Nottingham's PDF

[magyk11]

two words: simply amazing.

this pdf is very creative, and has a lot of great material. i worked my way through all of the material and i must say that i am very impressed.

without further ado... here are reviews on each effect.

Charred: Charred is basically like Mathieu Bich's Watermark, but with fire. anything appears written on a piece of paper.

there are endless possibilities that can be achieved with this effect. it is very simple and easy to perform. it is one of my favorite effects on here, and i know i will be using it. there is a bit of setup, but he goes over ways of doing this as fast as possible. overall 5/5

AC Change: a very fast and stunning color change that happens with the card sticking out of the middle of the deck and leaves you with endless possibilities. and the deck can immediately be handed out for inspection.

this change is very good and well thought out. But it is a bit knacky and you have to be a little careful about it. this move is definitely going to require some practice, but once you have it down, you will have a really nice instant color change. overall 4/5

Bottom switch: a control to the bottom of the deck and a card switch.

it is not just a control to the bottom, there are many different variations that you could do with this sleight. just use your imagination. it is very simple and not very hard to perform. the angles are pretty good, and everything is motivated. im already applying this sleight to my working material. overall it is an excellent move and one of my favorites from this pdf. 5/5

Spread: a card is selected, and replaced in the middle. the magician then says he is going to cut to the cards and find theirs. they do so, but it is the wrong card. then all the cards are spread out all over the table, and the wrong card is placed face up on top of all of it. then you ask the spectator to turn around and the magician does as well so that you are face to face. you ask them to concentrate on their actual card. then without anybody ever touching the cards (actually) the spectator turns around and is amazed by the fact that the card has changed into theirs.

this is pretty ingenious. the only downside is the ending and the fact that the spectator has to turnaround. but i'm already experimenting with ways of performing it so that the spectator does not have to turn around. just be creative with how you present the effect unless you like that the spectator has to turn around. even with that fact, this trick is still pretty amazing for the spectator because no one ever touches the deck after the wrong card is placed face up. so it seems to them that when they concentrate on their card, it changes. the reactions are pretty great. their is a minor gimmick involved but it will take you ten seconds to setup and you can keep it with you. this is a trick that i would use. overall 4/5

Tenkai Prep: this move is a way of getting a card from the deck into tenkai palm with only one hand.

this is a pretty knacky move, but a very useful one. at first when i looked at this move and tried it, i thought that it wasn't practical or useful. but now that perspective has changed and im starting to use it a lot. so give this move a chance, and don't just throw it away. that's what i almost did, and i would have regretted it. as i said above, it is a pretty hard move but it is really fun to do and when you get it up to speed it is virtually undetectable. i have to say great job on this move because their are so many applications for it; and it's great being able to do it with one hand. overall 4/5

TC change: a card is displayed and is pulled up to the front of the deck. then as the card is dropped back on the deck, it instantly changes.

this is one of my new favorite color changes. it is a bit knacky but with a little practice it is not that hard of a change. the angles are okay, could be a bit better, but there are ways of covering that problem. the change itself is pretty cool because a card is picked up and as it falls it changes. it is a very fun change to practice and perform. overall 5/5

i have to say that is one of the best pdf's i have gotten because everything in it is outstanding and very well thought out. nothing in here is extremely challenging, but most things will require some practice. Cody goes over everything you need to know for all of the material, and it is very easy to understand.

when he releases his work to the public, i HIGHLY recommend getting this. you will not be disappointed. it was a lot of fun to read and very very useful.

overall this gets a 6/5 from me. great job Cody.

 

[nottingham]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to review everything. I'm glad you liked it and hopefully you will use most of the material. I got so many emails and PM's about how much everyone liked it that I will definitely be asking for another review for my second one. Some of you emailed me about opinions on the effects, this is what I put it out for, and came up with some good ideas. So I got a good review, good opinions, and I apologize to everyone who PM me and didn't get a PDF. I handed out more than expected in the first place.

-Cody Nottingham

 

[oldavid1]

Nottingham PDF

Hello All, this is my second review.

I am reviewing a PDF by Cody Nottingham. I hope this will give you some insight on Nottingham's insights. Haha.

My difficulties and practicality ratings are totally opinionated, so please just take them as additional pieces of information. Also, consider the fact that I am a bit lazy, and prepare impromptu effects over set-up effects.


