French Kiss (by David Stone I believe)

Alright, first of all, I'm such a noob that I can't even be sure who created this trick. However, I CAN say that I also though up of something really similar by myself (yes, I'm bragging, sue me...).

I would also like to state here that this is one of the BEST trick for PICKING UP that I have ever came across. There are several others that gets you their phone numbers but most don't ever become as intimate as this.

I mean, it's really not a hard trick since the moves that you need for it is really quite simple. However, I believe that like all magic, the performance is the most important part of the effect. As long as you can perform it right, you can make even the simplest of tricks look absolutely pro.

now that I've rambled enough, here is the actual routine (my personal edition I would say) of the French Kiss

Effect: 

I actually couldn't sub it because I'm a huge noob, not only at magic but also at subbing so it would seem. SO, I am gonna promise you guys that I will definitely repeat this again in English some time soon and post it up asap.

Anyways, as you could see, the SIGNED cards swaps places when then are IN OUR MOUTHS!

Now, for the pros out there going like "Err... excuse me, but you don't need to touch the cards to get them to swap!", it's called performance you douche bags! But anyways, as you could see from the performance, the trick should basically be renamed, "This-Is-What-You-Should-Do-If-You-Want-To-Get-A-Girl's-Number".


Spectator's view: they will go FUCKING CRAZY!!!

I promise that afterwards, they will go ape-shit all over your ass! They will want you to perform more magic or at least to do the French Kiss again... (and I suppose this time, you could ask for a real kiss from her as a reward... I mean, I can't see a better time so why not?)

Anyways, what they will see is two cards, which are SIGNED, exchange locations in the safety of the performers' mouths. Which is pretty damn awesome in my opinion.

I mean, if you have this music playing when the kiss is going on, you pretty much nailed her. lol

I'm just saying... this is a VERSION of the French Kiss... doesn't have to be like this

Routine: I know that there are PLENTY of variations, some involving other equipment like smoke 2000 etc. but I kind of like mine. I think that it's pure and it's sweet. Go check out David Stone's version and Wayne Houchin's version if you want some comparison...

Now, before you all start going like, "I saw theirs and it's like 4 bajillion times better than yours!", allow me to kindly remind you that they are professionals who have been magicians for the past 20 years! I have been a magician for the past 2 years! There will definitely be differences! (Obviously, difference is that I'm better  lol)


Angles: I figured that for tricks, I'll call this part 'angles' from now on. I'll leave all the earlier posts so that future generations will know what I'm talking about... and also because I'm just that lazy.

ANYHOW, this is not all that angle sensitive. As you could see, I was performing surrounded in my video and nobody caught me out. I mean, I suppose that you would have to use a little bit of misdirection but then again... which successful magic doesn't need misdirection?


Overall: I absolutely LOVE this trick...

not because I can pick up girls with it (well... actually...) but because of the pureness of the effect.

Now, for those who have seen me use this word many times and is still wondering what I mean by purity, I am trying to say that the effect is not something that people would have to think hard to find that it is amazing. Like, levitation, most people would think that there are strings. So you would have to do all sorts of convincers to tell them that there are no strings. However, for tricks like this, the magic is just right there. There is no need for convincers. The effect is, as I call it, 'pure'.

Anyways, I give this trick a solid 89/100. One obvious failure is the inability for the audience to check the full deck after the trick. I mean, there are ways around it but that little bit, I really hate. So I'm gonna go ahead and slice 11 points off :p



Anyways, until next time (not tomorrow since Uni is starting and I have to do heaps of stuff but we'll see....)


Next Review: Famous Magician - Mirko (of Argentina)

Look forward to it, he's one of my favourite stage magicians :)

The Biddle Trick (by Biddle?)

First of all, I would like to say that if I mentioned that I'm only gonna review magic equipments... I lied...

Second of all, I seriously couldn't find out who invented this trick. I just know that it's called this after the name of the move, the Biddle Count (or maybe it's the other way around... either way, I can't find much of a history on  this trick)

Last of all, I'm uploading this entry today since I didn't do shit yesterday.

So before all you trolls out there start showing off your affection towards me in your special ways, allow me to start my review on this trick.

Effect: Well... it's really quite simple. A spectator chooses a card, puts it back in the deck. After shuffling, the magician tells the spectator that he managed to shuffle the card to the top HALF of the deck so he gives the the bottom half to check and keep. He then chooses 5 random cards from the top half he still has remaining and asks the audience to see whether or not one of the cards is theirs. One of them is (SUR-FUCKING-PRISE!!!)! He then gives the rest of the deck t the audience. He then counts the cards in his hand, still 5 cards. But after some magical shit happens, a card disappears (again... surprise!!!)

and then finally..... the card appears in middle of the audience's pile of cards that HE HAD BEEN HOLDING ONTO THE WHOLE TIME!

well... they say that a picture is worth a thousand words... and at 24 frames per second, my video is certainly gonna be worth a lot more.

Enjoy!

