Liquid Metal by Morgan Strebler - my review
Buy it: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=891
Price: $27.95 (after discount) for the DVD, $22.95 (after discount) for the instant download
Demo: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=891
Although this is considered an "old trick" by any standards of magic sales (since most products go stale after a couple weeks), I've yet to see a comprehensive review on this and feel the need to write one. Few tricks have as few downsides as this, nor are more confusing to get started with (WHERE ARE THE FORKS?!), so this also could possibly serve as an aftermarket manual, written by a frequent user.
To give you some background, I've blown through about 5,000+ forks and performed this at many gigs, casual bar parties, meet ups with friends, etc over the past 4 years. I consider it my favorite effect.
The following is my two cents on Liquid Metal ...
The DVD
The DVD itself has cool transitions, very clear picture and great sound. There's no music and it's not HD, however the quality of the material along with how many versions of teaching it offers make up for this. Add in 8 full length performances for live people in Vegas and you have a winner for this price point.
Introduction
This is the demonstration video located here:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=891
Note: The mohawk performance and the guy saying "WHOOOOAH!" isn't included in the Performance section
Performance - 25 mins
The DVD inclues 8 performances of the entire, two fork routine. All performances take place in Vegas, mostly on the strip, although others are done on a bridge between casinos. Each includes both Phase 1 and Phase 2, and as other people have written, most spectators are drunk.
- Teenagers after some engagement party
- Two teen girls at night
- Holly and her friend
- On the bridge (guy picks up fork)
- Two California blondes and girls from South Africa
- Drunk Jackie
- Loud inside the club with a Shelley Long (Diane from Cheers) look-a-like
- Teen girls and drunk Richard
- Morgan talks about dealing with drunks (Richard)
Explanation
The explanations are very thorough, his main one being filmed in studio. Great care is taken to teach the corkscrew along with his personal subtleties that make it more magical.
Method - 14 mins
Morgan explains his inspiration for creating Liquid Metal, along with where to get the forks.
Preset - creating the fork for Phase 1. The corkscrew was invented by Banachek (on his Psychokinetic Silverware DVD):
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=16
Phase 1 - fork selection and breaking
The spectator selects which fork to begin with. A twist appears in the fork after you only rub it with your fingertips. Then after the spectator extends their index finger in a pointing jesture, the fork head magically bends over 120 degrees, finally breaking off.
Morgan recommends doing this to women (which is SO true) for the better reactions.
Phase 2 - tine bend
Includes the hair stroke subtlety, and display of a single tine bend.
Phase 3 - thumb bend
As you bring the fork up to your spectator's face, the fork body bends in half. Plus the fork flip
Phase 4 - corkscrew
Largely considered the hardest move of this routine, and includes the full display of the fork before you place into their hand. Once inside however, the fork body magically bends across while the spectator can feel it happening.
Phase 5 - three tine bend
As you roll up your sleeves, the other 3 tines of your fork suddenly bend outward, creating a metallic flower illusion.
Phase 6 - handle bend display
In the last phase of his routine, the fork body bends over to create the ultimate souvenir.
Teaching Session - 31 mins
Jay joins Morgan in the studio, learning the effect. This is my favorite section since Jay asks great questions, and they include a top-down camera for a better view in some parts. Live performance snippets are crammed in several times during the explanations, providing a bridge between explanation and real world performances.
Recap - 6 mins
Morgan reviews every move by itself without any patter.
Credits
Corkscrew - 4 mins
The corkscrew method, but applied to a single tine. Requires a rediculous amount of finger strength.
Fork U Fork - 2 mins
Bending a fork to represent a middle finger. I don't personally do this, since my policy is just to ignore obnoxious spectators but hey if that's your style then it's probably fun.
Key Bending - 8 mins
After a brief performance with the mohawk chick, Morgan shows you how to bend a spectator's key. You do run the risk of ruining a key that they needed, so obviously make it crystal clear that it's an old, unused key before starting.
"If you take the time to learn this, it will be as close to real magic as possible" - Morgan
Silverware vs Metal
Many people compare Banachek's Psychokinetic Silverware DVD against Liquid Metal:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=16
And Banachek's DVD is wonderful (and even one inspiration for Liquid Metal according to Morgan), however it's more of a slow, heavy mentalism routine rather than a fun party type of routine. If your show consists of very serious mentalism, then Banachek is probably preferred over this. However, if you're just looking for a fun, quick, exciting routine to bring a party to your tables, then Liquid Metal is the clear choice. IMHO of course.
Subleties
I want to take a moment to introduce a couple of subtleties that I personally use for this:
The first is a fully clean display of a Phase 2's single tine bend, where it appears that nothing is bent. I got this off David Penn's Lecture DVD:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorderproduct.php?ID=10794
The basic advantage is: They see a completely in tact fork, then you wave it up and down, causing the first tine bend to appear. It was at your fingertips the entire time, plus you insist the spectators watch you, so they can burn the fork. I love this subtlety, and thanks David Penn for the two cents on your DVD!
