itricks.com/reviews

The iTricks Idea:

The last phase is by far the most shocking so really give it a pause before the reveal. I try to create as much tension an this moment and wait for the incoming explosion…

Closing Thoughts:

Thanks for reading and watching everyone! If you are reading this in the summer of 2010, I highly suggest you go over to www.Professional-Magician.com and check out the “Send Wonder” campaign. If it’s years later and you’re reading this, I simply hope you enjoy the review.

Have a Great Week Everyone!

Jamie D. Grant

www.cardsinabottle.com

BOX CLEVER from James Brown’s DVD “The Opportunist” (Vol.01)

Posted by Jamie on June 7th, 2010

What The Audience Sees:

“This Jamie dude can make stuff, like, teleport, man! He made this card I pick fly across the table and land under a box, and I didn’t see a thing! Check it, I pick a card. He puts it into the deck. BAM! It’s under the card box. He takes it again. He puts in into the deck. BAM! It’s back under the cardbox. He says he’ll do it one more time. It doesn’t work. Why? BAMALAM! Because the whole deck, except my single card, is under the cardbox! AMAZING!”

How It Went:

I think I may have mentioned this before but I often feel like I’m an old miner in the Klondike searching for gold. While sorting through DVDs. Books, tricks, etc, looking for effects for Magic Friday, I get hungry, cold, scared, and worried. Sometimes I cry. And then, while knee deep in the proverbial rivers, I’ll look into my goldpan and find the biggest nugget you could imagine. And it all suddenly becomes worth it.

Box clever is one of those pieces of gold. You can use a borrowed deck. There’s no moves. Brilliantly routined. Everything I look for. Why James Brown didn’t just call me and tell me to look at this is beyond me, lol.

When I performed this all day, it kept getting better and better. I ended it with the deck going to under the box and people couldn’t believe it. It’s just such a shocker. I think they thought that twice was impossible enough, so when you can keep going, it just fries their minds. And the great thing is, that everything can be examined. People would immediately grab the deck and I could just sit back and relax. Fantastic.

The Difficulty:

This isn’t a hard routine in the slightest. You just need to focus and control your surroundings a bit. 2/5.

Best Lines:

“NO IT’S NOT!!!!”
~When I told them the deck had traveled, lol. And yes it had.

“UNGH!”
~This person actually let out a noise like they had been punched in the calf.

Angry Bob Rating:

Ha! There’s nothing more enjoyable than leading Angry Bob down the garden path only to watch him fall into a deep hole at the end. After the first phase he was so smug and demanded to see it again. When I did, he was floored. And when the entire deck went, he was silent, lol. A true testament. 4.5/5.

My Rating:

Magic Friday Approved!

A great find. This is going into my Top 10 tricks that I do with a borrowed deck, for sure.

The JDG Tip:

The iTricks Idea:

Every time something is examinable, let it be examined if asked. Or, beat them to the punch and simply ask them to shuffle. Often, that can be enough.

Closing Thoughts:

I’m up for future Magic Friday suggestions so, if you have any or if you have anything to say at all, please leave a comment~ I read them all!

Have a Great Week Everyone!

Jamie D. Grant
www.cardsinabottle.com

SNEAK PREVIEW by Danny Archer

Posted by Jamie on May 24th, 2010

What The Audience Sees:

“Can someone please explain to us how Jamie has managed to sneak into every movie I’ve ever seen, since I was a kid, and remember them all?! Because that’s the only way he could have known! Listen, he had these cool business cards printed, right, because he collects autographs or something. I mean, they’re blank except for a picture of a movie screen. Anyways, I write down a movie that only I know I’ve seen, onto the card and place it FACE DOWN into his hand. He cannot see it! To prove the point, he even slides it back into the middle of the stack of business cards. And then…BLAM!…He names my movie! HOW? Thank goodness he gave me his card- I’m calling him for my next party!”

