What is it?

Networker is essentially a collection of business cards which have been created in such a way as to provide you with a whole range of impressive mental magic possibilities. They take a well-worn principle in magic, apply it to business cards and then keep adding devious level after devious level of subtlety to create some really strong effects.

You can perform a basic prediction effect, predict a famous person merely thought of by the spectator, duplicate an image randomly thought of by the spectator, divine their birthday or star sign, reveal a word from a website and potentially other effects too.

What do you get?

A really nicely produced stack of thirty business cards printed on good quality card stock which should last a long time, and protected by an innocuous plastic business card holder. There is also a link to a site where you can download Paul Brook’s well-written and fully illustrated instructions.

Paul writes well and takes you through every detail of how to perform the effects and extra subtleties to include. I’m always interested in the genesis of effects and so I enjoyed his introduction explaining how the current release came to be.

If you look closely at some of the business cards you’ll also enjoy a few magicians’ in-jokes (I think my favourite was the company B, C and B – but you’ll have to buy it and look that one up for yourself!). But don’t be concerned – this wouldn’t draw any attention to the cards for a layperson – they appear completely innocent and should arouse no suspicion.

Is it practical?

Networker is a fantastic concept which has been brilliantly executed. It is all but self-working (with the usual caveats about audience management which are often particularly important in the world of mentalism) – but has the flexibility built in for an impressive range of effects. It takes up next to no space in your pocket and is instantly re-set!

I love the subtle ways in which Paul layers different principles to create utterly baffling magic. You can see that he is someone who has studied his art well. His writing is crisp and straight-forward – and I, for one, much prefer printed instructions for this kind of effect than video – so that was a good choice.

Apart from the ‘innocence’ factor of using business cards, it potentially also adds a little ‘credibility’ to you, the performer, that you should have such a range of cards (and therefore contacts). In any kind of corporate environment where business cards are handed out all the time it provides a perfect justification for using them. You also have the opportunity to hand out one of your own cards, or to get hold of theirs.

So this comes highly recommended for anyone working in that world. I’m struggling to find any negative. Perhaps the only one would be that one of the core ideas requires you to draw on the business cards – so if you want to change your routine you will have to buy another set, which is quite an investment. However, Paul encourages you to think carefully before you rush in to drawing on them – and I would do the same!

NetWorker is available direct from MagicShop.co.uk for £36.50 (at the time of writing).

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

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What’s in the Family? The cards

You are supplied with a set of 5 special cards which have pictures of Victorian looking characters (family members – hence the name) on them. Without wanting to tip the method(s) these have special characteristics which open up a whole range of mentalism techniques to the performer.

There’s nothing new here in terms of principles, but the cards are nicely produced and conceal their secrets well. In addition to these 5 cards you get four extra cards which could be incorporated into other routines you might create (though curiously none of the supplied routines explicitly utilise them) – two with ‘blood stains’ on the back, one with a blood stained front and one with a ‘zombified’ version of one of the characters.

There is also an extra card which has details of how to access the instructions these need to be downloaded from a website in pdf format. Instructions are relatively minimal but do the job.

The cards come shrink wrapped in cellophane – and I found it very fiddly to get in to them without damaging the cards – though did eventually manage it. It might have been better if they had come in an envelope or something which could then have been incorporated into a routine. The cards are of a reasonable weight and feel like they will last for a while.

The routines

I was a little bit underwhelmed by these if I’m honest. They should probably be thought of as starting points not finishing points. I suspect that if you have a little experience with mentalism you’ll easily adapt all sorts of existing routines for use with these cards which will then provide a nice hook or presentational ploy for them.

One of the routines requires some extra ‘dressing’ which you will need to provide and one of the stronger routines requires a whole extra set of cards. I do wonder whether, given the relatively low cost of printing cards, they could have provided enough cards for all the routines suggested.

The verdict

This is a hard one to call and I think a lot will depend on your style of performance and experience with mentalism effects. I quite like the ‘vintage’ feel of the props and think these kind of props can easily add interest to a performance. However, I feel like an absolute beginner might not get that much out of the routines provided. So it is a little difficult to give a firm recommendation. I suspect that if you perform this kind of material already you will be keen to grab a set (or two!) of these and get going with them. I could see myself working them into a longer more formal routine, but don’t think they’ll be coming out very regularly.

Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £21.50.

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

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It is always difficult to review mentalism since so much is subjective. Props – where there are any – are often fairly everyday; principles are rarely new; so you’re trying to evaluate something which is often less tangible – and to a very significant degree depends on the qualities of the performer.

But let’s have a go at a few observations. The core routine is a divination effect, where from a ’20 questions’ type card you are able to divine a word out of ‘almost 40’ after asking only 4 yes/no questions which they never answer verbally. This is what Andreu calls his Direct Mind Reading Masterpiece.

It is certainly a strong routine – in the hands of an experienced performer – like in all mentalism there are may other skills required to ‘sell’ the effect, beyond the bare mechanics. The ‘mechanics’ are straight-forward, but will require some study (and ideally memorisation) before you will be comfortable performing the routine – this isn’t something you will be able to do straight away.

It is also possible you may need to purchase an additional effect/gimmick to carry out this routine as suggested – though some variations are provided which may avoid this.

