I recently recieved Jay Sankey's HARDCORE DVD and I am doing a review on it now. So here we go.
Title: HARDCORE
Artist: Jay Sankey
Producers: SankeyMagic
Where to buy: http://www.sankeymagic.com/detail.aspx?ID=48430
Cost: 35.00 USD
Difficulty: Ranges from very easy to intermediate.
Length: 1 hour, 42 min, 11 sec
Includes: Instructional DVD, Gimmicks/Props necessary for Babylon Band, Entranced, and Border Crossing.
Note: Live performance notes will be updated later.
CLIMBER
Jay's 'Climber' effect is a perfect example of a truly original effect AND a truly original method. Dip a drinking straw into a can of soda. Press the tip of your finger over the top end of the straw to trap a few drops of soda at the bottom. Then watch people freak out as you cause the trapped soda to slowly RISE UP THE STRAW. Immediately hand out the straw to be examined (no switch required.) 'Climber' is the ideal magic effect for the school cafeteria, lunch room at work, parties and more.
My thoughts: An absolutely wonderful effect with an absolutely simple method. All is said above. This does involve a gimmick that literally costs nothing. Start with a drink with a straw from someone else! End completely clean. I love this effect and wouldn't change anything. Definitely something I will be using.
Difficulty: (1 being easy 5 being hard) 1/5
My rating: 9/10
BORDER CROSSING
Leave it to Jay to combine one of the world's most popular sports with something so ORDINARY as a post card to create a STARTLING close-up production. Jay structured the handling for maximum ease and practicality. Guaranteed to rock both close-up and stand-up performances.
My thoughts: You have a postcard (can be seen in trailer), with a picture of a golf ball on it. With a wave, a golf ball visually MELTS out of the postcard, leaving a hole in it. Postcard and golf ball can be examined. This uses a little sleight of hand, and requires a little construction for the gimmick. They supply you with everything you need, including the postcard, except for the actual golf ball and one other thing I will not say, but most magicians have. I find this effect wonderful. After I audience test this, I will update this more.
Difficulty: 3/5
My Rating: 8/10 (w/o performance. Will be updated)
WRAPTURE
A totally fresh approach to bending a borrowed coin, featuring an outrageous new visual that leaves the usual collection of magic bends in the DUST. Jay even teaches you step-by-step exactly how to make this fascinating new coin gimmick in just a few minutes with tools you'll find in any tool box.
My thoughts: Same as above. Absolutely wonderful. You take a quarter. You take a penny. You heat up the quarter. You bend it around the penny. BOOM! An absolutely amazing souvenir. The gimmick takes a little while to make and is a little hard to get the first time.
UPDATE: This takes a little while to look natural, and spectators can figure out a little part of the trick unless you do it smoothly. Still very astonishing.
Difficulty: 2/5
My Rating:8/10
EXIT STRATEGY
A devastating, two-phase 'dance' involving a borrowed ring and two unprepared drinking straws. A completely impromptu, in-their-hands heartstopper, it's also dead easy to perform. Any ring. Any 2 straws. Any time.
My thoughts: Absolutely wonderful. Comes in two phases. First, the ring penetrates right between two straws. Second the straws penetrate themselves and the ring. The second phase is the old twisted straw penetration taught in Tarbell, added with a ring. No gimmicks.
UPDATE: This is one of those effects that can be obvious if the spectator doesn't know about your magic. Never do this effect first.
Difficulty: 1/5
My rating 8/10
FISHBOWL
A freely selected and signed card MELTS through a plastic baggie, with the deck AND even the hand holding the pack, SEALED inside the baggie! No gimmicks, no suspicious moves, no bad angles. Combine it with your ACR, card to wallet or Jay's 'Paperclipped' effect. Keep the unprepared baggie folded in the back pocket of your jeans and always be ready to end a close-up set in STYLE.
My thoughts: Ok so I thought this description was a little misleading. It says a signed card melts through the baggie with the deck and the hand holding it sealed. So I thought the entire thing, card, deck and hand melts through the baggie. In reality, the deck and your hand are put inside the baggie and sealed by the spectator. A card melts through the baggie and comes out. Pretty simple. Not the effect I was thinking of. Ungimmicked. Hits hard, but nothing new.