How It Went:

You know, I’ve been meaning to write this one up for some time but I’ve been unintentionally delayed. I really wanted to see how it would play at an actual paid gig and, even though I’ve done a few hundred since I’ve gotten this effect, I’ve always forgotten to take it with me. Doh! Double Doh! This trick is great! It takes up the exact same amount of pocket space that I normally designate for business cards, but I now have a great closing effect for my set. I sincerely wish I had it for all those other times.

I think I made up for it on Friday, though as I used it dozens of times to great effect. What I like about it is that it’s super clean. I mean, you’re basically looking at a stack of business cards and an elastic band. That’s it. No wallet, clipboard, helmet transmitters, etc. Just a small stack of cards. No folding required! Hurrah! Not that I’m lazy, but at gigs, I really want to not have to worry. And Sneak Preview is worry free.

The reactions were right on point as well. I can always tell if something’s gone exceedingly well when the spectators start addressing each other. They wanted to know if we were in on it and all the pressure is on the spec defending himself that we weren’t in cahoots, lol. Awesome.

The Difficulty:

Man, like, what, 1/5? Do your eyes move? Sweet, then you can do this.

Best Lines:

“Peter! PETER! Do you guys know each other?!?!! ANSWER ME!”
~Poor Peter was in for a rough night I think.

“Were you there?!”
~At Ben Hur?! Um, no.

Angry Bob Rating:

Let’s just all be thankful that Angry Bob doesn’t show up at any of these functions. Could you imagine?! With regards to this, however, I’d say pretty high. There’s a flash of the stack that is really nice and takes people away from the cards. Maybe 4/5? I’m not worried.

My Rating:

Magic Friday Approved!

I owe myself an apology for not taking this out sooner. It’s gone into my Suit Jacket- the ultimate rating!

The JDG Tip:

The iTricks Idea:

The only thing you need to brainstorm is why you had the cards printed. Try and find a plausible reason for you and stick with it. Conviction!

Closing Thoughts:

Someone e-mailed me and mentioned that they couldn’t watch my video reviews because they live in a mountain cabin, so it looks like we’re back to the old format-written and video. I hope you like it!

Have a Great Week Everyone!

Jamie D. Grant
www.cardsinabottle.com

SANITIZED by Kelvin Ng

Posted by Jamie on May 9th, 2010

The Video Review (PASSWORD: The name of this trick. The “S” needs to be capitalized.)

Best Lines From The Day:

“Are you kidding me?!!”

~He was convinced that he was seeing things!

“Give me that!!”

~And it wasn’t so he could clean his hands again, lol.

Angry Bob Rating:

I have a co-worker (Bob) whose uncle was a magician and thereby has a good working knowledge of how magic works. He’s pretty grumpy but likes Magic Friday’s because he can tell me how he figured out how the effect is done…

The card reveal isn’t a magician fooler. And Angry Bob, although not a magician per se, wasn’t fooled at all…except on how he was made to pick the Nine Of Clubs. So you can imagine that this works quite well- which it did- when you do it on someone who has no idea what a force is to begin with. 1/5.

The JDG Tip:

If you can find it- get the Aloe Purell- it’s green and will help your colour effect!

The iTricks Idea:

I wouldn’t perform all 3 effects that come with Sanitized at the same time- that’s just me. But I would do the colour effect plus one of the others maybe. Just don’t do the colour reveal until the very end.

Closing Thoughts:

I didn’t review the other 2 effects that come with Sanitized but should mention that they’re quite good. Will Tsai has an idea on the Free Will effect which is absolutely awesome and is an idea that you can use in many other applications.

Thanks for watching!

All my best,

Jamie D. Grant
www.Professional-Magician.com

The Magic Friday Show~ Episode 10 from Jamie D. Grant on Vimeo.

FOOTLOOSE by Dan Hauss from his DVD set “Restless”

Posted by Jamie on April 22nd, 2010

Hiya Gang!

