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 Frozen In Time - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [1:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Here’s an interesting spin on the classic hour-prediction effect. In most cases, a freely selected time (on the hour) is revealed to be the set time on someone’s watch. While there have been many iterations of this effect, Frozen in Time is the first of these effects I’ve come across that does not use a real clock (excluding similar effects where a clock is drawn) – but rather a photograph of a pocket watch sealed within a lucite frame.

This is something to put on your wall when not performing with it – while it may not draw anyone in at first, if you bring attention to this innocent looking photograph, you’ll have quite an experience on your hands.

The workings of the effect are simple enough and the learning curve is relatively short, leaving you time to focus on presentation (there are lots of possibilities here). The handling of the block is so open and free that it is amazing that you are able to actually change the time on the face of the clock. The apparatus is very well made and should last you many many years. The only draw back is you can not hand this out which would have made this nearly perfect. With proper audience management, it is encouraged that you allow your audience to rub their fingers over the face of the lucite to clearly show it is impossible to alter the condition of the clock. Upon very close inspection, it hurt my eyes to see the secret, and even then I knew what I was looking for and it still looked incredible.

My only other concern is with the case that holds the block during the effect (its purpose is to hide the face of the clock until the reveal. It also assists with the method). From the way your audience sees it, everything looks nice, however, the bottom side doesn’t look as nice as the rest of the case. Nobody should see this part, but if it bothers you, a small piece of black fabric attached to the bottom will do well enough to cover this up.

There is the potential to reset this effect for walk around performances as you put the effect away, but there is the possibility you may have to check the prop before performing to make sure the effect remains as you reset it. Otherwise, if you plan on setting this down in a case our out on a stand, you shouldn’t have to worry about this.

Considering the quality of this prop and the astonishing nature of the routine (meaning you most likely will use this), we’ve got a fairly decent price point on this one.

If you are interested in picking up this product, you can check out the international list of dealers carrying Masuda’s products at a location nearest you: www.masudas-atto.com.

Close Up, Effect, Mentalism | View Comments

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 Don't Cry for the Star - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [1:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Don’t Cry for the Star is a really quick packet trick that is going to need a good presentation to make the effect worth performing. As it is, the magician removes a pack of playing cards and shows a star shaped hole going through all the cards. The whole then mysteriously vanishes and the stack of cards can be examined.

As impossible as this sounds, the effect happens so quickly, I feel that people deciding to perform this are going to need to invest some time to come up with a nice story presentation to go along with the effect so that it is worth taking the packet of cards from the case and then putting them away.

Other then that, this effect has an interesting way to apparently show a hole going through the packet of cards and because the effect is so simple, you really have no excuse to buff up the presentation on this one. You receive everything you need to perform this effect; everything is of good quality and if needed, you could repair or make a new set – maybe even with a different shaped hole (presentation ideas, anyone?)

At $50, this one is a bit steep, but again, if you can find a nice presentation, this could be worth much more than the cost to you.

If you are interested in picking up this product, you can check out the international list of dealers carrying Masuda’s products at a location nearest you: www.masudas-atto.com.

Card Magic, Close Up, Effect | View Comments

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 Knock Out v.2.0 - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [2:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Knock Out v.2.0 sees the addition of a new specially made gimmicked card to enhance the impossible nature of this effect. Personally, I am not a fan of gimmicks that work like this one because I’m afraid of them breaking during a performance. On one hand, Peter takes the time to teach you how to repair the gimmick if it breaks – which is nice, but you probably don’t have all the stuff to repair the gimmick. Sure, you could get crafty and play around a bit, but it would have been nice to get this extra stuff included.

As it is, I imagine the included gimmick will last at least a few hundred performances before you’ll have much to worry about.

In the effect, three cards are set to the side and then three other cards are selected, signed, and lost. The magician returns to the three cards he set aside earlier to show that they are all ‘Your Card’ (words are printed on the faces of the cards). Then, all three cards change into the signed selected cards. Personally, I think you’d have a stronger effect showing the three cards were the ones you’d set aside earlier, but this version has a more commercial feel to it.

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.

Card Magic, Close Up, DVD, Effect | View Comments

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 Broom Through Body - Reviewed by Bizzaro [2:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Penetration effects are not uncommon in magic. They are usually small or frickin’ huge. It’s nice to see something for the parlor performer once in a while.

Now that I have gotten the pleasantries out of the way, I want to preface this with: In no way am I saying I dislike this product and don’t buy it. I am simply giving you a heads up of the cons in my opinion. The idea is solid; I just think the application could have been a bit better thought out. Lemme tell you why….

