I'm pretty bored this evening, so I think I'll start a totally in-depth review of the Trilogy. I feel like the contents of these dvd's are so incredible I have to say something about every aspect of it. This 3 disc (disk?) set of magic, flourishes, and everything else is extremely handy. The tricks are very well taught, as well as the flourishes, and the third disc is just full of fun stuff. Well, let's go on, shall we?
Disc One: Tricks
The 13 tricks in this DVD are all done with a regular deck. No gimmicks, dupes, whatever. Purely skill. The ideas, sleights, and effects are extremely smart and should not be taken for granted. However, you’ve gotta have some prior magic skill when learning these. You want your basic sleights down and stuff. It’s a bit more on the difficult side. When learning these, I suggest perfecting one effect at a time before performing, so you can perform it well and avoid exposure...but I'm sure you already knew that.
Tivo Transpo
This trick is pretty cool. My card magic preference is transpositioning tricks, so this just got to me. It's a very smooth trick, and it just flows like water when it's perfected. The slights are wonderful and can be applied to many other effects.
Tivo 2.0*
Again, another transpositioning trick that appealed to me. This one is more visual, and that's what I like best about this effect. However, the core sleight in this trick, I think, MUST be perfected for it to look really good. It's a sort of simple method, but complex at the same time.
Subway
This effect is very chill. Visually seeing a card travel from your right hand to your left just boggles my mind just thinking about it. It teaches my favorite control, The DMB spread control. This control is very very very useful and can be applied to all sorts of tricks. Also, the card is not only traveling from one hand to the other, but it travels SPECIFICALLY in between two flipped up cards in the other hand. That is just a phenomenal idea.
Card Across
This effect is pretty fascinating. It teaches a double lift which is reallly undetectable and already I've started using it for my effects. The misdirection is fantastic-you can almost do anything with the time you've distracted your audience with. Aaron Fisher's move (I forgot the name) is a bit difficult, but once you get the hang of it, add timing and expertise and you've got a wonderful piece to perform.
Hand to Mouth
Pretty much the same effect as above, but the card goes straight to your mouth! This gets such a great reaction. It happens right in front of your audience but they don't even know it. That's the fun of this trick =)
Deja Vu
Well, when i perform some tricks, I like to have really intriguing patter. I'll talk about reading minds, eye movement, body posture, stuff like that if I'm doing mentalism. After learning this trick, I've decided to add the topic of Deja Vu to my repertoire of patter. I perform this trick as a compliment to it, and my audience is just stunned. There's a minor transposition in this effect, and i like that part of it.
Twinsplit Remix
This is one of my most favorite trick in the DVD. It's the most visual, yet short and sweet. It's on the more difficult side, but take my word for it-it is worth every minute of practice. Just the split is a fun effect to perform. Normally I'll just do that part of it, along with my patter. My patter goes something like this: You have the seven of diamonds , and the 5 of diamonds as a hand in Texas HOld em. On the river there is a 3 of clubs, 6 of clubs, and miraculously 3 aces. If you want the last ace of diamonds, here's what you do. Ditch the five of diamonds on your lap or something, and hold up the seven of diamonds. At this point I'll Perform Twinsplit remix and Show a six and ace of diamonds. Ultimately I'll win that hand.
Hofzzy Osbourne*
By far my most favorite trick in the dvd. It's hardhitting and gets fantastic reactions everytime. The sleights taught are so useful. the 4for4 switch, riffle force, and the asher twist, to name a few. Literally, my spectators are left either speechless, or frantically search the deck for some kind of dupe or gimmick. Thankfully the Buck twins have left me squeaky clean.
The Queens
This effect I perform most. one by one the queens disappear, only to reappear again in a beautiful manner. It's very visual, and smooth as butter to perform. The sleights are pretty cool once you've mastered them, and the final display is magnificent. Be sure to make this trick one of the first you learn-you'll love it.
Swiss made
One of the simpler tricks, if not the simplest. However, you can choose whether or not to use the Discrepancy Dribble Control. If you do, and master it, it can be the most convincing control out there. The core move in Swiss made is simple, yet very very smart. The clean up is a little knacky for me, but I got the hang of it. If you can, check out Jordan Lapping's video "Time Machine" On youtube. His performance is beautiful and his minor alternative to leaving the original card on top of the deck is ingenious.
Collectors
This tricks is pretty pretty cool, I must say. when you have the performance down, your audience will have absolutely no way of finding out how you did it. You end completely clean, and you have the two chosen selections in between the aces of like colors. How can you go wrong?
Hedbergs Peak
Again, a simpler trick, but easily boggles laymen and magicians alike. Once the audience thinks they know what's going on, you completely distort their thoughts and show the new ending. Very very cool indeed.
69
Don't get too excited it's a card trick guys. A packet trick in fact. The modified Dracula count is too appealing and even fools me sometimes. Having the 4 6's turn into the four nines is a cool, simple idea I'm sure you guys will enjoy.
This DVD is fantastic. It's worth wayyy more than the $30 you'll be spending here for it. The teaching and camera angles are great. And if that isn't enough for you guys, the OTS is very useful as well. All right, onto the flourishes.