Difficulty: 2/5
My rating: 7/10
HEIST
A wonderfully organic transposition with a LETHAL kicker ending. Remove the metal tab from a can of soda. Slip the tab inside the can and have a helper hold tightly to the can. A moment later, cause the tab and a borrowed dime to switch places in a flash of fire. As for the knock-out finishing phase...we'd don't want to ruin the surprise! Completely impromptu, this hard-hitting routine is going to quickly find its way onto your A-list.
My thoughts: When I saw this I was like, "OMG TRANSPOSITION IN FIRE! ON A CAN!!" So this is one of my favorite effects on the DVD. You take the tab off a can of soda, and put it inside. The spectator then covers the ends of the can and holds it throughout the performance. Take a coin from your pocket, wrap it in "tissue" (flash paper). Now what I love about this effect is right now. You make an indent in the can which works as a little perfect table for the wrapped coin. You light the wrapped coin on fire, and in a flash, the coin turns into the tab. Now inside the can is the coin. This effect needs flash paper (not included) which can be found at sankeymagic.com or at any local magic store. He also teaches a non-flashpaper version which works fine, and an extra extended version where at the end, the tab gets reattached to the can.
Difficulty: 3/5
My rating: 9/10
SPIRAL
An off-the-hook effect with a borrowed dollar bill that ends with a truly SICK souvenir people just CAN'T get over. 'SPIRAL' includes a very fresh approach to corner switching you are destined to use with playing cards, business cards and more.
My thoughts: OH MY GOD. What a amazing souvenir for people. You take a borrowed bill and rip a corner off of the bill (hehe). Take out your magic wand, which is actually just a notepad, and tell the spectator to make a magical gesture with the "wand" over the bill in the fist. All of a sudden, it seems like the bill has become a sheet of notepad paper. But in reality it really has changed places with a sheet of notepad paper. You can even show the paper to not have any ripped binding holes. You take the notepad and find a bill BOUND into the notepad. But the killer is... The rip in the bill perfectly matches the corner. What a wonderful effect. The gimmick takes a little while to make and costs maybe a couple of dollars, but it can be used over and over again. I think this is the best trick on the DVD.
UPDATE: Like other tricks on this DVD, this cannot be shown by itself or as a starter (well I wouldn't recommend it). Spectators might understand little bits of things unless they already think you're truly magical.
Difficulty: 3/5
My rating: 10/10
EVIDENCE
An inspired combination of a torn + restored card CASE with a devious 'time travel' effect. During the detailed explanation, Jay blows the dust off a little know false cut + teaches you Herb Zarrow's renowned false shuffle.
My thoughts: Hmmm... Deck is in factory made order. Shuffled and cut. You can see where this is going. But a little interesting idea along the way. TnR card case. This idea is pretty interesting and easy to do. A gimmick is useful but not necessary. Tear both of the card tabs off. Put in the deck. "Travel back in time." Take the deck out. The tabs are restored. The deck is back in order. This teaches you the Zarrow shuffle and a simple false cut. The tab idea is useful and can go into later effects, but the rest is pretty simple. On spectators, this is good, but nothing new here except the tabs.
Difficulty: 2/5
My rating: 6/10
ENTRANCED
Featuring an extremely clever, double-duty gimmick, 'Entranced' allows you to make almost any small object visually appear inside a box of Tic Tac mints with the untorn, factory seal still in place. Jay teaches two full routines including a mentalist effect with a borrowed coin and a magic effect with the corner torn from a playing card.
My thoughts: Coin through SEALED, FULL OF TICTACS, Tic Tac box... Or torn corner of a card. Everything is said above. The DVD includes partial gimmicks. Now when I say partial, I mean you will have to go out and get something for this. And THEN you can make the gimmick. You can hand out the sealed Tic Tac box. And give it for a souvenir. The Gimmick takes a while to make so probably not many people will use this. I find this not exactly practical, yet useful at the same time.
