As mentioned in the previous post, three new effects from the Dive of Death special are now on sale.
Lit by Dan White and Dan Hauss for $29.95
Compression by Dan White and Dan Hauss for $29.95
eXile by Mathieu Bich is available for preorder at $29.95
So for $90 plus shipping, you can do your very own Blaine special!
Andster
So last night I hurried home from work at 10:15, hoping that my ancient VCR had worked and that I’d be able to watch the Blaine special. I figured even if something went wrong, I could rush home and still catch the finale (which is why I almost plowed into a deer at 65 mph, but that’s another story…) and everybody knows the finale is the best part.
I ended up getting home right before the bullet catch segment. The VCR was working properly, and I was happy. They kept building up the amazing dive of death that would take place at the end. I remember being confused. They never said what he would be diving into or onto. They never said what made it so death defying. I remember wondering why this was such a unique thing when he had already lept from a pillar into cardboard boxes for his Vertigo special. Maybe it was the height, because they kept specifying 44 feet.
Although I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen, I thought “At least with David Blaine, he does what he says he’s going to do. There’s no hokey “illusion twist” at the end like with Criss Angel that leaves you confused and wondering what just happened.” Boy, was I wrong. If you haven’t seen the show yet and don’t want to know that he was attached to a line that stopped him before he hit the platform, then pulled him up into the sky, don’t read any further.
This was by far the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. The crowd was confused, and I think I heard a couple boos. I didn’t even understand what the hell was going on until the announcer said he disappeared. I was shocked and amazed, and not in a good way. But I figured I still had the rest of the special to watch and enjoy.
As much as I hate to say it, I was very unimpressed. There were a couple things I liked, like the thing with the Xs moving on someone’s hand and the whole deck disappearing except for a named suit and a selected card. It might just be me watching it as too much of a magician, but a lot of the rest just screamed of heavy preshow and stooges.
Something that really disappointed me was the way he presented Fraud and Extreme Burn. Both times, he seemingly borrowed bills from a spectator and did the effects with them. When I say “seemingly borrow” I don’t mean he borrowed a bill and switched it. I mean he took the bills right from someone and did the magic with no switches. Which means that somewhere out there people are walking around with bills gimmicked for Fraud and Extreme Burn, and David Blaine was lucky enough to find them. The matchbook changing to a signed card had a lot more going on with it than we saw too, I’m sure. Like I said before, it could just be me watching it as a magician, but I was really disappointed. I always respected Blaine because he would do everything in his power to make the magic real for his audience, not just the audience at home. This time, it looks like he just told some of them to play along.
As a whole, I found the special disappointing but entertaining. At least there was more magic than I remember seeing in some previous specials. The finale was horrible, there’s no doubt about that. The bullet catch was fucking awesome though. I just hope that this special wasn’t the start of a brand-new camera trick and stooge-centric David Blaine era. We’ve already got one of those.
Andster
Almost forgot! I have it on good authority that the 3 Xs trick is soon to be released from Theory11, and the all-but-named-suit-and-selected-card disappearing deck (wish I could remember the name of this, and am very interested in checking it out because it uses a full deck Tilt move, which I find very cool) and the signed card to matchbook (Lit) will be available through your favorite dealer soon.
Today may very well be the best day ever for me.
Started out by going to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with Jen, her boyfriend, and her dad. We had a really good time, and saw lots of shows. We saw a sword swallower, a hypnotist, a swami (who I think I’ve seen around the cafe), Macbeth done in 20 minutes, and the Hack and Slash show. I’ve seen H&S at the ren faire in Ohio before, and it was kinda cool being in a different state with different people watching a familiar show.
I got to laugh and clap and cheer and have an all-around good time. I even enjoyed being asked after every perfomance “How’d he do such-and-such?” and even got to duplicate a couple things.
I also got to ride past the DC headquarters of XM radio not once but twice! I know that’s really stupid for me to get excited about, but I love XM and thought it was the coolest thing to be able to see the building they’re in.
After the show we went to a sushi bar, which had me very excited. I’ve always wanted to try sushi, but there aren’t any good places in Ohio, at least not nearby. I don’t want shysty sushi. We got to sit at the actual sushi bar, and Jen helped guide me through the menu. My only request was that I get raw fish. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it right. I ended up with tuna roll and salmon California roll with roe. I also tried a couple pieces of Jen’s, which had crispy crab and shrimp.
I can now say that I fucking love sushi. I need to seek out a good sushi bar close to home, because 8 hours is a long drive just for that. Although, it would be very tempting.
After dinner, we picked up Jen’s sister and drove to old town Alexandria. The plan was for us to go there at some point today so we could see the street performers that are always there and maybe I could do some busking myself. By the time we got there and I was ready to get a show off, it was about a quarter after 10. There were still a decent amount of people around, so I decided to give it a shot.