Disc Two: Flourishes
As a "sequel," if you will, to The System, the flourishes segment of the Trilogy features a new teaching system for you guys. It also teaches in phases sometimes, making the bigger flourishes easier to learn and memorize. They show the flourishes at multiple angles, along with sentence blurbs for added support. That, along with practice, should make a flourisher even better, along with a bigger and better arsenal of flourishes. Kudos Dan and Dave, you’ve done it again.
Carnahan Fan*
My favorite fan of all time. It's lightning fast, big, and flashy, and all that jazz. Combine it with a right hand smear fan or something and you have this wonderful display of 52 cards. Very appealing. Or, if you’re feeling up for it, a full deck Carnahan is in order.
Molecule Four**
The fourth installment in the Molecule Series. Very smooth, it just flows in your hands, like the other molecules. There are three versions: Molecule_false, molecule_tokyo, and molecule_ny. Respectively they range from easiest to most difficult. In addition to being very smooth and relatively easy cuts, molecule false and Tokyo both retain the top card, and molecule ny leaves the top card third from the top. That could be useful for some sort of effect, I don't know, I’ve never tried it. I'll leave that up for your inventive minds to create.
Pandora
A favorite flourish of many, this T.C.T.C.S.A. inspired flourish features Ashford Kneitel's Tornado flourish and unpublished Crabshack, as well as Molecule Three. It's a beautiful flourish and should not go unnoticed whatsoever.
Jackson Five
Oohh boy this one's a doozy. Featuring 6 phases, this flourish is the mother of all other flourishes. The transitions are very smooth and make it that much better.... now, being as nice as I am, I guess I'll review each phase as well...or at least go over them.
-Madonna (3 I think)
Originally taught in The System, Its performance is pretty much the same, except for the display at the end. Very cool.
-Sybilism
Arguably the most difficult phase, this Sybil-esque type flourish is very flashy, and if you have the flares down, very very beautiful. I recommend re-watching the Bucks’ performances of it, as well as checking out some other peoples' to see what it generally should be like.
-The Skater Display (Joey Burton display)
I really like the transition from Sybilism to the Skater display, as it just adds a little touch of coolness or something to the flourish as a whole. Very intriguing. If you’re familiar with this display, you can do the kickflip maneuver as well. Very classy.
-Sybil
Adding a classic flourish to Jackson five adds...um...classiness, if you will, to it. It’s very nice seeing an old fashioned flourish in a new generation of flourishing. All hail Kenner =)
-Leno
Oh man, probably the coolest display I've ever seen. If you can execute it smoothly, you've got one of the hardest parts of J5 down. Congratulations. Practice makes perfect.
-Genesis
Adding some old fashioned D&D material as well closes J5. The transition from the end of Leno to Genesis is rather cool as well.
Disc One: Tricks
The 13 tricks in this DVD are all done with a regular deck. No gimmicks, dupes, whatever. Purely skill. The ideas, sleights, and effects are extremely smart and should not be taken for granted. However, you’ve gotta have some prior magic skill when learning these. You want your basic sleights down and stuff. It’s a bit more on the difficult side. When learning these, I suggest perfecting one effect at a time before performing, so you can perform it well and avoid exposure...but I'm sure you already knew that.
Tivo Transpo
This trick is pretty cool. My card magic preference is transpositioning tricks, so this just got to me. It's a very smooth trick, and it just flows like water when it's perfected. The slights are wonderful and can be applied to many other effects.
Tivo 2.0*
Again, another transpositioning trick that appealed to me. This one is more visual, and that's what I like best about this effect. However, the core sleight in this trick, I think, MUST be perfected for it to look really good. It's a sort of simple method, but complex at the same time.
Subway
This effect is very chill. Visually seeing a card travel from your right hand to your left just boggles my mind just thinking about it. It teaches my favorite control, The DMB spread control. This control is very very very useful and can be applied to all sorts of tricks. Also, the card is not only traveling from one hand to the other, but it travels SPECIFICALLY in between two flipped up cards in the other hand. That is just a phenomenal idea.
Card Across
This effect is pretty fascinating. It teaches a double lift which is reallly undetectable and already I've started using it for my effects. The misdirection is fantastic-you can almost do anything with the time you've distracted your audience with. Aaron Fisher's move (I forgot the name) is a bit difficult, but once you get the hang of it, add timing and expertise and you've got a wonderful piece to perform.
Hand to Mouth
Pretty much the same effect as above, but the card goes straight to your mouth! This gets such a great reaction. It happens right in front of your audience but they don't even know it. That's the fun of this trick =)
Deja Vu
Well, when i perform some tricks, I like to have really intriguing patter. I'll talk about reading minds, eye movement, body posture, stuff like that if I'm doing mentalism. After learning this trick, I've decided to add the topic of Deja Vu to my repertoire of patter. I perform this trick as a compliment to it, and my audience is just stunned. There's a minor transposition in this effect, and i like that part of it.