I’m going to be experimenting with different Magic Friday formats, now that I’m doing video every time~ so please bear with me while I decide on what’s best. And I’d love to hear your opinions! (You can’t write here, but you can leave a comment over at the blog).

Without further ado:

FOOTLOOSE by Dan Hauss:

The Video Review: (PASSWORD: The name of the DVD set this trick comes from)

Best Lines From The Day:

“Whawhatwhat?! Hey! HEY! COME LOOK AT THIS!!!”

~This guy was yelling so loud, I thought the cops were going to come by for a visit!

“Nope. That didn’t happen. Nopey dopey.”

~”Nopey dopey? Lol, just pure disbelief (in a good way).

Angry Bob Rating:

Well, he stared in disbelief, and then almost kicked me in the face, lol. He then started inspecting his own shoelace as he thought I had done something to his shoe. Lol, I’m going to say 4.5/5.

The JDG Tip:

I’ve actually got a few good tips that are only going to make sense to people that own this. So to these people, I’ll just tell you to use a chopstick or a piece from a coathanger…

The iTricks Idea:

Okay, so my other tip is that certain things come in different sizes and different construction. If you’re having trouble because of something you found inside- make a small cut in the end lengthwise.

Closing Thoughts:

Thanks for watching, reading, and commenting everyone! I do my absolute best to never steer you wrong, as I know we all want to make great purchases. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this one as the set has something for everyone!

All my best,

Jamie D. Grant
www.Professional-Magician.com

FOUR QUARTERS by Magick Balay

Posted by Jamie on February 8th, 2010

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:

“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:

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

DE’RING by De’vo

Posted by Jamie on February 1st, 2010

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:

”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:

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

Doug Higley 3 NO EVIL

Posted by Jamie on January 24th, 2010

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

Paul Vigil DIPLOPIA

Posted by Jamie on January 11th, 2010

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

Jeff Prace GUM

Posted by Jamie on December 21st, 2009

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, 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…

Close Up, Uncategorized | View Comments

POINTLESS from Gregory Wilson

Posted by Jamie on October 14th, 2009

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.

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

Kit Felgate’s P&P Reviewed by Jamie Daws

Posted by DerekMerdinyan on March 26th, 2009

If you have a product you want to talk about, tell us about it. Here’s how.

—

Effect: The magician introduces a pack of playing cards and a stapler. He spreads through the cards to show that they are all different, he shuffles and cuts the deck and asks for a spectator to choose a playing card. For example, they choose the Ace of Spades (this can be signed by the spectator if you wish). This is put to one side as the magician again cuts the deck and asks the spectator to choose a card for him, they do, and it is the 10 of Hearts (the magician can sign his card if he wishes).

The magician then staples the Ace of Spades to the card box, and shows the spectator the card face while it is stapled. He then takes the 10 of Hearts and slowly rubs it over the stapled Ace. Suddenly there is a loud snapping sound. The magician shows two puncture holes have appeared on the back of his 10 of Hearts, he slowly turns it over to reveal it has in fact changed to the spectators Ace of Spades. The magician then slowly peels back and rips off the stapled card to reveal it is now his 10 of Hearts. The cards have changed places under impossible circumstances.

The stapler and the stapled cards make this a memorable routine.

Review: This effect is an absolute stunner! It plays exactly as it reads. This is about as impossible as card effects come. The possibilities with i are also brilliant. The PDF is brilliantly put together and has pictures to help everyone along. Although the gimmicks won’t last a life time and you will have to make a couple, it is well worth it. If you’re looking to secure a venue or a gig, then this trick will do the job hands down. Kit has done a fantastic job with this effect and I’m sure we have yet to see the full potential of his wondrous thinking. This is a must have for any card worker and one I would highly suggest getting!

