Phil Sweeting, Author at Bicycle Cards

Steve Dela – Night Flight Deck – review

Phil Sweeting — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 21:04:24 +0000

So Steve Dela’s Night Flight Deck landed through my letterbox this week. “Do we really need another marked deck?” I hear you cry? If you’d asked me before I might have been unsure, but these Night Flights have gone some way to stealing my heart. Let me tell you more.

Who’s Steve Dela?

If you’re not familiar with Steve’s work, where have you been? He’s a busy and award-winning close-up magician. He’s responsible for the fabulous Will To Read (which remains my absolute favourite take on this type of Free Will effect), the awesome All About Eve book test and an At the Table lecture which I still haven’t got round to watching!

What makes Night Flight Deck special?

The most obvious difference from every other marked deck I have seen before is that the Night Flight Deck is 100% plastic. I still remember the first plastic deck I saw (it was the Karnival Death Heads, in case you’re wondering, back in 2011). It was a bit of a shock to the system of someone so used to cardboard-based playing cards. But I was (then) pleasantly surprised and still am.

In the context of mentalism – and that is the primary focus for this release – the ability to do all your fancy card moves is less important. In fact, I find the handling of these cards pretty solid – they riffle beautifully, though don’t fan (for me) quite as well – but I don’t think the material will cause handling issues for anyone. On the contrary, the big selling point is that they should last much better than normal cards. Too early for me to tell with this deck, but I see no reason to disbelieve the marketing on this one.

The Marked Difference

So what about the markings? I have to say they are brilliant. They really are hidden in plain sight. They will fly past a layperson – but once you know what you’re looking for they jump out at you. I have tried them in various lighting conditions and have found them simply the easiest deck to read I’ve ever tried. For ease of reading, they’ve even, for me, knocked the DMC Elites off their top spot (though the Elites still have a smarter tuck case!).

To make the point, this picture shows the same card from 3 well known marked decks. Even on this reduced quality JPG, I think it is clear which is easiest to read.

Not only are the main marks incredibly easy to see, but there are also several other marks which mean you can tell at a glance what colour a card is (even if you can’t see the name marking) and there’s a one-way feature – which is an often overlooked subtle method for aiding some miracles. So there’s a lot going for these. The overall effect is close enough to a Bicycle-style deck that no one will bat an eyelid. (Though they will eyeball some bats – did you see what I did there?!)

The tuck case looks innocuous – which is a bonus – especially in mentalism work. And has a classic mentalism reveal on the top. I found it slightly difficult to open – but that’s probably just me.

Other Bonus Features

The whole thing came nicely packaged in a plastic storage case – to keep it doubly safe. There are also some extra cards. The deck comes with two double backers – one red/blue and the other blue/blue. This latter has apparently caused some controversy – since the two blues are slightly different colours. Steve tells me this is deliberate – so you can use it as a key card in a spread. Sounds like a good idea to me.

In fact, that takes me to my only two small niggles with the deck. I actually prefer the ‘odd’ colour blue of the double backer to the ‘normal’ back colour which is a shade lighter. I suspect that is simply a familiarity thing – since the darker blue is closer to the standard Bicycle blue. This really is a personal preference thing – and I suspect that the more I use them the less it will bother me. And as I reflect on it the lighter colour probably makes it slightly easier to read in low lighting.

I’d also really have liked to get two jokers in the deck – since I do a mix of magic and mentalism and a pair of jokers is very useful for any number of tricks. But as I said these are both minor niggles.

The bottom line is that the Night Flight Deck is a superb marked deck. I will be using this whenever I do marked deck magic and I think it has the potential to become the new standard. Great job. I’m very grateful to Steve for sending me a review copy. And you can pick up your own deck here

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Sweet Simplicity by John Carey – Review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:13:06 +0000

Sweet Simplicity by John Carey is the latest in a number of John Carey releases we’ve reviewed here at Bicycle-Cards.co.uk. There are lots to like about this DVD from Big Blind Media full of straightforward close up (mainly card) magic. Let’s get straight into the tricks…

Sweet Simplicity by John Carey – The Tricks…

1 in 52

John Carey is a bit of an equivoque fan – and this is essentially another take on the imaginary card plot using this technique. I didn’t feel like there was anything particularly new here – but my opinion with equivoque is that the more different approaches you see the stronger your own personal technique becomes. And since this is a relatively short and direct process, it would be a good starting point for someone who hasn’t used this technique much before.

The Trick that can be explained

A nice prediction effect from a shuffled packet from a shuffled deck. It’s a little like a small packet version of the classic Trick That Cannot Be Explained. I’m not sure that John understands what a perfect number is – which is part of his patter for the trick! But it is a cool little effect. You’ll need to practise a bit to make sure you understand the procedure for the different outcomes – and some are definitely a little weaker than the others – but you don’t need to jazz in the way you would with its distant relative.

Technicolour Reset

I really like this transposition effect. Four red-backed jokers and blue-backed jokers, swap place one by one, and then suddenly jump back to the original position. This is nicely routined so you get a lot of magic without needing too many moves. I’ll be trying this one out.

Five Oh!

Sweet Simplicity by John Carey is a simple little effect where the spectator chooses a card and you can read their mind, show you’ve predicted it in multiple ways and then show the rest of the deck is made up of jokers. I’m in two minds about this. It almost feels like too many climaxes. And the deck is obviously a one-trick pony. But it’s dead easy to do – so if it appeals to you then do it!

