’ve selected a card, he’s selected a card, I’ve ‘found’ his, and now he says he’ll find mine. Well, he does! Which is whack because I have no idea how he does this voodoo crazy mojodojo. But then it gets really %^^##%d up. Because, wait for it,… he tells everyone the name of the card that he had picked for himself…and that’s the card I pull out of my pocket!!!! It was Mingo!! People were freakin’ out asking me how I knew what his card was and I didn’t know what to say! When you’re good, you’re good. Booya!”

How It Went:

What can I tell you? When Paul showed me this at MINDvention, it just blew my mind. It’s not just the effect which is so awesome, but the completeness of it all. The plot, routining, involvement, and method are as good as it gets. And it’s all accomplished with a deck of cards and nothing else. Fantastic.
And, I’m very happy to say, that it played as well as I hoped. Sometimes I’ll absolutely love something only to have the Magic Friday Crowd collectively go, “meh” but this wasn’t the case on Friday. Every group loved it. Period. And it’s just a surprise to have the person pull your card out of their pocket. There’s a certain sort of legitimate real-world magic to the scenario. I’m even happier to say that I also was 100%. I was worried that I might crack under pressure and mess things up but I managed to really rise to the occasion. Which is funny, because I was jamming with my magic gang a couple of days before and I was having some difficulties with some very basic life skills. But, hey, that’s what practice is for.
On that note, I’d also like to mention that practice actually works. That might be a strange thing to say but I think it needs to be said. For me anyways, I know that I might be going through something and think that I’ll never get it down but if I keep at it, I always get it. And from that point on, I always seem to not have a problem. The mind is a wonderful thing.

MUCH MORE INCLUDING THE iTRICKS IDEA AFTER THE JUMP

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What The Audience Sees:

”Okay, okay, okay. So apparently Willy Moth%^ f#^^#n Wonka came into our office on Friday. Yeah, I’m not kidding you. I won’t be surprised if my desk is now made of cotton candy or something! First Jamie did this super quick trick where some aces switched places, which was awesome! We were all lovin’ it. But then, as he’s leaving, he asks us if we want some gum. When he shows us the pack though, there’s only one piece. Big Ted almost trampled poor Shortstop trying to get it when Jamie told him to hold on a second. He waved his hand, and the pack was now full! It was now full of gum! It was utter madness! I mean this was some seriously Golden Ticket magic going on right here. I almost had me an Oompa Loompa! ”

How It Went:

I should mention that the trick where “the aces switched places” that I performed prior to GUM was John Bannon’s version of Doc Daley’s Last Trick. I’ve already reviewed that trick for Magic Friday but John has a specific moment in his handling, which is awesome, that he just released via his new DVD set Bullets After Dark. If you haven’t checked it out, you should.

Okay, so how is Jeff Prace’s GUM? What can I tell you- I love it. I am a big believer in having everything in my life contain a magical property or have the ability to do something magical. I think, and this is just me, that everything I touch should have the ability to obey my command, lol. A nice idea, but pretty impossible. It’s not impossible, however, to stack the odds in my favour. And if I can do so by simply carrying a gum packet around with me, then rock and roll.
Now, some people are probably thinking, do we really need Gum Magic? Is this what our art’s all about? And I say; sure, why not? This trick isn’t going to take people into a new state of consciousness about society or anything but it is something, I think, that they expect a magician to have the ability to do. If I knew a magician, a real magician, liked gum and he/she ran out, I wouldn’t expect them to head to the 7-11. I would expect them to do the very thing that Jeff has enabled us to do. Make it appear, as if by magic.

And it does appear so. It’s real eye candy and looks wonderful. People were absolutely stunned when they saw the full box. What’s great about this is that no one misses it because everyone’s truly paying attention. I mean everyone really wanted a piece of gum, lol. So the disappointment and subsequent joy is real emotion. And the trick itself is utterly foolproof, which leads me to a possible new section…

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Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”Well, it’s good to see Jamie back on track, man. He had a bad stretch there for a while but last week he took us to the bridge with that Coin and Chapstick magic, and this week, %#^#, this week he had us all havin’ the time of our lives with this card trick he pulled off. He took the two Kings out of the deck right, and he had me select a card. I put it back, but with a snap of his hands- BOOM, it was between the two Kings!