It’s available on www.lybrary.com – www.magicshop.co.uk – www.alakazam.co.uk

Mirage et Trois Reviewed by Mark Tirone

Posted by DerekMerdinyan on March 11th, 2009

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This is my review for Eric Jones’ new DVD available via KozmoMagic and your favorite magic dealer. I recently attended Eric’s lecture (which totally rocked the boat) and he had a small table set up and was selling these DVD’s. Being a good friend of Eric’s, I had to pick one up. I have changed my formatting slightly so be on the lookout for that throughout this review. So without further adieu, Mirage et Trois!

What happened was this: The DVD began with Eric approaching a table in a restaurant with a few people gathered around the table. Then came a 3 and half minute performance by Eric of the entire routine start to finish with all of his little jokes and audience reactions. This was a LIVE performance in a real time table hopping gig in a REAL restaurant with REAL people (something we rarely get to see). Most of us who know Eric have only seen him either at a convention or lecture and the more common scenario, on YouTube, so it was really cool to see him actually approach a group of people and see them respond so affectionately to the entire routine.I wish I could say this one performance was worth the price of the DVD, but then you wouldn’t learn any of the super cool and resepctable sleight of hand that Eric is laying out for us. Eric also has a very charming performing persona that I think we can all respect in proportion.

Quality: 3/5: The production quality of this DVD was unfortunately not up to today’s standards in technology. I have only heard excellent things about Kozmo Magic (the producers for this particular DVD) and I will admit, I set my bar pretty high for this project, again, after hearing only great things about Kozmo Magic. The picture quality was somewhat fuzzy and unlike in some other DVDs, when a coin was displayed at the fingertips or in the hand, the entire coin can be seen, while that was not the case. “Them moving pictures” were running into each other and made this look like this was shot on a cheap camera. But to make up for this, the sound and lighting were both up to standards and I was very pleased with that. At no time in the entire DVD was sound muffled or lighting off. Most of the time in a DVD, when an over the shoulder shot is shown, everything tends to look darker and the performer’s voice is muffled. I was happy with everything other than the picture, which unfortunately lost a few stars due to the fact that I had to squint in some places. Also another minor thing to point out and compliment on, was the editing and music throughout this DVD. You are getting a very simply to understand DVD. No flashy texts appearing and disappearing every three freakin seconds and flashign lights and fire in your face. Simpe “Explanation, performance, credits, main menu”. I also got a kick out of the music in this DVD. There was none of that annoying hip hop and whistles or drums beating everywhere and it made this enjoyable to watch. Thanks Kozmo!

The Layout: 5/5: This DVD had something that not a lot of people do and I was glad to see this again in a DVD… A GOOD LAYOUT. I hate when I need to scroll through menus and moving the little hard to see arrows up and down and squinting at tiny little gothic texts etc. I was able to “Play All” and watch the DVD all the way through (with exception of the “Extras” menu option) They set this DVD up with the trailer, live performance, then in each effect (Out with three, S.V.C.A, and KKK), a studio performance and explanation and then another performance and repetition of each effect, of course moving on to the following effect. So this was a very straight forward DVD project that got the point across and made the customer want to come back for more!

Explanation: 6/5: So now I will be teaching you each effect. First, start off with 3 coins…ok, I won’t be teaching these effects. But it had been said many many times (including at the lecture), that Eric’s explanations are even better than seeing the effect the first time (or something like that) and it has the world’s truth to it. I said in a previous review, particularly speaking Joshua Jay’s MAGIC: The complete course, that the explanations in that DVD were the best I have ever seen and nobody will ever beat them.Well, sorry Josh, but Eric set those standards up to crazy heights! I have never seen such intricate focus and direction to detail as Eric has put on this DVD. The explanations for each effect runs aprox. 15 minutes and that is longer than some of the effects out on the market today. I’m sure if anybody else tried to teach these effects, they would end up with a 4, mayne 5 minute tutorial that doesen’t go into any kind of detail. I also love how Eric covers basicaly every angle imaginable in these routines, making something that people might worry about, into something the performer looks forward to since the angles are all covered! So let’s recap. lengthy explanations, attention to detail and subtlety, and adding on top of that, over the shoulder and multi-angle explanations and performances. I can’t begin to thank you enough Eric for doing such a marvelous job on this part of the DVD.