CHARRED

Similar to Watermark by Matthieu Bich, but for the hydrophobic. It achieves a similar effect, but instead of water, you use a lighter or heat source to make words/revelations appear on paper.
I really enjoyed this effect, and is a great accompaniment to Watermark or as a standalone effect. Such a simple solution, easy easy set-up (3 seconds take or give...depending on what you are trying to draw/write). Some subtleties that are practical and includes Cody's personal advice on how not to get burnt. The visuals are amazing (to me fire is more impressive than water), and can possibly be suggested to be "spirit writing".
An effect that I will definitely have to try out, and for those who already own Watermark, this will be very fun indeed.

Practicality: 8/10
Difficulty: 2/10
Set-up: 3/10 (0 = No set-up, 10 = extensive set-up)
Visuals: 9/10
Angles: None

AC CHANGE

A card is placed horizontal in a vertical deck. With a wave of the hand the card changes. The deck can then be handed out; no other cards are face up. An alternate ending is taught where the card is pulled out of the magician's pocket.
To be frank, I'm more of a mentalist than a card magician, so I have tried and failed to achieve this effect. Within the limited amount of time I had, I did not put a lot of effort into this change. There are simpler changes out there, but what I think Cody had in mind was the clean-up and/or possible endings. The ending, if performed smoothly, can be a real kicker. This change is interesting in that the climax can be made to be much stronger than the change itself. Cody appropriately credits Juan Tamariz and Ernest Earick for the moves used. Impressive.

Practicality: 6/10
Difficulty: 7/10 (for me personally...I am one who considers Clipshift a knucklebuster)
Visuals: I have not yet seen this performed (since I cannot perform it for myself), but I reckon it is around 6/10
Angles: Slightly below eye level, deck facing spectator. Quote Cody, "As long as you're not showing the left side of the deck."

BOTTOM CHANGE

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Ingenious. Can't say much for its originality, since Cody introduces this change as a variation of the Bottom Change, incorporating another concept (not sure if I should name the concept due to exposure). Simple, but deadly.
A seemingly casual bringing up of the card after showing the face of the card. The card is then inserted into the deck (I agree with Cody's suggestion of fanning the deck, it is a justification of the "move"). The card is now officially and safely nestled at the bottom of the deck, ready to be copped, cut, shuffled, stolen, whatever you might possibly want to do with it. Lick it. Enjoy the clandestine feeling of malicious joy felt by you alone. Muahaha.
Although Cody does not give you a lot of applications of this move, it is an utility move, and is open to a plethora of possibilities. I would not recommend this as a visual card change.

Practicality: 9/10 (the 1 point is due to the deck's position in regards to the card, but can be easily upped)
Difficulty: 4/10
Visuals: I don't think this term applies. You can do this secretly, or openly. You decide
Angles: You're bring a card from below the deck to above the deck, with your wrist closer to the audience. It may seem weird, but the motions can be very easily changed or adapted.

SPREAD

Cody was a fool for releasing this. This can seriously be sold as a 1-2 effect DVD. I am serious. This is an ingenious little gimmick/prep work that packs a huge punch. I read the description, and felt like it was a dream; it's not. Read it now.
Spec chooses a card. Card is inserted into the deck face up. The deck is cut, the face up card on top of the deck is an unrelated card. The spec is told to spread the cards haphazardly on a surface, and the unrelated card is place face up on top of the spread. Performer and spec stand face to face, while the performer leads the spec through a set a instructions to mentally change the indifferent card to their chosen card. The spec then turns around, facing the spread. The face up card is now their chosen card. The card is totally clean.
This effect does not work as well as I had wanted, but I will definitely be experimenting with this concept. It is pure genious. The instructions are a bit vague at times, but I am not complaining. I would perform this for a maximum of 1 spectator; it would probably not work for a crowd unless you have exceptional crowd-management skills. One-on-one is the way to go, but that's what makes it hit THAT much harder.

Practicality: 7/10 (prep-work and 1-on-1 downed a few points)
Difficulty: 4/10 (about 2 sleights required)
Visuals: 6-8/10 (it's not a color change, and it's not instant, but BOY does it have visuals)
Angles: 1-on-1, the spectator MUST be facing you. I assure you no helpers are used.

Note: The magician NEVER touches the face up card. No helpers are used. Self-contained gimmick. Amazing. Can be prepped in about 2 minutes. All materials available at home.

