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Paul Gordon – Quidnunc Plus – review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 00:01:07 +0000

Quidnunc Plus – is Paul Gordon’s latest release with Alakazam. It’s some years since I’ve seen any of his DVD based material – and the quality has definitely upped with the Alakazam influence. If you know Paul Gordon, you’ll know that this is all going to be card material. Let’s get on with looking at some of the tricks…

Quidnunc Plus – Disc 1

Jeepers Creepers on Heat – is a packet trick related to his commercially released Jeepers Creepers. It’s a very magical change of 5 cards from 5 of a kind to a royal flush with rainbow backs. Strong and clever and not too difficult to do!
Dudeney’s Baby Boy – a self-working prediction which appears to give the spectator lots of choices but always ends up with the right result. Similar to a principle explored by John Bannon from Dear Mr Fantasy onwards… And Paul explores it himself in his Gold Dust book.
Ace in the Hole – a great transposition effect where two aces from your hand join two aces under the spectator’s hand in an instant. This is ‘knacky’ rather than difficult – and I like it a lot!
Balducci Aces – another nice simple effect where a spectator cuts to a card which matches your prediction and then the other two turn up on the bottom of the two cut piles. The name will tip most of the method – and its a great easy to do impromptu effect.
Spectrum – another packet trick which has been released separately. I know it is odd to call the premise of a magic trick illogical – all magic is on some level! But this one is slightly odd to me. You start with 5 cards which are printed with the same face on front and back. They then turn into cards with normal backs. And then the backs all change to different colours. Ends clean – if you like it you’ll like it …
Travelling Light – a sneaky and punchy cards to pocket effect where four signed cards repeatedly leap into your pocket. This is really nicely routined, and although it does require some palming, it is well within the reach of most performers with a little practise.
Easy Collectors Two – based on an Ed Marlo idea – three selections are lost in the deck and instantly appear interspersed between the four aces which have been on the table throughout. Some really nice touches in this routine which has obviously evolved over many years of use.
Darned Pain in the Neck – A spelling card appears to keep going wrong with the same card turning up each time but all is righted at the end when the Aces appear on the top of four discarded piles. This is an amusing and unusual plot with a good kicker ending.
Worker Supreme – (sidenote – does anyone outside of the magic world use the word supreme?) A card transposition and a chosen card to wallet all rolled in to one. Ironically though you don’t need to palm the card into the wallet, you do need to palm a card! But you have plenty of misdirection at that point… A great little routine.
Perfect Prediction Premonition – a very old force given a new lease of life. A spectator thinks of a card at a number corresponding to a small packet they have freely cut off. You have predicted it. Paul’s version requires straddle pharaoh’s – but you could do it without them if you go for a different setup.
75% Confident – based on a Jack Parker routine. You remove two cards from a shuffled deck. You then remove some other cards from the top of the deck and they turn into the mates of the first card. Then in an instant they turn into a royal flush. Can’t quite work out what I think of this one – it feels like a slightly odd plot to me.

Quidnunc Plus – Disc 2

Rising Damp – this is a nice ‘from the deck’ packet trick. A Jack (or some other card) repeatedly rises to the top of a four card packet. Then all the cards change to the same value. Then they change to four of a kind. Lots of magic in a short time. This is really nice.
The Churchill Crown – this is a sort of sucker prediction effect where a card is predicted on a sticker under a coin. I’ve watched this a few times and I’m still finding the actual effect a little confusing –but that’s probably down to lack of sleep…
Bluff ACAAN – exactly what it says on the tin – a really cheeky ACAAN. The card is chosen rather than thought of – and then returned to the deck. Easy to do and surprisingly effective.
Dream Away – a nice take on the dream card effect – where a card that is in your pocket from the beginning (with a different coloured back) turns out to be the actual card chosen and signed by the spectator. No gaff cards needed but a little bit of setup. Great strong effect as long as you can do one move…
Ultimate Transposition – this is a great four card transposition where the cards appear to move one by one. A bit of work to get this one under the fingers but well worth the investment.
Ace Tumblers – the four aces locate the chosen and lost card – and turn themselves over in the process. A nice quicky.
Tally-Ho Simplified – A spelling routine utilising a Tally Ho! Deck to a quirky patter idea. I’m not a great fan of spelling tricks and don’t tend to use Tally Ho! Decks – so a bit of a non-starter for me this one.
Unusual Method Oil&Water – another trick title which is specific if not catchy! It’s a self-working packet trick version of the oil and water effect. I thought this was a one of the weaker effects on the set – quite procedural.
Witch Mountain Revisited – based on an Alex Elmsley routine (which is always a good start…) It’s like a slow motion four ace trick but with queens – i.e. the four queens travel one at a time from four piles into one chosen by the spectator.
Q&A – there’s a roughly half an hour long Q&A with Paul in which he teaches a few ideas and answers some really practical questions about starting out in magic, approaching tables, and interacting with spectators. This was a great little addition to the DVD and as well as being full of useful tips, gave a nice insight into Paul’s character.

