Review by Anonymous for The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings by Mike Maxwell

Review by Anonymous for The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings by Mike Maxwell
Review by Anonymous for The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings by Mike Maxwell
4 out of 5

Review for The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings

This rather large book contains lots of routines that are real gems. It covers coins, cups and balls, and cards. However, more on cards than the previous two. I won’t comment on the coins and cups and balls as I don’t have any experience with them, but I will give you an idea about how I feel concerning the card routines.

There are definitely strong card routines you’ll find in this book. The sleights are so devious that makes it worth your buy. You’ll find a lot of useful sleights that will fool the audience. However, a drawback is that it contain many unwanted ideas that make the learning process difficult (some of them are based on opportunity). Perhaps if you have all the time in the world, but we magic aficionados want only the best material – in which is embedded within these pages but it is diffused among other less satisfying ones. You’ll have to plow into these pages and find great ideas here and there.

You will also run into the problem of finding some routines so great except for that 1 or 2 parts you know you don’t want to do in front of people. Perhaps it’s more about practice however I personally felt even with practice I wouldn’t be able to fool people with certain moves – only a person with strong presentational control can do it. In such a case then great, get this book. It has lots of great ideas. However, don’t expect every routine to be intellectually gratifying.

I have to give this book an B+. While this book contains a great amount of sleights for use, it’s bogged down with information we don’t want to know as well. I believe it is worth your time to look through this book because you’ll get a lot of sleights you won’t know through magic fad.

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Review by Anonymous for Cardshark (Deluxe Edition) by Darwin Ortiz

Review by Anonymous for Cardshark (Deluxe Edition) by Darwin Ortiz
Review by Anonymous for Cardshark (Deluxe Edition) by Darwin Ortiz
5 out of 5

Review of Cardshark

I had the benefit to see the reaction from a fellow magician. What shocked me is that he appeared rather less than enthusiastic about the tricks – commenting that its way too long and too difficult.

I believe the large majority of magicians will feel the same. However, I contend that the materials contained within these pages are not for the average magic hobbyist – nor is it intended for the intermediate card performer. It’s only for those very special few who have what it takes to bring the art of magic to a professional level. If you are advance in sleight of hand (particularly gambling techniques explained in "Expert Card Technique" and "Expert at the Card Table" / "Revelations" / "The Annotated Erdnase") or willing to put in the effort here you have Mr. Ortiz to provide excellent routines that will maximize their usage.
They are not easy. I can tell you right now that one sleight requires over 700 hours of practice before mastery – which Darwin Ortiz claims that 1 in 10,000 people can do. But the dividend it pays back more than suffices for your time spent. These are genuine card miracles for the close-up conjuror.

As the title suggests, this book consists mainly of routines regarding gambling themes such as the Scarne effect (cutting to four aces after spectator shuffles the deck). However, it also contain routines with magical themes – such as Mr. Ortiz’s construction on a Card-to-Wallet effect and Mr. Ortiz’s version of Brother John Hamman’s famous signed card. But what a student will find most valuable is the performance tip that the author gives from his experience through performing his creations over hundreds of time. He offers his rather sharp insights and observations. Everything he discusses has been performed before being in print.

I wish I could write more on the book but I need to get offline and pay attention to my wife. You’ll have to just check it out to know what I mean. I remember being nonplussed (and that’s an understatement!) when I first saw Darwin Ortiz’s performance. My mind was racing for an explanation when I saw him perform One-Handed Poker Deal; I was wondering if it was real magic because intellectually I could not understand it. But even if you don’t plan on using his routines, it is worth reading to see how he thinks. He has a very special mind thats worth looking at. When he describes other people’s sleight like Mike Close’s Spread Control, he changes the handling in such a subtle way. Alright, I got to go. I hope the review was useful.

Strong presentation, readable, reread value, and great illustrations. I must give the book an A+.

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Review by Andy Martin for Rib-Blok by Jay Leslie, Mark Jacobs

Review by Andy Martin for Rib-Blok by Jay Leslie, Mark Jacobs
Review by Andy Martin for Rib-Blok by Jay Leslie, Mark Jacobs
5 out of 5

Ah, such rich and vibrant colors!

I just recieved my new version of Jay Leslie’s Rib Block with the new and dramatically improved yellow paint! This really is a very well produced work of art, the paint job is beautiful, and is right up there with Milson Worth.

If you’re a collector you’ll like this and if you’re a performer you’ll like this too! The effect whilst as old as the hills themselves, is a very clean penetration of the block from the ribbon and its easy to set-up. There are a few angle issues and the clever method takes a bit of practice to do smoothly, but once mastered you have an impossible illusion!

