Without a doubt, Patrick Page’s Easy Money is one of the most reinvented and revised tricks in magic. In all fairness, it was a, somewhat, obscure trick until it was repopularized by Greg Wilson as Hundy 500. Since then we’ve had a number of variations offered. One of the most popular was Heiny 500 by Karl Hein – a beautiful trick, but the DVD was a joke. The production of the gimmick was VERY poorly explained and Karl Hein proved himself to be less than standup about the whole situation. Unless these guys are selling the secret to immortality I don’t plan to buy anything from them ever again.

Richard Sanders’ effort with Jay Sankey called, I believe, a couple of guys screwing around in front of a video camera and selling their shit for an absurd price, received a less than favorable review here. He’s gone a long way towards redeeming himself with Extreme Burn. Here’s the official blurb:

Effect

Count out five bills, one at a time. Show them front and back and lay them flat on your hand.
With NO folding, NO cover, NO nothing…THE BILLS VISIBLY CHANGE!
That’s it. You are now holding five completely differnet bills.
Count them out. Show them on both sides. They are real bills.
If Harry Potter could do a bill change, this is what it would look like!

Extreme Burn is not just a variation, it is an evolutionary leap forward in technique and effect.

Besides misspelling different (come on fellers – spring for a spell checker and use it!),  this is a reasonably accurate description and if you want to do a bill change, this is as good, if not better, than any.

After the terrible, half-assed explanations on the Heiny DVD, Sanders careful and precise descriptions are a delight. This is a trick I’ll be using and I recommend that you consider adding it to your everyday repertoire.

I’m not going to do a full review, as there are 515 messages – yep 515 – on the Cafe about this. If you’re having trouble getting to sleep, a few pages of that should send you straight to happy land.

OK, let’s get the official stuff out of the way. Here’s the poop from the home office:

If you could perform real magic what would it look like? Could you perform miracles completely unprepared using nothing but borrowed objects? Would you be remembered by your audiences, leaving them in a complete state of astonishment?

Impervious is U.K. magician Christopher Williams and Canada’s Jeremy Hanrahan’s take on the classic Coin thru Bottle effect that creates the impression of real magic in the spectators mind.

The DVD features Christopher William’s Ocular Perception an impromptu handling for the Coin Thru Bottle effect, and Jeremy Hanrahan’s Untouchable which is an application of a never before seen principle of the Coin Thru Bottle.

Both effects are amazingly simple and very easy to do, the impromptu handling uses no gimmicks and can be performed whenever there is a coin and bottle available. The spectator can see and hear the coin melt through the plastic and into the bottle. Hanrahan’s version can be set up in seconds without the spectator knowing and the spectator is left with a bottle that is apparently sealed.

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Too bad it doesn’t look that way. Here’s the best they could do on YouTube:

and remember – these are the BEST of the lot. Makes me long for the usual space queens…..

In a recent post I suggested the following rule:

Any trick that leaves the spectator with only 1 solution (and it is usually the right solution) is a bad trick

The guys from Impervious must not agree. This is exactly what I’m talking about. I can’t imagine anybody, anywhere being fooled. Not only is the method transparent, no one seems to be able to do a simple fake take. Both of them look like they’re getting ready to shoot a pumpkin seed!

…….and productions values – my goodness! It doesn’t take long to produce a decent DVD. In the November Genii, Steve Brooks (yes the same one) was slammed for his production and direction of Reed McClintock’s Classic Palm DVD. This DVD makes Brooks look like Cecil B. DeMille. A substantial part of the DVD didn’t even have someone to hold the camera. All of this is compounded by a confusing 2 screen display that only serves to magnify the total lameness of the project.

We were fortunate enough to acquire a candid photo of the post production effort:

Maybe he just couldn’t get through it. I guess I understand.

Take care………

Experience is the best teacher. Unfortunately, she kills all of her students.

Drivel & Drool

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I make no apologies here. I think most investment poobahs are as full of shit as a Christmas goose. This, I think, is different and worthwhile.

For your consideration:

Tags: Magic+DVD+Review

Those of us that have been around a while and have been following the Richard James / Linked saga have seen it all before. Non-delivery followed by a string of excuses and stories that never seem to fit together. We’ll be charitable and say the perpetrators are generally less than forthright. It’s so easy to tell the truth and take your medicine. I’ll just never understand the inability to do so.

Anyway, there are always some doo rag carrying the forgive and forget banner – only human – life happens – etc. etc. in defence of the wrongdoer. Please understand, I’m all for forgiveness, but I’m also of the school that says there should be a price to pay for our decisions.

Here’s a quote from a recent Cafe post:

…..you already apologized,that is kool; just deliver and eveybody we’ll be happy and probably forget what is happening as I write this post.

I hope he’s wrong. Dead wrong.

