9.12.2007
9.06.2007
6.12.2007
Dan and Dave Buck's
The Trilogy
Price: $85
Available: www.dananddave.com
Format: 3 Disc DVD Set
Alright I will be reviewing the trilogy disc by disc so that way you get a good idea of what this MASTERPEICE is like. This disc has 13 GREAT effects on it, so here we go:
Trilogy Disc One: Tricks
TiVo Transpo- A great, in-the-hands transpo of two cards, that’s looks SO good. They seemed to have added a slight modification to the original handling, but I believe it is for the better.
TiVo 2.0- I guess this is just another version of its predecessor, TiVo. Now is it better than the original……you decide. I still prefer the original handling to this, but I am sure it will find a home in a lot of people’s repertoire.
Subway- “A completely modernized version of Earl Nelson's 'Submarine Sandwich'.” WORD! This is a great, commercial effect that is fairly easy to do. And it teaches the DMB Spread Control which is so cool!
Card Across- An awesome “Quick Trick” that you can do anytime. It teaches a wicked move called FLOOP, and it looks so tight! Perfect for the “show me a trick” scenario.
Hand to Mouth- The classic card to mouth with a flourishy undertone. No difference in effect really….
Déjà Vu- Woah! Love it, Love it, Love it. I am pretty sure this is a variation of the Buck’s other effect called Transpositionings, but this effect is done with two selections instead of one. I think this one is slightly easier than Transpositionings, there was one move in that effect that was killing me, but in this effect it is hella easier. Uber Cool!
Twinsplit Remix- Shazam! Man this looks like trick photography! It looks like you really pull off the pip of the 3 of clubs. Damn! Then you, just as visually, throw the pip back on and “heal” the 3 of clubs. The only real hard part to this effect is the “healing” part, but I have come up with an easier way to do it, and it looks the same. Added to my repertoire immediately.
Fission for Aces- An 8 is split into two 4s. One of the 4s is split into two 2s. And finally, one of the 2s is split into two Aces. Super slick effect right here! It looks so clean and fair, a bunch of great moves are involved. A great lead-in to a sandwich effect using the two Aces.
Hofzzy Osbourne- Award for best name goes to this effect! And a lot of the effect happens in their face, and then the climax happens in their hands. I don’t think that spectators deserve this much magic!
The Queens- DB2’s handling of Bill Goodwin’s now classic effect. The queens one by one vanish and then reappear all at once. For those of you wondering, no the Clip shift is not explained, it is only shown in the performance. With out the Clip Shift is effect is very workable, most of the vanishes are easy and look great.
Swiss Made- The Buck’s version of Steve Freeman’s Back in Time effect. It teaches a nice control and a GREAT Color change. This effect also went by the name of Greek Time Machine in Sleightly Magical. I kinda wish they put Game with a Ghost on this DVD too, that effect rocks! But so does this!
Collectors- The selections are collected AS the aces are produced, I am pretty sure there are not many collectors like that, and wicked visual. The effect is fairly simple, but there are some things that may take a little time to get the hang of. Oh and by the way this is actually the “Double Sandwich” handling from NR1.
Hedberg’s Peak- I loved this effect ever since I read it in Sleightly Magical. So when I saw it on the performance I thought: “Damn! They changed it”. But after I learned it, it really isn’t all that different, the handling is slightly modified. But the good-side to that is that in one part there is a better cover for the h*** Pa**. This is a great follow up for TiVo.
Sixty Nine- This and Jumping Gemini are probably the only packet tricks I do. I really love the Dracula Count and this effect is super quick and simple. So for those of you that needed to visualize this…here is your chance.
Wow! That word can probably sum up the entire set. The DVD packaging is so slick and professional. It’s like you got the special edition of the Lord of the Rings DVD. The Menu for this disc is great, just a list of all the effects. When you click the effect you want. You get a new page with a video box playing a silent performance of the effect, performance button, explanation button, and an Over the Shoulder view button. The teaching is SUPERB; they go over everything great, plenty of recaps and slow-motion. The camera work was great in each explanation also. The over the shoulder view is great, but there is no speaking in this view. I guess it is mainly used as a tool for clarity after you watch the explanation part. The picture is great too, so clear and beautiful. And for me, best of all, all of these effects use a normal deck of cards, and that is just what I am looking for! Now most Dan and Dave fans will know most of these effects already but I suggest you watch them anyway because it is wicked awesome. And I really loved just watching the performances of the effect The Buck’s do the effects so smooth and make them look so good. I was just sitting there mesmerized; even though I knew everything they were doing it was just so beautiful. Bravo Dan and Dave, Bravo!
Yes the Jerry’s are back! This is the disc that most people have been waiting for, so let’s not waste time:
Trilogy Disc Two: Flourishes
Carnahan Fan- Straight out of Sleightly Magical, this is a great fan. It happens so fast and looks so nice, how could you not like it!
Difficulty: 4/10
Molecule_4_False- This is the easiest variation of Molecule 4, as the name says it is false, and also fairly easy.
