I’m Derek Merdinyan and right now I’ll be reviewing Peter Loughran’s “Fire Flight”.

The description for Fire Flight reads: “A borrowed ring vanishes in a flash of fire! The borrowed ring then visibly rematerializes from the flames of a paper origami ring around the center of a candles across the table in the blink of an eye”.

This IS a professional routine and can be done both in a stand up environment, as well as in table-hopping close up set. In fact, if you work in a restaurant with candlesticks on the table, you HAVE to look into this. The angles on this are very fair for a 360 degree performing environment.

A few product points I should mention: There are no pulls, threads, or magnets. It can be done standing up or sitting down (surrounded!), No sleeves or special clothing are required, it’s easy to do, and, most importantly, the ring is safe at all times, and never comes in direct contact with the fire.

I feel I need to say this again, this is a professional worker’s routine, meaning that hobbyists looking for a cool gimmick should look elsewhere.

I give “Fire Flight” four and a half stars out of five.

Peter Loughran’s “Fire Flight” retails for $29.99 and is available directly from Peter at www.masterofillusions.ca

 Derek Merdinyan reviews Fire Flight [3:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Right now I’ll be reviewing a very cool DVD, David Forrest’s “CTW”.

For those of you who love awesome gimmicks, this one is definitely for you! The CTW gimmick is lots of fun to play with – but gimmicks you play with usually don’t bring

in money. And if you are thinking you can’t or don’t perform any ‘card through window’ routines, think again. This doesn’t have to be performed on a window. The setup is so simple that you can perform this with a window, a picture frame, a block of ice… You get the idea.

And it goes beyond the card through window plot. While they don’t mention it, it is also possible to use the gimmick for a color change (while the card is duct taped to a surface). Heck, it could probably be incorporated into a transposition routine.

As far as Card Through Window setups go, this one IS practical and has a reasonable setup. David even provides PDF templates to make your own screen which hides the card until it’s time to perform – and it makes the ending amazingly clean.

One little disclaimer – the CTW gimmick takes a good 15-20 minutes to make, and unless you have a one way force-deck on hand, you will find yourself having to make part of the gimmick fairly frequently. I’d also recommend looking into an ‘Intercesser’ gimmick and perhaps making your own that will give you identical corner tares that are smaller than the one you get from the original gimmick.

David Forrest’s “CTW” retails for $30.

I give “CTW” four stars out of five.

If you are a magic dealer interested in purchasing this product, you can contact Murphys Magic Supplies at 916 853 9292 or visit them on the web at www.murphysmagicsupplies.com.

 Derek Merdinyan reviews CTW [2:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Sick of all this pesky reading? Download the review for later or listen to it below!

 Derek Merdinyan reviews CashCard [1:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Right now I have Jesse Feinberg’s “Cash Card” on the chopping block.

The effect is simple, a selected (forced) card magically penetrates through a borrowed, folded bill.

The pre-made “Cash Card” is nicely made – and making extras is ranks as ‘moderate’ on the difficulty scale.

This isn’t something you want to perform as an effect you carry in your wallet – i.e. for an ‘impromptu’ performance, you really need to perform this with a deck; force the duplicate and switch for the gaffed “Cash Card”. It’s one of those gimmicks that needs to be kept in motion, so if ending clean is something very important to you…

I give “Cash Card” three stars out of five.

If you are a magic dealer and are interested in carrying this product, you can contact Murphys Magic Supplies @ 916 853 9292 or visit them on the web at www.murphysmagicsupplies.com

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I have Jesse Feinberg’s ‘InTact’ on the chopping block.

‘InTact’ is a very visual way to make a signed card appear folded up inside an empty tic-tac box.

I can definitely see table-hoppers using this. Whether they use it on it’s own or they incorporate this into an ambitious card routine (or something else…) this one will get reactions.

Jesse covers how to make more tic-tac boxes and gimmicks – it comes with one, but you may have to do a little ‘customizing’ to make your own gimmicks. It’s nothing too difficult. The good thing is that you can make gimmicks for almost any card back appear inside – so if you perform with custom backed decks, this will let you take advantage of them. (note, this can’t be used with see through cards and bridge cards may be a bit of a challenge).

Of corse, there is a ‘move’ that will need some practice – and it’s not the Mercury Card Fold… But with practice, it shouldn’t be a problem.

With the gimmick supplied, I had a bit of trouble making the card ‘appear’ inside the box, it had a 50/50 chance of getting stuck. When I made my own gimmick, this went up to about an 80% success rate. If the gimmick does get ‘stuck’, the transformation still takes place, and an additional quick shake always solves the problem.

‘InTact’ retails for $19.95

I give ‘InTact’ three and a half stars out of five.

If you are a magic dealer interested in carrying this product, you can contact Murphys Magic Supplies at 916 853 9292 or visit them on the web at www.murphysmagicsupplies.com

 Derek Merdinyan reviews InTact [1:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I’ll be reviewing Jay Sankey’s “Underground Jam”

Mmm Mmm Mmm… If the cover art doesn’t get you licking your lips, the magic on this DVD surely will! For those of you living under a rock (myself included) two years ago,

Jay sent out a world wide request for audition tapes, asking creative magicians to show off their stuff. Eventually, it was narrowed down to Jay Sankey (go figure), Joe Diamond, Eric LeClerc, and Jeff Stone. And at long last, the four had their ‘Underground Jam’ – this DVD is a product of their creative output.

Of all the magic on here, Eric LeClerc’s was my favorite, very visual magic – non card – magic. Jeff Stone and Joe Diamond both contributed their own gems; and of corse, watching Jay be Jay is worth the price of the DVD (Yes, he had some great magic as well!).

So lets all go buy a copy so Jay will start the production of “Underground Jam 2″

“Underground Jam” retails for $25

I give “Underground Jam” four and a half stars out of five.

If you are a magic dealer and are interested in carrying this product, you can contact Murphy’s Magic Supplies at 916 853 9292 or visit them on the web at www.murphysmagicsupplies.com

 Derek Merdinyan reviews Underground Jam [1:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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