Sweet Simplicity by John Carey – The Tricks…

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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

Sweet Simplicity by John Carey – Review

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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.

Harapan Ong – Principia – review

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Initial impressions were not good due to a slightly clunky DVD interface – I don’t know whether I’m just from the dark ages, but it wasn’t entirely obvious what the controls did at first. But once we’d got over that things got a little better.

One of the key elements in making a Triumph type effect convincing is the display where you show the cards are mixed face up and face down. I’ve seen many versions of this over the years, and although this isn’t the most convincing display, it is a pretty good compromise for the ease.

Indeed, if you’ve ever been put off performing the triumph effect due to the level of sleight of hand needed we have good news – this is very easy to do. And, which may be its biggest selling point, it can be done entirely in the hands, which makes it much more flexible for many working environments.

Variations on a theme

The DVD also teaches a number of variations. There’s an impromptu version – without any special cards or set-up – which may be the most useful version on the disk.

Tour de Four-Ace – is the same basic effect but instead of choosing a card at the outset, after the mixing process it is the 4 aces which are found to be face up in a face down deck.

Croque Monsieur – guess what? – this is a ‘sandwich’ variation – where the jokers capture the chosen card.

Neighborhood Watch – multiple selection (or ‘collectors’) version with slightly cute story about a house burglary and 4 kings (neighbourhood watch members) who catch 3 selections (burglars).

Tribute to Vernon – this is a tabletop shuffle variation.

Heckler – this is the normal effect but with the classic ‘magician v. heckler’ patter and a new deck order kicker finish.

The DVD also has an extra feature going into some detail on the Faro shuffle – a kind of mini tutorial.

So was it a Tour de Force?

I was slightly underwhelmed by the performance slots. They were filmed in some kind of bar [correction according to the end credits it’s a bakery!] – but it was all fairly atmosphere-less. To be fair I had some sympathy for the audience since they basically watched the same trick about 5 times.

On the other hand all the explanation sections were very clear and at a helpful pace. My only real gripe was the lack of any proper crediting – which for an effect like Triumph feels essential. There was an ‘influences’ page on the end credits, but that doesn’t really do the job for me.

All in all, I think this is a good little routine. It is a very accessible entry to the Triumph genre if you don’t yet perform this classic effect. If you’ve already got a favourite version, this is unlikely to displace it, but nonetheless worth a look.

Tour de Force is available direct from Merchant of Magic for £18.50 (at the time of writing).

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

The post Michael O’Brien – Tour de Force – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.