Difficulty: 5/10
Molecule_4_Tokyo- This is “bigger” variation of the previous cut, it also stems from the Molecule 1 cut. A little bit more flashy but not too much more difficult
Difficulty: 5.5/10
Molecule_4_NY- For those of you that have seen the video “Dan at the convention” this is that molecule 4 that he does. Super bad and wicked nice, really nice ending to it, probably the most difficult of the 3.
Difficulty: 6/10
Pandora- OH SNAP! This is so sick! Pandora is like a Tornado dipped in multiple illegal drugs and then after you give it a couple of shots. This is a super bad combo that also includes Crabshak and Molecule 3. Lots of spins and hand movements, definitely one of the hardest cuts on there.
Difficulty: 8/10
Jackson 5- The Cut. The Legend. This cut eats Babies! Now this is what most of us have been waiting for since we found the Easter egg on The System. Woah! A Wicked long combo that includes: Madonna variation, Sybilism, Skater Cut (AKA Joey Burton Display), 5 Faces of Sybil, 8 Packet Leno, and Genesis. I feel bad for my carpet already, I have dropped so many cards doing this. But it is too wicked not to learn it!
Difficulty: 9/10
Erdanse Go Round- Starts the Rev. E then the packet on bottom “jumps” out and does a somersault and lands on top. I am sure many have already figured this out and done it, but it still looks cool!
Difficulty: 4/10
Erdanse Go Round_V2- Just a slight variation of the previous cut, except instead of somersaulting the packets spins out and does a 360 degree rotation and lands on top. NIZE! Difficulty: 4/10
Vertigo- SO SICK! We all know this from Five, and we all know how cool it is. Has Showstopper written all over it! Fairly Difficult to get the knack though.
Difficulty: 6/10
Eko- They could have named this “Pop and Lock”. Because there is a lot of pauses and fingers switching involved in this cut. When I first saw it I thought it was gonna be cake, but this is actually giving me a little bit of trouble. But I feel it is definitely worth the effort cause this is just schmooove.
Difficulty: 6/10
Mecka- One of my favorite cuts on the disc. Fairly easy going, nothing too hard about this cut, but it has got style! I think this and Molecule 4_False are the only false cuts on this disc. Difficulty: 5/10
Akira- A Super quick cut, I see this only as a fairly flashy way of closing the Tornado cut. I Love the little whip action at the end!
Difficulty: 4/10
Tectonic Verb- Another fairly quick cut, I don’t think I have seen a cut like this, kinda funky. And it has a neat little display in the middle that I really like.
Difficulty: 5/10
YEAH!!!!! Another great disc! I really liked all the cuts on this DVD, they all were wicked cool, and varied in difficulty. Now is this as revolutionary as The System……probably not. But that is because The System came out just when Flourishing was starting out, now more and more people get involved in flourishing and are pushing it further than ever before. Though I do commend the Bucks on giving us some new concepts/moves, because now it is getting harder and harder to come up with original material, so to me this was refreshing. The Menu again looks great, and when it starts up all these little boxes showing each flourish comes up. Then you click on one, brings up a Performance button, and an Explanation button. Some times the cuts are a little too big, so you can learn some cuts in “phases” which I thought was great, especially for J5! And then some cuts have variations, which also appear on their little page. The teaching is a lot better. When you click explanation it first goes into an overview of the cut, which is basically the cut in slo-mo, which I guess is for the more experienced flourishers. Then it goes into full on instruction mode, still no speaking though, but little sentence blurbs come up to help you along. The cut is done in like super slo-mo also, and there are plenty of recaps for each part. Actually that was the only annoying thing about it, you would be in the middle of a move then they go back and do a recap while you are stuck in one position. But I am just being nitpicky . Well done Gents!
The final disc of the Trilogy, hope you enjoy:
Trilogy Disc Three: Everythingelse
A Few Modern Classics
TG Deck Flip- The classic flourish by TG Murphy, just about everybody probably knows this, and knows its usefulness in the flourish world, it’s a must.
Hugh Scott Shuffle- The only way I can describe this is an upside-down riffle shuffle in the hands. It looks really nice when done right.
LePaul S Formation- Straight up cool! This is an addition to the already cool LePaul Spread, where you actually add another curve to the spread to make an “S” shape. And it is surprisingly easy.
360 Deck Spin- This is basically an addition to the All Around Square Up move, where you add another rotation so that the deck spins 360 degrees and lands back in your hand. Another move I will end up doing hypnotically.
Under Pressure- Wicked! You start to perform a fan and then they all “spring” back into place. We all have probably seen this and know how cool it is.
Table Work
Heap Snatch- A real nice and elegant tabled false cut. It looks just like the Thricenator Remix cut in the Vault. Actually it probably is the same cut….
Blackjack Production- A Double Production! First the four aces are produced then…..four perfect hands of Blackjack, matching suits too! Not too difficult and a GREAT intro to a Reset routine.
Shuffled Aces- This is an in the hands 4 ace production in the action of shuffling the cards. On the DVD they said this was a way to do Ace Production from the previous effect in the hands. I think I like the previous one better though.
