Woodyland-Disc 1

I really don't know where to begin with this review. I suppose the best course of action is to tackle each disc in turn. I really really wanted to jump ahead and listen to Woody's thoughts on stacked decks, the main content of disc 4, but I managed to resist. Over the course of a week, I have managed to absorb each disc, in order, returning to certain effects as I saw fit. I'll try and structure this as best I can. Without further ado, I give you, disc 1 of 4, "The Live Show".

With the insertion of the first disc, we are immediately presented with an effect for us, the viewer of the disc. This interactive trick is representative of a lot of Woody's material. Woody has us, at home, think of a card from a spread, and arrive at a mentally selected number. Sure enough, the digital Woody, sitting inside your DVD player will (hopefully) divine the exact card you were thinking of, having it arrive at your thought of number. This little piece of interactive magic allows you to get a flavour for Woody's style and type of magic. We then see a group of Portuguese (I assume, due to several references throughout to the difference between the Spanish and Portuguese language) dignitaries take their seat in a very smart, intimate close-up performance area. The aim of Disc 1 is to provide you with a view as to how Woody structures a close-up show; this aim is achieved perfectly. I really admire this style, as it allows me to clearly watch a full show, yet be able to skip ahead when reviewing or refreshing myself with a particular effect. I have witnessed other performers, for whom English is not their native tongue, struggle to deliver a message effectively to an English speaking audience. This is NOT THE CASE with Mr Aragon. His Spanish tone brings those friendly qualities we so admire in his brethren (Tamariz, DaOrtiz, Rioboo, et al), yet does not inhibit an English speakers understanding of the point in question.

The first effect presented to the audience, Woody calls, "Divination Ring" had me grinning. I will use this! Regularly! Without giving too much away, this effect is a perfect opener in any situation whereby you want to grab the attention of a large number of people relatively quickly. With a fantastic self-deprecating denouement, Woody has everyone laughing, whilst simultaneously scratching their heads. This is the type of effect that, once stored away in your memory bank, is sure to save your bacon some day. No props to carry yet you are able to entertain a good sized crowd!

The show proceeds with a mix of new effects as well as some that have seen print before. Whilst I enjoyed watching the performance of all of these effects, there were two things that stood out as being worth commenting on.

Firstly, Woody first introduces us to his Suite concept. I wish I could talk more about this concept, however, I really believe you should see Woody demonstrate and explain his thoughts. To describe without revealing, I will simply say that Woody gives us a method by which we can summarise a close-up performance, before moving onto our closing effect. This allows you to give your audience a recap of all of the magic you have performed, refreshing, or perhaps "adjusting" their perception of what transpired over the course of your show. I found Woody's full theory on this concept to be fascinating. This is certainly something that I would like to try and incorporate into my own close-up work.

For me, one of the effects that really stood out on this first disc was "Weighing the Cards". I had read Woody's method to this effect in "A Book In English", and was already a fan. Seeing him perform it really cemented for me it's practicality in a close-up environment. To see the effect performed really helped demonstrate how the structure of the routine has been designed to generate the biggest impact possible. Whilst you may choose to perform this close-up at a table, "Weighing the Cards" was clearly designed as more of a parlor piece. I, however, will make sure to master this routine, for those times when you are asked, last minute, to do something on stage for everyone.

Once the show is complete, Woody sits down and gives us his personal opinion on the use of structure and design when bringing together a show. Whether this is a formal parlor type show, a close-up table hopping environment, or informal for friends, Woody has something to share. I found this section to be really useful. The idea of structuring a show around 3 parts is nothing new, yet Woody delivers some fantastic advice to truly maximise the reaction you get from each stage of your, hopefully, structured set.

The bonus section of this first disc starts the first of four interviews with Woody. Again, I really enjoyed these. Woody throws ideas around that I found to be absolute gold, I wonder if he even knows the value of some of these little sentences and quips he makes.

All-in-all, I thought Disc 1 was a fantastic start to the set. I laughed, I was fooled, and I took away some effects that I have no doubt, will make their way into my repertoire.

Onwards to Disc 2.....

p.s. I really think we may have the best price on this set in the UK. Bear in mind this price includes free next working day shipping to the UK Mainland. Click here to read more!