Perception Shuffle

This is a sort of pseudo sloppy riffle false shuffle. Maybe that’s only me. It looks surprisingly deceptive. Worth a look.

More tricks!

Spectator Star

This is a great take on the spectator cuts the aces premise. They really do appear to have an enormous amount of freedom in shuffling and cutting but the clever construction means that this is really easy to do. There is a small set up but it isn’t at all complicated. I love the way the first phase covers the set-up for the second in plain sight. And the second phase is cheeky beyond measure! Great routine.

Somewhere over the rainbow

This is an ace cutting routine with a surprise rainbow deck ending. As a magician watching this it is pretty easy to spot what’s going on, but performed with confidence this should fly past a spectator. It works nicely with the Spectrum Deck.

Don’t make me cross

A thought of card turns out to be the only one in the deck from a different coloured pack and with a big cross on it for good measure. You’ll obviously need to set this up since you’ll need a special deck. But it is easily made up. Straightforward and surprising. It seems to me that with an awkward spectator you could have a miss – which isn’t really covered – but with careful handling, you’ll be fine.

Entrapment

This is probably my least favourite routine on the DVD. It’s a slow-motion small packet sandwich – if you can imagine such a thing. It is essentially self-working, relying on the use of a down under deal. As a magician, it doesn’t feel very magical – but he certainly got a good reaction from his volunteer. I suppose if you sell this right it does appear as the spectator has merely thought of their card so it does become more surprising.

One Thought, One Spell

Baldly, the spectator cuts to a card, that card is spelt from the top of the deck, and you have predicted the card arrived at. The thing that makes this surprising is that the spectator fairly shuffles the deck beforehand! There’s minor jazzing involved here but the system – which I’d not thought about in quite the same way – is quite flexible. I’m not usually a great fan of spelling effects – but this is good.

Final Thoughts

As I said at the start there’s a lot to like about Sweet Simplicity by John Carey. Most of the effects are very direct and none require too much hard work on the part of the performer. Carey’s performances are always somewhat understated – that’s his personality – so you have to work hard to imagine what these could be with a bit more VA VA Voom! But I think there are some strong effects here which you will certainly use.

You can pick up a DVD copy of Sweet Simplicity by John Carey from Merchant of Magic here. If you prefer a download, it is marginally cheaper at MagicShop.co.uk

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Harapan Ong – Principia – review

Phil Sweeting — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:11:15 +0000

Principia is a book I’ve been excited about reading for over a year. Unfortunately life circumstances have prevented me from spending any time within its beautiful covers… until now. So here, probably in time for the second print run (!), is our Principia review…

If you’ve not come across Harapan Ong, he is a Physics teacher from Singapore, and also a very talented magician. And in this unusual book, he merges those two worlds by teaching some of his excellent magical material in the style of a series of science papers.

Excursus on style

I think reading John Bannon’s seminal Dear Mr Fantasy was my first introduction into the world of quirkily written magic books – and I loved it then. I’m a die-hard magic book fan with more magic books than you can shake a stick at (ask my wife – she’ll tell you…) – but I have never come across one like this.

In truth, the description of the method (in Principia terms, the ‘result’) is fairly conventional. However, it is the elements around it which contribute to the overall style. Each ‘paper’ begins with an abstract giving you an overview of the effect and some comment on method. An introduction then analyses the background/inspiration/development of the effect and a section called ‘methodoloy’ summarises the requirements. After the main description of the handling (the ‘result’) there is some analysis (strengths and weaknesses of the handling) and a conclusion. Both the abstract and the conclusion often highlight areas for future exploration/development.

Although I am not a scientist in the professional sense, I studied some science in the past, and I definitely have an analytical and problem-solving-shaped brain. So this structure to the book, though unusual at first, really grew on me. I’m a firm believer that any magician worth his salt ought to be thinking about developing their own routines, and twists on existing routines etc. And this style of description was very stimulating in that regard. The ‘academic’ style also includes excellent referencing/crediting – which is another important concern of mine in magic.

Back to first Principias

This is a big book – large format (dimensions) running to over 250 pages. It is lavishly illustrated and the 2-column format works really well to ensure the beautiful line-drawings are in an appropriate place in relation to the explanatory text. A suitably scientific-looking illustration adorns the orange cover. My only slight negative note on the look of the thing is the ‘puffy’ nature of the covers. I prefer simple board covers – but this is entirely subjective and affects nothing!

I’m reviewing the first edition – which came with an accompanying packet of gaffed cards to do some of the effects described. If you’re too late for the second edition, most of these gaffs are readily available in standard Bicycle gaffs – but there are one or two which are a little harder to get hold of. I don’t really know why Vanishing Inc don’t sell these separately – and I’m sure they will do before long.

The book opens with a generous forward from Joshua Jay – who has been something of a mentor in Harapan’s development as a magician. This is followed by a brief introduction from the author which explains some of the book’s form and inspiration.

Before we get to the tricks, there is an introductory essay called Thinking Like a Physicist. This draws out some of Harapan’s philosophy of magic as well as making some interesting comparisons between the two fields of magic and physics. He emphasises three priorities in striving for ‘beauty’ – economy, unexpectedness and inevitability. Whilst those last two might seem to be contradictory I find myself with a lot of sympathy for these priorities.