The Forte Flourish- I really liked the look of this ever since NR2, But for some Reason I could never do it. But with the visuals, I got this down, so easy and so cool.
Random Cool
Click Change- a one-handed Snap Change...while still holding the deck. Now this is giving me some trouble, but it looks so gangsta!
Jones Change- Wickedly Cool! We know this one from the Teaser, where the card is twirled around and then finally changes. It is so damn tight! I really like this one a lot.
Center Double- This is the Flip Center Double, which is a centered double lift that comes from the top. Yeah I know that sounds weird but it looks real nice. And as fast as DB2 do it, it looks like a card just appears in the middle.
Queens Transition- This one comes from our own Aethan Friday! He came up with a way to go from the last vanish in The Queens directly into the Collectors effect. Pretty schweet.
Real Time- THE most ballin’ Ace production ever, IMO! This looks just like real magic, with just a wave of the hand 4 Aces appear. For me it is sort of difficult, but nothing impossible.
Molecule Revisited
Molecule 2, 4 card Production- A smooth 4 card production that comes right out of the Molecule 2 cut, and keeps the entire deck in order.
Molecule 2, 1 Card Production- This is just Uber Cool. Again this is one of those things I was never able to do, but now I got it and it looks so awesome!
Molecule Double Lift- As far as originality goes…meh. As far as looks go….cool.
Molecule Spring Flourish- Straight G! At the end of M2 a packet is sprung into the middle of the deck and a card reverses itself in the middle. Knacky but looks great!
Finger Exercises
In this section Dan and Dave go over various exercises for your fingers, obviously. These are ways to Strengthen your fingers and increase coordination. Heck, I’ll do anything to get that fast!
Flourishes 101
This is a great resource for most of the basic flourishes. Is it the “end all” solution to learning them…no. But it is a great tool none the less. .No speaking in these explanations either.
This is it people… the end. Do I really need to reiterate on how good this DVD Set is? The Bucks really upped the ante with this one, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. *Thunderous Applause for the Bucks*
Final Score / 10.0
Price: $85
Available: www.dananddave.com
Format: 3 Disc DVD Set
Alright I will be reviewing the trilogy disc by disc so that way you get a good idea of what this MASTERPEICE is like. This disc has 13 GREAT effects on it, so here we go:
Trilogy Disc One: Tricks
TiVo Transpo- A great, in-the-hands transpo of two cards, that’s looks SO good. They seemed to have added a slight modification to the original handling, but I believe it is for the better.
TiVo 2.0- I guess this is just another version of its predecessor, TiVo. Now is it better than the original……you decide. I still prefer the original handling to this, but I am sure it will find a home in a lot of people’s repertoire.
Subway- “A completely modernized version of Earl Nelson's 'Submarine Sandwich'.” WORD! This is a great, commercial effect that is fairly easy to do. And it teaches the DMB Spread Control which is so cool!
Card Across- An awesome “Quick Trick” that you can do anytime. It teaches a wicked move called FLOOP, and it looks so tight! Perfect for the “show me a trick” scenario.
Hand to Mouth- The classic card to mouth with a flourishy undertone. No difference in effect really….
Déjà Vu- Woah! Love it, Love it, Love it. I am pretty sure this is a variation of the Buck’s other effect called Transpositionings, but this effect is done with two selections instead of one. I think this one is slightly easier than Transpositionings, there was one move in that effect that was killing me, but in this effect it is hella easier. Uber Cool!
Twinsplit Remix- Shazam! Man this looks like trick photography! It looks like you really pull off the pip of the 3 of clubs. Damn! Then you, just as visually, throw the pip back on and “heal” the 3 of clubs. The only real hard part to this effect is the “healing” part, but I have come up with an easier way to do it, and it looks the same. Added to my repertoire immediately.
Fission for Aces- An 8 is split into two 4s. One of the 4s is split into two 2s. And finally, one of the 2s is split into two Aces. Super slick effect right here! It looks so clean and fair, a bunch of great moves are involved. A great lead-in to a sandwich effect using the two Aces.
Hofzzy Osbourne- Award for best name goes to this effect! And a lot of the effect happens in their face, and then the climax happens in their hands. I don’t think that spectators deserve this much magic!
The Queens- DB2’s handling of Bill Goodwin’s now classic effect. The queens one by one vanish and then reappear all at once. For those of you wondering, no the Clip shift is not explained, it is only shown in the performance. With out the Clip Shift is effect is very workable, most of the vanishes are easy and look great.
Swiss Made- The Buck’s version of Steve Freeman’s Back in Time effect. It teaches a nice control and a GREAT Color change. This effect also went by the name of Greek Time Machine in Sleightly Magical. I kinda wish they put Game with a Ghost on this DVD too, that effect rocks! But so does this!
Collectors- The selections are collected AS the aces are produced, I am pretty sure there are not many collectors like that, and wicked visual. The effect is fairly simple, but there are some things that may take a little time to get the hang of. Oh and by the way this is actually the “Double Sandwich” handling from NR1.
