In response to Phillip’s request in Episode 69, here is my review of “How to Do Street Magic” by ellusionist. The product page is long and, as usual with ellusionist, features loads of hype. Here it is:
http://www.ellusionist.com/html/text1.htmlThis is the first product I purchased from ellusionist, and it remains one of the best products I have purchased from ellusionist, despite the fact that I personally did not obtain much of value from it. I am not a huge fan of E, but do believe this DVD delivers what is promised: a decent array of effects, covering cards, coins, invisible thread, and more, to get the beginning magician off the ground. That being said, it is definitely a product for the BEGINNER. Anyone who has spent much time in the books will know most of these effects already. That’s right – none of these are original effects. Nor are they new. These are tricks that have been around for awhile, and, for the most part, have stood the test of time.
So, what do you get for your $50? In order of appearance, the effects are as follows:
Burned: This is a basic handling of ashes on the arm. The spectator picks a card and writes its name on a billet. The billet is then burned. When the magician rubs the ashes on his arm, the name of the card appears.
GlassStinger: This is the old glass through table trick. The magician covers a glass with a napkin, places the glass (with napkin covering it) over a quarter on a table, lifts the glass to check the quarter, returns the glass to the table and then crushes the napkin to reveal the glass has penetrated the table.
SickAces: This is a very basic cutting to the Aces routine. The spectator makes four piles, moves some cards around, and lo and behold, the top cards of each pile are turned to reveal they are Aces.
TraceUnseen: This is a card to anywhere effect in which the spectator selects a card, the card is revealed to have vanished from the deck, and then is found in an impossible location, such as the spectator’s pocket.
Merger: A hole is torn into a business card, it is placed on a string, the spectator holds the ends of the string, and, under cover of a scarf or napkin, the magician removes the card from the string.
TrickSwitch: This is another name for “Designed for Laughter,” an effect out of Royal Road employing the glide in which the magician appears to get the spectator’s chosen card wrong, but then turns out to be correct.
VoodooZone: This is a basic handling of CardWarp by Roy Walton. A card is folded in half, placed inside another card, and appears to turn itself inside out.
Go Inside Sugar: This highly creative name says it all. A borrowed quarter is placed in the magician’s hand with a sugar packet. The magician closes his hand, and when he opens it, the quarter is gone. He tears open the sugar packet, at which point the quarter appears to fall out.
George’s Old Trick: Not really a trick, but instead a demonstration of the Down’s palm.
One Hand Coin Table Vanish: Another name that tells you all you need to know. A method of vanishing a coin with one hand by rubbing it into the table.
ChanceZero: Another name given to “Out of this World” by Paul Curry. A red and black card are dealt face up to the table. The spectator is asked to deal out cards face down onto both piles in a seemingly random fashion as the magician mentally guides each decision. The piles are turned over to reveal that the spectator has dealt only red cards to the red face up card and black cards to the black face up card.
Print: Self-printing business card by Michael Ammar. A business card is shown on both sides to be blank, but then appears to print itself as it is passed through the magician’s hand.
Melted: A finger ring appears to melt off a string as the string is held in the spectator’s hand.
Balducci Levitation: The most well known and versatile of the levitations. David Blaine made his career off this. The magician stands at an angle and with his back to his spectators and appears to lift a few inches off the ground.
Vegas Card Change: A demonstration of the Downs top change. The bottom card is pushed over face up, the deck is turned down and the magician appears to set that card on the table, but it is then turned to reveal a different card.
Floating Dollar Bill: This is, duh, the floating dollar bill effect. Basic handling, but with an impractical setup.
Brad Christian also demonstrates and teaches a few card and coin flourishes, as well as the Erdnase color change, the spin color change, and the throw card vanish.
Overall, I thought the teaching on this video was above average, but without much in the way of presentational advice or nuance. Brad goes through what any beginner would need to know to perform each effect. There is no real discussion of routining and not much in the way of patter, but with a little practice, most beginners should be able to perform these effects without difficulty. The question is whether this DVD merits the $50 ellusionist is asking for it (and this was a promotional price!). While this is generally good material, virtually all these effects can be found much cheaper (in some cases, even free) in other sources.
I should note that while the production values of this DVD are very good, it appears amateurish in other, often unintentionally humorous, ways. You can definitely see Brad going for an “urban and gritty” feel. He employs tight shirts, black eyeliner, industrial settings, and black draped models of varying degrees of attractiveness but uniformly poor acting skills reading cue cards about how cool “Street Magic” is and how you can use it to become a local god in your neighborhood. You will even get to hear Brad’s now infamous line, “How high did I go?” in the Balducci segment. If you’re a completist intent on owning the entire ellusionist canon, you will definitely need this DVD.
So, bottom line: ellusionist fanboys and beginning magicians with more money than time, this product is for you. For those of you at intermediate level or beyond, you’re unlikely to find anything here you don’t already know and almost certainly not enough to justify the high price tag.