There are far too many effects to describe in detail. So I will describe the shape of the contents and then simply highlight some of the effects which appealed to me.

Classical Mechanics

The first section of the book describes some of Ong’s thinking on classic plots in card magic. He often starts with an existing move or routine and seeks to streamline the handling or add a new twist. You’ll find Ace effects, Sandwich tricks, Triumph routines, four of a kind productions and much more.

There were many strong effects here. I particularly enjoyed the blending of Dr Daley’s Last Trick with a Sandwich effect (3 variations) – which seemed like an excellent addition to a trick which is already strong. If you like ‘Twisting the Aces’ type effects, then Twisting Morph adds an extra kicker to this plot and is economically routined. I also enjoyed Direct Triple Prediction (which does what it says on the tin!) – and was amused that the idea that occurred to me as I was reading it was then highlighted in the analysis at the end! I could see this going straight in to my repertoire.

Condensed Matter

The subheading for this chapter is ‘More involved and unconventional card plots’ and that feels like a fair summary. I’ll be honest, I was less-grabbed by some of these routines, though there were some routines with clever gimmicks (you need to make or in some cases buy) to produce some fun visual effects.

I was probably most taken with Perspective – which is a really interesting twist on the Do as I Do plot – with lots of magical moments. I also enjoyed the plot of a little packet trick called Countdown Packet – where the face values of the cards change with the number of cards in the packet as you keep removing cards. This felt like a great plot and a decent method.

Particle Physics

The packet tricks have landed. I have been a packet trick junkie since I first discovered Rainbow Cascade in Davenports in the 80s or 90s. So I was looking forward to this chapter. But when I got to it I was a little disappointed. It felt like there was a bit of an over-reliance on a 2 for 4 count which doesn’t seem that strong to me. On the other hand, I really appreciated the attempts to routine small packets with the random extra cards that come with some of the many new decks. That is something I have meant to have a go at for some time. I didn’t think these were amazing, but they were a good starting point for further exploration.

Beyond the Standard Model

This one is subtitled ‘Curious effects and gags for card magic.’ It contains some interesting ideas but they sometimes feel more theoretically elegant than practical. First is an exploration of that curious phenomenon of ‘Ambigrams’ – writing which says two things depending on which way up the writing is. It felt, here, like he had set himself some constraints and found a solution without really giving much thought to entertaining magic – this was clever but a little contrived.

Checkmate takes the idea of an 8-ball production and changes the gag to streamline the production – the chess piece produced being smaller. I can see some reasons to do this, but it seems to lose some of the impact. Have a break is an amusing idea if you want to make magicians laugh but I’m not sure I would use it in the real world. I really liked the Flexacard concept – which appeals to the maths geek in me (I’ve always been fascinated by these kind of objects) – but again I think probably more of a private amusement than something for performance.

Optics

The effects in this chapter are designed specifically for performing on video – which is very much home territory for Harapan who first launched his work in this arena. I liked the fun concept of the Frog Price – and the clever use of a principle normally used in a quite different way for 2 + 2 = 4. The ‘Hybrid Flexagon’ described under the heading of 4,3,2,1 is something I will almost certainly have a go at making, but I’m not sure it really fits the criteria of the chapter.

Fluid Dynamics

This final chapter was a really interesting one for me. In it Harapan explores the concept of multiple pathways in magic effects, with particular reference to the Trick That Cannot Be Explained. I enjoyed reading his thoughts from the point of view of the construction (and interpretation) of magic effects and some of the ideas there are worth pondering if you are serious about shaping your magic for greater effect.

I had some philosophical disagreements with his discussion of evolution and intelligent design in some of the essays – and not just because I am coming from a somewhat different worldview to his. I feel that the analogy was somewhat strained – not least because (as he identifies on p224) the magician himself plays a significant role in the artificial selection of the optimum path. The relative weakness (to my mind) of some of the argument in these essays doesn’t detract from the usefulness of the ideas and concepts he explores.

In conclusion

Principia is a beautiful and stimulating book which would grace any magician’s library. I was impressed by the clarity of the explanations – his background in teaching definitely comes into play here. This is a book you will want to peruse slowly – with a deck of cards and a bottle of wine (or your own favourite tipple) – since there is much to enjoy and reflect upon. For my money the first (and largest – almost 36%) section of the book contained the strongest material. But there is plenty within the rest of the book to get you thinking and exploring. Highly recommended.

You can pick up Principia from MagicShop.co.uk for £48.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks Vol IV – review

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:01:56 +0000

The Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks series is one of the jewels in the Big Blind Media crown. It’s some years (2014) since we looked at the last volume in this series – though there have been some side volumes (a bit like the Star Wars spin offs) focused on individual creators. But it was worth the wait. Let’s get straight into…

The Tricks

Karmatic by John Bannon
The DVD starts with a corker. This is the Mighty Bannon’s sort of take on the Trick That Cannot Be Explained. Which is to say that it relies on a certain amount of ‘jazzing’. But the premise and method mean that the jamming doesn’t require any sleight of hand – only a bit of on your feet thinking. In effect the spectator shuffles the deck and yet you have successfully predicted the outcome. I like this a lot – and it is dead easy – the only possible negative is that it does somewhat depend on the spectator being able to riffle shuffle.