Hedberg’s Peak- I loved this effect ever since I read it in Sleightly Magical. So when I saw it on the performance I thought: “Damn! They changed it”. But after I learned it, it really isn’t all that different, the handling is slightly modified. But the good-side to that is that in one part there is a better cover for the h*** Pa**. This is a great follow up for TiVo.
Sixty Nine- This and Jumping Gemini are probably the only packet tricks I do. I really love the Dracula Count and this effect is super quick and simple. So for those of you that needed to visualize this…here is your chance.
Wow! That word can probably sum up the entire set. The DVD packaging is so slick and professional. It’s like you got the special edition of the Lord of the Rings DVD. The Menu for this disc is great, just a list of all the effects. When you click the effect you want. You get a new page with a video box playing a silent performance of the effect, performance button, explanation button, and an Over the Shoulder view button. The teaching is SUPERB; they go over everything great, plenty of recaps and slow-motion. The camera work was great in each explanation also. The over the shoulder view is great, but there is no speaking in this view. I guess it is mainly used as a tool for clarity after you watch the explanation part. The picture is great too, so clear and beautiful. And for me, best of all, all of these effects use a normal deck of cards, and that is just what I am looking for! Now most Dan and Dave fans will know most of these effects already but I suggest you watch them anyway because it is wicked awesome. And I really loved just watching the performances of the effect The Buck’s do the effects so smooth and make them look so good. I was just sitting there mesmerized; even though I knew everything they were doing it was just so beautiful. Bravo Dan and Dave, Bravo!
Yes the Jerry’s are back! This is the disc that most people have been waiting for, so let’s not waste time:
Trilogy Disc Two: Flourishes
Carnahan Fan- Straight out of Sleightly Magical, this is a great fan. It happens so fast and looks so nice, how could you not like it!
Difficulty: 4/10
Molecule_4_False- This is the easiest variation of Molecule 4, as the name says it is false, and also fairly easy.
Difficulty: 5/10
Molecule_4_Tokyo- This is “bigger” variation of the previous cut, it also stems from the Molecule 1 cut. A little bit more flashy but not too much more difficult
Difficulty: 5.5/10
Molecule_4_NY- For those of you that have seen the video “Dan at the convention” this is that molecule 4 that he does. Super bad and wicked nice, really nice ending to it, probably the most difficult of the 3.
Difficulty: 6/10
Pandora- OH SNAP! This is so sick! Pandora is like a Tornado dipped in multiple illegal drugs and then after you give it a couple of shots. This is a super bad combo that also includes Crabshak and Molecule 3. Lots of spins and hand movements, definitely one of the hardest cuts on there.
Difficulty: 8/10
Jackson 5- The Cut. The Legend. This cut eats Babies! Now this is what most of us have been waiting for since we found the Easter egg on The System. Woah! A Wicked long combo that includes: Madonna variation, Sybilism, Skater Cut (AKA Joey Burton Display), 5 Faces of Sybil, 8 Packet Leno, and Genesis. I feel bad for my carpet already, I have dropped so many cards doing this. But it is too wicked not to learn it!
Difficulty: 9/10
Erdanse Go Round- Starts the Rev. E then the packet on bottom “jumps” out and does a somersault and lands on top. I am sure many have already figured this out and done it, but it still looks cool!
Difficulty: 4/10
Erdanse Go Round_V2- Just a slight variation of the previous cut, except instead of somersaulting the packets spins out and does a 360 degree rotation and lands on top. NIZE! Difficulty: 4/10
Vertigo- SO SICK! We all know this from Five, and we all know how cool it is. Has Showstopper written all over it! Fairly Difficult to get the knack though.
Difficulty: 6/10
Eko- They could have named this “Pop and Lock”. Because there is a lot of pauses and fingers switching involved in this cut. When I first saw it I thought it was gonna be cake, but this is actually giving me a little bit of trouble. But I feel it is definitely worth the effort cause this is just schmooove.
Difficulty: 6/10
Mecka- One of my favorite cuts on the disc. Fairly easy going, nothing too hard about this cut, but it has got style! I think this and Molecule 4_False are the only false cuts on this disc. Difficulty: 5/10
Akira- A Super quick cut, I see this only as a fairly flashy way of closing the Tornado cut. I Love the little whip action at the end!
Difficulty: 4/10
Tectonic Verb- Another fairly quick cut, I don’t think I have seen a cut like this, kinda funky. And it has a neat little display in the middle that I really like.