What do we think?

There are so many effects on this set that you are bound to find several that suit you. I love the variety of plots and of skill levels – there really is something for everyone. His explanations are clear and contain just the right level of detail.

Paul’s capacity to create and perhaps more amazingly to remember this much magic is astonishing! He clearly has an excellent memory! This plays out, amongst other ways, in good crediting which I always appreciate.

His trademark ‘energy’ is evident – even when performing to magicians in a studio. A nice foil for Dave’s trademark gormless expressions!

Quidnunc Plus would make a great Christmas present for yourself or for the magician in your life. And I think I’ll be looking out for a copy of the Quidnunc book too. You can pick up the DVD from MagicShop.co.uk for only £10.39 (at the time of writing – but it looks to be in a sale so that price might go up soon!).

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

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Atlas Brookings & Raven Gairloch – The Solution – review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 00:01:46 +0000

This review of The Solution completes a virtual triptych of books relating to the idea of a memorised deck. Although this is the smallest of the tomes we have reviewed, I hope you won’t despise it on that basis. This is a quality publication which will repay careful study.

It is worth stating at the outset that this is a different kind of concept to your standard memorised deck. Rather than a brute force memory approach, there is a mathematical system taught which will help you to derive the locations of individual cards. And notwithstanding the ‘method’ – the deck itself looks very fairly mixed and will withstand considerable scrutiny.

It immediately reminded me of a memory deck system invented by Lewis Jones which I first read about in his book Cardiograms – published by Repro Magic in the 90s (and I think more recently re-released under the title the Prism Deck by Wayne Goodman). However, when I consulted that brilliant volume to refresh my memory the two systems whilst possibly being distant cousins are in fact completely different beasts. Jones’ system is far simpler but has a number of limitations which The Solution doesn’t have. All magic is about compromises…

Anyway, back to The Solution. I suspect, that after a period of using it, the calculations will become largely redundant as you will memorize the locations anyway. But it does mean that the initial learning process is relatively quick and can be ‘refreshed’ very easily compared to the alternative. It should be said that some memorization is still needed – but considerably less than a whole deck.

Having looked at a lot of memorised deck material recently (see our reviews of Temporarily Out of Order and Memorandum) it is worth making another distinction between this method/concept and more traditional memorised decks. Built into the Redford or Aragon or Tamariz or Aronson stacks are a number of set ups for specific magic effects (e.g. spelling effects, poker effects, etc.). The Solution is not like that. It is literally a method for knowing the position of any given card in the deck and vice versa. Since the creators are both mentalists, it is fair to say that this solution is geared towards mentalism type effects rather than some of the other classic memorised deck magic. Again, this is worth bearing mind in weighing up whether this is for you or not.

The book

I received this as an ebook, which I subsequently printed, so I have no idea what the perfect bound copy is like if you order it. But after an amusing introduction, there are 31 pages explaining the development of the system. An understanding of this process makes more sense of the shortcuts you’ll actually use when you get going with it. It is also fascinating to walk through the creative process with them and see how they have got around various challenges on the way.

The system is simple – in the sense that it can be explained easily. But it will require a bit of work to get used to the process involved. The maths isn’t particularly difficult (though I am one of those weird people who likes maths – so perhaps you should ask a second opinion of someone who doesn’t!) and I think you’ll soon get the hang of it.

One of the routines taught provides you with an easy out to use while you are still learning the deck. Which takes us on to the routines…

The routines

8 routines are taught – which range from a very simple ‘reading the spectator’s mind’ effect, via an incredibly cheeky ACAAN, to an incredible revelation of two cards which a spectator has merely thought of in a spread.

In my opinion they are all extremely strong effects, but best of all, they are all clearly effects which the authors have performed. And the details of the routines are loaded with helpful tips, wording and psychology which make them killers.

There are also some interesting perspectives on wider performance questions – for example whether ACAAN Is actually a good trick for a lay audience at all! Several of the routines would easily lend themselves to working with other memorized decks and so I would recommend a look even if you already have a different stack you use.

Is it really the solution?

I hope you are getting the impression that I really enjoyed reading this booklet. I am the sort of person that does like to try to read widely around particular effects or types of routine that I am researching, but even if I wasn’t this would come highly recommended. It is a brilliant way to go about memorising a deck of cards with a relatively small investment of time/energy. But will enable you to perform some truly astonishing effects once you’ve got your head around it.

The Solution is available from the Merchant of Magic for £32.50 (at the time of writing).

(I’m grateful to Atlas Brookings who kindly provided the review copy.)