Coincidence by Bill Simon
The spectator spookily finds two matching pairs without ever knowing how they did it. That bald description doesn’t really do justice to what is a very strong bit of magic from the ingenious Mr Simon. The bad news is there is some set up required. But it is worth it for a really fooling bit of magic that is very easy to do. I love the construction which makes the effect build to an apparently more impossible second phase.

Five Nine King by Martin Gardner
In this clever mathematically based trick, in spite of a high degree of freedom of choices, the spectator manages to find 4 of a kind. It relies on a clever set up and is pretty fooling. For me it is a little on the procedural side, but nonetheless a clever effect.

Company of Three by Roy Walton
This is a Roy Walton classic – where you can locate two different spectators’ cards by spelling and counting. As taught it requires one very simple bit of sleight of hand – but a truly sleight free handling is also taught. I like this. A very simple set up does all the work for you. A lot of bang for your buck.

Sorta Swiped by Jack Tighe
This is a clever and easy take on the mystery card idea. The spectator chooses and signs a card – and through a slightly ‘sucker’ presentation your different-coloured-back ‘lucky card’ morphs into their selection. Two versions are taught – one of which includes the use of a man-servant! This is a strong routine – but you’ll need some extra cards beyond your normal deck to bring it about. But you leave your spectator with a nice souvenir they can keep. There’s a really nice force taught that I’ve not seen before which would have other uses – especially in an Anniversary Waltz type routine.

And there’s more tricks!

Miracle Aces by Stephen Tucker
Another take on the ‘spectator cuts the aces’ type routine. The spectator seems to have a fair degree of freedom and yet still all comes good. A small set up is required and then the procedure is very simple. A clever self-working solution.

Baker Street by Liam Montier
Baker Street is a two-phased mind-reading effect where you can reveal two cards chosen by two spectators. Again, a small set-up is required. I love the way the construction enables you to deduce both selections in an impossibly fair way. Great little worker.

Third Attribute by Michael Breggar
A really nice routine where a card from a borrowed shuffled deck is selected in a fair manner – then shuffled into a face up and face down deck. The spectator picks three random cards from the deck and then you ‘deduce’ their chosen card. The presentation provides beautiful distraction from the very simple method. I’d not heard of Michael Breggar but this makes me want to investigate his work some more.

Swindle Conincidence by Peter Kane
A fantastic combination of ideas which produce the effect of two spectators selecting the same card in the fairest possible way from two borrowed shuffled decks. Although I knew the principles involved this one flew past me first time. I love the sneaky procedure. Fantastic effect.

Card U Reka by UF Grant
A triple prediction effect with a pseudo-card-reading presentation. There’s some set up required to make up the decks for this effect. But you’ll then have a powerful effect without any hard work at all. Sneaky.

Final Thoughts

One of the many things I like about this series is that they don’t just teach some cracking new tricks, but they unearth and polish up some classics (hence here tricks by UF Grant and Peter Kane etc) which may have passed you by. I’m a firm believer that in our attention to all the new releases all the time we often overlook gems from the past.

The teaching is clear and everything you need to know is explained. If you can’t get at least a few routines from this that you will use then I don’t know what you’re doing! This volume reminds me particularly of the strength of even a small set up in terms of getting you so far ahead. Although these are self-working, it would be of real benefit to get your head around a false shuffle or two in order to add another layer of convincing to them.

It is a while since we looked at the last volume, but Ultimate Self-Working Card Tricks Volume 4 feels like it is the best in the series so far. Full of fantastic, workable material.

What are you waiting for? Go out and buy a copy!
You can pick it up direct from BBM for £21.99 or the download for only £20.50 (at the time of writing).

Many thanks to BBM for supplying the review copy.

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John Bannon – Buzzkill – review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 14:15:54 +0000

John Bannon is the king of packet tricks and Buzzkill is a really fun little fooler with plenty of built in laughs. In essence you have four cards printed with cartoon flies, and four blank ‘fly papers’ – and the fly papers separate from the flypaper and end up getting squashed!

What do you get?

You receive a link to a 19 minute download of the instructions and all the necessary, custom printed cards. There are fun graphics on the cards and on the explanation! As you would expect, everything is clearly explained at an easy pace. The one exception to this is the Elmsley Count – which is not taught. However, if you’ve done any packet tricks in the past you probably know it. And if you haven’t, you should! (We would recommend getting hold of the Elmsley Count Project which is comprehensive in its teaching and also includes loads of great effects).

Variations on a theme

In additional to the version you see in the trailer, two variations are taught.

The first is a ‘fractal’ version. I know John likes to end clean – but I’m not sure the extra hoops to jump through here are really worth the ‘benefit’. You also end up with a discrepant number of cards at the end. Although it is unlikely anyone would notice this and it could be passed off as another ‘mystery’ I’m just not at all sure it is worth it.

My preference would be to do the standard routine, and while the spectator looks at the squashed flies (which is where the attention is), quietly pocket the others. You could have some matching blank cards in your pocket if you really wanted to end clean – but you wouldn’t be able to do that with the supplied cards – so you’d have to buy another set!

The second variation is a handling which goes back to Roy Walton’s Oil & Queens. Interestingly, this is the effect that inspired the effect which inspired this in the first place! I quite like this handling – and it has the extra benefit that you can do it without a table. You’ll need to choose the one that works for you.

Final Thoughts

Buzzkill is a really fun effect which is unusual in that it would appeal to both adults and children alike. So I can see it as a really good trick to have up your sleeve in a walkaround situation where both children and adults may be present. The slight downside is that the re-set isn’t instant – so you’d probably need a minute to yourself to get the cards back in order.