Difficulty: 5/10
YEAH!!!!! Another great disc! I really liked all the cuts on this DVD, they all were wicked cool, and varied in difficulty. Now is this as revolutionary as The System……probably not. But that is because The System came out just when Flourishing was starting out, now more and more people get involved in flourishing and are pushing it further than ever before. Though I do commend the Bucks on giving us some new concepts/moves, because now it is getting harder and harder to come up with original material, so to me this was refreshing. The Menu again looks great, and when it starts up all these little boxes showing each flourish comes up. Then you click on one, brings up a Performance button, and an Explanation button. Some times the cuts are a little too big, so you can learn some cuts in “phases” which I thought was great, especially for J5! And then some cuts have variations, which also appear on their little page. The teaching is a lot better. When you click explanation it first goes into an overview of the cut, which is basically the cut in slo-mo, which I guess is for the more experienced flourishers. Then it goes into full on instruction mode, still no speaking though, but little sentence blurbs come up to help you along. The cut is done in like super slo-mo also, and there are plenty of recaps for each part. Actually that was the only annoying thing about it, you would be in the middle of a move then they go back and do a recap while you are stuck in one position. But I am just being nitpicky . Well done Gents!
The final disc of the Trilogy, hope you enjoy:
Trilogy Disc Three: Everythingelse
A Few Modern Classics
TG Deck Flip- The classic flourish by TG Murphy, just about everybody probably knows this, and knows its usefulness in the flourish world, it’s a must.
Hugh Scott Shuffle- The only way I can describe this is an upside-down riffle shuffle in the hands. It looks really nice when done right.
LePaul S Formation- Straight up cool! This is an addition to the already cool LePaul Spread, where you actually add another curve to the spread to make an “S” shape. And it is surprisingly easy.
360 Deck Spin- This is basically an addition to the All Around Square Up move, where you add another rotation so that the deck spins 360 degrees and lands back in your hand. Another move I will end up doing hypnotically.
Under Pressure- Wicked! You start to perform a fan and then they all “spring” back into place. We all have probably seen this and know how cool it is.
Table Work
Heap Snatch- A real nice and elegant tabled false cut. It looks just like the Thricenator Remix cut in the Vault. Actually it probably is the same cut….
Blackjack Production- A Double Production! First the four aces are produced then…..four perfect hands of Blackjack, matching suits too! Not too difficult and a GREAT intro to a Reset routine.
Shuffled Aces- This is an in the hands 4 ace production in the action of shuffling the cards. On the DVD they said this was a way to do Ace Production from the previous effect in the hands. I think I like the previous one better though.
The Forte Flourish- I really liked the look of this ever since NR2, But for some Reason I could never do it. But with the visuals, I got this down, so easy and so cool.
Random Cool
Click Change- a one-handed Snap Change...while still holding the deck. Now this is giving me some trouble, but it looks so gangsta!
Jones Change- Wickedly Cool! We know this one from the Teaser, where the card is twirled around and then finally changes. It is so damn tight! I really like this one a lot.
Center Double- This is the Flip Center Double, which is a centered double lift that comes from the top. Yeah I know that sounds weird but it looks real nice. And as fast as DB2 do it, it looks like a card just appears in the middle.
Queens Transition- This one comes from our own Aethan Friday! He came up with a way to go from the last vanish in The Queens directly into the Collectors effect. Pretty schweet.
Real Time- THE most ballin’ Ace production ever, IMO! This looks just like real magic, with just a wave of the hand 4 Aces appear. For me it is sort of difficult, but nothing impossible.
Molecule Revisited
Molecule 2, 4 card Production- A smooth 4 card production that comes right out of the Molecule 2 cut, and keeps the entire deck in order.
Molecule 2, 1 Card Production- This is just Uber Cool. Again this is one of those things I was never able to do, but now I got it and it looks so awesome!
Molecule Double Lift- As far as originality goes…meh. As far as looks go….cool.
Molecule Spring Flourish- Straight G! At the end of M2 a packet is sprung into the middle of the deck and a card reverses itself in the middle. Knacky but looks great!
Finger Exercises
In this section Dan and Dave go over various exercises for your fingers, obviously. These are ways to Strengthen your fingers and increase coordination. Heck, I’ll do anything to get that fast!
Flourishes 101
This is a great resource for most of the basic flourishes. Is it the “end all” solution to learning them…no. But it is a great tool none the less. .No speaking in these explanations either.
This is it people… the end. Do I really need to reiterate on how good this DVD Set is? The Bucks really upped the ante with this one, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. *Thunderous Applause for the Bucks*
Final Score / 10.0
5.27.2007
Jack Parker's
Set to Stun
Available: http://www.jacksdeck.com/
Price: $20
Format: eBook
Now since this set of notes came before Set to Kill I probably should have done this one first, but whatever. Part 2 here we go!:
Cross Eyed Surprise - A three phase routine were two aces constantly switch places with each other, while imbetween two sets of Queens. And for the finale the Aces actually switch places with the Queens! Now when I started to read this, I was into this effect. But then I got to phase 3 and I was struggling to understand what to do. I don't know if it was the writing or my own fault, but from the first two phases I can tell you that this effect is wicked nice. Really the only thing that is risky are some of the displays involved.
Three Wrongs Make a Right - A nice four of a kind effect were the selection rises through the deck and reverses all of its mates along the way. Whats really nice is the flexible patter, if you do a bit of comedy I know you could work something out of this. And the effect is dead easy, nothing too far fetched. But this effect does bare an obvious resemblance to a Kostya Kimlat effect called Four the Hard Way.