The second is Dual Control by Michael Vincent:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorderproduct.php?ID=11925
Where you cause a fork to stick to your wide open hand, apparently defying gravity. I've only recently started using this, but it's great for walk up, to gain immediate interest in your forks. It replaces "Hey wanna see a fork trick?!"
The third is to have your spectator turn their hand over during the "You'll feel it twist in your hand" section. I got the idea from a forum post, and have been using it ever since a spectator just opened their hand during that phase, and handed the fork to their friend.
The fourth is a fork switch for Phase 1. Inspiration from seeing a holdout method, I installed two small magnets on a suit jacket to grab a regular fork, and allow the Phase 1 gimmicked fork to drop from my sleeve. This provides a clean display and examination of both forks before the trick begins.
An alternative method that won't work surrounded is to simply have a magnet in your back pocket, and a prepped fork on the outside. This is obviously bad if someone is behind you, but I've gotten away with it many times. The basic workings is this:
Have your prepped fork magnet held to your back pocket. Hold 2 normal forks, having them examined then finally holding both together in your right hand so they almost appear as one fork. Then reach out your left hand during the pre-talk (body heat), ditching and switching at the same time. Basically, drop and yank quickly. With a little practice, it's very easy and natural.
Fifth, I use a body heat plotline. "Not much is understood about body heat", blab about spontaneous combustion, etc. This opens the door for my audience's free joke about "you ARE hot!" and gets them laughing and participating more, rather than just staring at me yanking two forks around.
Sixth, I bend the tines of the first broken fork head when people aren't looking. Another idea off the forum, and a great one! The misdirection of people examining the second fork provides ample time for you to grab the first fork head and bend away. Many, many spectators grab it later, and ask what the heck happened.
Seventh, many times I can't roll up my sleeves because I'm in Texas and it's 102 degrees outside. Instead I mostly use "Most people think I'm using my sleeves, but obviously I have none today".
Eighth, instead of using my hand and thumb for Phase 2, I put the fork in between my first three fingers instead. I find that since you're displaying at the fingertips anyhow, it's actually slightly faster from tips to tips instead of full hand grip to tips. This allows me to get away with a seated, very close Phase 2 without anybody seeing a "move".
Lastly, when pre-bending your Phase 1 fork for performances I highly recommend doing it with some channel lock pliers with a thin layer of rubber glued on the inside. This saves your hands for prepping 100+ for a big night.
Someone also posted the "double corkscrew" idea on a forum. I did try this, but got no better reactions than the single one, so never really adopted it.
Buy it: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=891
Price: $27.95 (after discount) for the DVD, $22.95 (after discount) for the instant download
Demo: http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=891
Although this is considered an "old trick" by any standards of magic sales (since most products go stale after a couple weeks), I've yet to see a comprehensive review on this and feel the need to write one. Few tricks have as few downsides as this, nor are more confusing to get started with (WHERE ARE THE FORKS?!), so this also could possibly serve as an aftermarket manual, written by a frequent user.
To give you some background, I've blown through about 5,000+ forks and performed this at many gigs, casual bar parties, meet ups with friends, etc over the past 4 years. I consider it my favorite effect.
The following is my two cents on Liquid Metal ...
The DVD
The DVD itself has cool transitions, very clear picture and great sound. There's no music and it's not HD, however the quality of the material along with how many versions of teaching it offers make up for this. Add in 8 full length performances for live people in Vegas and you have a winner for this price point.
Introduction
This is the demonstration video located here:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=891
Note: The mohawk performance and the guy saying "WHOOOOAH!" isn't included in the Performance section
Performance - 25 mins
The DVD inclues 8 performances of the entire, two fork routine. All performances take place in Vegas, mostly on the strip, although others are done on a bridge between casinos. Each includes both Phase 1 and Phase 2, and as other people have written, most spectators are drunk.
- Teenagers after some engagement party
- Two teen girls at night
- Holly and her friend
- On the bridge (guy picks up fork)
- Two California blondes and girls from South Africa
- Drunk Jackie
- Loud inside the club with a Shelley Long (Diane from Cheers) look-a-like
- Teen girls and drunk Richard
- Morgan talks about dealing with drunks (Richard)
Explanation
The explanations are very thorough, his main one being filmed in studio. Great care is taken to teach the corkscrew along with his personal subtleties that make it more magical.
Method - 14 mins
Morgan explains his inspiration for creating Liquid Metal, along with where to get the forks.
Preset - creating the fork for Phase 1. The corkscrew was invented by Banachek (on his Psychokinetic Silverware DVD):
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=16
Phase 1 - fork selection and breaking
The spectator selects which fork to begin with. A twist appears in the fork after you only rub it with your fingertips. Then after the spectator extends their index finger in a pointing jesture, the fork head magically bends over 120 degrees, finally breaking off.
Morgan recommends doing this to women (which is SO true) for the better reactions.
Phase 2 - tine bend
Includes the hair stroke subtlety, and display of a single tine bend.