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Patrick Redford – Temporarily Out of Order – review

Phil Sweeting — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 23:01:06 +0000

I have often observed that there appear to be trends in magic, and Temporarily Out of Order is the latest of a series of books to have been published in recent years on the Memorized Deck. We recently read and enjoyed Woody Aragon’s excellent Memorandum. And we will be doing a review of Atlas Brookings fine release The Solution any day now. I will try and make some comparisons between these works as we go (and if you are serious about getting into memorized deck work then you really need to consult the classic work of Tamariz and Aronson too).

Never judge a book by its cover

The old adage about judging a book on its appearance is true, and nowhere more so than with Temporarily Out of Order. I found the front cover unimaginative and the back cover rather stark, nor do I like the glossy paper on which the book is printed or the font used. Sorry! But don’t let this put you off – because the content is brilliant and more than makes up for these assaults to my aesthetic sensibilities! And in its favour it is well illustrated throughout.

Do we need another stack?

Many readers will already be familiar with either the Tamariz or Aronson stack and so this question is inevitable. The Redford Stack has been built from the ground up to enable a number of features not so obviously present in other stacks. It is loosely based on the well-known Si Stebbins stack, but this has been in altered in various ways to hide some of its more obvious features.

The design means it is very easy to get into the stack from new deck order (and back again), or from Si Stebbins order. There are multiple spelling and poker effects built in, and also numerous other features which make it a very powerful tool indeed.

The tricks

There are plenty of tricks – far too many to describe in detail. They are gathered in collections – spelling/location effects, gambling demonstrations/deals, faro effects (requiring perfect faros), and a couple of chapters of more general effects. One chapter includes five effects which are not stack-dependent – so you could use with an alternative stack you’ve already learned.

The title-routine, Temporarily Out of Order, is a very strong five phase effect in which a series of more and more incredible coincidences take place and the deck ends up being in full deck order. He even teaches a version which can be done without memorising the stack and is therefore more or less self-working.

Another chapter includes three ‘story’ effects – where a story is told as you deal through the deck. I like the way that he includes some magical effects to add further interest to the story, though one of the routines is sufficiently ‘adult’ that I wouldn’t use it in performance myself.

And there’s more

A short chapter explores combining the stack with other principles – notably the idea of end strippers. Then we hit some really useful ‘utilities’ chapters. The first teaches a brilliant false overhand shuffle and series of different false cuts. Another contains several deck switches – which are also very deceptive.

In a very generous idea, the final chapter which shows how to get into the setups for a ranger of effects by other people. It doesn’t teach the effects, but does give full references which you may well want to chase up on the strength of Redford’s recommendation!

On the subject of references – everything contains highly detailed references which I appreciate and enjoy reading. There is also a very helpful online ‘toolbox’ – with videos of some of the effects and techniques.

Final Thoughts

A good number of the effects can be performed without actually memorizing the deck. But for those who are going to put in the hard work, there is plenty of help in teaching memorization techniques and mnemonics.

There are also loads of great performance tips and wisdom buried away in the descriptions – so even if you don’t perform any of these effects you will still learn some useful stuff.

We often like to comment on the skill level of items we review but that is difficult in the case of a book like this. Some of the effects are essentially self-working and others require a high degree of proficiency with a deck of cards. And the process of memorization itself – if you decide to go down that route – will be harder for some people than others.

Comparisons are difficult, but my sense from a distance is that Memorandum contained more effects, but the effects in Temporarily Out of Order were of a more consistently strong character. I also felt that some of the extra techniques and ideas in this volume would be relevant whichever stack you choose to use – indeed even if you don’t perform mem deck work yourself.

For this reason I would strongly encourage you to add this volume to your library, in spite of the cover…

Temporarily Out of Order is available from MagicShop.co.uk for £45.50

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

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AC2Phone magic app – review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 10:05:55 +0000

We very rarely review phone apps on this site, but when we were offered a look at Any Card To Phone (AC2Phone) we were delighted to take a look. These days we always have our phone with us, so the idea of having a magic trip ready to go all the time is very appealing.

In essence you can use this app for a ‘reveal’ at the end of a card trick. When you run the app the back of a playing card is visible. This can be freely ‘moved around’ by anyone. When you turn the phone over again it will be displaying the face of a playing card which has chosen in any way you prefer. An extra feature has now been added where you can finish the trick by ‘pulling’ the card out of the phone!

In look and method AC2Phone is very similar to an app I used to use when I still had an apple device – though I understand from a friend that the other app is no longer being supported. The app I previously used was more of a routine – so you could appear to shuffle the cards first – and in presentation it was rather more like an electronic version of the classic Invisible Deck.

In AC2Phone, it is really only the revelation of the card rather than a ‘free-standing routine.’ You could have a physical card selected and have it appear on your phone. Or you could have someone merely think of and name a card and then reveal it. Or you could use any kind of peek device or centre tear – or the mentalism tool of your choice for the first part of the routine.

In order to ‘pull’ the card out of the phone, you will need very basic sleight of hand, but I really like the extra visual element that creates. And it somehow draws attention away from the phone itself which is a real bonus.

