Andy Martin

Nice Balls!

Wow, I really like these Mini Baseballs from Michael Sullivan at Simply Magic. They are a great weight and the stitching is really neatly done. To me they look like real Mini Baseballs.

I also found that the chop ball to be perfectly weighted and it was just right for my chop Cup, not too strong and not too weak.

Overall, a real pleasure to use and I found Michael to be fast and friendly with his emails and shipping from Austrialia took about 7 days.

If you are looking for something a bit more entertaining than the normal balls for cups and balls these are perfect, and of course easily lead into baseball themed final loads.

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The Perfect PK Ring

So I’ve really liked the Elohim Ring for years now, but when this new Wizard PK ring came a long it was a no brainer. It looks very innocent, comes in 3 sizes to fit almost anyone and works very well with a lot of magnetic power. It kinds of reminds me of an ant, because you can pick up a lot bigger than the ring itself.

If you ever need any sort of magnetism in your fingers, this is the way to go. It’s funny to note that in the last 13 years of marriage I have hardly ever taken off my wedding ring, but since I bought this ring I have been whipping it on and off all the time!

The only comment I would make is that if you wear this ring full time I am pretty sure you will sooner or later destroy a credit card or two since I am you will rub the ring against the black strip.

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So beautiful you should buy 3!

My advice to people buying the Johnson Chop Cup is buy 3 instead and don’t even bother getting the normal cups! I can’t tell the difference between the cups and having 3 chops is always better than 1!

I know the Johnson cups are a well respected in the industry as a fine set of medium priced cups. For the price I find it hard to see how they can be beat. They are a great weight, look great, and handle smoothly.

The chop cup itself is weighted just right too.

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Nice Props, Ok Prediction, and Not Cheap!

This is a nice, but expensive, prediction effect. It works exactly as described, but I was expecting a different method from the more standard Perfect Match. Unfortunately it works the same way and since there are only 3 cards the prediction is not so mind blowing.

The quality of the props is really good but for the price I would expect more.

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Superb!

The best things about these DVD’s by R. Paul Wilson is the fact that after watching them you want to take down the Royal Road To Card Magic book from your shelf and read it from beginning to end. Not skipping pages, and not moving on until you have mastered each section.

If you do, you’ll find out how much you can do just with the much abused overhand shuffle, and that is just the first 10 minutes of the DVD’s.

The DVD’s are very well produced and are designed to work in tandem with the book. It is a superb job. The only downside is that if you bother to study and practice and perform from the book and DVD’s you’ll find that you can get through life with just one deck of cards and you won’t need anything else ever.

I know it won’t happen, but just imagine turning up anywhere and being able to blow people away with just a single deck of cards – surely that is what dreams are made of?

Most Highly Recommended!

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Roar Goes the Volcano!

Now this is a fire wallet! It looks like a normal wallet, but the second you want it to be without any fumbling you have a rush of fire. The mechanism works first time every time, and does so without ripping your thumb up like so many fire wallets.

The downside with the wallet, if you want to call it that, is that it does require Flash paper to operate. But this just adds to the whole volcano effect, so I did not see it a problem.

I also like this wallet because it is small and easily fits into your shirt pocket. And once you put out the Volcano, the wallet can be opened again just to look like a normal wallet.

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Very clean switch indeed!

This beauty from Mikame is a wonderfully clean switch of a heart shaped locket that is in full view all the time and just by pulling on the chain the locket is switched. There doesn’t appear to be any funny moves – just pull the chain and hand the locket to the spectator. Yes they can open it!

You can use this device as a mentalism utility or for a magical transposition, vanish or appearance. You are left clean and because the locket is in full view all the time before the switch there is no heat when you load the duplicate that it is switched for.

It is easy to do and within minutes you will be able to acomplish the switch – a compelling routine will take more practice of course, but you’re off to a great start having made the switch so smooth. The price is a steal so get one of these now!

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Great Routine, Great Value, Great Mentalism!

This is the first effect I have purchased from Rick Maue and Deceptions Unlimited, and I must say how impressed I am not just with the effect and routine, but the whole package. And for $35 it is hard to imagine a better value in magic today.

The effect is a mulitple revelation of the precise actions that 5 people take with regards to freely choosing blue and red poker chips and builds to an unexpected but very solid climax. It can be performed on stage or easily adapted for the living room, and yes it does pack flat and play big!

The props are simple, but well made and it comes with detailed scripting and photos of the complete routine.

I have been streamlining my routines these days so that my show fits in a small close-up case, but I feel quite sure that this effect will find its way into my show shortly. The build up of the multiple revelations really is quite incredible.

Highly Recommended!

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Beautiful Bob Solari!

My good friend Bob Solari makes a very fine hula girl, as can been seen below:

When he isn’t putting on the coconuts, he creates some very fine magic. Over the years I’ve bought a lot from Bobby, and most of it is clever and easy to do. The No-Brainer Memorized Deck is probably my favorite effect that I have seen from Bob so far. It is very easy to do but very effective and really makes you wonder why you would bother with any other approach. Certainly memorizing one of the many Memorized Deck systems out there is a lot more work than most of us amateurs want to put in!

The full description can be found here.

This really is an amazing effect and Highly Recommend from one of the great magical inventors of our time.

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Great story line, Great Surprise, and good handling.

This new routine by Paul Mims holds great promise and almost delivers! It has an entertaining poker based story line and a very visual transformation from 4 aces to a royal flush, it is also fairly easy to do, with an almost instant reset.

Unfortunately, for me a couple of the moves to get to the end don’t seem to flow as well which makes the counting seem a bit inconsistent. I’m sure there is a solution to the handling, and I intend to continue to work on it because I really like the overall routine. In fact, I’m quite sure that lay people probably love this routine as it stands, but for me it just seems a bit inconsistent. It could just be me of course!

I am keen to see more from Paul and his good friend Doug Gorman as they do seem to be producing some clean, strong effects that have great visual impact and interesting storylines. Keep them coming guys!

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