First of the First - A wicked simple cards across, where the spectator's selection vanishes from imbetween two jacks in her half of the pack that she is holding, and reappears in the half that you are holding. Probably the entire effect is done with only one real move, which is great! The simpler the effect the easy it is to connect with the audience while doing it, since it is not that difficult you get to focus more on them than what you are supposed to be doing. Great effect.
Persistent Offenders - Wow, this is just excessively magical! So much magic involved and so so easy. And most of the effect is done with one simple gaff. The effect is akin to the Paul Harris classic "Tap Dancing Aces". I used to shy away from most gaffed effects but this one is almost too good to pass up.
More Effort, Less Magic - Another great magical effect, that can immediately follow Persistent Offenders. Where a chosen selection disappears, one of the kings change into the selection then the king reappears and the selection is now reversed in the middle of the deck. The first vanish is simply genius!, I love it! And the routine allows for plenty of comedic byplay/patter. Love it, Love it, love it!
The Heist - A slick, "hands-off" version of card across. Again with the help of one single gaff, the effect is SO SIMPLE! The gaff makes everything squeaky clean and fair. And also the patter for this effect is very nice and provides a lot of misdirection for some of the repeated moves.
U.D.S.I. - WOAH! Super visual transpo of two cards for one. This effect is super quick, visual, and slightly easy to do. Yee-Haw! This is a gaffless variation of Luke Dancy's effect DiVision (sold at Elmwoodmagic), and it seriously looks just like the original.
Fletch - Sadowtiz for the Win! This is Jack's version of Jerry Sadowitz's great effect "Fetch". While the ending is not the same as the original, at the heart you will see the similarities. The ending, in my opinion, is alot better/stronger than the orginal. Since the "helper card" actually changes into the selection. And of course it's dead easy to do!
100% Confidence - Favorite Effect! Straight up gangsta effect right here! This is Jack's supped up handling of David Solomon's classic "Three Indicators". This does require a bit of a setup, but it is totally worth it! If you don't add this to your repertoire then I suggest you rethink your hobby/profession.
Can Can Coin - Again the lone coin effect. In this one you actually "pull" a coin out the bottom of a Coke can. This didn't really float my boat, maybe because of my hatred for coins. But it does have a lot of really cool convincers to it that would be this slay for an audience.
Man this was another great purchase from Jack! The thing that really stood out the most for me were the effects "Persistent Offenders", "More Effort, Less Magic", and The Heist. When Strung together this three phase routine is absolutely magnificent, in my opinion. And the thing about them was that they all utilize ONE gaff. Jack has managed to squeeze out every last ounce of magic from the ONE gaff. I just thought that was really great. Bravo Jack!
Final Score / 9.6
Available: http://www.jacksdeck.com/
Price: $20
Format: eBook
Now since this set of notes came before Set to Kill I probably should have done this one first, but whatever. Part 2 here we go!:
Cross Eyed Surprise - A three phase routine were two aces constantly switch places with each other, while imbetween two sets of Queens. And for the finale the Aces actually switch places with the Queens! Now when I started to read this, I was into this effect. But then I got to phase 3 and I was struggling to understand what to do. I don't know if it was the writing or my own fault, but from the first two phases I can tell you that this effect is wicked nice. Really the only thing that is risky are some of the displays involved.
Three Wrongs Make a Right - A nice four of a kind effect were the selection rises through the deck and reverses all of its mates along the way. Whats really nice is the flexible patter, if you do a bit of comedy I know you could work something out of this. And the effect is dead easy, nothing too far fetched. But this effect does bare an obvious resemblance to a Kostya Kimlat effect called Four the Hard Way.
First of the First - A wicked simple cards across, where the spectator's selection vanishes from imbetween two jacks in her half of the pack that she is holding, and reappears in the half that you are holding. Probably the entire effect is done with only one real move, which is great! The simpler the effect the easy it is to connect with the audience while doing it, since it is not that difficult you get to focus more on them than what you are supposed to be doing. Great effect.
Persistent Offenders - Wow, this is just excessively magical! So much magic involved and so so easy. And most of the effect is done with one simple gaff. The effect is akin to the Paul Harris classic "Tap Dancing Aces". I used to shy away from most gaffed effects but this one is almost too good to pass up.
More Effort, Less Magic - Another great magical effect, that can immediately follow Persistent Offenders. Where a chosen selection disappears, one of the kings change into the selection then the king reappears and the selection is now reversed in the middle of the deck. The first vanish is simply genius!, I love it! And the routine allows for plenty of comedic byplay/patter. Love it, Love it, love it!
The Heist - A slick, "hands-off" version of card across. Again with the help of one single gaff, the effect is SO SIMPLE! The gaff makes everything squeaky clean and fair. And also the patter for this effect is very nice and provides a lot of misdirection for some of the repeated moves.
U.D.S.I. - WOAH! Super visual transpo of two cards for one. This effect is super quick, visual, and slightly easy to do. Yee-Haw! This is a gaffless variation of Luke Dancy's effect DiVision (sold at Elmwoodmagic), and it seriously looks just like the original.