So there we have it, the Biddle Trick! :D


Spectator's View: ZOMG!!!! That was probably gonna be my first reaction when I first saw the trick if only it wasn't done so poorly.  However, I had been a magician for a while by then and could see through most misdirections. so yeah... However, to laymen, this trick is fantastic!!!


Design (in this case, Routine): I use it as an opener. I don't really use a strong patter with it unless it's for some festival but even then, I like the pureness of this effect. I think that a strong patter would ruin it.


Care: I would like to state that 'care' for tricks and 'care' for equipments is different. Anyways, this trick is not really angle sensitive. I have performed this trick surrounded countless times. In fact, I think that it's a better trick than the ambitious card in terms of angle sensitivity.


Overall: A VERY strong opener. I personally use it as a opener almost every single time I perform street magic. It can get the crowd warmed up enough so that even if you start rambling random crap, they'll think that it's pure gold. I give it a solid 90/100 for this trick. The cons of this trick is that despite the pure and strong effect, some audiences can be lost while you are performing. So just watch out for that :)



that's all for today!


Next Review: French Kiss (In my opinion, the ULTIMATE trick for picking up girls) (HOWEVER, my video will be in Chinese so yeah... I'll try to sub it before I post it up)

Bicycle Cards (by the US Card Manufacturing Company)

Now.... where do I start? This is one of the most popular card type in the world and is used and celebrated by all magicians. It is a staple in a magician's list of cards and most of them have at least 3 boxes of them at home (I used to... but then Is tarted a card using spree).

I will first of all list the things the cards are good for:

1. Playing
2. Manipulation (obviously not as good as proper manipulation decks but fro $2, it's VERY good)
3. Burning (actually... it's quite hard to burn... like, I throw it in fire and it just doesn't fucking burn... but we can pretend can't we?)
4. Ripping
5. Controlling
6. Fanning
7. Signing
8. Folding
9. Eating (I joke! Though i did NEARLY swallow one before during practice. I'm telling you, those things go down easy if you fold it up and have in in your mouth for anything over a minute)


Now... this review won't follow the usual order since bicycles are so damn awesome!

Anyways, here are some pictures for them (not mine obviously but still awesome)

The box of the blue and red bikes

An awesome angle from the side looking at the backs of the cards

I'll be covering the different types in later blog entries.

To be honest, this is quite a stupid review (and if you agree with me, you're also stupid... so... umm...... yeah....)

But yeah, if you perform magic and don't really like to use tally-ho cards... Bicycles are the way to go for you :)

well, that's all for this time!



Next Review: The Biddle Trick (a great opener for street magic. I used it countless times and still get great reactions from it)

Disappearing Water (by... I don't know >.>)

Again, this happens to be one of the magic tricks that I'm not really sure about the name ('OMG Saffie! What a noob!!! You suck!!!': You. Well you know what? You suck too!). However, I am sure that you'll like it and it's something that you won't forget once you look at it because it is simply that interesting and awesome!

So for simplicity sake, I will simply call it Disappearing Water... or dw for short.

So dw, I've got this! (omg... I'm so lame... *cries in a corner*)

ANYWAYS, since I've rambled enough and I'm also pretty sure that yOu'd liket o see some magic!

Effect: 

As you could see, I made the water disappear WITHOUT touching the cup!!!


this is the absolute STRENGTH of the effect!

(PS for the part where people were laughing, I was drinking the water in my cup when the guy wasn't looking... Shen just didn't film it right! That's right! I blame you shen! Because I think that you won't bash me!)



Handling: Hmm... Here's something really tricky. I can say for now that the gimmick takes practice to use. Once you know your limits and ratios, you should be fine! I mean, not he easiest but definitely not hard either.

I'd give it a 4.5/10 on the same as as I was using before


Spectator's View: WTF?! Is the first reaction I got from the guy performing with me (as you could see from the vid). Now the icing ot the cake is that the audience THINKS that they know what's going on. You're drinking the water while making the other guy make a fool of himself.

HOWEVER, they also get in on the surprise when the helper's cup becomes waterless. So I'm gonna say that this gave a VERY strong impact. I first came to know this trick from the 2010 BTV Internations Spring Gala. It was performed by David Williamson (I think that he was awarded the Best Manipulation Magician of the year by IBM... or some awesome prize anyways, and the trick simply stuck to me.)

Yes, these two performed the trick with the help of an audience.

Design: Really not much I can say about this... but trust me, you won't care much for the design, it's really the effect that you want for this.


Care: Again, just like the pen, DO NOT EAT THIS SHIT!!! Doctor said that it's bad for your health! But yeah, keep it out of wet places and it should work fine when the time is right.


Overall: I give it a score of 82/100. Pros includes the effect and how spontaneous you can do it. The cons includes how you must snatch the cup away from the audience and nothing could be checked AFTER the performance.