Then he took it to the next level! He gave the deck to Angry Bob and said that A.B was going to do the magic! He had Big Ted select a card and put it back, and then he gave the deck to A.B. The two Kings were put back in near the ends of the deck but after A.B. said his magic word of “Go ^#&& yourself,” the Kings got closer together! He did it again, and this time the Kings were side by side in the deck with only one card in between them- Big Ted’s!!! It was awesome! Angry Bob dropped the cards in astonished disgust and Big Ted started to rub his knees with his elbow! Me? I just freaked the %$^$ out!!!”

How It Went:

I’m starting over. I’m talking about my Card Magic here. I think I’m done with special decks, custom cards, etc. I just can’t deal with it all anymore. I keep losing track of what does what, lol! So I’m starting over. Every card trick I want to do now needs to be done with a regular deck that I can leave with the specs. That’s my plan. And I want to do strong magic. Really strong magic. Paul Vigil’s Diplopia is on my list definitely (look for that in the next couple of weeks) as is Kostya Kimlat’s Roadrunner Cull. This week though? Aaron Fisher’s SEARCH and DESTROY (featuring the NOWHERE PASS). And it fit the bill to a “T”. A regular deck, with awesome sleight of hand, that can be done for the spectators and left with the spectators- both the memory and the deck itself- that’s what I’m talking about.

MUCH MORE INCLUDING BEST LINES, TIPS ON HANDLING AFTER THE JUMP
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Corey Martin is a regular contributor to iTricks Raves.

Some performers and those close to the art of magic well often say, “The most beautiful magic is done up close.” This of course is all hinged upon which style you like, what you perform (if that is the case) and the vast differences between the different magical styles. Every so often we find a performer who takes their style and makes it elegant and a pleasure to watch. Asi Wind has created ‘Chapter One’, a look into the “evolution of magic” and how he has contributed his ideas to that concept. You get very well put together 35-page book which includes five incredible close up card effects, three essays on various topics related to magic and performing, as well as the DVD which includes performances with or without cometary.
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Book, Card Magic, Close Up | Comments

Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”Okay, so Jamie has, like, Superman Sight or something. Get this- the guy can see through your skin, dude! For shizzy! I was holding a coin in one hand and a thing of chap stick in the other. I put them both behind my back and then brought out only one hand. And he could tell me what was in it! Every time! I think I made him do it seventy times and he was never wrong! Never! He can probably see the inside of my lungs and read my fortune for &^$%’s sake! He’s outta control! ”

How It Went:

As long as you haven’t moved into a cave recently, you already know who Craig Fillicetti is and have probably heard about his amazing products. I reviewed his incredible Multi Dimensional a while back and am pleased to say that his Proximity is just as good. The thing I love about Craig’s work is the effect is so clear and the method is so undetectable.
Proximity is a “which hand” effect and it is a real fooler. So much so, in fact, that the method never even enters the equation. I never gave it a moment’s thought and the specs were utterly baffled the entire day. Not once did anyone come within a light year of knowing how I knew what they were holding. What I did have to focus on, however, was presentation. And this is one of those rare cases where it changed with every group I did it to. How can I explain this- well, with The Cups and Balls, for example, everyone watches and is surprised when I finally reveal the live untamed raccoon at the end.
With Proximity, however, I found that interest levels, duration, focus, etc. were different with everyone every time. Some people would be shocked with me doing it once, some people wanted it done ten times, some people would try and mess with me, some people would be rapt, etc. So it ended up being a great way to gauge people. So much so, that I think I may start doing this as my opener for my Walk Around Sets, “Hi, I’m Jamie, Can you hold onto these for a quick second while I introduce myself?…”
It’s just a fantastic effect to discover a bit from your audience. That, combined with the fact that it’s foolproof (a must, in my case) makes it an absolute winner.

MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP!
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Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”Man, we’ve been talking about Friday all day around here! The Monday water cooler talk has never been so lively; and all because Jamie came up in here and read our &*^%^ minds. You would think we were used to it by now! But Friday was special because it involved something we all know and love- the lottery.