Another excellent feature is the possibility of customising the back design. The app includes good quality reproductions of some ‘standard’ backs including (bicycle rider etc) – but also allows you to upload your own artwork. I don’t like the faces of the cards so much – and that might also make the illusion of ‘pulling’ the card from the phone less convincing as the pips are a bit more bold than standard bicycle faces, for example.

It’s very easy to do – and you’ll learn it in 5 minutes. For a very modest investment you have a trick you can carry around with you all the time. Well worth a look.

You can pick it up at the Play Store. An iOS version is coming soon – watch this space…

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Luke Jermay – Marksman Deck – review

Phil Sweeting — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 23:01:47 +0000

I’ve seen lots of marked decks over the years. Some of which I even use. So is it worth looking at yet another marked deck release? When Luke Jermay’s name is on the release it definitely is.

The Marksman Deck is not just marked for value, but it also has a whole series of other markings which give you an enormous amount of information (it is a descendent of the venerable Deland deck – but with other features too) which is of use in a series of very powerful effects. It also has a very subtle one way feature.

And as if this was not enough, the deck is also stacked in Mnemonica order – which opens up a whole world of other options if you’re familiar with that system (and if you’re not then Juan Tamariz’s Mnemonica and Mnemonica Miracles are both highly recommended).

Jermay is very persuasive in his own promotion of the deck, but in this case I really think the hype has some substance since with a modicum of presentational skill this deck really does open up an almost limitless world of possibilities.

The Marksman Deck itself is high quality – printed beautifully by the USPCC on mandolin backed stock. It comes nicely packaged in a small cardboard box which also contains a link to the online teaching. And there is LOTS of this.

The teaching is split into two parts. There is nearly 1 ½ hours of teaching – well-filmed in a ‘studio’ setting – in which Jermay introduces the various markings, discusses some of the possibilities and teaches some effects. Then there is a second, nearly ¾ hours ‘performance documentary’ and accompanying 34 page pdf – about which more later.

The main teaching material

The first 20 minutes provides an overview of the deck and the range of information that the various marks contain. Even here Luke chucks out loads of ideas for other possibilities with the deck. This is followed by a further summary/overview for a more succinct 5 minutes which recaps on meanings of the marks.

The next 8 minutes or so discuss techniques for reading the marks in a variety of contexts. There is some great thinking about different techniques and covers for reading the marks – like everything that Jermay puts out you can see this is material he has used in the real world and there is much to learn here. This section runs into an explanation of the first effect taught (which is then actually performed in the next section).

The effects

The next 50 minutes or so contains performances and explanations of 5 effects to wet your appetite.

Intuition – reveal a load of really weird information about a chunk of cards cut off by the spectator. This is an unusual effect – which (as the live performance on the ‘performance documentary shows) has a strong impact on the audience if performed well. But perhaps the best thing here is the detailed performance tips you will pick up from both the explanation and performance.

Easy to read – a routine based on the premise that you are simply reading a spectator’s thoughts. Teaches you some great ways of using the deck.

Dowsing – finding the ‘twin’ of a freely chosen card by ‘dowsing’ over the rest of the deck which has been split into several piles. Think about this – they haven’t even told you what their card is and yet somehow you’ve impossibly located its mate. Some nice presentational variations are suggested too.

Card Calling – is a remote viewing/telepathy routine where you can divine a series of cards cut to by the spectator.

Card Memory – very fair looking demonstration where you appear to locate a card in three different ways from a shuffled deck which you have apparently memorised. This is a very strong routine with some lovely subtleties (which would also have application in other routines).

Final Thoughts

The main teaching video ends with some final thoughts and references for material to read if you want to explore marked deck work in more detail. He mentions an older work by Kirk Charles which has now been revised and released as Hidden in Plain Sight and also Boris Wild’s epic, Transparency. I understand that Jermay is currently working on a book which will describe some of his routines with the Marksman Deck in more detail – and that will definitely also be worth a look.

Performance documentary

This is an almost 45 minute video which intersperses a live close up performance by Jermay with the deck, and sections where he discusses the development of the deck and some ‘reactions’ from the audience. Jermay is such a consummate performer that this is simply a joy to watch and will give you a real feel for the potential of the deck. The accompanying pdf takes you through the methods used and some thoughts on the rationale for the various choices made. It contains plenty of detail to understand what is going on and why – though you will have to join a few dots yourself. This is an excellent addition to the release.

Scratching around for negatives

I am generally so impressed by the thought that has gone into this release that there is very little negative to say about it. If I was being really picky, then many routines will benefit from a decent false shuffle. Although Jermay points you to a few suggested resources there is barely any specific teaching on this on the video material. Also during one of the explanations the sound goes a bit echoey! I told you I was scratching around!