The ad claims the following:
• No Set up
• Performance ready right out of the box!

Now I cannot obviously tell you specifically why these two items from the list are inaccurate. If you want to perform this effect out of the box EXACTLY like the demo video you need something special that they DO actually provide, but it does require a set up. To do it properly (or if yer a victim of body hair) you have to do as I did and create a special add on to wear under your outfit.

The price is also a bit steep for what you get. I expected an internal mechanism only to find the product did not meet or exceed my expectations. (Which, in magic, is not unusual) The effect indeed does deliver what it sets out to do. A broom thru your body. At first performance, it looks exactly like what it is however. Only thru careful routining and practice will this effect sell. Do not think of this as a “street” effect. (Why is EVERYTHING put out nowadays perfect for “Tha street yo”.) It is a vignette or interlude effect to a larger routine.

All in all, it’s a good idea with a high price. There are some minute details I personally would change to make it function better, but that’s me. So if you are looking for a penetration effect that won’t cost thousands or can be seen from more than 10 feet away, this is your best bet so far. Enjoy.

If you are interested in picking up this product, you can check out www.masterofillusions.ca.

Effect, Stage, Standup/Stage | View Comments

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 The Lady Travels - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [1:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Lady Travels essentially accomplishes the same thing as as an Intercessor Gimmick.

The major advantage this idea has over the Intercessor Gimmick is that in the end, it is possible to show this deck cleanly where the Intercessor Gimmick must be removed if the deck is to be examined (it is still necessary to conceal something in this deck, but since it is the size of an actual playing card, it is much easier than an Intercessor). Because of the way these types of effects are performed, however, I do not think this is a major issue as the attention is not directed towards the deck.

You are supplied with three gimmicks, each of which will allow you to give the torn corner of a Queen of Hearts (the only card that works with this, and yes it is forced) to an audience member and vanish the card from the face of the deck. You cannot directly take the torn part of the card from the deck and burn it, tear it, etc – it must vanish from the face of the pack. The good news is that the card matching the tear can appear anywhere you want. There are no switches.

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.

Card Magic, Close Up, DVD, Effect, Standup/Stage | View Comments

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 Fingers of Fury Vol. 1&2 - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [1:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Fingers of Fury, the two disk set has some pretty interesting and original magical effects on it – including card magic (oh my!).

Volume One contains all the ‘other’ magic effects, like Deep Impression where a selected card slices through your arm like on of those knife-through-arm effects; however, it’s not really an entire routine, I’d classify it as a quick throw-away effect. Hells Bend is a coin bend which uses a fairly simple invisible switch that can be a real fooler when you show the only thing in your hand at the end to be the bent coin; what’s the downside, you ask? The switch requires a table. Of all the effects on this DVD, the favorite by far, however is the borrowed coin through cellphone screen (Relentless). It’s fairly easy, pretty darn visual, and can be done with most modern camera phones. Course, there’s more on this DVD…

Volume Two is where cardicians can get their fix – and no, I wasn’t feeling the pain when watching this one. In continuation with the clever thinking on Vol. 1, we get some equally interesting card effects. My favorites include: PolterDeck – an impromptu haunted deck; Whiteside & Penman – an effect where two halves of two different cards fused back into a single mismatched card (this one requires a special card that is not included. Also of note, this effect won’t be too useful in walk around situations unless the performer has two of the right one-way decks that match the special card); and Linker – a linking card effect with multiple variations – steady hands are required to perform this visual linking sequence.

Between the two, I’d imagine you could find enough likable material to justify the price of buying these two volumes together.

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.

Card Magic, Close Up, Coin, DVD, Money, Street Magic, Visual | View Comments

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 Dial-Abolical - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [1:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Dial-Abolical features two completely different, impossible mentalism routines that share a similar, simple method.

Both of these routines were performed before a live audience with Kochov’s (Jasper Blakeley’s) complete, comedy presentation to see how the effect would run in a real world performing situation.

Preparing for the effects should be a one time job – which is good to note since the construction time for these effects can take several hours of work. It’s nothing difficult, actually fairly easy to do – it’s just very repetitious.

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.

DVD, Mentalism, Standup/Stage | View Comments

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 Blank - Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan [0:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Blank features two simple effects each of which end with the magician spreading the deck and showing that all the other cards are blank. Viewers may recognize the variation of Daryl’s ‘Untouched’ effect, reworked to include the blank climax.

Overall, there’s not much to elaborate on here. The two effects are performed and presented in a straightforward manner and have practical, real-world applications for close up workers.

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.

Card Magic, Close Up, Restaurant | View Comments