TENKAI PREP

Once again, I am NOT a card magician. This is quite a nicely thought-out utility move, and very useful if you like to tenkai cards. I never tenkai cards, so I can't speak much for this. I don't want my bias and lack of knowledge to alter your view of this move. All I know is that Dan Buck said, "That's a pretty cool move you got there."
After a go at this move, it is not hard to get down. Me, with almost zero air-time in tenkai-ing cards, managed to do this my 2nd try. It truly is invisible. If I can make it invisible, you pasteboard maniacs can make it...nothing. I don't know how to describe it. It's incredibly secretive, and Cody makes a justification or two which would justify your hand motions. Almost as useful as a one-hand top palm in my humble opinion.

Practicality: 9/10
Difficulty: 6/10
Visuals: Not applicable, this is a MOVE.
Angles: You need to cover the left side of the deck, after the "loading" of the card, tenkai angles apply

TC CHANGE

This is quite an angly change, but I can imagine how nice it could look. Potentially. My performance in front of the mirror was pure poop. Basically to the spec, you pop the top face-up card, drop it back onto the deck, square the deck, and the card is changed. Not as visual as many changes, but with bigger hands and careful angles, this feels really nice. To me, the pop-up of the top card seems to justify that it is not a DL, and that it's the ONLY face up card on the deck. It feels much more "transparent" and clean than an Erdnase Change. A creative move from Cody, nice visuals.

Practicality: 7/10 (or almost as practical as Erdnase Change...very similar)
Difficulty: 7.5/10 (If you can do the Clipshift, don't let me hear you complain about this)
Visuals: 8/10 (my performance is NOT instant change, but I bet Cody can make it instant)
Angles: You need to cover the right side of the deck (assuming you hold the deck in left hand). Spec cannot stand behind you, so I recommend standing back a step before performing this.

Final Thoughts:

I decided to put my own thoughts at the end of this review, because I knew you would want to read the effects more than my thoughts. Don't lie to me, I'm a mentalist.
I can say with certainty that Cody Nottingham is going places. I have enjoyed every utility move and effect on this PDF, and he has not let me down. His teaching is clear and concise, regardless of the occasional grammar error. The pictures are clear as mud, and helps a lot in my learning process. I can literally follow along without the words.
Cody seems like a talented magician who has remained underground until this moment, and this PDF is definitely just a taster of what he is capable of.
I would have gladly paid for this PDF, mostly for SPREAD and BOTTOM CHANGE.

Thanks Cody, for showing your wonderful ideas to me. All I can say is; I want more.

Hope you enjoyed my review, I have given much thought to each effect (throughtout the whole review process I have the PDF opened on my desktop).

Cheers,

::dAvid

 

[nottingham]

WOW! Thanks David. I'm really glad you liked it. I hope you get "Spread" working good. Thats a killer effect for a Mentalist.

-Cody Nottingham

 

[Ashrei]

Nothingham's PDF

He asked for a review, so I am going to post on. This is my first one, I believe, but here it is.

Overall: Interesting ideas. I would love to play with these before I actually do review it, but since due to pressing times (it's the time of the year when exam comes to students). I enjoyed reading it overall, few ideas I could definitely use, sleights are very interesting, I will definitely be practicing. Note that I will not put number to these, these are descriptions in terms of uses to ME, so take them with grain of salts.

Charred: Think of it as opposite of watermark. When I saw the description, I was disappointed. It just sounded like another paper revelation. In a way it is, but I'd say this is more impromptu version, and it is superior to other products in that aspect. Note that any of these are NOT limited to card revelation. If you carry a lighter like me, this will be one of those things if you have urge to perform, you can in most settings. It's not hard (as are other paper revelations), and I would love to try this to other audiences.

AC change: This is an interesting change in few ways. One of them is, if you would like, you can change the card and hand the deck to the audience, they will not be able to find the card (I suppose this really depends on how you clean up). This leaves room for many ideas. Transposition was first thing that came to my mind. He mentions card to wallet, but I also believe with right misdirection, it can be card to anywhere kind of plot. Now this isn't something I will be able to perform right away, it's pretty sleight heavy. No the audience won't see you fighting with your cards, but behind the scene is not as easy. I suppose it never is anyways.

Bottom Switch: Now, this is something I really liked. This is less bold compared to top change, but it's good. No discrepancy that people can notice, switches card on bottom and leave it in the bottom. This sleight has a lot of potential, I can't wait to play with this some more.

Spread: Uses a very interesting gimmick. There has been similar gimmick to this, but this one, I'd say this is the most interesting one of them all. Without going into too much detail, card changes on its own, or at least none that spectator perceives. You do need some misdirections for this, but it's not like you are trying to load an elephant, but man, gimmick is super clever.