Woodyland-Part One

So I arrived at work one miserable, wet, day last week to find Dave, one of our regular customers, curled up on the cold-wet pavement outside. Dave's icy fingers were as blue as the deck of Aviators he had fallen asleep clutching. I could have sworn he was snoring to the tune of Rachmaninoff's "Flight of the Bumblebee". No he hadn't been thrown out of his house. I knew Dave was waiting for something special. I reached out to shake him. Waking with a jump he yelled out "ANY CARD IS POSSIBLE!!". Taking Dave into the warmth of our shop, he told me about a strange dream he had had wherein appeared a vision of Ascanio, telling him something special was coming, and he should camp out in front of our shop overnight. Just as Dave finished his cup of tea, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and a bright light appeared outside (well I say appeared, they were the headlights of a UPS van. Don't shoot me for wanting this to sound more theatrical!). The driver, dressed all in beige, dropped off a crate at our door, and vanished into the fog. I saw Dave's eyes cloud over. He pushed me aside. It was like watching the distinguished Dr Jekyll transmogrify into the hulking Mr Hyde. Dave tore the sides off the crate with his bare hands and held aloft his prize that had been lying within. Woodyland was finally here. The ghost of Ascanio had been right!

Dave shot from the shop, leaving behind a Dave shaped cloud of dust. After we managed to get the door back on it's hinges, we placed the remaining copies of Woodyland onto the shelves. The long wait was finally over!This is going to take me some time to fully share all of my thoughts on this DVD set. I am a huge fan of Woody's work and have really enjoyed absorbing all four discs. Over the next few posts, I will share with you my thoughts on this fantastic set.

The UnMemorized Deck by Marcelo Insua

I really want to love this, but the little Tamariz that keeps popping up on my shoulder tells me to bin it. I'm really unsure. I'll start with a few things I'm not keen on. First of all, I absolutely hate the trailer. What a total waste of time. 1 minute, 29 seconds worth of nothing. If your advert/trailer doesn't provide the customer with at least a basic overview of the product, then don't bother. I know I am being picky here, as this has absolutely nothing to do with the final product, but this is a practice I see becoming increasingly common. It achieves absolutely nothing. I see a trailer like this and I think either the effect is so crap it's not worth showing, or it's so simple a trailer would give away the secret. In this case, neither is applicable, Marcelo has created a solid routine, that I know has fooled some really knowledgeable people. Secondly, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of a description in the ad copy. I saw Marcelo lecture quite recently, and when we ordered this product, I really couldn't be sure what it was we were ordering. Let me get some more negatives out the way, and I will give you how I would have written the ad copy. I personally found the English dubbing to be a little bit too conversational for my liking. Whilst Marcelo certainly explained everything quite effectively, I thought the English dubbing was far from properly scripted. It felt like the translation we received was a result of Marcelo watching the Spanish performance through once, and explaining it in English as he went. Again, a minor point but I thought it was quite funny that Marcelo picked his daughter to use in the explanation section. The poor girl clearly did not give a toss about sitting through another one of her dad's card tricks. Made me laugh though :) Lastly, whilst I am no expert on the fundamental principle being used here, I personally know of a few more names who should have been credited. 

Let me help Marcelo with some ad copy. This, to me, is how it should have read:

The UnMemorized Deck by Marcelo Insua

A group of spectator's assist in helping the magician shuffle a deck of cards. These cards can be borrowed and in any condition, there are NO special cards used at all! After the deck is seemingly mixed, the magician seemingly memorises the position of each and every card in the deck in a ridiculously short time! Having spectators remove and return cards VERY FREELY, he proceeds to name them by simply looking for the cards that no longer fit with his memorised deck! Making conditions even harder for himself, the magician mixes the cards face-up and face-down. One last selection, and he seems to be struggling! What ho! A miraculous turn of events transpires. With the merest snap of his fingers, the deck magically rights itself, with the exception of one card, the final selection! As a final demonstration, the cards are shuffled once more and a spectator is handed a mixed up portion. After freely naming any suit, the magician names each and every card of that suit that now resides within the spectators hand!

O.K. So with all that out of the way, I bet you're thinking what's left to like. Well I'll tell ya! First of all, this is a really easy system to learn. It's going to take hours rather than days to become totally confident with the fundamental idea behind the routine. Secondly, the routine, as I experienced when Marcelo lectured, is really fooling. Thirdly, there really is quite a bit of magic jammed into such a nice little routine. 