Fletch - Sadowtiz for the Win! This is Jack's version of Jerry Sadowitz's great effect "Fetch". While the ending is not the same as the original, at the heart you will see the similarities. The ending, in my opinion, is alot better/stronger than the orginal. Since the "helper card" actually changes into the selection. And of course it's dead easy to do!
100% Confidence - Favorite Effect! Straight up gangsta effect right here! This is Jack's supped up handling of David Solomon's classic "Three Indicators". This does require a bit of a setup, but it is totally worth it! If you don't add this to your repertoire then I suggest you rethink your hobby/profession.
Can Can Coin - Again the lone coin effect. In this one you actually "pull" a coin out the bottom of a Coke can. This didn't really float my boat, maybe because of my hatred for coins. But it does have a lot of really cool convincers to it that would be this slay for an audience.
Man this was another great purchase from Jack! The thing that really stood out the most for me were the effects "Persistent Offenders", "More Effort, Less Magic", and The Heist. When Strung together this three phase routine is absolutely magnificent, in my opinion. And the thing about them was that they all utilize ONE gaff. Jack has managed to squeeze out every last ounce of magic from the ONE gaff. I just thought that was really great. Bravo Jack!
Final Score / 9.6
5.26.2007
Jack Parker's
Set to Kill
Available: www.jacksdeck.com
Price: $20
Format: eBook
I really love Jack's work, a lot of creative stuff flows through his brain. I bought this and two other of his eBooks and I will be reviewing them in a 3 part series, so here is part 1, enjoy:
Sunken 21 - The description in the eBook says "The twenty one card, but not as you know it", which is exactly right. Those of you that are afraid of the cliche three rows of seven, you will be happy to know that it is only dealt out like that once. And once you deal them out the effect is essentially over any way. The effect uses a great "key" card principle, but it does require a bit of math. But nothing hard, just some simple multiplication and addition. When you are sessioning with your magician buddies try this out on them, you'll find it will probably even fool them!
Invisible 21 - This one combines the "invisible card" with the 21 card trick, for one great ingenious effect. This would be great to follow a spectator that just did the traditional 21 card trick, it would slay! It's the twenty one card trick where their mental selection vanishes, leaving only twenty cards, then reappears next to a chosen card. With David Solomon also at the helm you can't go wrong. This on also requires about of math, but less than the previous handling.
Fool's Gold - A great Ace Assembly! Wow, so much magic in one little package. An assembly where there are two backfires, and a surprise appearance of a royal flush. I really liked this one, I am a sucker for royal flush kickers! Only thing is that some people might need to use a soft surface for this effect since there is some Double handling.
Bare Naked Ladies - An ultra clean assembly with the queens with a backfire ending. This effect is pretty fast and minimalistic, only uses seven cards. There is one slight discrepancy in the effect which is easily overlooked by the spectator. But you might want to work on your Mexican Turnovers for this.....
Buried Alive - Favorite effect alert! An incredibly startling face-up transposition. So awesome, real quick, visual, and not really hard (For me atleast). Only bad thing is that it requires some thing that not every deck of cards has. But Jack does give a way to do it another way.
Smell of Success - An effect were you attempt to "sniff" out the mate of a prediction on the table. When you sniff the wrong card, the prediction changes into the correct card. This happens again except the spectator does it instead. I really wasn't feelling this effect to much, I don't why though. I already use an effect like this by Jay Sankey called Soul Mates, so I don't think I need to switch. Sorry Jack, but I am sure plenty of other people will like this effect.
Long Dimension Phone Call - Award for best presentation goes to this effect. You apperantly have a friend in another dimension who can do mystical stuff. And you call upon him to do the effect, the effect is that the 4 fours change into the 4 Jacks and then the 4s reappear in weird places. Sick effect + awesome presentation = Great effect.
Alone in the Dark - Jack trys to add a little "pizzaz" to a pretty dry effect AKA Impossible Card Location. I think he does a pretty good job at it too. This location uses a variation of the location used in Sunken 21 and puts it to good use! The patter brings a nice storytelling type presentation to this effect. Again this effect uses some math but nothing you can't handle!
Thought Provoker - A nice mindreading effect that can either turn out to be a Miracle or a Lesser Miracle. Which to me is a Win-Win situation! This effect combines Poker and mindreading, since the spectator mentally choses a card from a freely chosen poker hand. If you get the Prediction wrong then the alternative is that the spectator can imediately spell to their their mentally selected card. This does require a 20 card stack though, so if you are into stacks then you will most likely love this effect, I normally don't do stacks but I feel it is worth it for this effect.
Rumpshaker - AWESOME! An incredible Bottom Dealing Demo that is sleightless, the only that could add to this effect is if you can actually perform a decent Bottom Deal. If not you still have a killer effect, were you swindle the spectators and then slay them at the end by beating the four aces in poker. Awesome effect, does require an extensive stack, but again, it is REALLY worth it!
Ballerina Double - Jack's pretty and deceptive double lift. Not hard at all and it has a nice "snap" subtlety to it. Works for me, and you will pick it up in no time.