I slightly prefer the graphics and back designs on the cards that John uses in his explanation to the ones that are supplied – but that is a tiny niggle – since there’s nothing wrong with the cards supplied.

It is easy to do and the magic is direct and clear. It’s only a quickie – but I think you’ll enjoy performing Buzzkill and, more importantly, get some good reactions from it.

Buzzkill is available from BBM for £17.99 (at the time of writing).

(Many thanks to BBM who kindly provided the review copy).

PS – I really like James Went’s performance (which isn’t on the download) and I include here for your viewing pleasure:

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Steven Palmer – Rogue – Review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 22:21:28 +0000

Rogue has been sitting on my review pile for woefully long. As you may have noticed, there’s been a bit of a delay in reviewing recently due to other pressures. However, Steven Palmer’s new (ish!!) DVD from Big Blind Media was well worth the wait. Let’s talk about the tricks first.

Deviant Shuffle
This isn’t a trick, but is rather a technique used in some of the routines. It is a sneaky combination of moves which allows the spectators to shuffle the deck whilst retaining a stock of cards. There are no ‘moves’ to speak of here and it does look pretty fair. Neato!

He also explains some subtleties on a breather crimp and a short card – both of which are underrated techniques which enable hands off miracles!

Void
This is a very convincing reveal of a card that the spectator is only thinking of. Quite a lot going on here and some clever subtleties. Two versions are taught – one is more ‘advanced’. As with many mentalism effects you will need some confidence in improvising around a script. But the techniques you need are not advanced and are clearly taught. A further variation is taught which works the opposite way round – which I can’t really explain without exposure!

Thought of Monte
Two spectators choose cards in a very fair way. Then you play a sort of two card monte game where the cards turn into the spectators’ selections in their hands. Did I mention you can do it with a borrowed shuffled deck?! This uses a lovely peek from Ollie Mealing which is fully explained and I’m sure you’ll use in other contexts too. And there’s another really nice utility move – a kind of switch. A neat little impromptu routine.

Villains and Heroes or possibly Heroes and Villains!
This is framed as a lie detector kind of test – where you pick up on the spectator’s tells to reveal their thought of card. The construction allows the spectator a lot of freedom and several free shuffles and yet you can still identify their card. Great effect. (The DVD titles give one name for this and Steven gives it the opposite name!)

Technically Missing
The spectator chooses a card and loses it in the deck. You not only find it again – but you also find its 3 mates. This looks so fair and the outcome is very surprising. Like many of the routines on the DVD this has lots of nice subtle convincers.

Memorabilia
This is another revelation of two merely thought of cards. For some reason this didn’t grab me as much as the other routines. And you’ll have to be prepared to do some verbal jazz to get to your successful result. But still very strong for a layperson.

Out of my sight
Another routine based on Vernon’s classic Out of sight, out of mind. The spectator thinks of card and you reveal it! Again, you’ll need to be prepared to think on your feet to pull this off. But if you’re confident with the approach you’ll have another very strong routine.

Medley
This is a nicely constructed series of three revelations of a spectator’s chosen or thought of card under the theme of a gambling demonstration. The phases seem more and more impossible and very fair. Possibly my favourite on the DVD.

Deadcut
With the presentational hook of deadcutting, you manage to deadcut to a card that the spectator has earlier freely chosen and lost in the deck. One of the easiest effects on the DVD – and yet just as strong as any of the others. Really nice routine.

Final Thoughts?

There is a lot to like about Rogue. BBM’s production values are always high and having Liam Montier in the saddle helps to make sure explanations are all very clear. I must admit to being amused by the ‘spooky mentalism background music’ – which is a bit of a break from BBM tradition!

Rogue is billed as ‘easy to do mentalism with cards’ – and I would just gently question the easy to do. It’s not that any of the routines require difficult sleights (although one of the peeking techniques taught does in my mind qualify as at least early intermediate) – but as with many mentalism effects you need a degree of confidence with your script to sell them. Not all the routines require this – and at least half are unquestionably ‘easy to do’ – but I would just put a tiny caveat on that label.

Another very personal reflection is that although I liked a lot of the effects, my main reaction to this DVD was to want to use the different elements and techniques taught here to come up with my own routines.

There’s a big in-house debate about mentalism and card magic and whether they should go together. But I think this DVD proves that you can do cracking mentalism with cards without any loss of integrity.

If you like strong mentalism then Rogue is definitely worth a look.

And you’ll be glad I waited so long to review this because it’s currently on offer for only £12.60 at the Merchant of Magic! (at the time of writing!)

Many thanks to BBM who kindly supplied the review copy.

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Gary Jones – Life’s a Beach – Vol 2 – review

Phil Sweeting — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:01:04 +0000

It doesn’t seem that long since we look at Life’s a Beach Vol 1 – but given how strong the material in that book was I was very excited to get my hands on Vol 2. So let’s get on with the review!

After a down-to-earth foreword by Gary’s good friend Mark Bendell (and by the way if you still haven’t seen The Unknown – you really must – it is brilliant!) and a brief encouragement from Gary to actually try the things out (!) we get straight into the tricks.

First up is a cracking self-worker called B’Waver. If you can imagine B’Wave plus card to impossible location you’ve got the idea. And it’s so easy to do. Great start!