The Marksman Deck is a superb addition to the world of marked decks. It opens up an enormous amount of extremely powerful magic which is essentially self-working– only requiring some presentational skill to really sell them. Highly recommended for performers of any ability. At £32.99 it is not the cheapest marked deck around – but for me the quality and depth of the teaching make it well worth the price.
Pick up your Marksman Deck from MagicShop.co.uk for £32.99 (at the time of writing).

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

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James Went – Meditations – review

Phil Sweeting — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 00:01:05 +0000

Meditations is a double DVD set, the debut release of the very talented Welsh magician, James Went. In spite of my age, I first came across James through the wonderful children’s television series Help My Supply Teacher is Magic. But as this set demonstrates, he is a very clever and thoughtful magician in his own right.

This releases oozes class (is that even possible? Can class be oozed? Or is oozing not classy?) – even from the DVD cover. I love the simplicity and elegance of the tree silhouette on the outline of his jacket. But that’s enough about externals, what about the content?

Right from the introduction, James’ passion and concern for the details of an effect comes through. He’s read widely (and attributes brilliantly) and has clearly worked at the routines at length. The DVDs are shot to BBM’s usual high standards, and each disk contains effects, techniques and some interview sections.

The effects

Inevitable
James starts with a really strong routine – a distant cousin of the open prediction plot. A spectator chooses one of two decks of cards and it is set aside. Then the other deck is shuffled and they get to select any card. This is turned over and the value of the card is counted down in the deck to reveal another card. These two values are added together to create a new number and they count down to the card at that number in their deck. This is the card you predicted at the outset. A clean and strong routine, easy to do – definitely worth playing with.

Roy’s Sandwich
This is a nice sandwich routine where the two red aces, inserted at random locations near the top and bottom of the deck manage to move to capture a card merely glimpsed by the spectator earlier. In the (optional) second phase this is mixed with a kind of triumph effect where the deck is mixed up (face up and down) and instantly righted at the same time as locating the chosen card. This is heavily influenced by a Roy Walton routine as its name implies. This requires a little more technical skill (the moves are explained in another section of the DVD) but the second phase, in particular is extremely easy because of the structure of the routine. Beautiful magic.

For Krenzel
A card is merely peeked by your spectator – you’re then able to read their mind and reveal the card, which then instantly reverses itself in the deck. This is basically a routine which showcases a move which James created. The choreography beautifully covers the move – which is worth a short investment of time to learn.

Conditional Triumph
This is a great example of how presentation is king. James justifies the ‘Triumph’ plot by making a ‘find a card’ trick seem more and more impressive. This really works well with James’ personality and the premise primes your spectator for a good reaction. It can be done with a borrowed, shuffled deck, and doesn’t require too many knuckles to be busted for a great effect.

Sandwich Thing
A quick sandwich routine – combining a number of ideas by other people into one snappy routine. A card is selected and lost in the middle of the deck, and a face up king placed on the top and bottom of the deck – these instantly locate the chosen selection in the middle of the deck. Then the two kings visibly jump out of the deck trapping the selection a second time. And then a moment later the kings are back on the top and bottom of the pack and the selection is in your pocket. Again, there’s a little card handling required. But if you’ve been doing card magic for any time it should be within reach.

Poker Con
In this entertaining routine, the spectator is involved as your ‘confederate’ in a poker routine when, from a well-mixed deck, the performer manages to deal four cards to complete a perfect hand with a card the spectator chose at random. Requires some setup but utilises a lovely simple but convincing false shuffle which is justified by the plot narrative.

Selected Daley
This is the first thing James published (in a lovely ebook I own – Celtic Cabal). A selected card is lost in a deck. Four Aces are discovered in the course of a faux gambling demonstration (during which, a la Daley’s Last Trick, the red and black aces repeatedly transpose) and then the selection appears in the middle of it. A nice technique for controlling the chosen card from the middle of the deck which will require some practise but is worth the effort.

Broken Triumph
Another take on the Triumph plot. A spectator glimpses a card and then shuffles the deck. The performer can then both read their mind to reveal the card and then perform the standard Triumph effect – where a mixed face up and face down deck instantly rights itself with the exception of the chosen (“merely thought of”) card.

Collectors
This is a traditional collectors plot – but what makes this so nice is again James’ presentation and the routining which is very slick.

Searchers
Like a slow motion version of the earlier sandwich trick where the 2 aces move towards the spectator’s selection in two stages! Fair bit of handling required.

The Techniques

4 of a Kind Production
Does what it says on the in – a fancy way of producing four of a kind. Not too tricky and nice if you like this kind of thing. And if you do, there’s another version too!

Tit Peak – Tabled Injog Turnover Peak
This is a move to peek a card in the move of handing a deck out to be shuffled by a spectator. A little bit of a knack, but pretty straightforward and versatile move. There’s also another variation taught which can be done standing without a table and without being contrived at all, the acronym this time is TITTIES…

Top Card Production
This is a way of producing the top card apparently from the middle of the deck. A useful and fairly easy little technique.