Jamie came in and said that someone had told him that if he was so great at magic and all, then how come he didn’t win the lottery. They had even sent him some scratch and win tickets to prove their point. But Jamie explained to us that sometimes he just gets a feeling about certain things and the lottery just hadn’t been one of those “things” yet. But he showed us the tickets that his friend had sent him and asked us if we wanted to try something. He asked me to think of any number between one and sixty. He then showed me the six tickets and asked how many of them had my number on them. I only had two, to which he said that that was better than most. He put the tickets away though and said he was starting to have one of those feelings he was talking about, and he quickly jotted down something on a Sticky Note. He then asked me what number I was thinking of and, remember, I hadn’t told a soul what that number was yet. But when he turned over the sticky note, my number was on it!!! It was craziness! How does he know these things?! I told no one!!! Big Ted started to clap behind his back and Angry Bob almost cracked a tooth!”

How It Went:

Powerball 60 is awesome. Anytime I can add a routine to my wallet, I am a super happy guy, and this has been in it since I got it. I’ve been performing this every single day and have had such great reactions each and every time. Part of it has to do with the fact that every spectator has been thinking of the same thing at one point or another, namely, if this guy’s so good, how come he hasn’t won the lottery yet. So on Friday, my patter was right on point. Not only did it explain why I had lottery tickets on me, but it also justified why I’m not riding around in a Lambo (I just love saying that word).

There were a couple of hiccups during the day that I’ll go through in the JDG Tip and iTricks Idea but overall this effect went over great. It was interesting to see how many people liked the fact that every number that was scratched was a soccer ball, lol. Everyone commented on that. And the method is absolutely foolproof- I never made a mistake and wasn’t worried about it. A couple of things I did to protect myself was I had the spec lay the lotto tickets face down after they checked them (I didn’t want to see the numbers) and I chose to write the number down and have them verbally say it. I think Bill and Richard suggest, in one of the routines, to have both of you write it down, but I like having them just saying theirs out loud and then I turned mine over.

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Mark Tirone has had his review selected for iTricks Raves. Would you like to see your review here? Email Reviews@iTricks.com

Welcome back guys. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve reviewed something and I guess this is a little bit late since itricks just hosted a very special live chat event with the guy who created this next piece. As the title says, I’m about to rip open Alvo Stockman’s “Elixir of Life”. A quick note before I begin though: During the live chat thingy, Alvo was consistantly tossing out some FANTASTIC advice (I highly suggest you go back and watch the recorded show) as well as some great quotes. Well I took notes and some of those will be appearing in here, as well as a slightly different layout for y’all!

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Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

“Wow, Jamie sure has had a tough time the last few weeks. I mean some of that magic lately was a bit weak- too bad I can’t tell you about it. Anyways, he made up for it this Friday. And it wasn’t anything big either. Check it out, he took out his pen, right? It was a plain old Bic pen, but he could make the cap jump on and off at will! It was crazy! Basically, he would be holding the pen, writing side up and the cap on the bottom and then he would then just twirl it and the cap would be on the writing part. It was nuts! Just by turning it around he could make the cap go from one end to the other. It was so cool! We loved it!”

How It Went:

Lol, sorry about the delay in Magic Friday reports folks but the last couple Fridays haven’t been the most fantastic, lol. Oh well, that’s the point of MF- to try things out. I was quite happy with this Friday, though. Greg’s new effect played way bigger than I thought it would. I think it has something to do with the fact that everybody has used a Bic pen at one point in his or her life. That, and the fact that the illusion just catches people off guard.

I started off the day doing the full routine but, by the end of the day, would just do it twice. I found that the first time was a “What just happened, show me again!” kind of moment and the second was a “Wha? C’mon, one more time!” to which I would respond, “No.” lol. It’s a perfect little opener that is a great introduction. It’s not like you’re walking up to someone and pulling a bird out of their shoe or anything. You’re simply doing something really visual with an object that they’ve used many times in their own life. It went over really well.

