BENDING THE REAL BY JAY SANKEY
Bending The Real is the brand new project released by Jay Sankey that has created a ton of buzz over the past couple of months. The concept of a “bend” is not necessarily a magic trick... just a moment of astonishment, curiosity, wonder, concern, or rage (more on that later) that inspires an altered sense of reality. These can come in the form of stunts, practical jokes, bar bets, scams, magic effects, and more. On this DVD project, Jay covers 25 bends, briefly demonstrating them, teaching the methods, and explaining the psychology behind each one. The DVD also comes with a neat looking, nicely produced booklet with short entries and essays explaining theories, concepts, and psychology behind bending. This booklet is short, but a nice addition and has some very good entries to further your understanding of “bending”. If you received a pre-order copy, like I did, you would have gotten a second bonus booklet that looks identical and includes even more in the way of concepts, theories, and ideas.
I popped open the DVD case and next to the DVD found a small plastic baggie of gimmicks. These gimmicks are for Steve Morrison’s effect Hijacked and Sankey’s own Vanishink, Zero Gravity, and Descendent. I will cover more about these gimmicks as I review all 25 bends below.
Pirouette: This is an effect in which a plastic spoon from a school cafeteria, fast food restaurant, or coffee shop mysteriously twists itself at the stem a full 180 degrees. This is essentially a spoon bend with a plastic spoon, which I feel is somewhat weakened by the fact that the spoon is plastic and pliable. However, the condition the spoon is left in cannot be achieved by simply twisting the spoon, which is what gives the bend a strong level of deception. My school cafeteria always has these lying around and I’m eager to try it out! 7/10
Reconnection: After breaking the tab off of a coke or energy drink can, the tab is impossibly restored back on to the can! Depending on your situation, this is almost completely impromptu, deceptive, and has a method so simple your Grandmother could do it! I also feel, structurally, the bend has a nice, natural flow to it, something I feel Sankey has a knack for in his work. I can see this playing very strongly at a party. Plus, you end clean! Always nice. 8/10
Vanishink: This is also marketed separately by Jay, and it is a way in which to vanish a Sharpie under extremely fair, impossible conditions. It reminds me of a Norm Neilsen Bottle Vanish and it is very strong. It requires a gimmick which is included with the DVD, but with each performance you will have to destroy a gimmick. They can be easily made over and over again provided you have the required material to keep producing them (I can’t say much more without hinting to the method). This is a great, surprising method for vanishing a Sharpie, albeit somewhat limited. 8/10
Private Property: This is a bend that helps you obtain a phone number from anyone you want. That’s really all it does. It isn’t magical, mysterious, or astonishing. But, if you want a cheeky way of getting a girl’s number in the form of a bet that raises some strong intrigue at the outset, this will be right up your alley. This is the kind of bend you’ll use to get a date, but I see no other purpose for it. 6/10
Airborne: A bar bet type of bend in which you bet that you can lift a heavy glass bottle with a thin sheet of paper or a piece of paper currency... and, of course, you do just that. As a bar bet or a puzzle, this is very effective and I can see myself using it at the right time. Nice little bend to whip out if you’re drinking with your buddies! 7/10
Skin Deep: In a coffee shop, you give a spectator a wrapped straw to hold onto as you retrieve a wooden stir stick. After breaking off a healthy chunk of the stir stick, the broken off bit melts away and vanishes completely from your hand, only to appear inside the wrapped straw the spectator has been holding the entire time! The set up for this takes no time at all and all of the materials to do it can be found inside literally any Starbucks. This is a great, organic, almost impromptu bend that I can see being extremely powerful for your spectators. I can’t wait to try this out! 9/10