Flat Rate of Interest - The lone coin effect in the notes. In this one you push a coin "into" a playing card. Again I wasn't really feeling this one. I don't really like coins too much so this didn't tickle my fancy. But it does use a great coin vanish by Paul Harris. I'm sure someone would like this one.
This has "great buy" written all over it. The material in these pages are awesome, even if you don't like the effects, read them anyway because you might learn something! Jack is obviously a very clever magician and it shows in the material. Most of the effects are keepers in my opinion, simple and practical, not for beginners though. I am glad I got more from this guy! Great stuff people go buy it!!!
Final Score / 9.4
Available: www.jacksdeck.com
Price: $20
Format: eBook
I really love Jack's work, a lot of creative stuff flows through his brain. I bought this and two other of his eBooks and I will be reviewing them in a 3 part series, so here is part 1, enjoy:
Sunken 21 - The description in the eBook says "The twenty one card, but not as you know it", which is exactly right. Those of you that are afraid of the cliche three rows of seven, you will be happy to know that it is only dealt out like that once. And once you deal them out the effect is essentially over any way. The effect uses a great "key" card principle, but it does require a bit of math. But nothing hard, just some simple multiplication and addition. When you are sessioning with your magician buddies try this out on them, you'll find it will probably even fool them!
Invisible 21 - This one combines the "invisible card" with the 21 card trick, for one great ingenious effect. This would be great to follow a spectator that just did the traditional 21 card trick, it would slay! It's the twenty one card trick where their mental selection vanishes, leaving only twenty cards, then reappears next to a chosen card. With David Solomon also at the helm you can't go wrong. This on also requires about of math, but less than the previous handling.
Fool's Gold - A great Ace Assembly! Wow, so much magic in one little package. An assembly where there are two backfires, and a surprise appearance of a royal flush. I really liked this one, I am a sucker for royal flush kickers! Only thing is that some people might need to use a soft surface for this effect since there is some Double handling.
Bare Naked Ladies - An ultra clean assembly with the queens with a backfire ending. This effect is pretty fast and minimalistic, only uses seven cards. There is one slight discrepancy in the effect which is easily overlooked by the spectator. But you might want to work on your Mexican Turnovers for this.....
Buried Alive - Favorite effect alert! An incredibly startling face-up transposition. So awesome, real quick, visual, and not really hard (For me atleast). Only bad thing is that it requires some thing that not every deck of cards has. But Jack does give a way to do it another way.
Smell of Success - An effect were you attempt to "sniff" out the mate of a prediction on the table. When you sniff the wrong card, the prediction changes into the correct card. This happens again except the spectator does it instead. I really wasn't feelling this effect to much, I don't why though. I already use an effect like this by Jay Sankey called Soul Mates, so I don't think I need to switch. Sorry Jack, but I am sure plenty of other people will like this effect.
Long Dimension Phone Call - Award for best presentation goes to this effect. You apperantly have a friend in another dimension who can do mystical stuff. And you call upon him to do the effect, the effect is that the 4 fours change into the 4 Jacks and then the 4s reappear in weird places. Sick effect + awesome presentation = Great effect.
Alone in the Dark - Jack trys to add a little "pizzaz" to a pretty dry effect AKA Impossible Card Location. I think he does a pretty good job at it too. This location uses a variation of the location used in Sunken 21 and puts it to good use! The patter brings a nice storytelling type presentation to this effect. Again this effect uses some math but nothing you can't handle!
Thought Provoker - A nice mindreading effect that can either turn out to be a Miracle or a Lesser Miracle. Which to me is a Win-Win situation! This effect combines Poker and mindreading, since the spectator mentally choses a card from a freely chosen poker hand. If you get the Prediction wrong then the alternative is that the spectator can imediately spell to their their mentally selected card. This does require a 20 card stack though, so if you are into stacks then you will most likely love this effect, I normally don't do stacks but I feel it is worth it for this effect.
Rumpshaker - AWESOME! An incredible Bottom Dealing Demo that is sleightless, the only that could add to this effect is if you can actually perform a decent Bottom Deal. If not you still have a killer effect, were you swindle the spectators and then slay them at the end by beating the four aces in poker. Awesome effect, does require an extensive stack, but again, it is REALLY worth it!
Ballerina Double - Jack's pretty and deceptive double lift. Not hard at all and it has a nice "snap" subtlety to it. Works for me, and you will pick it up in no time.
Flat Rate of Interest - The lone coin effect in the notes. In this one you push a coin "into" a playing card. Again I wasn't really feeling this one. I don't really like coins too much so this didn't tickle my fancy. But it does use a great coin vanish by Paul Harris. I'm sure someone would like this one.
This has "great buy" written all over it. The material in these pages are awesome, even if you don't like the effects, read them anyway because you might learn something! Jack is obviously a very clever magician and it shows in the material. Most of the effects are keepers in my opinion, simple and practical, not for beginners though. I am glad I got more from this guy! Great stuff people go buy it!!!
Final Score / 9.4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