I’ll be honest. I was scared shitless. I wanted nothing more than to puss out and walk away, but I didn’t and before I knew it I had drawn a crowd. A really good one, too, like 30-some people! Maybe it was because my show wasn’t routined the greatest, or because it was late, or because I just suck, but I started losing people left and right. Before I knew it, I was down to less than 10 people and 3 of them had come there with me.
It was time for the rope escape. I built this thing up, I got tied, I ended up being tied to a railing without really realizing it. And I was an idiot and forgot to get slack until like halfway though the tie, and the dude doing it was really good. By the time I built it up and was ready to escape, I had built my crowd back up close to the original 30 people, if not more. (Best line I improv-ed (I originally wrote that as “improved” but wanted to make the distinction that I made it up, not made something better) during the tie: Want to see something funny? Yell “Help! Police!”)
I pitched a hat line like a good street worker should, something about doing this for a living and I need money to get home and blah blah blah. I dunno what exactly I said. But right before I was about to start the escape, two bicycle cops rode up behind my crowd and stopped. Here I am, in a strage state tied to a railing with 100 feet of rope, 30+ people around me and the cops show up. I kept right on going, not giving them a chance to shut me down, but they rode away without doing anything.
I did the escape in 1 minute 55 seconds, with lots of comedy byplay in between. I fell one time, completely accidentally, and skinned my knee. My goal was to “beat Houdini’s time of 2 minutes” and I did. Yay me. Then I finished with a callback trick that, unfortunately, about 90% of the people there didn’t see the start of so I had to reiterate like a motherfucker. It was an updated version of the thing I created for my coffee shop gig (see Hustling Tips for more) using a beefed-up version of Richard Sanders’ Bill Anywhere principle.
I actually did two short shows tonight, although the second one wasn’t the greatest. I did a spongball routine for a black lady wearing a red shirt who went crazy every time the balls multiplied and jumped around. (In the car on the way home, Jen mentioned how priceless her reaction was. I said there’s an axiom in magic: Always do spongeballs for the black lady in the red dress. That’s exactly why I picked her, and she did not disappoint.)
When it was all said and done, I pulled in $18 for about 45 minutes of work. I know that’s by no means extraordinary for a busker, but it’s fucking amazing for me. The last time I did a “street show” was when I tried to film one for a college class a few years back and made a whopping penny. Considering I made almost 3 times my hourly salary in 75% of the time makes it even better. Considering I did all this with little to no experience and at 10 at night with little foot traffic makes me wonder how well I’d do during the day and with more practice.
What really tops it off and blows my mind and is the reason I’m laying in Jen’s room rambling on at 3 in the morning instead of sleeping is that I, a stranger from 8 hours away who has no tie to any of these people, could come into town and do this. That I could gather a group of people who don’t know me, don’t have any reason to not walk away, and make them watch. More than that. I could make them care. I could do my piddly little card tricks and my bullshit rope escape and entertain them. Entertain them to the point where they willingly give me their hard-earned money after only one hat line that was, I will freely admit, half assed at best. I have spent 3 hours staring at, playing with, recounting, and smelling my pile of 13 ones and a five (I got a fucking five, how awesome is that?) to make sure it’s all real. Although that 18 bucks will only cover tolls and maybe a sandwich on my drive home Monday morning, I feel like the richest man in the world. Tonight I broke down barriers, entertained people, and was rewarded for it in the purest manner possible.
Tonight, I was a busker.
Andster
Cesaral Melting Point by Mario Goni and Cesar Alonso
Price: $51.96
Available from: Your favorite dealer
I’ve had Melting Point for a few years now, since shortly after it came out. This was back when I would see something that looked really cool, buy into all the hype about it, and order it without considering the practicality of it. Way back when, this wasn’t practical for me at all because I didn’t wear a ring. Lately, I’ve been reinventing my persona and changing my style around and I’ve started wearing rings. I decided to dig this out and take another look at it, and am very glad I did.
The effect itself is very good. A coin or other small object visually penetrates a glass table, with your hands being shown empty. The movements will require some practice, as with any magic, but it’s definitely within the grasp of the average person. The angles are good, with one horrible (and rather improbable that someone would be at that angle) and two not-so-good viewpoints. In everyday life, you’re probably going to be in the right positioning 90% of the time.
As I’m sure you’re already aware, you need to wear a ring for this. It doesn’t have to be a special ring, which is good because you can choose one that will match your style, or use one that you already wear. I’m sure there are other options that could be exercised (Band-Aid immediately springs to mind), but I’m not sure a magician with a bandaged finger is going to present the proper image in the mind of the spectator. Better to go with a classy ring that fits your style, or simply pass on the effect.