Crazy Card Trick is basically a chance for Gary to show off how many ways he can show four cards to be the same card! After two cards are selected and lost in the deck, four cards constantly change into different cards – including the selections – which then vanish and reappear in the card box. This is worth studying just for the individual sequences even if you don’t like the routine. Which you should, because it’s a good one!

Pocket Aces involves the four Aces jumping around and ending up in the spectator’s pocket. You’ll need to be confident with palming for this one, but it makes a nice change from some of the more common four ace plots.

Thoughts is a somewhat ballsy mentalism effect where a card the spectator names a card and it is the one you have placed on the table in front of them. Gary’s given some thought to outs so you can give this a go. You know you want to!

Card in Balloon does exactly what it says on the tin. It reminds me of a routine I used to perform years ago (though the method is completely different!) – and there really is something very appealing about a chosen card appearing in this way. You have the drama of the balloon popping combined with a very visual appearance. Worth a look.

Mystery Card 2.0 is a no gimmick version of the mystery card effect. Briefly – a card is reversed in the face up deck. The spectator chooses (and signs if they wish) a card which is then lost in the deck. When the deck is spread the face down ‘mystery card’ is found to be the spectator’s selection. This is really strong – and I love the cheeky method for getting everything into the right place. Excellent effect. Gary says he uses this as an intro to his Ambitious Card and I imagine that is a great way to do it.

Back Palm Thank you Mam. Apart from having an excellent title, this trick utilises one of the few more flourishy moves I ever got round to putting the effort in to learning. Can you guess which one from the title? Two cards are selected and lost in the deck. An indifferent card is removed from the deck – it vanishes – and then reappears in your hand changing into the first selection. This card then vanishes and reappears turning into the second selection. And if you want an optional kicker both cards can then re-appear in your pocket. That seems like overkill to me – but then I haven’t tried it in front of real people yet. Another nice plot.

Pause for thought

At this point I realise that if I’m going to describe every effect in the book this is going to be a long very long review indeed. So I’m going to give you some selected highlights followed by some final thoughts…

Gary’s in depth understanding of misdirection is on display in a number of effects (notably Card under Glass and Pocket to Pocket) and you will learn lots about constructing your routines to take the heat off your moves if you pay attention here.

Did we mention Gary’s bold methods? Vanishing Point is a super sandwich effect which requires a certain amount of Chutzpah!

One of the few non-card items in the book – Exact Change 2.0 – is also one of my favourites. A prediction routine where you predict the exact change from your spectator’s imaginary trip to the sweet shop.

Coins Predicted has possibly the least exciting title in the book but is a really commercial effect with an engaging hook. It includes a script by Christopher Williams who has provided some great scripts for a couple of the routines in the book – well written and effective.

Iphone 20 shows Gary’s knack for coming up with fun plots which are a bit different and also very commercial. This involves a spectator’s signed selection merging with an ‘iphone’ playing card.

Kickback Sandwich is a neat sandwich type effect with a merely thought of card and some built in comedy which also effectively enables the method. Great lateral thinking and a fun routine.

Rubik Revelation cashes in on all the interest in Rubik’s Cube magic at the moment and is a very straightforward and somewhat bold method of predicting the pattern on a cube the spectator has freely mixed.

Colour Diffusion is another fun effect where a small packet of cards change to all have different coloured backs. That is a very bald description – but the routine is nicely structured in a way which involves the audience really well and maxes out the psychological effect of the change. Oh, and did I mention It is dead easy to do?

Colour Remix is a great multi-phase oil and water routine using an idea I have never before seen (and I’ve seen a lot of oil and water effects over the years – though I may just have missed this idea) – where the red and black cards also have contrasting backs so that you can apparently tell from the front or the back whether the cards are mixed or not. A simple subtlety means this actually makes the routine much less sleight-heavy than most similar routines – and it also includes a multi-coloured backs finish. Neat.

Coin to Anywhere is an idea of pure cheek contributed by Chris Congreave. It enables you to vanish a borrowed and signed coin and have it appear anywhere – with precious little effort on your part. There’s a variation on this theme which might appeal to mentalists too…

And there’s loads more I haven’t even mentioned. Gary has a knack for coming up with direct plots or clever variations on existing plots. Some of the ideas might even stimulate your own creativity.

As before the book is packed with clear illustrations and also photos of Gary performing with amusing captions.

This is another fabulous release which will more than repay your investment of time and money studying it. I think performers at all levels will find multiple routines they can use here. They range from self-working effects to things which will require a bit more sleight of hand – but I would say that most things would be in the reach of most performers with a little bit of practise.

You can pick up Life’s a Beach Volume 2 direct from the publishers at MagicSeen for £25 (at the time of writing). I’m very grateful to Gary for supplying the review copy.

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Richy Roy – Maxims of a Magician – review

Phil Sweeting — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 20:14:04 +0000

Maxims of a Magician is the second book by Richy Roy that we have reviewed here. You can read our review of The Wealthy Magician here.

The Wealthy Magician was a very applied book – looking at the business side of marketing and sales and value for a magician. Maxims of a Magician is a very different kind of book. As its name implies it is full of short ‘maxims’ followed by a brief (paragraph) unpackings of the same. There are 116 maxims in all.

It is a very difficult book to review because of its format and content. Some of the maxims seem to obvious that they hardly need stating (e.g. “Every Magician will have bad shows”!) – yet at the same time there is something liberating in having the truth of such statements ‘confirmed’ in print.