And of course the colors are so rich and vibrant!

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Review by Andy Martin for Predator Wallet by R. Paul Wilson

Review by Andy Martin for Predator Wallet by R. Paul Wilson
Review by Andy Martin for Predator Wallet by R. Paul Wilson
5 out of 5

Very Beautiful and You Will Use It!

I have owned a lot of wallets. So why would I drop the unheard of $250 smackers on one more wallet?

Well, because it’s a bloody marvel! It looks like a real wallet, it feels like a real wallet, it can be shown like a real wallet, but it is an incredible utility device that blows away every other wallet I have seen – even one of my favorites the Versadex Wallet.

It can be used to perform countless miracles. It comes with 3 routines but you will quickly use it for more. The first effect that you will do is called Psycho Killer – and this is just pure gold. Grab one now, before they stop making them! Highly recommended!

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Review by Andy Martin for The Osterlind Breakthrough Card System by Richard Osterlind

Review by Andy Martin for The Osterlind Breakthrough Card System by Richard Osterlind
Review by Andy Martin for The Osterlind Breakthrough Card System by Richard Osterlind
5 out of 5

Wow, this is amazing!

So maybe you’re ready to move up from Si Stebbins or the Eight Kings to a stacked deck that not only looks like a shuffled deck, but is still easy to learn.

Then Osterlind’s Breakthrough Card System is for you. Just setting the deck up once you very quickly get the idea, and if you just spend an hour dealing out cards you’ll have the stack down. It’s really quite amazing how this works, but it does and I thank Richard Osterlind for publishing it.

Apart from the stack rules, it comes with some extra tips to get very proficient, fast and a selection of effects. Of course there are so many effects that could benefit from a stacked deck that you’ll soon be breathing new life into many old chestnuts.

Highly recommended!

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Review by Andy Martin for Egyptian Canopic Jar Mystery by T.A. Waters

Review by Andy Martin for Egyptian Canopic Jar Mystery by T.A. Waters
Review by Andy Martin for Egyptian Canopic Jar Mystery by T.A. Waters
5 out of 5

Great Magic, Great Props, Great Value!

So here is the first effect in the Exclusive line of Martin’s Magic Off the Shelf Craftsmanship Series! Unfortunately, the line is so exclusive there will only be one of each effect made 🙁

The germ of the idea for this effect came from reading an ad for an effect by Dexter – Box of Bombay.

You start by showing a beautiful box that has a top tray with 4 Egyptian Canopic Jars featuring the 4 Sons of Horus: Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef. You take the tray out and remove a deck of mummy shape cards – just to keep the mummy theme going. You also show 4 cards of the jars and without showing the spectator you chose one as a prediction and place it in the bottom part of the box. You then replace the top tray so that noone knows your prediction.

The spectator now chooses a card from the deck, and then selects any one of the 4 jars (no force involved). The tray is lifted out and the spectator reaches in to find the one prediction matching the jar they chose. Now the spectator opens up the jar and finds a prediction in the jar of the card they also chose and we come to the end of a great mystery!

Beautiful, Off the Shelf Craftsmanship, at its finest!

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Review by Andy Martin for Comedy Compass Prediction by Martin's Magic, Chuck Caputo

Review by Andy Martin for Comedy Compass Prediction by Martin's Magic, Chuck Caputo
Review by Andy Martin for Comedy Compass Prediction by Martin's Magic, Chuck Caputo
5 out of 5

Now this is more like it!

This is a significant improvement to the original version of this effect. With the help of the radio controlled stylings of Chuck Caputo, who made the radio controlled compass according to my specifications – and if I do say so myself I think its Chuck’s finest work to date, very impressive!

The Magician shows a beautiful box with an ornate brass compass freely revolving around in it. A spectator is chosen and handed the box. A framed compass with glass front is also shown. This is turned away from the audience, but the performer never goes near it again.

The Magician ensures that everyone is familiar with the points of a compass and then asks the spectator to close their eyes and turn around until they are getting dizzy. The magician then asks them to look at where the compass is pointing. They say "North." The magician then turns over the large compass prediction that he used to explain the compass and on the back it says "The Compass will Point North!"

Naturally, the audience are not impressed. So the effect is repeated, and instead of looking at where the compass is pointing this time they look at where the specator is pointing. It can be any of the 8 points of the compass – lets say its South East. The spectator now goes up to the compass frame and the hand is pointing to the exact direction that the spectator said.

Another entertaining mystery comes to an end.

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