The instructions are unique. You get a CD-ROM that contains both text instructions and video clips. Note that “video clips” are not the same thing as an “instructional video”. They are brief clips (usually under 30 seconds long) that highlight a section of the instructions. I think that the effect is easy enough to learn through textual descriptions, but the inclusion of the video clips was a nice touch.
Bottom line, this is a nice, although somewhat pricey effect. If your main audience is your group of friends down at the bar with no glass tables and you don’t wear rings, don’t feel bad passing on this. If you’re a working magician who consistantly works places with glass tables, you may want to consider picking this up. I think that in the hands of the right performer and done at the right time, this can be an extremely hard-hitting piece of magic.
Andster
Hey all! Saw an awesome show tonight, called Yard Dogs Road Show. If you get the chance, go see it. Fucking amazing. I would definitely see it again, even if it meant another 8 hour drive.
I’m having a fun time, but have yet to take picture 1. So it’s looking like that photo-centric post isn’t going to happen.
Tomorrow night it looks like I’m going to go busking! That’ll be fun. I’ll try to get someone to take pictures and or video of me being eaten alive on the street.
That’s all for now. I ran out of reviews in the queue, so this is the last new post til I get home, probably. I’m still on Twitter, so come follow me.
Andster
As an aside, I’ve really been missing Lauren lately and have been debating calling her. I don’t know if she wants anything to do with me anymore, and that’s the biggest reason I’ve held back. No particular reason I’m mentioning this, except for the thought that if I write it I might stop obsessively thinking about it.
The Blindfolded Car by Devin Knight
Price: $24.95
Available from: Your favorite dealer
This is a really hard product for me to review. The method is very simplistic, and seems as though it would never work. It’s one of those “don’t-knock-it-’til-you-try-it” things, but the book is plastered with warnings to not actually try it. So I haven’t, yet. This could kill or injure you or someone else, very easily. The book is being sold for informational purposes only.
However, I can definitely see the potential here. There are certain things that can be done to minimize the risk, and I think that by doing that and practicing in a safe area, you could easily accomplish the drive. The problem I see is getting the permission to do it. Unless you want to risk being arrested by doing it on an open, public roadway (which I personally would not want to do), you’re going to need some planning. It’s my personal opinion (and I could be totally off base, having no experience with things like this) that you’re going to be hard pressed to convince the police department to shut down a roadway so you can drive a car blindfolded. I think it could happen if you’re doing it to promote charity work of some kind, but even then it’s going to be a hard sell.
The speedway drive is an interesting concept, but also very dangerous. It’s what I would choose to do if I decided to do something out of this book, if for no other reason than because I think it would be the easiest sell.
If you decide to do the drive on an open road, Devin provides some tips and advice for dealing with police, along with strategies for fighting your case in court and even choosing what state to do the drive in. This provides for some interesting reading, but I strongly recommend you avoid doing it that way. Another interesting theory was the method for making a car stall, including the car of someone passing you on the road. I’m sure it’s workable for someone, somewhere but unfortunately I am not that person. Good reading, though.
If you decide to get this book, make sure you’re ready for it. This is by no means a beginner’s text. Unless you’re prepared to risk the safety of yourself and others, there’s not much of a reason to buy this. If you’re only interested in the method, I’ll say one thing: It’s what you think it is. Save your money.
Andster
Time to take this show on the road! Last chance to follow me and be among the first to hear about my exploits and shenanigans.
Andster
The Real Secrets of Magic, vol. 2 by David Stone
Price: $39.16
Available from: Your favorite dealer
This review in a nutshell: Buy it, you’re not going to regret it. Want more? Okay.
Like the first volume, David shows you a group of effects designed for table hopping and a group of effects more geared toward walkaround cocktail magic. In between all the magic, he gives advice and talks theory about things important to the restaurant worker, such as tips, business cards, how to approach a table, and how to make your exit.
I really think that these two videos are a must have if you are wanting to start or are just starting out in the world of restaurant or walkaround magic. Not only will you learn good magic, the advice that David gives will bolster your confidence and help you get more prepared to make those first steps into the business. Not all the tricks require immense skill, and some of them require gimmicks you’re not likely to have, but there is something here for everyone. If you have a basic knowledge of card and coin sleights, you’ll probably be able to pick everything up fairly easily. If you decide you absolutely have to do one of the routines requiring gimmicks, everything you need could be easily purchased from your local magic shop.
Like the first disc, the teaching is done silently. There were a couple routines where I had to really pay attention and re-watch it a couple times to get what was going on, but no major problems. In my opinion, learning from this is like learning from a book: If you just skim the words, you’re not going to have the clearest picture as to what you need to do. If you pay attention and re-read the trickier parts, you’ll be fine. As long as you pay attention and have the patience to go back and watch the explanation a couple times, things will be fine.