There are maxims and there are maxims…

For every ‘state the obvious’ maxim there are plenty more that are more thought-provoking or profound. For my money, some of the maxims about relating to other magicians are well worth taking on board, and some of the maxims about the life of a magician beyond the stage are also worth reflecting on.

There are some maxims which seem a little repetitious. And, if I am completely honest, there are some which seem a little vague. There is a Yoda-like form to some of the sayings which is not always clarified in the explanatory paragraphs – sometimes it feels like terms are not clearly enough defined. This may be a deliberate strategy to encourage the reader to reflect further on the matter themselves, but I found myself a little confused at times.

For me, one of the overriding values of the book is the way it gently encourages you to keep improving and growing and reflecting on what you are doing. So many new/inexperienced magicians are happy simply to trot out the same old stuff as everyone else, but I think Maxims of a Magician encourages you to reflect more deeply on what you are doing and why you are doing it. Regular readers will know that this is an aspect of our art that I value deeply and so I applaud the sub-text behind many of these maxims.

For a magic book lover, there is also a list of 56 recommended magic books at the back (of which I have a slightly disappointing 28!). There are some good suggestions here – though the order seems entirely random.

This is the sort of book that I think is well worth reading for a beginner or even a slightly more experienced magician – and probably worth coming back to every year or two. It is nicely produced as a small perfect-bound paperback running to 148 pages. At this size it feels just a little-overpriced to me.

You can pick up Maxims of a Magician for £21.99 from our friends at MagicShop.co.uk.

(Or just a notch cheaper at Amazon – if you don’t want to support a real bricks and mortar magic shop!)

I’m grateful to Richy Roy for providing a review copy of this book.

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John Bannon – Fire When Ready – review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 23:01:09 +0000

Fire When Ready completes the ‘Bullet Trilogy’ from the excellent John Bannon. But I approached it with some trepidation since I was a little disappointed with the most recent Bannon releases (Dealing with it Season 1 and Season 2). I’m pleased to say this feels like a real return to form. So let’s get straight into the tricks.

Proxy Shock
Shuffled deck. Spectator remembers a card from the deck which is then shuffled again – and then the performer commits to a card. When the spectator names their card – you may have a miracle on your hands immediately! But alternatively your incorrect selection will instantly change into their card. There are some clever things going on here, as you’d expect. It’s not technically difficult but requires some boldness in presentation. Which is just the way I like it!

Rock the Voque
The spectator reads your mind and comes up with the card you had set aside. The title should tell you a key part of the method. And there’s a nice setting for the effect which ‘justifies’ that part of the method. And then some extra cleverness to give you a wider range – if you catch my drift. Great thinking. Very workable. Could become a classic.

Mundo
This (as you might have guessed if your Latin is any good!) is a sort of speedy (small packet) variation on OOTW. To a premise about intuition the spectator successfully separates the reds and blacks from a shuffled packet in a baffling way. I really like this too – a simple move which flies by turns this into a real miracle for the spectator. Brilliant.

Cut and Run
The spectator shuffles and cuts the deck yet with a few cuts you cut to the four Aces. This uses a sneaky procedure we’ve seen before in Bannon’s works – the Hybrid Holdout. Easy to do – pleasing quicky.

Stealth Aces
This is a super four ace-assembly. Although it uses a Bannon move it is actually a routine from the lovely and talented John Carey. As I watched it I spotted a discrepancy which I felt sure would be key to the trick – but that sneaky man got round it without me noticing! This was all the more annoying when I realised I had already read this effect in his Lucky booklet! I had forgotten how fabulous this is. It is so easy to do – the only ‘move’ flies by – and the magic seems to happen in an instant. Love it.

We’re still only half way!

Big Fat Bluff Aces
This is a rather more complex four ace trick after the last one. The three aces disappear from their packets and the fourth ace’s packet turns into four kings, then in an instant all the aces are back in their packets. This requires a little more handling but is still not difficult to do. As I was watching this I felt like I’d seen this before. Because I had! It was in his Lucky booklet and earlier on the Bullet Party DVD.

Blues Alley Jokers
A card is selected and somehow finds itself sandwiched between two other cards in a surprising way. This one does require a slightly more complicated technique – but with a little practise you should get the hang of it. For me, this was an underwhelming sandwich effect, but you might like it more than me. James Went adds some helpful explanatory commentary on this one.

Clean out of sight
This is a devastatingly clever routine where the spectator merely thinks about a card in a freely shuffled packet – then after testing their intuition you are able to locate their card effortlessly. This is a little bit procedural, but the premise wraps up an old principle in wonderfully new clothes.

Question Zero
A spectator chooses five cards, remembers one of them, shuffles her packet which is then returned to the deck. Yet you find it instantly. Uses the move you’ve already learnt for Blues Alley Jokers!

Line of Sight
This is essentially a card revelation framed in a nice way which relies on a humble glimpse. I love the premise and several different glimpses are taught – which is a useful one for your toolbag. This is another of the routines on the DVD which has been around for a while (it was originally in Dear Mr Fantasy) – but since the earlier publication is hard to find these days this may bring it to a whole new audience.

Final Thoughts

As I said at the beginning, Fire When Read feels like a real return to form. There are some superb effects on here, the majority of which require no complicated sleight of hand but rather rely on subtlety and clever structuring. If you don’t get at least three workable effects out of this I would be amazed.