Digital: A low-tech, easy as pie way to divine the serial number on a borrowed bill. Given this bend’s casual structure, the method will fly quite easily and deceptively. If you can attest to the strength of a serial number divination, you’ll love this casual, organic, impromptu method for a strong piece of mentalism. 8/10
The Offering: A unique way to offer someone a piece of gum from one of the blistered gum packages. This bend is unique, surprising, and unexpected... it’s a casual, laid back, perfectly natural bend that is not at all out of place until the interesting moment upon which the gum is popped into their hand. The method is dead simple but, given that this bend has no real lead-in and just “happens”, it will totally fly and surprise your target completely. Fun stuff that can be done anywhere! 7/10
Reality Break: This is a simply sweet way of breaking and restoring a wooden stir stick the next time you’re in a coffee shop. This bend is completely impromptu and uses a nice auditory convincer to really sell the illusion. Reality Break is visible and audibly deceptive, dead easy like most everything else on this project, and completely surprising. 8/10
Hijacked: The only card effect on the DVD is one that has been previously released as a single trick... this is Steve Morrison’s Hijacked, a gimmicked packet effect in which four jacks impossibly and cleanly transform into the four aces. There’s a multitude of possibilities here and the change is clean and simply incredible for a spectator. My only gripe is that this is, of course, a prior release. While it’s nice the gimmicks have been included, I’m always a bit bothered by re-releases like this. Also, I don’t like the idea of card effects at all being used as bends, as it just doesn’t feel organic enough to me. So, while the effect itself gets a 9/10, its inclusion on this project gets it a final 6/10
Tasting is Believing: This is just plain cruel. This is one of the few bends on the DVD that falls under the strict category of a practical joke, and I feel it to be kind of mean spirited. Imagine your friend going to take a sip of his Coke at a fast food restaurant and getting a mouthful of mustard or ketchup instead. Yeah, that’s basically what this bend does. Not only do I feel this is downright cruel, for a friend or even an enemy, but you will also have to do your friend the courtesy of replacing his drink for him as the set up will likely leave the drink ruined. I would never ever use this... maybe you will, but I’m just not that kind of bender. 2/10
Sweet Surprise: A sugar packet is emptied into your hand, and the grains impossibly pass themselves straight through a solid china plate! This takes less than 10 seconds to prep and can be done with great ease if you’re at a breakfast restaurant and your friend excuses himself to the bathroom. The construction of this makes it a nice little “event” with a strong payoff. Nice, seemingly spur-of-the-moment, magical bend that I definitely will be trying. 8/10
Bending The Real is the brand new project released by Jay Sankey that has created a ton of buzz over the past couple of months. The concept of a “bend” is not necessarily a magic trick... just a moment of astonishment, curiosity, wonder, concern, or rage (more on that later) that inspires an altered sense of reality. These can come in the form of stunts, practical jokes, bar bets, scams, magic effects, and more. On this DVD project, Jay covers 25 bends, briefly demonstrating them, teaching the methods, and explaining the psychology behind each one. The DVD also comes with a neat looking, nicely produced booklet with short entries and essays explaining theories, concepts, and psychology behind bending. This booklet is short, but a nice addition and has some very good entries to further your understanding of “bending”. If you received a pre-order copy, like I did, you would have gotten a second bonus booklet that looks identical and includes even more in the way of concepts, theories, and ideas.
I popped open the DVD case and next to the DVD found a small plastic baggie of gimmicks. These gimmicks are for Steve Morrison’s effect Hijacked and Sankey’s own Vanishink, Zero Gravity, and Descendent. I will cover more about these gimmicks as I review all 25 bends below.