Twinsplit Remix
This is one of my most favorite trick in the DVD. It's the most visual, yet short and sweet. It's on the more difficult side, but take my word for it-it is worth every minute of practice. Just the split is a fun effect to perform. Normally I'll just do that part of it, along with my patter. My patter goes something like this: You have the seven of diamonds , and the 5 of diamonds as a hand in Texas HOld em. On the river there is a 3 of clubs, 6 of clubs, and miraculously 3 aces. If you want the last ace of diamonds, here's what you do. Ditch the five of diamonds on your lap or something, and hold up the seven of diamonds. At this point I'll Perform Twinsplit remix and Show a six and ace of diamonds. Ultimately I'll win that hand.
Hofzzy Osbourne*
By far my most favorite trick in the dvd. It's hardhitting and gets fantastic reactions everytime. The sleights taught are so useful. the 4for4 switch, riffle force, and the asher twist, to name a few. Literally, my spectators are left either speechless, or frantically search the deck for some kind of dupe or gimmick. Thankfully the Buck twins have left me squeaky clean.
The Queens
This effect I perform most. one by one the queens disappear, only to reappear again in a beautiful manner. It's very visual, and smooth as butter to perform. The sleights are pretty cool once you've mastered them, and the final display is magnificent. Be sure to make this trick one of the first you learn-you'll love it.
Swiss made
One of the simpler tricks, if not the simplest. However, you can choose whether or not to use the Discrepancy Dribble Control. If you do, and master it, it can be the most convincing control out there. The core move in Swiss made is simple, yet very very smart. The clean up is a little knacky for me, but I got the hang of it. If you can, check out Jordan Lapping's video "Time Machine" On youtube. His performance is beautiful and his minor alternative to leaving the original card on top of the deck is ingenious.
Collectors
This tricks is pretty pretty cool, I must say. when you have the performance down, your audience will have absolutely no way of finding out how you did it. You end completely clean, and you have the two chosen selections in between the aces of like colors. How can you go wrong?
Hedbergs Peak
Again, a simpler trick, but easily boggles laymen and magicians alike. Once the audience thinks they know what's going on, you completely distort their thoughts and show the new ending. Very very cool indeed.
69
Don't get too excited it's a card trick guys. A packet trick in fact. The modified Dracula count is too appealing and even fools me sometimes. Having the 4 6's turn into the four nines is a cool, simple idea I'm sure you guys will enjoy.
This DVD is fantastic. It's worth wayyy more than the $30 you'll be spending here for it. The teaching and camera angles are great. And if that isn't enough for you guys, the OTS is very useful as well. All right, onto the flourishes.
Disc Two: Flourishes
As a "sequel," if you will, to The System, the flourishes segment of the Trilogy features a new teaching system for you guys. It also teaches in phases sometimes, making the bigger flourishes easier to learn and memorize. They show the flourishes at multiple angles, along with sentence blurbs for added support. That, along with practice, should make a flourisher even better, along with a bigger and better arsenal of flourishes. Kudos Dan and Dave, you’ve done it again.
Carnahan Fan*
My favorite fan of all time. It's lightning fast, big, and flashy, and all that jazz. Combine it with a right hand smear fan or something and you have this wonderful display of 52 cards. Very appealing. Or, if you’re feeling up for it, a full deck Carnahan is in order.
Molecule Four**
The fourth installment in the Molecule Series. Very smooth, it just flows in your hands, like the other molecules. There are three versions: Molecule_false, molecule_tokyo, and molecule_ny. Respectively they range from easiest to most difficult. In addition to being very smooth and relatively easy cuts, molecule false and Tokyo both retain the top card, and molecule ny leaves the top card third from the top. That could be useful for some sort of effect, I don't know, I’ve never tried it. I'll leave that up for your inventive minds to create.
Pandora
A favorite flourish of many, this T.C.T.C.S.A. inspired flourish features Ashford Kneitel's Tornado flourish and unpublished Crabshack, as well as Molecule Three. It's a beautiful flourish and should not go unnoticed whatsoever.
Jackson Five
Oohh boy this one's a doozy. Featuring 6 phases, this flourish is the mother of all other flourishes. The transitions are very smooth and make it that much better.... now, being as nice as I am, I guess I'll review each phase as well...or at least go over them.
-Madonna (3 I think)
Originally taught in The System, Its performance is pretty much the same, except for the display at the end. Very cool.
-Sybilism
Arguably the most difficult phase, this Sybil-esque type flourish is very flashy, and if you have the flares down, very very beautiful. I recommend re-watching the Bucks’ performances of it, as well as checking out some other peoples' to see what it generally should be like.
-The Skater Display (Joey Burton display)
I really like the transition from Sybilism to the Skater display, as it just adds a little touch of coolness or something to the flourish as a whole. Very intriguing. If you’re familiar with this display, you can do the kickflip maneuver as well. Very classy.
-Sybil
Adding a classic flourish to Jackson five adds...um...classiness, if you will, to it. It’s very nice seeing an old fashioned flourish in a new generation of flourishing. All hail Kenner =)
-Leno
Oh man, probably the coolest display I've ever seen. If you can execute it smoothly, you've got one of the hardest parts of J5 down. Congratulations. Practice makes perfect.
-Genesis
Adding some old fashioned D&D material as well closes J5. The transition from the end of Leno to Genesis is rather cool as well.
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