Reviews: Read What Others Are Saying: page 6
207 ★★★★★ reviews
143 ★★★★★ reviews
86 ★★★★★ reviews
130 ★★★★★ reviews
Scripted #15: cut and restored ribbon
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 14 December, 2024)
The "cut and restored ribbon" (originally done on a smaller scale with a straw and string) is a standard beginner magic trick. The author extends the handling with some new approaches to deal with the larger tube, and provides a full script to provide cover for the idiosyncrasies in the inherent handling of the effect and the his specific approach.
One of the most interesting things in this "Scripted" series is the author's detailed explanation of the thinking behind the creation of the script. His clever solution wraps the performance around the story of the classic "sawing a lady in half" trick.
This is another excellent release in this consistently excellent series.
Multiplying Golf Balls
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 14 December, 2024)
My professional set of billiard balls was destroyed when my workshop collapsed, so I decided to look at a DIY alternative. This product was a perfect fit. It provides solutions for some of the challenges I faced in my own designs.
Keep Calm and Do It Yourself
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 13 December, 2024)
A handful of DIY projects.
The most tempting to me was a Magic Painting routine.
Tricks Without Names
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 13 December, 2024)
Subtitled "A Mathemagical Medley of Semi-Automatic Tricks," this collection contains effects designed for both regular and ESP cards.
Not all of the tricks are entirely self-working and may require some sleight of hand.
Generally, they are structured like other similar mathematical tricks, and the explanations are very well written.
The Exception
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Tom Vella-Lott (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 13 December, 2024)
I've been a hobbyist magician for nearly 20 years. I've read a lot of books, watched a lot of lectures and tutorials and purchased a lot of products. This has got to be one of my biggest regrets of all time. If it wasn't for the fact some random dude messaged me on reddit asking him if I knew how it was done, I'd have never found this trick. I watched the live performance twice and was intrigued by how fair it seemed so I bought it, I read the PDF and I am actually angry. This is not 100% reliable. There are at least 3 factors that could easily go wrong. The method is impractical and convoluted. I can't say more without hinting at the method but do yourself a favour and don't spend your money on this; Just do Vernon's Emotional Reaction (from Dai Vernon's Inner Secrets of Card Magic) and don't worry about trying to fool magicians. Even if you pulled this off, the effect is so mediocre they'll forget about it in two minutes.
Victory Cartons
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 13 December, 2024)
Unfortunately, this minimal ebook doesn't add anything to all of the other easily available literature on this classic effect.
Limitless: more than 50 effects using the Romero Box
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 13 December, 2024)
I was not familiar with the Romero Box before reading this book, but it is built on several familiar principles.
The gimmick no longer appears on any of the online magic stores I checked, but is apparently still available from the creator's official site.
It is not inexpensive, but I suspect it would be difficult to build at home because of some of the mechanics involved, so the price might be justified.
The Romero Box has some clever features that allow for a variety of effects.
The book itself is filled with a large number of excellent tricks, many of which could be adapted to other methods, so it is a worthwhile read even for those who don't own the gimmick.
Si-Step
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 12 December, 2024)
This is my first attempt at working with a stacked deck. It's something I've avoided since I've been concerned with the memorization and/or mental math required. I believe the approach advocated in Si-Step will be a good place for me to start, since it provides a lot of techniques to limit both of those requirements. And using a standard stack like the Si Stebbins stack means I should be able to leverage a lot of the existing resources available.
(I appreciated the diagram showing the full deck in order, which made it easy to set up the deck the first time.)
Abraca-Poof November 2016
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
This issue contains another nice collection of mostly business-oriented advice. The article on invoicing for donated performances was particularly interesting.
Suzy the Psychic Fish
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
This is a VERY short routine which is dependent on a hard-to-find commercial product.
I assume this is for a very limited audience, even as a free product.
Magic Roadshow Special Issue #6
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
This newsletter contains instruction for a number of professional tricks, links to Youtube tutorials and performances, and reviews of a variety of commercial/for-sale tricks.
The reviews are well-written and I found them helpful in determining my potential interest in these purchases.
I highly recommend it.
Scripted #25: Hofzinser Card
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
I wasn't familiar with this effect, but the author does a good job of explaining it, critiquing the normal handling, and providing a routine -- with detailed patter -- to overcome the limitations.
I definitely want to play with this idea.
Abraca-Poof October 2016
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
This issue is jam-packed with useful information. I particularly like the short routine called "Bar Code."
The running theme through most of the articles is on elements that separate professional magicians from amateurs.
The Double Issue 2
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
The highlight of this newsletter is a short interview with Peter Duffie, but it also includes instructions for a couple of small effects, and a few other tidbits.
Dice Stacking Without A Cup
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
This download provides a short description for constructing a card trick that incorporates a stack of dice (or a dice trick that incorporates a card selection). It doesn't have much to do with traditional dice stacking.
It's an interesting idea, but the document is poorly edited making it harder to follow.
This isn't yet a fully developed effect, but it is a good seed for one.