Phase 3 - thumb bend
As you bring the fork up to your spectator's face, the fork body bends in half. Plus the fork flip
Phase 4 - corkscrew
Largely considered the hardest move of this routine, and includes the full display of the fork before you place into their hand. Once inside however, the fork body magically bends across while the spectator can feel it happening.
Phase 5 - three tine bend
As you roll up your sleeves, the other 3 tines of your fork suddenly bend outward, creating a metallic flower illusion.
Phase 6 - handle bend display
In the last phase of his routine, the fork body bends over to create the ultimate souvenir.
Teaching Session - 31 mins
Jay joins Morgan in the studio, learning the effect. This is my favorite section since Jay asks great questions, and they include a top-down camera for a better view in some parts. Live performance snippets are crammed in several times during the explanations, providing a bridge between explanation and real world performances.
Recap - 6 mins
Morgan reviews every move by itself without any patter.
Credits
Corkscrew - 4 mins
The corkscrew method, but applied to a single tine. Requires a rediculous amount of finger strength.
Fork U Fork - 2 mins
Bending a fork to represent a middle finger. I don't personally do this, since my policy is just to ignore obnoxious spectators but hey if that's your style then it's probably fun.
Key Bending - 8 mins
After a brief performance with the mohawk chick, Morgan shows you how to bend a spectator's key. You do run the risk of ruining a key that they needed, so obviously make it crystal clear that it's an old, unused key before starting.
"If you take the time to learn this, it will be as close to real magic as possible" - Morgan
Silverware vs Metal
Many people compare Banachek's Psychokinetic Silverware DVD against Liquid Metal:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=16
And Banachek's DVD is wonderful (and even one inspiration for Liquid Metal according to Morgan), however it's more of a slow, heavy mentalism routine rather than a fun party type of routine. If your show consists of very serious mentalism, then Banachek is probably preferred over this. However, if you're just looking for a fun, quick, exciting routine to bring a party to your tables, then Liquid Metal is the clear choice. IMHO of course.
Subleties
I want to take a moment to introduce a couple of subtleties that I personally use for this:
The first is a fully clean display of a Phase 2's single tine bend, where it appears that nothing is bent. I got this off David Penn's Lecture DVD:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorderproduct.php?ID=10794
The basic advantage is: They see a completely in tact fork, then you wave it up and down, causing the first tine bend to appear. It was at your fingertips the entire time, plus you insist the spectators watch you, so they can burn the fork. I love this subtlety, and thanks David Penn for the two cents on your DVD!
The second is Dual Control by Michael Vincent:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorderproduct.php?ID=11925
Where you cause a fork to stick to your wide open hand, apparently defying gravity. I've only recently started using this, but it's great for walk up, to gain immediate interest in your forks. It replaces "Hey wanna see a fork trick?!"
The third is to have your spectator turn their hand over during the "You'll feel it twist in your hand" section. I got the idea from a forum post, and have been using it ever since a spectator just opened their hand during that phase, and handed the fork to their friend.
The fourth is a fork switch for Phase 1. Inspiration from seeing a holdout method, I installed two small magnets on a suit jacket to grab a regular fork, and allow the Phase 1 gimmicked fork to drop from my sleeve. This provides a clean display and examination of both forks before the trick begins.
An alternative method that won't work surrounded is to simply have a magnet in your back pocket, and a prepped fork on the outside. This is obviously bad if someone is behind you, but I've gotten away with it many times. The basic workings is this:
Have your prepped fork magnet held to your back pocket. Hold 2 normal forks, having them examined then finally holding both together in your right hand so they almost appear as one fork. Then reach out your left hand during the pre-talk (body heat), ditching and switching at the same time. Basically, drop and yank quickly. With a little practice, it's very easy and natural.
Fifth, I use a body heat plotline. "Not much is understood about body heat", blab about spontaneous combustion, etc. This opens the door for my audience's free joke about "you ARE hot!" and gets them laughing and participating more, rather than just staring at me yanking two forks around.
Sixth, I bend the tines of the first broken fork head when people aren't looking. Another idea off the forum, and a great one! The misdirection of people examining the second fork provides ample time for you to grab the first fork head and bend away. Many, many spectators grab it later, and ask what the heck happened.
Seventh, many times I can't roll up my sleeves because I'm in Texas and it's 102 degrees outside. Instead I mostly use "Most people think I'm using my sleeves, but obviously I have none today".
Eighth, instead of using my hand and thumb for Phase 2, I put the fork in between my first three fingers instead. I find that since you're displaying at the fingertips anyhow, it's actually slightly faster from tips to tips instead of full hand grip to tips. This allows me to get away with a seated, very close Phase 2 without anybody seeing a "move".
Lastly, when pre-bending your Phase 1 fork for performances I highly recommend doing it with some channel lock pliers with a thin layer of rubber glued on the inside. This saves your hands for prepping 100+ for a big night.
Someone also posted the "double corkscrew" idea on a forum. I did try this, but got no better reactions than the single one, so never really adopted it.