Tenkai Prep: One handed Tenkai palm. I think that says enough. Real clever idea, similar to Bottom Switch. Since I'm addicted to Tenkai palm, this will come in handed from time to time.

TC Change: This is the last one in the PDF. Card is shown, once it hits the deck, it changes. Now, the sleight used in this has a lot of application, I don't like it as a change, but a lot of clever idea.

A lot of great ideas packed into this PDF. I loved reading it, thanks for sharing it with me. I know it's pretty wordy and broad, I tried to avoid exposure and be as subjective as possible (yes I meant subjective).

 

[jonraiker]

I went ahead and merged the recent reviews for this manuscript into one concise thread - so all is accessible from one source. Just wanted to give everyone the heads up!

 

[r.zhang]

Here is a review of the pdf that was kindly sent to me to review. Let's begin.

Charred
Effect- A card is selected and revealed by taking a a lighter and burning the paper. The name of the card is revealed through the burn marks on the paper.
My opinion- Awesome. Awesome. AWESOME. Ever since I started magic, I've always wanted to accomplish this effect. I've done Watermark by Mathieu Bich which is really good, but I've always wanted to do it with fire (my spectators told me that as well). Then I saw this. And I was excited. This is as practical as it can get. The method is so versatile and you can set up about 10 times in a few minutes. This has a lot of applications as well. This is ingenious and I absolutely love it. This is real magic in my eyes.

AC Change
Effect- An instant, visual color change
My Opinion- This is the stuff I like practicing. This is ballsy imo. I wouldn't say it' difficult but this takes a knack and is very very cool. It's slightly angly but can easily be controlled if you have basic knowledge of card magic. All in all, very cool idea and I can't wait to perfect it and bust it out in an audience.

Bottom Switch
Effect- A cad switch which can be used as a control to the bottom of the deck
My Opinion- This uses a move that I wa familiar with and applied it in a whole new way. This move is not very difficult and should be able to get it down in no time. It's pretty angle friendly and with misdirection, it will fly by like a top change. I like this move, but I'm not sure if I would use it. This is something I would play around with. A neat idea.

Spread
Effect- A card is selected and lost in the deck. The cards are spread in a mess and an indifferent card is shown faceup on top of the facedown spread. The spectator turns toward the performer and without the performer ever touching the cards, it changes into the selection
My opinion- This. Is. Clever. This is very very cool. The effect is accomplished with a gimmick which can be set up fairly quickly and the description is true; you never touch the cards. The trick is almost self working; you just need a few basic sleights. You are limited to the amount of people you are performing for when you do this, but this is great for those 1 on 1 performances.Play around with this idea and you'll find a way to make it work for you. An ingenious idea. Love it.

Tenkai Prep
Effect- A way to get into Tenkai palm with only one hand
My opinion- This is for those move monkeys out there. This move is good, but it's not for me. I never use the tenkai palm so I have no use for it. However, this is still a very very good move and a good way to get into it. Knacky, but very useful. It's one of those things I'll practice but not use in performance.

TC Change
Effect- A card is displayed and visually change when squared back with the deck.
My opinion- Another great idea that I will not use. This is knacky and again for those move monkeys that want the challenge. It's slightly angly but easilt manageable. I don't think it's the most practical way to do a color change but a good idea nonetheless.

Overall
This pdf was filled with a ton of good ideas. There is something for everyone and I'm glad I was sent this. I would not have been disappointed if I bought this. I hope to see some more from Cody Nottingham in the future.

 

[worldwideme]

i agree with everything that everyone posted. theres really nothing dreadfully wrong or any big downsides to this document.

the only thing that bothered me was the gimmick in Spread. because i'm a minor purist. but beyond that. awesome PDF. my favorite was charred.

 

[nottingham]

r.zhang thanks for your review also. I'm happy everyone likes it.

-Cody Nottingham

 

[CaseyRudd]

Since everyone beat me to the review, I would have said pretty much the same thing. A little thing that I didn't like was the AC Change, it's a good change but I don't find myself ever using it. I'll explore it more though, it's a good idea and hopefully it will find it's way into others repertoires. Great job Cody, I'm still waiting for a review of mine, and can't wait to see what people think.

Cheers,

Casey Rudd

 

[Nino]

This is a great pdf. I will post a review when I perform some of these tricks and sleights in the real world. So be paticence.

 

[nottingham]

Thanks for taking the time to view it. Can't wait to here how it goes for you in real performances.

-Cody