The remainder of the book consists of some variations or applications of this principle. One with ESP symbols (to my mind the weakest variant) and then two more powerful variations involving discerning emotions or star signs. I think these last two are particularly strong – and there are some extra subtleties built in to the routine which really add to it.

There’s no doubt that this is material that Andreu has used and honed in the real world – and the careful and detailed explanations are a clear indication of this. As with any mentalism effect, it won’t suit every performer – and you may need to do some tweaking to fit your style or emphasis – but there are some solid core ideas here to get you started.

The booklet itself is clearly printed and nicely bound. Andreu comes across as a very nice guy – and he is excellent at crediting ideas and inspiration from others which is something I feel is very important. You also receive a large and a small printed card for use with the original routine – they don’t look like they’ll last for ever – but should be fairly easy to replace/reproduce if you need to.

The final word needs to be on price – a subject on which there has been much discussion on different forums. In the UK the price is just high of £50, which feels like a large price tag for a small book. Price, as everything else, is subjective – and if you’re a pro who gets a 15 minute routine out of this, you won’t have a problem spending that amount. For the hobbyist it may seem like a large figure for a 74 page book. We recommend you read the description carefully and make up your own mind of the value.

Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £53.99.

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

The post Mindsight – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

We can’t describe or comment on every individual effect, but we will pick out a couple of the gems and offer some general thoughts – and Part 1 of this review will focus on Celtic Cabal.  This was actually released in 2010 but we have only just had a look at it…

As regular readers will know, I have a small leaning in the direction of mentalism, and so appreciate that the first 40 odd pages (of this 181 page book) cover this area.  The largest section covers card magic (70 odd pages) and there are small close up (non-card) and stage sections and a bonus manuscript from Tom Sellers.  This is a lot of magic for your money.  Here are a few highlights of the various sections.

Mentalism

There are some interesting twists on some standard effects, some new presentations (including a neat ‘just chance’ effect with straws), some work on magic squares, and even an essay on the performance of mentalism.  I particularly enjoyed a routine with standard ESP cards partly based on the work of the ubiquitous Max Maven and a series of variations on the ‘diary trick’ – at least one of which may end up in my working set.  Peter himself contributes one of those diabolical all but self-working effects based on Bob Hummer’s CATO principle which could be a go-to impromptu effect.

Card Magic

Again a whole variety of effects including spelling tricks, ace tricks, transpositions etc. Some require reasonably advanced card handling, some are all but self-working.  A couple that caught my eye were an Alan Rorrison idea which provides a really elegant addition to an effect I already use in various forms to make a really strong routine and Steve Thompson’s incredibly subtle solution to a problem with some forms of OOTW.  I love his thinking on this. R Paul Wilson also contributes a nice and easy take on a four ace routine.

Close-Up Magic

This starts with a matrix effect that almost makes it into the card section because it’s not just the coins that are magical in this routine! There’s an interesting essay on creativity from Geraint Clarke who also includes a neat torn and restored bank note routine.  Trevor Lewis contributes a routine involving a nun (!) and a slightly risqué card trick slips in on the grounds that it is more than a card trick! There is also a two-stage story-based presentation from Dominic Lavin which seems to owe much to a Robert Neale presentation of the same effect.

Stage Magic

Pat Fallon contributes his presentation for the classic anti-gravity glasses.  There’s also an unusual routine for the Lota Bowl utilising the principle in a different way.  An updated version of the classic Fogel Bewitched, Bottled and Bewildered routine adds a mental twist and the mix is completed with a children’s routine and even the design for a magic table!

As a bonus, there’s a reprint of a Tom Sellers Manuscript – Royal Flush – detailing various false shuffles and moves and routines using them.

This is one of the most varied ebooks I have seen in a long time – literally something for every kind of performer.  Everything is clearly explained and well-illustrated where necessary.  The book is nicely laid out – and extremely easy to navigate with a properly hyperlinked table of contents.  All in all an excellent read and much that will stimulate your thinking.

We salute our Celtic Fringes!  Available from Merchant of Magic (with thanks to Peter Duffie who kindly provided the review copy) for only $22.50 (about £14 in real money – or less than 31p per item!).

[You can read part 2 here]

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When I got my hands on the deck, things were even better than I had hoped.  If you haven’t yet seen it, the idea of this deck is that it is full of pithy statements designed to unleash your inner creativity.  Phil is a designer and he has done a brilliant job of producing a deck of cards (and a box) which are entirely plausible.  It really is just the sort of thing you could imagine picking up in some trendy artsy shop.

And yet things are not so innocent as they seem, and ‘hidden in plain sight’ are a several different clever mentalism techniques (don’t want to say more to avoid exposure) which immediately open up a huge range of ideas for routines.

The cards are nicely printed on good quality stock and come with a couple of extra ‘gaff’ cards (a blank face and two double-backed) which open up several more possibilities.

Instructions are minimal – a single printed sheet – but more than adequate to get you started.  Any mentalist worth their salt will immediately see a host of different directions to take this.  A nice extra feature would have been some kind of online forum for swapping ideas with the deck – Phil Smith – if you read this – how about it?!

In case you can’t tell, I really do like the look of this and can’t wait to try it out for real. It’s a prop which will easily grab your audience’s interest, looks very innocent and yet will enable some strong magic.

Available direct from MagicShop.co.uk (who kindly supplied our review copy).

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