Haha there is 2 Fours now, that's why I needed to indicate the creator! There has been less reviews of Four than FitH so I decided to write this one.
So Four by Huron Low, from Virtuoso, is a DVD that features four (go figure) effects. 3 of them are torn and restored, and the other one is draw on and erase, type of effect. It is $49 and can be found right here. At first I'll review it generally, then all the effects one by one.
Quality:The DVD quality is great, you can see everything very nicely, and the music is kind of nice. To me the quality doesn't really matter though, as long as I can actually see everything I don't care so I'll give it 7/10.
Teaching: The teaching is great, Huron does a very good job teaching these effects. He teaches from an over the shoulder point of view and from the spectator's point of view, and he doesn't miss a thing, especially angles he covers them so well. You do have to know how to force though, he does teach the riffle force though. He also says a couple of jokes while teaching so it makes it much more entertaining. I'll give it a 9/10.
Is it Worth it?: Yes it is, 4 torn and restored effects for 50 dollars, that's a really good deal considering I'll use at least 3 of them (considering the similarity of the 2 Angels I'll probably switch around between the 2 and no perform them together) and the effects really do kill. 9/10
Now I'll review them individually-
Angel
Effect: You draw with a sharpie on the angel of a freely selected card, and then with a waving motion the ink disappears
My thoughts: The effect is very visual and overall it's nice but it does have a few cons, you have to put it back into the deck before handing out, the gimmick is the hardest to make. The pros: restoration is extremely visual, it is very easy to do, probably the easiest trick, gimmick is reusable, and it's angles are a beautiful almost 180 degrees, as long as no one is behind you, you are safe (but who would be, they would want to see the trick, and they'd have to be in front of you.
Angel Redux
Effect: You cut out the Angel of a freely selected signed card, and it visually restores itself, it really is visual.
My Thoughts:The pros, the cons, even the gimmick is exactly the same as Angel with a minor variation to it. So look at Angel and all of the thoughts on it are exactly the same.
Hotspot
Effect: You fold a signed card in half, rip out the middle and put it in your pocket, then rub the hole with your palm and it restores, then (this is my favorite part) you rip the middle out again, and put it in your mouth, then spit it out at the torn area and with no cover the card restores, it looks so good.
My Thoughts:This trick is a close second favorite on the DVD after Making Ends Meet. It's awesome, very visual, very fun, and is not too hard to do. You have to force the card though. The gimmick is very easy to make but is not reusable. The only con of this trick is the clean up which is kind of impractical, Huron even said that it's Bull, but he also said that even though it's bull it does work which is very true, from the couple times I performed it, it did work. It kind of reminds me of the coin-bite, and Huron said that that's where he got the idea. The angles are hard to explain without exposure, but you just have to make sure they are not directly to the side of you, but Huron covers how you can cover up the 2 little places where you can flash so if you listen to his advice your angles are fabulous, they can even technically be behind you, although I wouldn't recommend it. I really like this trick, it rocks.
Making Ends Meet (MEM)
3/4 Restoration
Effect:You take a signed cards, rip it, then put it back together in a creative way, at the end you end up with a long piece, you rip it in half and put it back together by the long ends though so now it's a short but fat piee, than you restore the 3rd piece on the wrong side (wait for it) then it slides its fibres to the right side (that's probably the best part), and you leave it at that. Seeing as restoring it 3/4 way is not impressive he teaches you how to clour change the last piece so that it fits, it has their signature, but it's not the same card because it's a different color, that's why you can't restore it, and that would make a good souvenir, also you can mismatch the last piece so you can say "It works this way, but it doesn't work the other way" and that also would make a good souvenir.
My Thoughts: This trick is the Bomb, it involves a setup but it's very short 20 secs if you are slow, and if you have the presetup card in your pocket you are set. You have to have the gimmick on you if you are doing color change or mismatch. You have to force a card if you are doing gimmick version, and then it's very similar to any other T&R, with all the ripping except the restoration is different, it's cooler. It's not that difficult, let's just say if you can do Torn, you can do this. Your angles aren't horrible but they are more similar to the traditional T&Rs, better in front and not literally to the side of you, but that's only in a couple of stages of the trick and not through out the whole effect. The clean-up is easy and invisible. The effect is great and you'll love it.
Full Restoration
Effect: Is exact same as the 3/4 except when getting to the one that slides fibres in this one you have to do it fast and not slow, and the last piece you restore mismatched (although you don't have to).
My Thoughts:This tricks method is different in the beginning and end. It has pretty much the same angle issues, can't be to the side of you or behind you of course. The difficulty is that it's a little harder to do than the first one. You have to force a card. It has a setup that is very similar to the 3/4 version except, believe it or not, it's shorter and easier. Then everything is similar to the first one, until the end, the last restoration can be angly but it's fine it works, and the clean up is almost the exact same as the first version, and again it's easy and practical. I prefer the first version that's why I'm not as enthusiastic right now, because they can take the piece and the card home and play with it, but with this it's not as good of a souvenir, but it's still nice, in my opinion the 3/4 is better. But overall the trick is really good and I really like performing it.
Well that's about it Overall the DVD is Fantastic and I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn a some great torn and restored effects, it is very ingenious, creative, and best of all new and fresh. I would also like to add about the Ideas & Subtleties, some of them are really good ideas and they alter the performance a bit to fit your style, not all of them are useful but it's nice to look at them because some are really good ideas. It's a great buy and overall I'd give it a 9/10.