Jack’s Ginger Snap
A variation on a Jack Tighe move – again making a card look a lot like it comes from the middle of the deck. A nice little move.

Spread Peak
Again, does what it says on the tin – a peak which is made during a spread on the table. This man is obsessed with peaks. This is quite disarming.

Relaxed Pass
The pass is another move James rates highly – interesting how some sleights come in and out of fashion. As its name suggests this one is deliberately casual to avoid the awkwardness sometimes associated with this kind of move. James has combined parts of two other moves to make this pass and it does achieve he casual feel he is aiming for.

Thoughts on Controls
James teaches a couple of controls whilst explaining his thinking around this key area of card magic. Nodding his head in the direction of a Roberto Giobbi essay (from Confidences) there are some helpful tips here around the psychology of making your controls more convincing.

Spread Pass
It’s another pass people. The selected card is passed as the spread is squared up. You’ll need to work at this to get it smooth but it is a very useful move and James gives you several tips born of playing with the move incessantly.

Spread Half Pass
This is the technique used in Roy’s Sandwich (and turns up quite a bit in Roy Walton’s work). A potentially under-used move and well worth getting your fingers around.

The Interviews

As much as I love magic, I enjoy getting to know people even more, so I always look forward to interview sections on these kind of DVDs. They contain and nice mix of serious and light-hearted questions. You do get to see a bit of the real James and he comes across as a really nice guy.

One major encouragement to any aspiring professionals is that he started out in magic (relatively) late in life an yet has achieved a great deal in a short time. It’s never too late to learn. Oh, and like me, he’s a big fan of magic books – what’s not to like?!

The story behind how he got involved in Help My Supply Teacher is Magic is also really fascinating and he comes across as a very humble guy. I really enjoyed these sections.

Any Final Thoughts

This is an impressive debut and I hope it brings James more recognition in the magic community. There are some great effects and useful techniques.

Whilst I love his relaxed and personable performance style I don’t think his teaching is quite as clear as that other BBM stalwart, Liam Montier. James often goes a little quicker and seems to assume more. To be fair, many of the releases Liam has taught on have been aimed at beginners and Meditations is probably a little more advanced than that.

Some of the more complicated routines have a nice feature – an extra fast recap for practise purposes so you can refresh your memory or practise without having to go through the whole teaching slot. And as often on BBM disks, there are some fun messages on screen and little bits of banter – as if the magic weren’t enough.

A great release for any lover of card magic. Meditations comes recommended and is available direct from the Merchant of Magic for £34.50 (at the time of writing).

Many thanks to BBM who kindly supplied the review copy.

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Roberto Giobbi – Hidden Agenda – review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 00:01:24 +0000

I hadn’t been planning to write another review this year – I was going to enjoy a little more down time with family – until Hidden Agenda arrived. And I haven’t been able to put it down.

So here’s my review of this very unusual magic book. I have a feeling it will be, as we say in the United Kingdom, a Marmite kind of a book – you’ll either love it or hate it. It isn’t like a ‘normal’ magic book in that it isn’t just a book of tricks, or even a book of essays on magic theory. Instead, it is a strange combination of the two, arranged as a series of daily readings.

If you are familiar with his earlier release – Secret Agenda – then you will know exactly what to expect. And it is self-consciously in the same mode.

No Hidden Agenda?

It is a beautifully presented hard bound book (approximately 24×21.5x3cm if you’re the sort of person who’s bothered about these things, or are worried about shelf space!) – very closely matching the style of Secret Agenda – but in dark grey/black with white and silver design rather than the burgundy colour of its predecessor. Vanishing Magic are to be commended for so closely matching the style of a book from another publisher.

As I’ve mentioned it is arranged into daily entries – one for each day of the year – most of which take a single page, but some are a couple of pages long.

These entries include some tricks, some questions to ponder, advice born out of decades of experience, quotes gathered from within and outside of the magical community, some ideas for presentations to try out, thoughts on magical theory, and sometimes even just a photo. There are plenty of photographs and illustrations and the whole thing is very pleasingly set out.

I love the way it has been written to provoke thought and stimulate you to creativity and imagination with your own magic. But if you’re the sort of person who simply loves to know how tricks are done or to slavishly copy someone else’s routine, it may not be for you.

I’m sure that you would get the most value out of Hidden Agenda by strictly observing an entry a day and truly pondering over the content. For me, when I’m into something I enjoy I can’t help ploughing on – so I’m reading many days at a sitting. But I’m sure I’ll come back to it again many times.

Learning from a master

Giobbi is a master teacher as is displayed in his Card College series – which is truly the definitive way to learn card handling for magicians. But at this point in his career, you are also gleaning from the benefit of many years of performance experience.

Hidden Agenda is a delightful read, and I suggest that if you have been fortunate enough to be given some money or magic shop vouchers for Christmas that you rush straight out and buy a copy. And if you order it quick, you can start reading on January the 1st and make it a new year’s resolution to keep going!

