Dealing with it Archives - Bicycle Cards

John Bannon – Dealing with it Season 2 – review

Phil Sweeting — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 23:01:08 +0000

It’s almost a year since we looked at Dealing with it Season 1 (where did that year go?) – and it was with some trepidation I unwrapped Season 2 since from memory the first volume was not quite up to his usual standard. Was Season 2 a hit or a flop? Read on in our review…

Let’s start with the tricks…

Chicago Fire – this is a cousin of Chicago Opener which largely does away with the need for extra cards. Two spectators choose cards in a pretty fair looking way (during which the spectator also shuffles the cards). When the first card is named it is seen to have a message on the back of it. When the second spectator looks for their card it has vanished. And it is found to have swapped places with the first selection and now has a message on its back. This is a sneaky routine relying on a brilliantly bold move which gets you miles ahead. Well worth a look.

La Gioconda – don’t even ask why this is called what it is! It’s a sort of sandwich trick where the two jokers find a chosen card instantly. Bannon credits Roy Walton’s Smiling Mule routine – but the final reveal reminds me of an effect I used to do years ago from a Karl Fulves book. Bannon’s version has an extra moment of magic – as one of the Jokers instantly jumps from the top to the bottom of the deck. As so often there are some nice subtleties here – and it doesn’t require too much hard wok.

On the border – this is a refinement of an Alex Elmsley effect (The Mexican Prediction) which is both baffling (to a layperson) and very easy to perform. In effect, the deck is shuffled, then the spectator cuts off some of the cards, shuffles and stops whenever they like. In spite of the fairness of the selection, the two cards you have set aside earlier predict the suit and value of their freely chosen card. This is a cracking little effect where the strength of the effect more than makes up for the small amount of set up which is necessary. I really like the subtlety of this. Once you’ve set up, reset is not too complicated, but will take a moment. Really neat.

Prophet Motive III – after an incredibly fair-looking sequence of shuffling and dealing the spectator still somehow manages to find the mate of the card you set aside at the beginning. This is classic Bannon where the ingenious procedure (which doesn’t feel too procedural) does all the work for you. A great impromptu effect.

Rockstars – to a quirky patter story the 4 aces are buried in the deck and yet instantly reappear in your hand. This is based on a Jack Carpenter effect and is slightly more technically demanding than some of the routines on the DVD.

Three Part Harmony – this is a routine which builds nicely as first of all you locate for Kings, then the spectator manages to make them return to the deck, and finally the four aces show up. For me this is probably the weakest routine on the DVD, but I’m not sure I can pinpoint why. It just didn’t engage me – in spite of the over the top assistant in the performance video.

Flipside Assembly – this is hard to define – but it is sort of like a backwards Ace Assembly. It’s an interesting plot – and with the quirky patter idea quite fun to perform. You need to use a fairly common move – but the routine relies on it heavily so you may need to practise this. This pleased me more than I expected! The box blurb bills this as a bonus effect but like every item on the disk it appears on the main menu – so perhaps this is after the fact marketing since it only takes the total up to 7 effects.

The JB Double Lift – hard to explain the details of this one – but as its name suggests it is John’s own handling of a double lift. Doubles are very personal – so you’ll have to try this yourself and decide if you want to use it! It looks pretty fair.

What do we think?

I feel like Dealing with it Season 2 is a return to form – and I would say there is more usable stuff here than on Volume 1. As usual with BBM releases the shooting and production quality is high – explanations are at a good pace and crediting is good.

If you like John Bannon, I’m amazed you’ve actually read the review – just go and buy it. There are several routines on here I would use, and I’m going to steal (is it stealing if it’s been published?!) one of the presentational hooks too.

You can pick up Dealing with it Season 2 from MagicShop.co.uk for £17.99 (or as a download for £15.50).

(Many thanks to BBM who supplied the review copy.)

Liked it? Share it...

The post John Bannon – Dealing with it Season 2 – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

John Bannon – Dealing with It Vol 1 – Review

Phil Sweeting — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:36:16 +0000

Dealing With It is the latest in what I have come to think of as the John Bannon-d Wagon. Unlike his more recent DVD releases which have largely been in the ‘self-working’ arena, this is, instead, a concept album. It covers all the items from his column in the famous Genii Magazine.

There are more moves, by definition, than in the more self-working stuff. But as ever, economy of method and careful routining mean these are within reach of all. Such moves as are needed are explained briefly but clearly. Let’s get in to the tricks…

Heart of Glass – a super quick transposition trick where a card under the glass swaps places with another card on top of the deck. One small move (and he teaches two different options for that) and a super sneaky and clever display makes this a visual and fooling effect.

Cross-Eyed Jacks – a great sandwich routine. The Jacks are buried in the deck with the Ace of Spades sandwiched between them and a card is selected by the spectator. In an instant the spectator’s selection jumps into the middle of the Jack sandwich. A distant cousin of the One Eyed Jack trick I used to often perform from Harry Lorayne’s Close Up Card Magic. Again, easy to do, and appealing.

Rendevouz – a sort of stripped down ‘mystery card’ effect with a most un-Bannon-esque story about a meeting in a bar. I love the economy of this – and the way an extra effect (an ‘implied transposition’) actually conceals your dirty work. Clever thinking.

Queenpins – a chosen card lost in the deck swaps places with 2 queens in the fairest possible way. I really like the way there’s no real set up to this and the switch is very neat. A strong effect.

Uprising – a sort of consecutive elevator effect where a series of black spot cards rise in turn to the top of a packet of red cards and then in an instant jump to a fourth packet. This is well constructed and a different sort of an effect, but if I’m honest just didn’t excite me that much!

Well-Tempered Aces – this is a sort of ace-assembly trick where there is only one packet of indifferent cards. I found this a little confusing to watch – which may be a function of my sleep-deprived nights – but wonder if it is more of a magician’s variation than a lay-person-pleaser. A little more movey than some of the routines on the DVD.

As if these 6 were not enough there are 2 bonus features – which look like they’re left from the Move Zero series!

Hybrid Holdout – a sneaky little procedure which gives the spectator the strong impression that they have very fairly shuffled and cut the deck – but which has in fact retained a top stock. It is taught in the context of an ace-cutting routine which is none too shabby.

Double Dutch Cut – I’ve watched it explained twice and still can’t get my head around why it actually works – a very fooling false cut!

The verdict?

I love Bannon. Just look at this photo of a small section of my library if you’re in any doubt (actually there’s one missing which arrived since I took this, and if anyone can do me a good deal on High Caliber then let me know)! Dealing with it is a strong release. A couple of the routines didn’t appeal to me so much – but to my mind you have 4 really strong effects and 2 very useful utility procedures – which I think is pretty fantastic value. And who knows – you might like the other 2 routines more than me!

Dealing with it is available from the Merchant of Magic for £23.50 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by BBM.

Liked it? Share it...

The post John Bannon – Dealing with It Vol 1 – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.