Difficulty: 3/5 (just for the gimmick, the handling is super easy)
My Rating: 7/10
Title: HARDCORE
Artist: Jay Sankey
Producers: SankeyMagic
Where to buy: http://www.sankeymagic.com/detail.aspx?ID=48430
Cost: 35.00 USD
Difficulty: Ranges from very easy to intermediate.
Length: 1 hour, 42 min, 11 sec
Includes: Instructional DVD, Gimmicks/Props necessary for Babylon Band, Entranced, and Border Crossing.
Note: Live performance notes will be updated later.
CLIMBER
Jay's 'Climber' effect is a perfect example of a truly original effect AND a truly original method. Dip a drinking straw into a can of soda. Press the tip of your finger over the top end of the straw to trap a few drops of soda at the bottom. Then watch people freak out as you cause the trapped soda to slowly RISE UP THE STRAW. Immediately hand out the straw to be examined (no switch required.) 'Climber' is the ideal magic effect for the school cafeteria, lunch room at work, parties and more.
My thoughts: An absolutely wonderful effect with an absolutely simple method. All is said above. This does involve a gimmick that literally costs nothing. Start with a drink with a straw from someone else! End completely clean. I love this effect and wouldn't change anything. Definitely something I will be using.
Difficulty: (1 being easy 5 being hard) 1/5
My rating: 9/10
BORDER CROSSING
Leave it to Jay to combine one of the world's most popular sports with something so ORDINARY as a post card to create a STARTLING close-up production. Jay structured the handling for maximum ease and practicality. Guaranteed to rock both close-up and stand-up performances.
My thoughts: You have a postcard (can be seen in trailer), with a picture of a golf ball on it. With a wave, a golf ball visually MELTS out of the postcard, leaving a hole in it. Postcard and golf ball can be examined. This uses a little sleight of hand, and requires a little construction for the gimmick. They supply you with everything you need, including the postcard, except for the actual golf ball and one other thing I will not say, but most magicians have. I find this effect wonderful. After I audience test this, I will update this more.
Difficulty: 3/5
My Rating: 8/10 (w/o performance. Will be updated)
WRAPTURE
A totally fresh approach to bending a borrowed coin, featuring an outrageous new visual that leaves the usual collection of magic bends in the DUST. Jay even teaches you step-by-step exactly how to make this fascinating new coin gimmick in just a few minutes with tools you'll find in any tool box.
My thoughts: Same as above. Absolutely wonderful. You take a quarter. You take a penny. You heat up the quarter. You bend it around the penny. BOOM! An absolutely amazing souvenir. The gimmick takes a little while to make and is a little hard to get the first time.
UPDATE: This takes a little while to look natural, and spectators can figure out a little part of the trick unless you do it smoothly. Still very astonishing.
Difficulty: 2/5
My Rating:8/10
EXIT STRATEGY
A devastating, two-phase 'dance' involving a borrowed ring and two unprepared drinking straws. A completely impromptu, in-their-hands heartstopper, it's also dead easy to perform. Any ring. Any 2 straws. Any time.
My thoughts: Absolutely wonderful. Comes in two phases. First, the ring penetrates right between two straws. Second the straws penetrate themselves and the ring. The second phase is the old twisted straw penetration taught in Tarbell, added with a ring. No gimmicks.
UPDATE: This is one of those effects that can be obvious if the spectator doesn't know about your magic. Never do this effect first.
Difficulty: 1/5
My rating 8/10
FISHBOWL
A freely selected and signed card MELTS through a plastic baggie, with the deck AND even the hand holding the pack, SEALED inside the baggie! No gimmicks, no suspicious moves, no bad angles. Combine it with your ACR, card to wallet or Jay's 'Paperclipped' effect. Keep the unprepared baggie folded in the back pocket of your jeans and always be ready to end a close-up set in STYLE.
My thoughts: Ok so I thought this description was a little misleading. It says a signed card melts through the baggie with the deck and the hand holding it sealed. So I thought the entire thing, card, deck and hand melts through the baggie. In reality, the deck and your hand are put inside the baggie and sealed by the spectator. A card melts through the baggie and comes out. Pretty simple. Not the effect I was thinking of. Ungimmicked. Hits hard, but nothing new.
