Tuvo la voluntad de trabajar ms horas y adems estuvo disponible para hacerlo? (p209dd)

This inexpensive one-trick DVD includes a nicely produced prop, and will teach you a decent card routine that goes something like this: Two specta-

tors each get half the deck. They each cut their half, turn one packet upside down, and shuffle their cards into a face-up, face-down mix. Then one of them shuffles the two mixed packets together into a whole face-up/face-down deck. Now the magician produces a small booklet and reads it while the spectators check the deck. The booklet announces how many cards are face up, how many of the face-up cards are red, and the suits of the black cards. The finale reveals a specific single card that was an exception mentioned in the booklet. The routine is easy to do, almost self-working, and looks magical, since it provides four sequential revelations. It is a nice trick, taught on a very well-produced video, and worth the reason- able price.

However, you should be aware of some limitations. Although other arrangements are possible, it is designed to be presented to two spectators, not one or five. Both spectators should be able to riffle shuffle and must follow several directions. Also, the printed

booklet shows four specific revelations that do not change. In other words, every time you perform it, the outcome will be exactly the same. And, finally, it uses a set-up deck, so you have to dedicate a deck to the trick. You can use the deck for other tricks after this one, but you will lose the setup.

The routine is entertaining if you use it in a casual setting with no time limit, but it does take awhile for the spectators to follow your directions and for them to count and separate piles of cards a couple of times. I thought the paper prediction sheet was very nicely produced, but it is paper and will not last forever, since you fold and unfold it at each show. My booklet was apparently hand- folded quickly and sloppily because the edges do not square up well. Maybe you’ll get one that was folded more carefully.

The trick and prediction work well, but I felt the premise was weak. Specifically, the booklet is designed like a miniature old- fashioned leather storybook, with the title Once Upon a Time; however, there is absolutely no presentational hook in the script. There is nothing anywhere about books, fairy tales, stories, or the like, except that the first sentence on the paper begins “Once upon a time there was a deck of cards that was shuffled and …” Nothing the magician or the spectators do or say has anything to do with stories or books, either before or after that. According to the in- structions, you are supposed to bring out the cards, show people how to mix and handle the cards, and then read the booklet. I strongly suggest that if you get this, you work on a script that gives the cute little booklet some context.

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Distributed by Murphy’s Magic Supplies Price $35.00

REVIEW BY JIM KLEEFELD

The last few years have seen an influx of young people suddenly

delving into magic in a big way, and then assuming they are capable of inventing clever new effects and selling them to other magicians. Many of these young adults do not know magic history and are simply reinventing the work of their predecessors. Most are simply trying to make a quick buck or garner quick fame by “producing” magic. This has led to a few decent effects being rediscovered, a few horrible products, and copious amounts of so-so in-betweens. The product under review here lies somewhere in the middle. It is not a bad effect, but the trick, the explanation, and the product all could have been better. I am reminded of Al Baker’s tenet that most magicians stop thinking too soon.

This effect (I am deliberately not repeating the title here for a reason I’ll explain later) is simple and straightforward. A spectator notices that one of your shirt buttons has been sewn out of place, resting right next to another button. The hole for that button, about four inches above it has no button in it. While they watch, the mis-placed button moves straight up your shirt until it is resting next to the empty buttonhole. You unbutton your shirt and the spectator can see that every button is now correctly sewn in its proper place. Your hands are empty and there is no evidence of any extra buttons or gimmicks.

For the standard one-trick DVD price, you get a semi-fin-

ished gimmick, some craft supplies, a fair DVD, and two sheets of written instructions. To prepare, you will have to find the right button and do some arts-and-crafts work. Once prepared, no further work is necessary on the gimmick, but to present the effect you will have to spend a bit of time setting the gimmick properly. It can stay in place all day, but each time you dress, you will need to start all over again with a modicum of setup and preparation. On the plus side, the performance is simple and visual: a mis-sewn button physically moves into place while spec- tators watch. It looks cool. The reset is quick and simple but must be done out of the spectators’ sight.

The trick’s negatives are small and mostly considerations and hindrances rather than bad ideas. You have to be wearing a standard button-up-the-front shirt. You need to leave your shirt- tails casually untucked. It helps a lot if your shirt and buttons are contrasting colors, which is less common than you might think. (I checked my closet and two clothing stores.) A white button on a white shirt simply does not read. You must be wearing pants with belt loops. You have to wear the gimmick continuously, and while it is not painful, it will be inconvenient at restroom breaks and other times. The instructions show the performer tugging and wiggling his shirttails to make the button move, which looks like a dead giveaway to the method, and in fact, it is. The effect is an offhand and impromptu stunt, not strong magic. How many people at a time can see a button on your shirt? If you like the effect and can use it under these conditions, then you may find it worth your investment.

Although I consider this a fairly decent effect and rate it good- to-average as a product, there are still some annoyances that fall under the “stopped thinking” category. Here are a few examples. You need an extra matching shirt button. The instructions say that most shirts come with extra buttons sewn in the hem, or you can remove one from a sleeve. This is incomplete information. Many shirts have two sizes of buttons. Sleeve buttons are usually smaller than front placket buttons. If you use a smaller button for your gimmick, it will look odd when you perform; the moving button does not match the rest of them. Ditto for some colored buttons such as tortoise-shell, where multi-color patterns may not be alike.

Without tipping too much, at one point you are told to glue a whole playing card to the back of a button and then rip away the excess. Three things are wrong with this. First, playing card stock is not a good material to use because it is too heavy and multi- layered. Second, gluing a large card to a button and tearing away most of it proves tedious and inaccurate. A much better sugges- tion would have been to use a hole-punch to make a small circle of card and glue that to the button. Third, cardboard and glue are less than ideal for the intended purpose. A better setup would be to sew the button to a small round piece of fabric or no-tear paper.

Another point: You are taught to tug on your shirt-tails to make the button move, but after a few moments I came up with three other methods that do not involve you suspiciously pulling on your shirt. Want more? You are told to make a loop in a piece of thread by holding the strands together and wrapping clear tape around them. No. It’s thread. Tie it. And for those of you who buy this, my experiments proved that a wire loop was more reliable and less visible than a loop of thread. I mention these points, not to provide your brain with possible solution avenues, but to emphasize how this product, as I mentioned earlier, was put into the market too soon. Someone stopped thinking.

As to why I have not repeated the name of the effect, or the name of the person who gets your money for this product, maybe it’s a bit of a personal soapbox, but for what it’s worth,

Alex Elmsley named his famous three-as-four display The Ghost Count. The Hofzinser Cull was simply a cull to Hofzinser. Despite those magical giants' models of selflessness, I’ve seen several new products on the market emblazoned with the name of the person who put it into the marketplace, no matter how much they have actually “created.” It is almost as if they want everyone to extol the virtues of their name by discussing their brilliant magical invention. Is it audacity, misplaced overconfidence, an attempt at magic immortality, or a lack of forward thinking that allows someone without so much as a score of years under his belt to produce a product, market it to seasoned veteran performers, and then name it after himself? Perhaps more young perform- ers should do more research in magic history. Martin Gardner’s Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic and Tarbell Volume 3 offer similar button tricks to this one, and they are not named after anyone. This one has a nice look to it, and a bit of advancement of the method, but I doubt anyone will be extolling the virtues of either the trick or the creator.

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Distributed by Murphy’s Magic Supplies Price $22.00