Propless Name and Place in 45 Seconds
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Karen King (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Wednesday 11 December, 2024)
It is very interesting when an idea can polarize opinions to both extremes. It indicates that the idea has merit, imo. So my curiosity made me pick this up. I like the simple brilliance of the core principle. The routine has a well designed structure and flows smoothly. Personally, I would like to use a couple of my business cards instead of keeping it purely propless. I would also prefer to use two participants - one for name and another for place. The link up to the Vampire Diaries web series is a nice touch. I took this for a test run briefly and I am happy with the results. This is worthy of my time and money, imo.
Symphony of the Rings
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Terence LaSorda (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 09 December, 2024)
I don’t know whatever happened to my original copy of this great instructional book, but it is great to have these well-written instructions and clear pictures before my eyes again!
My first read-through of this wonderful digital rendition of this absolute magic classic brought me back to the summer of 1974 on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA., where I read my original paper copy of this great tome! This classic pulled me deeper into my lifelong love affair with the art of sleight of hand. It is wonderful to feel that passion in my heart again!
My mastery of this wonderful routine led to my winning the all university talent show at Lehigh University in the fall of 1974, which led to a lucrative side career, which was a great monetary support to my academic career! Indeed, mastery of this book and other classics like it provided me with the sleight of hand mastery to impress Mr. Muhammad Ali in an unexpected meeting with him in 1978. The outcome of that meeting was a year long contract to travel with him, and be his personal magic teacher! This experience prepared me for a lifetime of performing professional magic, which also enhanced my career as a metallurgical engineer. Visualization is absolutely needed to learn and be proficient at sleight of hand, but visualization is also an absolutely necessary skill to have to be successful at metallurgical engineering. This is how patents are produced; and, I have produced 4 patents in my metallurgical engineering career!
Binary Bucket List
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ray Jack (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 09 December, 2024)
Fully agree with the previous review. A simple additional idea and the structure of the routine take this from being a bare binary trick to being a brilliant binary effect. I prefer to carry it on my phone, so almost nothing physical to carry.
Hands Off Book Test
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ray Jack (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 09 December, 2024)
Got a second-hand paperback copy of Think And Grow Rich by Napolean Hill and prepared my Hands Off Book Test. It took me about 40 mins to prepare and I have a great book test always at hand. Performed this 3 times so far. Loved the response. My humorous opening line is "I confused Think & Grow Rich for Gamble & Grow Rich......". Just like MOABT this one too is completely hands-off and equally impactful with similar effort but at a fraction of the cost. This is a great idea combining a well-known card principle into a book test.
Deckology: Mystic Deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 08 December, 2024)
I don't do much mentalism or occult-themed magic, so I wasn't sure if this short book would be of interest to me, but after reading the other two volumes in this series, I decided to give it a try.
I'm glad I did since I found a lot of usable material. As with the other two books, the author relates elements of a standard card deck to other elements (in this case, primarily spiritually or mystically themed). It provides potential patter ideas for anyone doing card tricks.
Deckology Volume 2: Biologic Deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 08 December, 2024)
I'm reading these three volumes from the Unknown Mentalist in backwards order, which probably influenced my perceptions.
As in volume 3, the author provides explanations for the various card values, Ace through King -- this time in terms related to the human body.
I definitely prefer the material in this volume over volume 3. It should be usable in a variety of performance styles.
Deckology Volume 3: Comic Deck
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 08 December, 2024)
I wasn't sure if this would match my style, but there is a nice mix of entertaining bits of humor in this collection.
I especially liked the introductions to the various card values in a deck.
(About half of the document is essentially a catalog of products by the author, which is not surprising for a free promotional product.)
Telepathic Memory
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by David Burmeister (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 08 December, 2024)
This UNKNOWN MENTALIST has another GREAT EFFECT AT A VERY REASONABLE PRICE! I have done a mental telepathy effect where a spectator selects a female celebrity and then I divine it, but I really think the UNKNOWN MENTALIST has a better effect with this because it involves both memory skills and telepathy. The name of the effect says it all. I haven't purchased anything for quite a while but I finally got a chance to buy this. Also in my opinion I think this deserves more than a 5-star rating. Having said that, I think this effect is not for everyone but this will be great for those who don't mind practicing and perfecting this. Also I think that THE UNKNOWN MENTALISTS' KLAIRVOYANCE CALENDER EFFECT WOULD BE THE PERFECT EFFECT TO USE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THIS! I also think that most people would call you a GENIUS if you are using either of these effects or both together.
A Proven Junior Magician's Curriculum
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 08 December, 2024)
I **love** this small curriculum. It literally has everything you need you teach an entire introductory class for children.
It is not only focused on the magic but also on building confidence and social skills.
The use of the plastic cups from the "cups and balls" included in virtually every children's magic kit to represent each level of achievement (similar to the use of various colors of belts in martial arts) is genius. As the students earn each cup, they also learn new tricks they can do with one, two, then finally three cups.
Each trick is taught through an accompanying video, and several printable props are also include. I haven't been through all of the videos yet, but they seem well-made. These are clearly intended as examples, and it would be preferable for the teacher to teach the tricks live, when possible.
Five stars is not enough; this is an invaluable resource for anyone who is interested in teaching a beginner course in magic.
Abraca-Poof February 2020
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Brad Smithart (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 08 December, 2024)
This issue of Abraca-Poof contains articles on marketing and reputation, as well as taking care of magic props. There is nothing startling or new, but it provides good reminders for things that we might be tempted to forget -- things that can separate amateurs from professionals.
Definitely worth a read.