Difficulty: 2/5
My rating: 7/10
HEIST
A wonderfully organic transposition with a LETHAL kicker ending. Remove the metal tab from a can of soda. Slip the tab inside the can and have a helper hold tightly to the can. A moment later, cause the tab and a borrowed dime to switch places in a flash of fire. As for the knock-out finishing phase...we'd don't want to ruin the surprise! Completely impromptu, this hard-hitting routine is going to quickly find its way onto your A-list.
My thoughts: When I saw this I was like, "OMG TRANSPOSITION IN FIRE! ON A CAN!!" So this is one of my favorite effects on the DVD. You take the tab off a can of soda, and put it inside. The spectator then covers the ends of the can and holds it throughout the performance. Take a coin from your pocket, wrap it in "tissue" (flash paper). Now what I love about this effect is right now. You make an indent in the can which works as a little perfect table for the wrapped coin. You light the wrapped coin on fire, and in a flash, the coin turns into the tab. Now inside the can is the coin. This effect needs flash paper (not included) which can be found at sankeymagic.com or at any local magic store. He also teaches a non-flashpaper version which works fine, and an extra extended version where at the end, the tab gets reattached to the can.
Difficulty: 3/5
My rating: 9/10
SPIRAL
An off-the-hook effect with a borrowed dollar bill that ends with a truly SICK souvenir people just CAN'T get over. 'SPIRAL' includes a very fresh approach to corner switching you are destined to use with playing cards, business cards and more.
My thoughts: OH MY GOD. What a amazing souvenir for people. You take a borrowed bill and rip a corner off of the bill (hehe). Take out your magic wand, which is actually just a notepad, and tell the spectator to make a magical gesture with the "wand" over the bill in the fist. All of a sudden, it seems like the bill has become a sheet of notepad paper. But in reality it really has changed places with a sheet of notepad paper. You can even show the paper to not have any ripped binding holes. You take the notepad and find a bill BOUND into the notepad. But the killer is... The rip in the bill perfectly matches the corner. What a wonderful effect. The gimmick takes a little while to make and costs maybe a couple of dollars, but it can be used over and over again. I think this is the best trick on the DVD.
UPDATE: Like other tricks on this DVD, this cannot be shown by itself or as a starter (well I wouldn't recommend it). Spectators might understand little bits of things unless they already think you're truly magical.
Difficulty: 3/5
My rating: 10/10
EVIDENCE
An inspired combination of a torn + restored card CASE with a devious 'time travel' effect. During the detailed explanation, Jay blows the dust off a little know false cut + teaches you Herb Zarrow's renowned false shuffle.
My thoughts: Hmmm... Deck is in factory made order. Shuffled and cut. You can see where this is going. But a little interesting idea along the way. TnR card case. This idea is pretty interesting and easy to do. A gimmick is useful but not necessary. Tear both of the card tabs off. Put in the deck. "Travel back in time." Take the deck out. The tabs are restored. The deck is back in order. This teaches you the Zarrow shuffle and a simple false cut. The tab idea is useful and can go into later effects, but the rest is pretty simple. On spectators, this is good, but nothing new here except the tabs.
Difficulty: 2/5
My rating: 6/10
ENTRANCED
Featuring an extremely clever, double-duty gimmick, 'Entranced' allows you to make almost any small object visually appear inside a box of Tic Tac mints with the untorn, factory seal still in place. Jay teaches two full routines including a mentalist effect with a borrowed coin and a magic effect with the corner torn from a playing card.
My thoughts: Coin through SEALED, FULL OF TICTACS, Tic Tac box... Or torn corner of a card. Everything is said above. The DVD includes partial gimmicks. Now when I say partial, I mean you will have to go out and get something for this. And THEN you can make the gimmick. You can hand out the sealed Tic Tac box. And give it for a souvenir. The Gimmick takes a while to make so probably not many people will use this. I find this not exactly practical, yet useful at the same time.
Difficulty: 3/5 (just for the gimmick, the handling is super easy)
My Rating: 7/10
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. This makes me want to get that DVD so bad! I'm a huge Sankey fan, and Climber makes me want to snatch it up now. Perfect effect while at a restaurant with friends or in a cafeteria. Definitely look forward to picking this up in the future.