In case you haven’t realised this, I’m a great fan of Hidden Agenda, which is available direct from MagicShop.co.uk for £44.50 (at the time of writing)

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

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Liam Montier – Any shuffled deck, self working, impromptu miracles – review

Phil Sweeting — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 00:01:30 +0000

BBM have a solid reputation for releasing quality self-working type material so I had high expectations when Any shuffled deck, self-working impromptu miracles turned up on the review pile. And in spite of its less than catchy title, I’m pleased to say my expectations were more than met on this great new release.

Let’s talk about the tricks

Interstellar OOTW
Here’s Liam’s handling and get in to Paul Curry’s classic OOTW. It’s got a nice presentational premise, works with a shuffled deck and is easy to do – though requires some bold handling! OOTW is a fantastic effect – and even though it takes a while to perform, there is little to beat it from a pure magic point of view. Liam teaches some neat handling subtleties on the way and using the first effect as a way to set up ‘in plain sight’ is genius – a superb start to the DVD!

Mates
This is a funny and clever way of producing four of a kind from a borrowed shuffled deck. You start by reversing three ‘prediction’ cards without changing the order of their shuffled deck. After an amusing start, you reveal their chosen card, and then the earlier predictions reveal the three ‘mates’ of their chosen card. I was caught out by the second phase – though it is actually delightfully simple. Love it! (If you get to the end of the review I’ve included a performance video!)

Gemini Location
This uses an old principle in an unusual way. Under the premise of reading ‘body language’ or ‘vocal tellls’, you are able to correctly identify 3 different cards that spectators have looked at and lost in the deck. Liam teaches 3 phases but you could easily just use one or two of them if you prefer. I like this – and may well use it as an alternative to another routine I often perform with the same principle.

Silly Questions
The spectator’s chosen card is placed within a small packet, then a series of silly questions are asked which result in one card being found – the chosen card. This one didn’t really grab me, but I haven’t road-tested it with real people so it might come across better in the real world.

Wheel of Fortune
A pseudo fortune telling demonstration in which you manage to predict two cards at random locations from a selection from a shuffled deck. There feels to be a lot of freedom in the spectator’s choices and if you can do a little bit of cold reading too, you’ll have an entertaining and fooling routine.

Jack’s Poker
From a well-mixed deck, the spectator gets a poker hand worth of cards and merely thinks of one card which would improve their hand. They then manage to cut to their merely thought of card! Some lovely subtleties going on in this very effective routine.

Salto Triumph
This is a very easy routine with a triumph kind of feel to it. You and the spectator each take half the deck, and choose a card behind your back. You insert your cards into each other’s section and then shuffle the two halves into each other, half face up and half face down. With a click of the fingers, all the cards turn the right way round, with the exception of your two choices. Variations of this effect have been around for a while – so it doesn’t feel radically new – but it is nonetheless a great easy effect.

Last to Turn Up
This is the least ‘movey’ and most ‘procedural’ effect on the DVD and is based on an old Ken de Courcy effect (which immediately took me on a nostalgia tour). A card selected by the spectator is lost amongst three poker hands and then the spectator finds it themselves by following a simple procedure. I think you’d need a pretty compelling hook to make this one truly entertaining, but a completely self-working surprise.

Invisible Dice
An imaginary dice (die, technically!) is used to help the spectator merely think of a card from a random selection of six. The cards are then lost in the deck and the spectator pushes your ‘lucky’ card into the deck and manages to locate their merely thought of card. This is probably the most complicated effect to perform and is definitely pushing the limits of ‘self-working’ – since it requires a couple of ‘procedures’ one of which needs to be done somewhat covertly. That being said it is still not ‘difficult’. However, I personally didn’t much like the ‘outs’ used in this one.

One over the Eight
To a presentation about the so called ‘butterfly effect’ several spectators all deal random quantities of cards from a shuffled deck, and the card finally reached matches your prediction. In some ways it is a self-working CAAN effect. Entirely self-working but not, perhaps, the greatest mystery in the world.

So is it any good?

For me the disk falls in two uneven halves – six of the first seven effects are brilliant and though you may have seen some similar things before, they each merit inclusion on the DVD. The last 3 all feel a little weaker to me – but some real world road-testing may prove that wrong. The fact that all of them can be done with a borrowed shuffled deck is amazing!

As ever I appreciate Liam’s self-deprecating style, clear teaching and the little tips along the way. All the effects and explanations are shot with classic BBM clarity – even if I do find the lightly jigging Liam on the DVD menus slightly disconcerting!

I’m always on the lookout for routines I can perform on the spur of the moment when challenged to ‘just show us a trick’ – and several of these would meet my criteria. So for the small cost of a DVD you’ve got yourself a lot of credibility!

Any shuffled deck, self working, impromptu miracles is available direct from MoM for £28.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by BBM.

