So if y'all are on Ellusionist's mailing list, you should have gotten an email about a new product they're putting out by Peter Eggink called "Cased" - basically a deck of cards melts up through the card box to re-case itself.
I happened to be on the computer when it arrived, so I took a quick look at it. I watched the trailer movie, I read the description, and then I sat back and thought about it for a moment.
I think it's dreadful.
Let me explain. I don't think the effect is dreadful, per se. This is not a criticism of Ellusionist, or Peter Eggink. I just think it lacks meaning or even potential for meaning, and pretty much ruins the best part of magic. The point is that the trick has no purpose.
Let's make one thing clear from the start: the effect is a stunt. It takes all of about 2 seconds, and that's the effect. It's the magical equivalent of charlier pass. Nothing happens before, nothing happens after. In a way, it reminds me of Fallen, which was a decent but angly ACR closer, but was basically released on its own. And that's how it's intended to be - it's intended to be, according to Ellusionist, either an opener or a closer. I have great difficulty deciding which it is worse suited for.
Firstly, let's take opener.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, for my opener, I will take out a deck of cards and put it back into the deck."
The logic of the effect here is absurd. I don't understand how it's meant to work as an opener. I just don't get it, because the effect doesn't make any sense and has no meaning on its own. What on earth is the point of taking a deck out, only to put it back in the case again? Good magic has meaning and purpose. The only thing I can think of is using it as an effect where the deck keeps reappearing in the box. Which is fine, except for one thing: the effect, again, is a stunt! It's a one phase, two second stunt that has no drama, it has no setup (in the dramatical sense), it has nothing because it was designed to be used in a vacuum. But this design works against it. Besides, if you want that sort of effect, pick up Greg Wilson's Card Stunts - he turns stunts into magic, something this effect could learn a lot from.
And secondly, let's take closer. You might we wondering what's wrong with closing by magically inserting your cards back into the box.
Honestly, I think that if that's the best closer you can come up with, you really have no clue. We're talking about your closer here, folks! The strongest trick in your arsenal! The one that ties your entire routine together, that finishes with a bang, that leaves your audience with a sense of meaning and coherence and you're putting your goshdarn cards into that box of yours?
Look, I don't know what all you guys do for closers. When I look for closers, I look for effects that deliver meaning - the one final moment that they'll remember. When that moment takes place, I want that image to burn into their memory as the fundamental essence of the time that was shared between us. That's what I'm aiming for. Call me crazy for wanting to aim for something other than a plain old magic trick. You've performed for the last 5, 15, 50 minutes, one magic trick after another. I don't need another to close. I want something organic, not something which looks to me like the magical equivalent of Britney Spears - a trashy spectacle. Magic isn't just tricks, magic should go beyond that.
And don't even thinking about performing a meaningful closer, and then ruining it with this... thing. It's like repeating the joke a second time.
So look, I really hate this thing. I think it's pretty much worthless. Don't get me wrong - I have absolutely nothing against Peter Eggink, and my opinion certainly does not extent to him. But, I feel like it's a stunt created to work in a void and that's not what magic looks like. Magic doesn't look like anything. Magic feels like nothing else. I don't think it's a bad effect per se. But it just doesn't go anywhere. More importantly, it doesn't take the participants anywhere.
I happened to be on the computer when it arrived, so I took a quick look at it. I watched the trailer movie, I read the description, and then I sat back and thought about it for a moment.
I think it's dreadful.
Let me explain. I don't think the effect is dreadful, per se. This is not a criticism of Ellusionist, or Peter Eggink. I just think it lacks meaning or even potential for meaning, and pretty much ruins the best part of magic. The point is that the trick has no purpose.
Let's make one thing clear from the start: the effect is a stunt. It takes all of about 2 seconds, and that's the effect. It's the magical equivalent of charlier pass. Nothing happens before, nothing happens after. In a way, it reminds me of Fallen, which was a decent but angly ACR closer, but was basically released on its own. And that's how it's intended to be - it's intended to be, according to Ellusionist, either an opener or a closer. I have great difficulty deciding which it is worse suited for.
Firstly, let's take opener.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, for my opener, I will take out a deck of cards and put it back into the deck."
The logic of the effect here is absurd. I don't understand how it's meant to work as an opener. I just don't get it, because the effect doesn't make any sense and has no meaning on its own. What on earth is the point of taking a deck out, only to put it back in the case again? Good magic has meaning and purpose. The only thing I can think of is using it as an effect where the deck keeps reappearing in the box. Which is fine, except for one thing: the effect, again, is a stunt! It's a one phase, two second stunt that has no drama, it has no setup (in the dramatical sense), it has nothing because it was designed to be used in a vacuum. But this design works against it. Besides, if you want that sort of effect, pick up Greg Wilson's Card Stunts - he turns stunts into magic, something this effect could learn a lot from.
And secondly, let's take closer. You might we wondering what's wrong with closing by magically inserting your cards back into the box.
Honestly, I think that if that's the best closer you can come up with, you really have no clue. We're talking about your closer here, folks! The strongest trick in your arsenal! The one that ties your entire routine together, that finishes with a bang, that leaves your audience with a sense of meaning and coherence and you're putting your goshdarn cards into that box of yours?
Look, I don't know what all you guys do for closers. When I look for closers, I look for effects that deliver meaning - the one final moment that they'll remember. When that moment takes place, I want that image to burn into their memory as the fundamental essence of the time that was shared between us. That's what I'm aiming for. Call me crazy for wanting to aim for something other than a plain old magic trick. You've performed for the last 5, 15, 50 minutes, one magic trick after another. I don't need another to close. I want something organic, not something which looks to me like the magical equivalent of Britney Spears - a trashy spectacle. Magic isn't just tricks, magic should go beyond that.
And don't even thinking about performing a meaningful closer, and then ruining it with this... thing. It's like repeating the joke a second time.
So look, I really hate this thing. I think it's pretty much worthless. Don't get me wrong - I have absolutely nothing against Peter Eggink, and my opinion certainly does not extent to him. But, I feel like it's a stunt created to work in a void and that's not what magic looks like. Magic doesn't look like anything. Magic feels like nothing else. I don't think it's a bad effect per se. But it just doesn't go anywhere. More importantly, it doesn't take the participants anywhere.
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