One small criticism of pretty much any Bannon DVDs is that there are never any ‘live’ performances. Everything is done in the studio. Some are performed to ‘real’ people, and some with no audience at all. There are advantages to this approach – since sound and video quality is guaranteed. But sometimes I long to see the effects performed for real people in the wild. But that’s a really minor criticism.

I would have liked a bit more discussion with Bannon on the theory side of things – since I always enjoy his thinking. But at the end of the day this is full of good, solid tricks. I’ll be coming back to this DVD to work several of these into my impromptu set. Highly recommended.

You can pick up Fire When Ready direct from BBM (who kindly supplied the review copy) for £21.99. If you’re happy with a download, this is slightly cheaper at The Merchant of Magic (£19.99).

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George Parker – Performing Magic with Impact – review

Phil Sweeting — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 23:01:08 +0000

Performing Magic with Impact is a difficult book to categorise. It makes a bold claim in its title? Does it deliver on the promise? Let’s get in to our review.

Speaking from experience

A great starting point for this book is that it is written by a practitioner. There are many books on magic theory, but not all are written by people who perform. This one is.

I’m going to walk you through the chapters because it is quite difficult to summarise.

The ‘introduction’ consists of an interview with George Parker. He explains the context for much of his work – which is in the field of corporate training and in particular helping people think about change. This is quite a specific field and brings a different focus from the regular magic gig of many magicians. However, some of the principles he expounds upon are really helpful in a subject which is close to my heart – thinking about the meaning and the ‘why’ of what we do.

Chapter One is all about Communication. This is a fundamental area for any performer to think about. He illustrates his theory with concrete examples which helps enormously.

Between many of the chapters are routines that George regularly performs. The first of these – Micro-Metamorphosis – is a very practical walkaround coin transposition.

Chapter Two is about the Impact to Effort Ratio. Again, for anyone performing for a living this is worth considering. You can pour an enormous amount of effort into an effect which never quite impacts the audience in the way you would like. And the opposite can also be true. Worth thinking about.

As an illustration of this he explains his routine The Bigger Picture – which is a nice twist on a commercially available routine which you would need to purchase.

Chapter Three is all about preparing for things going wrong. He analyses different possible areas for things to go wrong and some suggestions for minimising the risk.

Stimulating your imagination

The next chapter is all about a concept he has marketed called ‘TheSurvivalVersion’. He contends that the principle will help with creativity in coming up with routines. It may well help you.

By way of illustration he teaches a Torn and Restored Card routine developed using this technique. It’s a really nice, impromptu effect which is not too difficult to do but does require a certain amount of boldness! I liked it.

Chapter Six is all about interaction. Again, this is sort of applied communication theory. He explores something called the Leary Interpersonal Circumplex – which is a way of analysing character types/dynamics. I’d never come across this before and it is a helpful lens through which to consider how you ‘play’ your character throughout a routine. By consciously shifting ‘mode’ you can potentially make your performance more interesting for the spectator.

The next chapter provides another way of thinking creatively about your routines – imagining them done in multiple styles. He mentions a book called Exercises in Style – which I now want to read! He includes here a really nice Card to Card Box routine. I don’t really follow how it is related to the concept of style under consideration, but it is an excellent solution to this kind of prop. You don’t need to buy any special props – though you will need to make a very basic gimmick.

Chapter Eight explores the idea of taking an idea normally done with playing cards and performing it with a different prop (a bit like we saw on Dice, Dice, Baby). Again, this is a helpful lens to get your creativity flowing. He illustrates it with a routine involving postcards – which owes something to Eugene Burger’s excellent work on the ‘Black Envelope’ (which you can learn here). It’s a good routine.

Chapter Nine raises the question of openers. What are you communicating with your entrance on stage and very first routine? And how would you like to change that. He explains his 12321 routine – which is a sort of extended remix of the classic Professor’s Nightmare. It’s a good routine which I would like to try out. He illustrates it with several scripts to show how it could be used in different contexts.

The Final Chapter is perhaps what you might have expected given the title. It is about making things play bigger and thinking about different techniques and strategies to do that. There are some helpful checkpoints to run through to think about individual effects and indeed the structuring of your whole act. I would have liked to see a little more on that last section. But he does provide some suggested further resources (really on scriptwriting) to help you continue to think about it. The illustrative routine here is a surprisingly showy take on The Grandmother’s Necklace principle! To my surprise I could see this working really well.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed reading this. Disclaimer – I love pondering the theory of magic – and I’m already a fan of thinking carefully about what you are saying and doing as you perform. In that respect I think Parker’s work is a much condensed version of Scripting Magic.

Performing Magic with Impact is nicely produced – a 23x15cm perfect bound book – well illustrated and easy to read. The pricing is fair for a limited edition magic book.

If I had to sum up the intent of the book in a sentence I would put it like this: Creating Magic with Impact is written to help you unleash your creativity and think carefully about the presentation of your magic. And for my money it achieves that target pretty well.

If you’re the sort of person that just performs tricks ‘out of the box’ with the supplied ‘patter’ don’t bother. But if you’re the sort of person who likes to think carefully about their routines and scripts then I would highly commend spending a few hours of your time with this book.

You can pick up a copy of Performing Magic with Impact from MagicShop.co.uk for £22.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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