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Close Up, DVD, Manipulation, Uncategorized, Visual | Comments

Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”This Friday was suh-weeeet! You know why? Fire. That’s why. Jamie was in our office and showed us this lighter he had just bought and explained how he hated that Warning Label sticker that comes on them. So he pulls it off the lighter and asks us if we want to see something cool. “He!!s yes!”, we said. Well, he actually sets the Warning Label on fire, no kidding! The thing goes *poof* but, get this, it reappears back on the lighter in a %^$%$^^# flash!!! I don’t know what else to say! Lighter, sticker off, fire, sticker on. It was awesomely crazy!”

How It Went:

You could probably go outside, right now, light something, anything for that matter, on fire and get a crowd. People love fire. It’s that simple. Now- go outside, light the sticker on your lighter on fire, and make it magically reappear back on the lighter and you’ll get a crowd that’s going crazy, lol. And it really is simple!

Holy Smokes I love this trick! (Ha, ha, get it? I said, “Holy Smokes” and we’re talking about fi…ahem…never mind). It totally rocked it all day Friday. It’s just such a brilliant way to introduce something that we all know plays so well. And people just couldn’t believe the restoration. Almost every single person or group I showed this too demanded to see the lighter after. They just couldn’t believe it. Well done.

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Kevin Reylek has had his review selected for iTricks Raves. Would you like to see your review here? Email Reviews@iTricks.com

I received Lit back in November, and I’ve since performed it for magicians and lay-folks.

I love that the DVD comes with 14 different gimmicks. Refills are available, which I think this is important because this effect just begs to be given away!

Paper Crane did a very nice job with the video editing and DVD authoring. The teaching on the DVD is clear and concise.

We’re taught handlings for the effect by both Dan Hauss and Dan White. I think both handlings are effective. As a lucky coincidence, I have a one-way forcing deck that matches one of my gimmicks, so I’ve tried a few ideas with that as well.
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Close Up, DVD | Comments

Jamie D. Grant is now a regular contributor to iTricks Raves with an enhanced version of his reviews from MagicFriday.blogspot.com.

What The Audience Sees:

”Dude, I am loving the card tricks! Anyone who says they don’t like card tricks just needs to come over and see my man here. This guy is good with a capital “G”. This Friday, for example, he had me pick a card, any card, and sign my name across the face. Well, he puts it into the deck and then, BOOM, it’s not in the deck anymore. Nuh-unh. He had some crazy-%## spirits come fly over from Amazing Man Land and steal the card out of the deck somehow, probably eat a few souls on the way back, and dropped my card into an impossible location- the box the cards came from!!! Are you hearing me here? My card went into the deck- I saw it- and then a second later it’s in the ^&$&&$^ box instead!!! Jamie is off the gri-hi-zid with this stuff!!! I love it!

How It Went:

Believe it or not, Card to Box was the first trick I ever learned. No kidding. I was in Grade 3 or something and I have no idea how I learned it. All I remember is that it involved a f*%ce that took about 18 steps and then I would go through the deck, pull out three incorrect cards and state that one of them was their card. While they were looking of the three cards on the table, I would quickly find their card, pull it out, and put it into the box, and walk across the room and throw the box as far away as I could. You wouldn’t believe the number of times it worked….Once! But man, it killed that kid.

Anyways, I always loved that trick and here comes David Forrest with one of the (if not simply the) best solution I’ve ever come across. It’s easy, fast, resettable, and amazing. I dare say it’s perfect.

I don’t think I’ve done one card trick as many times as I did Encased on Friday. I did this trick over and over and over and every single time it fried people. I mean, it’s just so clean. I don’t know even what to tell you, really. There were so many reactions that it’s hard to pinpoint any from the others- they were all great. You know its funny- this is a card to Impossible Location plot but for whatever reason it plays out more than you would think. I mean, Card to Wallet is obviously a wonderful effect but there’s something special about Card to Box. Maybe it’s because it’s a bit more organic and the fact that all the items are in full view the entire time? Or maybe it’s just me. Whatever the encase (ha ha. Get it? Encase? Instead of “whatever the case”, I said, “whatever the en…”ahem..carrying on then), this Friday went down as one of the all time great card days.

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