I will now start to talk about each effect in turn and what I particularly love about each one and the strenghts and weaknesses about each effect.

Out With Three: 5/5: I have always hated productions and vanishes that start right away but I will be more than happy to make an exception and actually USE this effect. This routine really makes sense and as the advertisement says, really IS a comical production of your three coins and while watching this DVD, actually made me laugh! Basicaly what goes down is the production of 3 coins but the third one miraculously vanishes without a trace just as it appears. The magician then produces the third coin once again but finds that one of the other 2 coins vanishes just as the third one appears. This is repeated with a few lines and the third coin apparently appears, but is found to be actually in the spread of 2 coins at your fingertips. I loved how clean this routine looked throughout the entire effect. It is something that you can learn after about 20 minutes of solid practice and then get down. It has comedy, visuality, and of course clean hand actions which is of course always to have. You don’t just make 3 coins appear which many other routines have, you actually experience magic that looks like magic! On top of that, you are using productions, vanishes, and in a way,coins across, one of my most favorite coin plots so that works out great!

S.V.C.A (Spectator’s Visible Coins Across): 5/5: Before I get any questions which have come up in the same place, No, I have no idea if this is the same effect taught on the “La Famigilia” DVD which Eric had a small part in. Back to the review. This effect is a really magical “ThreeFly” by Jonathan Townsend and Chris Kenner. The first coin goes from one hand to the other in the most visual and respectable way imaginable. you are not doing this one effect really quickly and without any variation where the spectator’s can’t even see the coin go across. this is a good solid routine. Next one coin is put away and one of the two coins at the fingertips starts to VISUALLY melt away and appear at the empty fingertips of the other hand. Again the coin is put away and all you do is display one coin at the fingertips andjust by touching your elbo, the coin pops into view just as quickly as the same coin pops OUT of view at the fingertips! This is repeated once more and then again. The coins are retrived again and you go into KKK (of you wish). This routine REALLY makes sense though! The illusion is so powerful that anybody can understand what just happened and where you are going with it and why you are taking coins away. Eric also went the extra mile as to include patter lines for this effect that really compliment what is going on throughout the routine.Mad props to Eric for this one! It’s going right into my act!

K.K.K (Three Klan Vanish): 4/5: Like I mentioned above, I am not the biggest fan of vanishes (in the context of David Roth’s “Hanging coins” plot). Basically each coin is taken into the hand and vanishes completely without a trace and with the palms of your hands being shown each step of the way until the last coin vanishes and your hands are both shown undeniably empty to the audience. I loved the cleanliness of this effect, however you will be left in a somewhat awkward position. If that bothers you, then Eric gives you advice in cleanup and a couple tips on additional handlings. This one looks just as good as the other two though. However, one thing in particular that I absolutely loved was vanish of the first coin. When I first saw the performance of this one I couldv’e sworn that Eric was using some kind of crazy sleeving technique or gimmick because of how realistic this looks. It immedietly went right into my hanging coins effect and I’m sure that if you don’t use this effect for whatever crazy reason, it will go right into your’s as well.

Overall and closing thoughts: 5/5: Overall I am really glad I decided to finally pick this up and support my friend for putting his work out into the world. If you have not already seen this DVD or the trailer yet, I reccomend you head on over to www.KozmoMagic.com or your favorite magic dealer and take a nice long look at it. These routines can all go into any part of your repertoir and are excellent for those times in walkaround or table hopping when a waiter comes by with the check or food, because you can pick it all up and leave and seem completely conspicuous. This is such a flexible routine and I have even made exceptions (something I rarely do) and will start performing this soon. It has been said on the magic cafe that you get more for your money out of this one DVD than any other DVD out there today. I want to finally thank Eric for this DVD and for a phenomenal lecture. Thanks!