Take care………

Learn to live a life that expects more from the world than crap. – Jamy Ian Swiss

From the web site:

BUNKO
Jim’s new shortchange effect is a remarkable close-up routine. The effect is tremendous, writes Richard Kaufman. Bunko is a perfect example of close up magic theater. An intriguing story draws the spectators in and then wallops them with magic. Twenty dollars in change (five singles, three fives) changes to $19, then $14, back to $20… And at the end, the sucker ends up with just thirteen dollars. The routine is ingeniously arranged without any sleight of hand at all. A beautiful set of instructions, written by Richard Kaufman and illustrated with 48 full color photos, explain the routine in detail. Just eight bills. No folding, palming, flaps, switches or false-count sleights. The colorful, specially printed bills enhance the effect… Or perform it with real bills, as the instructions explain.

$25 Postpaid

As I have said repeatedly, reviews are only worthwhile after a substantial time period has passed. Has the product / DVD stood the test of time – is it something you still use – how does it play in the real world? This is just a 1^st impression. Something to help you in making a reasonably informed buying decision.

Personally, I don’t think declining magic club membership is the result of fellow magi opting to attend a MENSA meeting rather then the monthly Mystic Poobahs gathering. I’m rather sure Jim Steinmeyer has that option, though. His stuff just screams GENIUS, no matter what it is. His Conjuring Anthology is the most important book of the last five years – maybe longer.

Bunko is a short change routine that is different than any I’ve ever see. and, get this, no steals, flaps or false counts AND you are clean at the end. It comes with phony bills, which are fine, but I think most will want to construct everything from real bills. This will cost you $26 plus the cost of laminating, so the total cost in not insignificant.

The instructions are written by Richard Kaufman and make it possible to learn the routine in short order. Even the suggested presentations are well above the norm.

Well worth your consideration.

Take care………

Well, Digital Dissolve arrived – well packed and promptly shipped.

I’m not going to take much time here – just the salient points:

• It IS Steve Dusheck’s trick – the variations are totally derivative from my perspective
• The DVD is amateur hour in production and content – at least the opening logo was mercifully quick
• This is not Jamie Schoolcraft’s best work
• It’s a good trick – always has been
• An OK product at an OK price – did not come from an advanced civilization as implied

and…….
I didn’t get laid!

Take care………

Generally, I only post reviews for two categories – Good to Great and Unimaginably Bad. In all honesty, I try to concentrate on the former as they do the most good for everyone. I like good magic and like telling you about it.

However, once in a while there comes along a product so unimaginably bad that I must write about it. Products that require ENORMOUS BALLS to ask money for them. I’m talking about world class, pants ripping kajonies. Could you have actually produced and sold Silver Shifter, for instance?

In a way, I admire these people. I would never, never in a thousand years, dreamed you could sell bottled water, $5 coffee or $50 rubber coins. Thus, I am doomed to a life of poverty – so be it!

Magicians are the easiest of consumers. I’m constantly amazed at the number of discussions on the Cafe which revolve around someone defending shoddy treatment, poor shipping or total non-delivery of promised product. The reasons given by the various vendors are invariably pathetic. Their defenders, and there are many, seem unfazed by the jobbing. I stand constantly amazed.

In my old blog I wrote a post titled F*** me, I’m A Magician. It received more comments than anything I ever wrote. Even there the defenders could be found.

The travesty I’m referring to in this review is a 2 DVD set called The Sankey Sanders Sessions. I honestly don’t know how old these are and am not interested enough to find out. The cover says it was shot in 2002. If I can save 1 person from buying this, then it is worth it.

As far as I can tell, one of these guys got a video camera for Christmas and started filming each other doing a bunch (21) of mediocre tricks. At some point one of them must have said think we can sell these tapes. After the laughter died down they must have decided – why not – they’ve seen worse stuff sold. (That’s true, but barely).

Remember what I said above about having industrial grade balls – they took one DVD worth of material and put it on 2 DVDs! It appears they spent the greater part of 15 minutes editing and slapping together a menu.

Both of these guys can do better. Sanders is a likable and capable magician. Some of his earlier stuff has been overpriced, but it least it was decent.

Jay Sankey has gradually tarnished a fine and deserved reputation. His early stuff was brilliantly creative and items like Mr. Clean Coins Across and Paperclipped are modern classics and seminal points for many other tricks. His recent output has been, in a word, pathetic. I expect him to start spitting in a napkin and selling it next. Apparently he has a following that will buy it.

Any good points? Actually the physical production is top notch and you get 2 DVD holders which you can use for other DVDs – that way you can recover 50¢ of the money you spent.

I recall an old story about a farmer that gradually replaced his horse’s food with more and more saw dust. The horse never complained, but one day the horse died. These guys should remember this.

Take care………