If you have read this blog for very long, you know that I’m not a huge fan of DVDs published by Big Blind Media . Frankly, they are generally a little to artsy fartsy for me. I just don’t get performing card tricks on a curling bench in a gym somewhere, like on one of the Bannon videos, I believe. The last time I reviewed one of their DVDs some douche bag commented that I was way too old, uncool and out of touch for him to read my reviews. I don’t miss him .
The current release that I am reviewing is called Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks. They can be forgiven for overstating what’s inside of the box. Who doesn’t! Certainly, the ultimate self working trick would be to throw a pack of cards on the table, step back and watch it perform a miracle. That’s not on the DVD.
I’ll take this directly from their ad copy. Here’s what’s included :
Contact Colors (Aldo Colombini)
Impossible (Mike Austin)
Shuffling Lesson (Chad Long)
Henry Sugar (Liam Montier)
Pre-Prefiguration (Larry Jennings / Mark Elsdon)
Your Aces Are Marked (Terry Lagerould)
Shufflebored (Simon Aronson)
The 7/16 Club (Alex Elmsley)
Impossible (Larry Jennings)
4,5,6 (Al Thatcher)
Unbelievable (By Shields, F. Michael And Bascom Jones, Jr)
Interviews with Paul Zenon, Scott Thomson (XCMer), Iain Moran & Liam Montier
Tutorials on Charlier Shuffle, Jay Ose Cut, Breather Crimp, Bobby Bernard False Cut & Riffle Shuffle (for those who want to take the tricks to the next level of deceptiveness).
I don’t think anyone can really argue with the choices – pretty standard stuff and, at least, they didn’t throw in Koran’s Lazy Man’s Card Trick, which seems to be a requirement since HL published it in 1962.
There’s a couple of excuse me I’ve got to run to the bathroom and set up the whole deck procedural monstrosities, but there are, also, several items which could be added to anyone’s arsenal for those times you are handed a deck and asked to do a trick or two. Both of the Impossible routines and Pre-Prefiguration fall into this category.
Mercifully the explanations are devoid of lame jokes and the performances are tolerable. Working in a studio with a single female spectator is TOUGH. I still recall feeling embarrassed for Larry Jennings while watching one of his DVDs in a similar situation. You would have to be a total moron to not understand the very well done explanations.
Obviously, when we read that there are explanations for false cuts, crimps and shuffles, the concept of “self working” has left the building, but these are very easy, while needing some presentational skills to sell them.
I’m glad I bought it.