Time to vanish,
-Mark Tirone

Trick Tac Reviewed by Mark Tirone

Posted by DerekMerdinyan on February 15th, 2009

The effect 3/4

Quote:

‘Trick Tac’ Is a simple routine in nature that packs a BIG punch. You introduce a packet of tic tac’s, then you ask the spectator to pour some of the mints out into their open hand but restrict how many they take from your view. What ever they do, they MUST NOT allow you to see in their hand. The spectator keeps this in mind and keeps every single tic tac they have taken in a tight fist. However, you are able to tell them EXACTLY how many they have in there down to the last mint!

‘Tic Tac Transpo’ is a perplexing transposition effect. One box of tic tacs is introuduce with the sweet little mints still inside along with one empty box. You empty the contents of the full box into the spectators hand and ask them to choose a mint. They do so and they slip this mint into what ever empty box they choose. With a simple shake, the selected mint vanishes from one box to instantly appear in the other
‘A fresh new out of this world’ Out of this world is a classic in card magic. Now it has been given the Alan Rorrison treatment and brought into an impromptu new age. You take a packet of lime and orange tic tacs and you perform out of this world.

The spectator gives each hand a colour ( green or orange) and makes a fist with each. You pick a tic tac out the box and hide the colour from their view and ask them to guess what they think it may be. As they name the colour you slip it into what ever fist they alocated that colour to. You run through about 10 mints and stop. ” Do you want to see how you are doing? how many would you guess you got right?” astoundingly, when they open their hands they will find that they didnt just get a few right. They got every single one right.

Now you probably realized that this 30 minute aprox. download consists of 3 different effects. This was made for the average to profesional magician in mind. Each one of these effects can build upon each other but were mainly polished for the preface/follow up effect to trick tac, the incredible mental effect using an ordinary pack of tic tacs. Everything you see on his website is exactly what you get here. They are all 100% impromptu and can be done any time. The only thing I am not to fond of is that for these effects you need to dump them onto the table and therefore is not the best idea to hand them out to be eaten due to your hands being naturaly disgusting. But don’t let that discourage you. These are hardcore, practical effects for the real world. Alan Rorrison NEVER misses!

The download 3/4 One more thing I did not particularly care for was the lack orf performance. I wish I could have seen him perform these effects for real people but unfortunately that didn’t make it into the final product. He does a great job with the visual graphics, lighting, sound, and camera operation though. Those are minor points but in the long run will help out drasticaly being that tic tacs are naturaly very hard objects to pick up on camera, even when he isn’t in a studio teaching these effects. He takes each one in turn with a short introduction of each before each effect then a close up shot with him at a table and teaching these effects in DETAIL.

The teaching 4/4 Alan did yet another great job with the close up instruction for each effect. I want to point out right now that each of these effects CANNOT be performed without the proper subtlety. It sounds a little more than crazy but Alan gives you professional insight and ideas for each effect that it is more crazy to leave them out. You won’t necessarily have a dry effect but you can have much more. But as awesome as Alan is, he built this subtlety right into the tricks and the teaching so you almost cannot forget them. But back to the teaching, he did a great job teaching and had a great camera angle with it as well. He tripped over his words a few times but that absolutely cannot get in the way of your learning. He goes slow and at a learnable speed so that you can follow along very easily if you have some tic tacs at your expense. 4/4

Overall 3/4 At the sad yet happy ending to this download, Alan of course gives his thanks and credits for the effects and some more professional tips and ideas for each of these effects. Some more things to point out is that everything you read in the product description is exactly how the audience experiences it. The oil and water was particularly one thing I was very sceptical for but it IS what you read it as. Very fair and ver cool! Alan did a great job. Thanks Alan and Thanks to Derek Merdinyan and Justin Robert Young for passing this along to me! Until next time, I’m Mark Tirone.

The Doctor is In Reviewed by Derek Merdinyan

Posted by DerekMerdinyan on January 16th, 2009

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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