Let me summarise. I personally don't know when I would use this routine when working. It's something I really will put the time into learning in order to demonstrate it in the shop, and will file away in my mind under "Tricks to fool the lad's at the magic circle (who didn't go to Marcelo's lecture) or for the real arse who insists you do something with their cards". I don't see myself going to this routine regularly as a performance piece. On the flip-side, If I was looking to perform in a more intimate venue, seated at a table perhaps, then I would really give The UnMemorized Deck some serious thought. If you find yourself regularly at a table with a deck of cards in hand this is ideal. I can imagine this going down a storm during the break in a night of poker. It's a great way to create the illusion of fully memorising a deck of cards. Are laypeople likely to appreciate the cleanliness of the selection and returning of their card, I'm not sure. Will it fry those people more familiar with the usual methods used to identify a selected card? Definitely!

Overall, a good solid routine. Didn't knock my socks off as anything revolutionary but I think in the right venue, at the right time, this routine would kill.

Trailer:

The Shaw Control

I thought it might be of interest to share the videos that I sent to Joshua Jay as a demonstration of my single card control to the bottom of the deck. This control was subsequently published in the September 2012 issue of Magic Magazine.
Performance:

Explanation:

Please do not hesitate to get in touch or comment if you have any questions or criticisms.
Enjoy :)

Thinking the Impossible: The Birth of Amazement Through Subtlety by Ramon Rioboo

It has been a really great year for lovers of magic books. I realise that there will always be a hefty number of people lacking the time, ability or inclination to sit and read a book on magic, but I know they are undoubtedly missing out on some of the finest magic available. I read a lot. A hellish amount. I've grown to realise that there is a fantastically strong correlation between the quality of a magic book, and how Spanish the author's name sounds.

Up until six months ago, I had never, sadly, heard of Ramon Rioboo. It wasn't until we procured several copies of "Thinking The Impossible" (available here) that I became aware of this pasteboard powerhouse. Borrowing a copy, I devoured it over the course of one night. I have revisited the book several times now, savouring each and every word, and although cliched, there really is something for everyone in here.

Ramon opens the book by explaining, in great depth and covering some excellent subtleties, some basic tools of his trade. This section includes some fantastic thoughts on how to practice your card magic, an elegantly simple card addition, the good-old (but sadly underused) crimp, the principle of equal piles, as well as a whole host of ideas using "treated  cards". 

Jumping ahead, I took greatest interest in the chapter titled "No Preparation and Light on Sleights". Opening this chapter, Ramon discusses how best to hide the mathematical nature of sleight-free card tricks. He really does not disappoint. 16 solid effects are then explained in expert detail, covering every nuance and subtlety required in order to squeeze maximum potential out of each one. "In the Bluff", the very first trick in the book, has had me enthralled. I have performed this trick at every opportunity, both for magicians in the shop, and laypeople outside, and have had nothing but fantastic reactions. After changing the presentation to suit me a little bit-more (I may just upload a video of this at some point), I find it fantastic when it leaves knowledgeable magicians stumped, the layfolk love it. I have strong feelings toward all of the tricks in this first chapter, they are ideal as those tricks that sit in the back of your mind until a friend throws you a deck of cards down the pub and asks you to dance. No skill, totally independent of the type of deck you are working with, and real fooling and entertaining magic. This chapter, whilst simple in methodology, delivers effects that will, if Ramon's subtleties are followed, will also fool your magical brethren at your next magic session. 

Jumping ahead, the next chapter "With Some Simple Preparation", explains two of my favourite effects in the book. These are real killers, and are probably going to find a home amongst my entry for this years entry in the Newcastle Magic Circle's "Lennox Shield Close-up Competion". 

Ramon has a fantastic chapter dedicated to his work with Tamariz's Mnemonica (and other stacks), in in which he details five effects that are sure to appeal to lovers of stack work.

"Duplicates, gimmicks and special cards" has some real killer effects, and whilst I don't think the majority of people will find a home for these in their real-world working repertoire (i.e. table hopping), they are fantastic effects that deserve your attention. 

Ramon finishes the book with a chapter on "The Treated Card", which I must admit, I have yet to fully absorb. If these effects follow their predecessors, I am sure they are of the highest caliber. 

Once again, this book has confirmed my belief that you can take a solid bet on anything published by "The Hermetic Press", or from any author originating from that part of the world with such an amazing reputation for producing fantastic cardmen. 

I highly recommend this book!