A few of my favorites from this disc include French Kiss, William, Soubock, and CigCoin. Although CigCoin is really only practical in a one-on-one situation, I love playing with it and just amusing myself. And for those times when you’re in a one-on-one situation, it’s completely impromptu and will work nicely. William, in which a selected card is found reversed in the deck, is almost (almost) self-working and a great quick trick.
David Stone is an excellent teacher and performer. You can tell that these routines are ones that he has used and perfected in the real world. When he gives advice about working in the restaurant business, you can tell it’s coming from someone who knows and you instinctively sit up and take notice. These DVDs are wonderful, either seperate or together (I strongly recommend you get both, because you’re going to want them both eventually) and will leave you with plenty of commercial magic and even more food for thought. Strongly recommended.
Andster
The Real Secrets of Magic, vol 1 by David Stone
Price: $39.16
Available from: Your favorite dealer
David Stone delivered what is quite possibly the best magic DVD I’ve ever seen. Not only do you learn almost 20 amazing effects, this DVD is filled with great advice from one of the most talented close-up performers out there. If you are currently working or planning to work in the table hopping or walkaround magic business, this is a must have.
The effects play very well with audiences, and are relatively easy to learn. This isn’t a beginner’s DVD by any means, but if you’ve been doing magic for a while, you’ll be able to pick things up rather quickly. My favorite effects fromt this volume are Ghost, Hierling, and Voile Rouge. My favorite part about those three effects is that two of them are impromptu and the third just requires the addition of another (ungimmicked) card into your deck. Because of this, they’ve been used more and more when I need something hard hitting and off the cuff.
As I’m sure you no doubt already know (unless this is the first review of this you’re reading, in which case, I’m sorry) the teaching sections are done in silence. To some people this might seem to be a bit of a turnoff, but it’s really not that big of a deal. I was able to pick up the explanations rather easily, as long as I paid attention and followed along. There are some things you’ll need to have a previous knowledge of (a riffle force being one thing that immediately comes to mind) because they are more “shown” rather than “taught”, but as I said before, if you’ve been doing magic for a decent period of time, you should be fine.
Another thing that I absolutely love about this DVD is the fact that it was filmed as though it was a movie. This is not a bussed in L&L audience for the demos and a bad lapel mic for the explanations. I’m talking great camera work, multiple angles, special effects, comedy, location shots, the whole bit. The short film and the special features alone are, in my mind, almost worth the price of the DVD. Throw in 20 awesome effects, and you’ve got a definite winner.
I don’t think I can recommend this enough. If you’re a close-up magician, no matter what venue you choose to work, there’s probably going to be something on here for you. Go buy it.
Andster
Hey, welcome to Monday! Gee, it’s nice to be here on Monday, about to start my week of posts. I like Mondays!
Yeah, so I screwed up. We’ll start that marathon of posts later today. Sorry!
Andster
So, I’ve been working hard to get some reviews typed up. I’ve got four ready to go, and I’m going to try really hard to get one or two more ready as well. Starting Monday, look forward to a new post every day for a week! (Or until I’ve run out of material. Whatever comes first.)
Also, next Thursday I leave for my road trip to DC. If you haven’t done so already, follow me on Twitter because I’ll be updating rather regularly. I may do an actual blog post or two while on the road, but I’m not promising anything. I get back home Monday night, so look for a very long-winded photo-centric (these-are fun-to use-!) post after that.
I’m also talking to someone about doing something interesting on the blog, but I can’t say more than that right now. But stay tuned!
Andster
Earlier tonight, I was talking with my good friend Peter McKinnon and he told me I needed to update the blog. So Pete, this one’s for you.
Got a copy of Andrew Mayne’s new effect the other day. I read it in the car on the way to work, and tried it out on the girl who came in for third shift later that night. It went over quite well. There will be a review shortly. I’ve got a bunch of other things that I told people I’d review and I’ve been slacking lately. I don’t think I’ve got anything to do this weekend (other than recover after my 90+ hour workweek) so I’m going to try to sit down and get them done.
Pete told me about his new Flip Mino, and I must admit, it sounds awesome. I’m seriously considering buying one when I save up a little bit. That’s the last thing I need, another expensive new toy.
Two weeks from today, I’m going to be on the road. I’ll be making the trek down to the DC area to meet up with Jen for a weekend and catch a show. I’ll be “live blogging” via Twitter while I’m gone, so if you’re interested in keeping track of how things go, you’ve got 2 weeks left to follow me. I’ll be taking a lot of pictures and doing a lot of interesting stuff (I assume, for all I know we’re going to stay home and watch TV all weekend), so be looking out for a giant photo-centric post sometime after I get back.
And that’s about all that’s going on for now. Anybody happen to know how much Verizon is going to charge me for a 25 minute incoming call from Toronto? Just curious…
Fight the good fight, Pete!
Andster