FitH Review coming soon.
So Four by Huron Low, from Virtuoso, is a DVD that features four (go figure) effects. 3 of them are torn and restored, and the other one is draw on and erase, type of effect. It is $49 and can be found right here. At first I'll review it generally, then all the effects one by one.
Quality:The DVD quality is great, you can see everything very nicely, and the music is kind of nice. To me the quality doesn't really matter though, as long as I can actually see everything I don't care so I'll give it 7/10.
Teaching: The teaching is great, Huron does a very good job teaching these effects. He teaches from an over the shoulder point of view and from the spectator's point of view, and he doesn't miss a thing, especially angles he covers them so well. You do have to know how to force though, he does teach the riffle force though. He also says a couple of jokes while teaching so it makes it much more entertaining. I'll give it a 9/10.
Is it Worth it?: Yes it is, 4 torn and restored effects for 50 dollars, that's a really good deal considering I'll use at least 3 of them (considering the similarity of the 2 Angels I'll probably switch around between the 2 and no perform them together) and the effects really do kill. 9/10
Now I'll review them individually-
Angel
Effect: You draw with a sharpie on the angel of a freely selected card, and then with a waving motion the ink disappears
My thoughts: The effect is very visual and overall it's nice but it does have a few cons, you have to put it back into the deck before handing out, the gimmick is the hardest to make. The pros: restoration is extremely visual, it is very easy to do, probably the easiest trick, gimmick is reusable, and it's angles are a beautiful almost 180 degrees, as long as no one is behind you, you are safe (but who would be, they would want to see the trick, and they'd have to be in front of you.
Angel Redux
Effect: You cut out the Angel of a freely selected signed card, and it visually restores itself, it really is visual.
My Thoughts:The pros, the cons, even the gimmick is exactly the same as Angel with a minor variation to it. So look at Angel and all of the thoughts on it are exactly the same.
Hotspot
Effect: You fold a signed card in half, rip out the middle and put it in your pocket, then rub the hole with your palm and it restores, then (this is my favorite part) you rip the middle out again, and put it in your mouth, then spit it out at the torn area and with no cover the card restores, it looks so good.
My Thoughts:This trick is a close second favorite on the DVD after Making Ends Meet. It's awesome, very visual, very fun, and is not too hard to do. You have to force the card though. The gimmick is very easy to make but is not reusable. The only con of this trick is the clean up which is kind of impractical, Huron even said that it's Bull, but he also said that even though it's bull it does work which is very true, from the couple times I performed it, it did work. It kind of reminds me of the coin-bite, and Huron said that that's where he got the idea. The angles are hard to explain without exposure, but you just have to make sure they are not directly to the side of you, but Huron covers how you can cover up the 2 little places where you can flash so if you listen to his advice your angles are fabulous, they can even technically be behind you, although I wouldn't recommend it. I really like this trick, it rocks.
Making Ends Meet (MEM)
3/4 Restoration
Effect:You take a signed cards, rip it, then put it back together in a creative way, at the end you end up with a long piece, you rip it in half and put it back together by the long ends though so now it's a short but fat piee, than you restore the 3rd piece on the wrong side (wait for it) then it slides its fibres to the right side (that's probably the best part), and you leave it at that. Seeing as restoring it 3/4 way is not impressive he teaches you how to clour change the last piece so that it fits, it has their signature, but it's not the same card because it's a different color, that's why you can't restore it, and that would make a good souvenir, also you can mismatch the last piece so you can say "It works this way, but it doesn't work the other way" and that also would make a good souvenir.
My Thoughts: This trick is the Bomb, it involves a setup but it's very short 20 secs if you are slow, and if you have the presetup card in your pocket you are set. You have to have the gimmick on you if you are doing color change or mismatch. You have to force a card if you are doing gimmick version, and then it's very similar to any other T&R, with all the ripping except the restoration is different, it's cooler. It's not that difficult, let's just say if you can do Torn, you can do this. Your angles aren't horrible but they are more similar to the traditional T&Rs, better in front and not literally to the side of you, but that's only in a couple of stages of the trick and not through out the whole effect. The clean-up is easy and invisible. The effect is great and you'll love it.
Full Restoration
Effect: Is exact same as the 3/4 except when getting to the one that slides fibres in this one you have to do it fast and not slow, and the last piece you restore mismatched (although you don't have to).
My Thoughts:This tricks method is different in the beginning and end. It has pretty much the same angle issues, can't be to the side of you or behind you of course. The difficulty is that it's a little harder to do than the first one. You have to force a card. It has a setup that is very similar to the 3/4 version except, believe it or not, it's shorter and easier. Then everything is similar to the first one, until the end, the last restoration can be angly but it's fine it works, and the clean up is almost the exact same as the first version, and again it's easy and practical. I prefer the first version that's why I'm not as enthusiastic right now, because they can take the piece and the card home and play with it, but with this it's not as good of a souvenir, but it's still nice, in my opinion the 3/4 is better. But overall the trick is really good and I really like performing it.
Well that's about it Overall the DVD is Fantastic and I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn a some great torn and restored effects, it is very ingenious, creative, and best of all new and fresh. I would also like to add about the Ideas & Subtleties, some of them are really good ideas and they alter the performance a bit to fit your style, not all of them are useful but it's nice to look at them because some are really good ideas. It's a great buy and overall I'd give it a 9/10.
FitH Review coming soon.