Pirouette: This is an effect in which a plastic spoon from a school cafeteria, fast food restaurant, or coffee shop mysteriously twists itself at the stem a full 180 degrees. This is essentially a spoon bend with a plastic spoon, which I feel is somewhat weakened by the fact that the spoon is plastic and pliable. However, the condition the spoon is left in cannot be achieved by simply twisting the spoon, which is what gives the bend a strong level of deception. My school cafeteria always has these lying around and I’m eager to try it out! 7/10
Reconnection: After breaking the tab off of a coke or energy drink can, the tab is impossibly restored back on to the can! Depending on your situation, this is almost completely impromptu, deceptive, and has a method so simple your Grandmother could do it! I also feel, structurally, the bend has a nice, natural flow to it, something I feel Sankey has a knack for in his work. I can see this playing very strongly at a party. Plus, you end clean! Always nice. 8/10
Vanishink: This is also marketed separately by Jay, and it is a way in which to vanish a Sharpie under extremely fair, impossible conditions. It reminds me of a Norm Neilsen Bottle Vanish and it is very strong. It requires a gimmick which is included with the DVD, but with each performance you will have to destroy a gimmick. They can be easily made over and over again provided you have the required material to keep producing them (I can’t say much more without hinting to the method). This is a great, surprising method for vanishing a Sharpie, albeit somewhat limited. 8/10
Private Property: This is a bend that helps you obtain a phone number from anyone you want. That’s really all it does. It isn’t magical, mysterious, or astonishing. But, if you want a cheeky way of getting a girl’s number in the form of a bet that raises some strong intrigue at the outset, this will be right up your alley. This is the kind of bend you’ll use to get a date, but I see no other purpose for it. 6/10
Airborne: A bar bet type of bend in which you bet that you can lift a heavy glass bottle with a thin sheet of paper or a piece of paper currency... and, of course, you do just that. As a bar bet or a puzzle, this is very effective and I can see myself using it at the right time. Nice little bend to whip out if you’re drinking with your buddies! 7/10
Skin Deep: In a coffee shop, you give a spectator a wrapped straw to hold onto as you retrieve a wooden stir stick. After breaking off a healthy chunk of the stir stick, the broken off bit melts away and vanishes completely from your hand, only to appear inside the wrapped straw the spectator has been holding the entire time! The set up for this takes no time at all and all of the materials to do it can be found inside literally any Starbucks. This is a great, organic, almost impromptu bend that I can see being extremely powerful for your spectators. I can’t wait to try this out! 9/10
Digital: A low-tech, easy as pie way to divine the serial number on a borrowed bill. Given this bend’s casual structure, the method will fly quite easily and deceptively. If you can attest to the strength of a serial number divination, you’ll love this casual, organic, impromptu method for a strong piece of mentalism. 8/10
The Offering: A unique way to offer someone a piece of gum from one of the blistered gum packages. This bend is unique, surprising, and unexpected... it’s a casual, laid back, perfectly natural bend that is not at all out of place until the interesting moment upon which the gum is popped into their hand. The method is dead simple but, given that this bend has no real lead-in and just “happens”, it will totally fly and surprise your target completely. Fun stuff that can be done anywhere! 7/10
Reality Break: This is a simply sweet way of breaking and restoring a wooden stir stick the next time you’re in a coffee shop. This bend is completely impromptu and uses a nice auditory convincer to really sell the illusion. Reality Break is visible and audibly deceptive, dead easy like most everything else on this project, and completely surprising. 8/10
Hijacked: The only card effect on the DVD is one that has been previously released as a single trick... this is Steve Morrison’s Hijacked, a gimmicked packet effect in which four jacks impossibly and cleanly transform into the four aces. There’s a multitude of possibilities here and the change is clean and simply incredible for a spectator. My only gripe is that this is, of course, a prior release. While it’s nice the gimmicks have been included, I’m always a bit bothered by re-releases like this. Also, I don’t like the idea of card effects at all being used as bends, as it just doesn’t feel organic enough to me. So, while the effect itself gets a 9/10, its inclusion on this project gets it a final 6/10
Tasting is Believing: This is just plain cruel. This is one of the few bends on the DVD that falls under the strict category of a practical joke, and I feel it to be kind of mean spirited. Imagine your friend going to take a sip of his Coke at a fast food restaurant and getting a mouthful of mustard or ketchup instead. Yeah, that’s basically what this bend does. Not only do I feel this is downright cruel, for a friend or even an enemy, but you will also have to do your friend the courtesy of replacing his drink for him as the set up will likely leave the drink ruined. I would never ever use this... maybe you will, but I’m just not that kind of bender. 2/10
Sweet Surprise: A sugar packet is emptied into your hand, and the grains impossibly pass themselves straight through a solid china plate! This takes less than 10 seconds to prep and can be done with great ease if you’re at a breakfast restaurant and your friend excuses himself to the bathroom. The construction of this makes it a nice little “event” with a strong payoff. Nice, seemingly spur-of-the-moment, magical bend that I definitely will be trying. 8/10