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
Showing posts with label Jack Parker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Parker. Show all posts
5.27.2007
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)