But all in all, a very interesting effect and I hope that you guys will like it. Also, if anybody knows the proper name for this, I would appreciate it if you told me :)


NEXT REVIEW: Bicycle Cards (alright, I know that it's lame but hey... gotta start it someday. btw, it's the normal bikes so don't get over excited. I'll do the Gaff the Ghosts, the Arcane, the Tiger etc. some other time.)

Frixion Pen (by Pilot)

Well, I don't know who came up with the idea of the Frixion Pen. However, I do know that Pilot manufactures them so yeah... close enough is good enough.

Well, I last reviewed the Mental Photography Deck as something that you could perform with by itself. However, the Frixion pen is really something that you have to use to compliment your other magic. in my opinion, it can be used most effectively in mentalism.

Now, again, for all you pro magicians out there, saying stuff like, 'you suck!', 'give us reviews on large stage props!' etc. .... you guys can go eat some... thing?

I will definitely cover those things later. (As soon as I finish making my own floating table... I'm so proud of myself and that I want to kneel and pray to me whenever I look in the mirror). But for now, I'm just gonna stick with the small stuff that won't cause a severe burn to your wallet whenever you buy.

Anyhow, without further rambling,

Effect: Words are written on a piece of paper, and then it disappears!

*My personal video coming soon!*


For now, just settle with this. I know it's in Chinese but the effect is there. (I PROMISE to make one in English very soon!!! Don't bash me!!!)

Handling: It's a frickin' pen!!!  So yeah... if you have ever used a pen before, it should be very easy for you.

Spectator's View: Hmm... it's hard to say. I mean, really... it all depends on your performance. The Frixion pen is a supplement to your magic performance. You can't make it the main show, otherwise it gives away the fact hat your pen is rigged. However, if used correct (like Dr Leon) it can be used to build up other effects.


Design: Umm... again... it's a pen. lol.

Being serious now, the design of the pen is actually quite awesome. Especially if you get the good ones like I did. Quite expensive (I got mine for 1500 Yen in Japan) but well worth it. Design looks amazing.

White (the one I got):

Black:

And there's gold, silver etc as well. Now, these are the awesome pens. There are the colourful looking ones as well.

Care: Ummm... don't bend it, snap it, stab somebody with it, don't eat it!


I cannot stress this enough people! DO NOT EAT THIS! This shit is toxic!

Otherwise it's really just like any other pen.

Overall: You can give this to audience to check a bit if you want. The pen is really kind of innocent. I've been playing around with it for a bit and I love it to death. So I'm gonna give it an excellent score of 80/100.

The minuses comes from the fact that the pen cannot really be used for any original performances (I mean you  CAN but simply the fact that a monkey with half a brain would know that the pen has problems afterwards).

Well, hope you guys have fun with this!

Mental Photography Deck (by... I actually don't know :S)

Now, you guys know the rules with my blogs...

Zero exposure, zero awesomeness, zero grammar.

If you're a pro already, you prob don't want to be reading this since you'll be like, 'what a noob!' or, 'I was playing with that thing like 40 billion years go!', or 'OMG! You're such a douche! Your reviews sucks!'.

I am going to make this clear right now. This blog is for beginners/intermediates to wishes to make the best of their money in buying magic equipments. I'm not saying that I'm absolutely correct on these things as I am merely giving my PERSONAL opinion.

Now, before you start going like, 'your opinion sucks!', I want to just give you one last reminder. IF you don't like this product, then it is probably because you haven't been using it right.

Every product is carefully made by magic masters!

Anyways, I'm reviewing the 'Mental Photography Deck' today. Personally, I have found it to be a VERY interesting to play around with. I have worked it into countless routines (but mainly because I haven't counted... though I probably could... and the number will be like less than 10... but still very impressive nevertheless).

Now, this is something that you would need imagination to use well. I personally like Lu Chen's performance and platter for the performance to I molded mine around his, however, I do encourage all you magic performers to follow your own style

Now,


Effect:

So as you could see, I got some pretty good reactions with a relatively simple routine (this was performed in Japan as well so I'm not setting this up! No stooges!)

So yeah, basically blank cards --> full deck --> blank cards

very simple yet very powerful.


Handling: I wouldn't say that it's VERY simple to use but it's certainly not hard! Compared to something like the Tarentula (I'll do a review of that later), it is easy as pie!

so on a scale of 1 (effortless) to 10 (impossible to use), I'd give it a 3. It is meant to be self-working but there are some sleights as well as some things to look out for when performing this.

Spectator's View: WTF?! This is impossible!

Those are the most common reactions I've gotten. It even reduced those cute Japanese school girls to saying words like 'shit!' so eyah... pretty awesome right? :D

Design: Well... it's cards.... lol

Care: Umm... don't get them wet, keep them straight, don't overuse them. Treat them more delicately than you would with most cards and they should last you something like 300 performances per deck.

Overall: 78/100


Now, I'm a very harsh critic, so even though I thoroughly enjoy performing with this, the fact that you can't give it to the audience to examine is one huge flaw.  But that's about it. There may be some problems with the lifting (you'll know what I mean when you get it).

But all in all, this is worth getting more than the say... Invisible Deck :)