Mates video as promised…

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Stephen Minch – Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler – review

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 23:01:09 +0000

Vanishing Magic have been putting out some stonking (note for non UK-readers that means excellent!) books in recent years, and Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler is no exception. Except that it is. Since rather than a new release it is technically a beautiful hard-back re-release of a paperback from 1980 which is now rather difficult to get hold of.

And I would suggest that if you have any interest in card or close up magic at all and you haven’t seen it then you really need to. It is excellent. It covers the immaculate card magic (and one coin item) of Daryl. There is a reason he is known as “the magician’s magician.” Each routine is beautifully constructed and his attention to detail is extraordinary – more on that later.

Stephen Minch is a great writer – the style is slightly tongue in cheek which makes it a joy to read, without getting in the way of the clarity of the explanations. It has been lavishly illustrated (243 photographic illustrations in a 171-page book!) with some extra photos in this re-release than in the original. The cover design is in colour and is suitably nostalgia-invoking.

The routines

These are largely Daryl’s takes on classic card routines. A Boomerang Card (a card spun out is caught in the deck sandwiched between 2 earlier choices) then two variations on that theme. His take on Elmsley’s ‘Between your palms’ – a signed card lost in the pack turns out to be the card another spectator has been holding between their hands since the outset, and in a final kicker 3 ‘wrong guesses’ turn out to be the mates of the signed card.

There’s a Triumph routine with a very convincing display sequence, a mid-air card-stab using two packets of cards, a Four Ace Assembly (that doesn’t use 4 aces!), and a twist on Vernon’s classic Twisting the Aces – with a final climax where the fourth ace appears face up in the tabled deck.

The coin routine is a lovely “Passage of Silver”/travelling coin routine where 4 coins invisibly travel from one hand to join 4 in the other. And there is an extra routine in this new edition – Double Dazzling Triumph – where a triumph routine appears to go wrong – but the two face up cards turn out to indicate the location of two selections, and there’s an added kicker where the deck is separated into red and black at the end.

The level

This is definitely an intermediate to advanced level book. All the sleights are explained in the book, but standard sleights only briefly. I would the book assumes at least some basic knowledge of card magic, though full references are given to chase up the details.

Even if you already perform versions of these effects there is much to learn from the Puerto Rican Gambler’s careful construction of the routines and wonderful performance tips. In many instances he provides variations for individual elements of the routines to fit different performing scenarios – everything has been both carefully thought out and carries the feel of being well road-tested in the real world.

We think this is a super book – and it rather makes me want to look up the other recent Daryl re-release – For your entertainment pleasure. if you’re still wavering – it comes with a conditional guarantee:

The contents of this volume are fully and conditionally guaranteed to beguile, hoax, deceive, humbug, flimflam, bedazzle, amaze, hoodwink, fool, astound, flabbergast, bamboozle, imboggle, razzle-dazzle, snare, chicane, hornswoggle, hamstring, illude, mislead, hocus, trick and completely entertain in an ingeniously artful manner – if used as recommended.”

Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler is available from the Merchant of Magic – only £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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Cameron Francis – Over the Top – review

Phil Sweeting — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 23:01:02 +0000

Over the Top is the latest release from that talented magic creator Cameron Francis. It is a great effect where the spectator is the star. After a deck is shuffled and cut several times, the spectator manages to locate a chosen card simply by spelling out the answer to a number of questions. They then proceed to find all the matching cards, then the aces, finally locating a full royal flush in every suit. And if that weren’t enough, the faces of the rest of the cards then all vanish.

This is classic Cameron – it is easy to do (all but self-working – you will just need very basic card handling skills to pull this off), entertaining and packs a punch. The spectator will be genuinely baffled by how they ‘do the magic’ and the audience will be thoroughly entertained.

The DVD is shot to BBM’s usual high standards and includes a couple of live performances (including one from the Magic Castle, where Cameron used this to close his set each night) as well as a detailed explanation and some other fun stuff. If you look closely you’ll even find a discount code to save you money on other Cameron Francis titles. You also receive a special deck of Bicycle cards – all ready to use (without giving too much away, they’ve even done the pencil dots for you!).

Over the Top is a really strong routine which I think you will enjoy performing. It does require good audience management skills (especially the very first part), and to really sell it you will have to work hard at providing the necessary energy, but we all know that the secret of strong magic is in the presentation don’t we?

The deck is fairly obviously a one-trick pony and Cameron does include some basic thoughts on switching it in. It might have been nice to include a little more detail here – but there are plenty of resources you can go to for that information if you need any help (e.g. Giobbi’s masterful Art of Switching Decks – or Greg Wilson’s excellent Cold Case which we review here).

Re-set is very straightforward and can be done in front of the audience as you ‘clear up’ the final display – so this is very versatile. It really is hard to find anything to dislike. Except perhaps the name which I think is a bit Over the Top…

Available from Merchant of Magic for £27.50 (at the time of writing).
(With thanks to the gents at BBM who kindly provided the review copy)

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