My Review - Showcase Magic

Recently I had a great time in going through Paul Lelekis' "Showcase Magic!" that contains 7 excellent routines along with a bonus item. This is my first time to post my review on Paul's latest eBook. For those of you who may not familiar who Paul is, well, he is a regular contributor of The Linking Ring. If you would like to know more about the author, read the pdf at the prologue section and I think you will find something useful. In addition, this section also covers some golden advice as a performer that I find it invaluable as Paul is a professional magician and I am sure his advice would benefit to fellow readers. 

The eBook is divided into three sections; the "Prologue" section as mentioned earlier is worth of your time to go through as it provides you very useful insights and advice, the second part is "Gambling" routines and the final section is "Magic for Children and Adults" that I really enjoyed very much in terms of the routines. It's a 33-page eBook and most of the routines are fantastic and highly practical. 

I really enjoyed reading each of the routine as Paul provides you the patter as well as the psychology behind of the particular routine. In other words, what you purchase is well worth of your money. You will gain lots of insights from Paul as well. Perhaps the word "addicted" would be best described throughout my journey while exploring the effects in the eBook. However, having said that, this eBook is not recommended for beginners.

The material ranges from intermediate to advance card handling skills. If you were to ask me what are my favourites. I would say it's well worth of your time to check out Paul's version on "Out of this World" featuring his "Lelekis Full Deck False Shuffle" that can be found in the bonus section. Perhaps you may think that you have to go through the hard way to learn this particular shuffle by reading and following photos or illustrations. Well, worry not, you will be given a password to access the performance and explanation on the particular false shuffle that can be found at Mike Powers' website.

I also strongly urge you to check out the "Spectator Deals a Royal Flush!" and I really like the construction of the routine. It's just excellent and in fact, I did try to perform it yesterday and my circle of friends just enjoyed it very much! "Stickman" is a novel way of making a hand-drawn stickman to transfer from one card to another. It's very clever and I really like the mechanics involved as it's not very difficult to do. Other routines that attract my attention are "Location, Location, Location", and "1, #2, 3 Coin Routine". I don't have the chance to try out the "Card Under Glass" as when the occasion is right, I will give this a shot.  

All in all, "Showcase Magic" is an outstanding eBook that you would not want to miss. I am not going to disclose the rests of the items as I think it's well worth of your time to check them out. I am sure you will find many usable routines in this eBook if not, will actually attempt some of the routines for your own enjoyment. Most of the eBooks that Paul released are worth of your investment and his passion in card magic really shines throughout in his writings.

Highly recommended!

ALSH

The Spirit Cards

“The Spirit Cards” is an entertaining card routine culled directly from my working repertoire. This is an audience-tested card routine that I have been performing for many years and it is one of my favourites. I received wonderful feedback both from my circle of friends as well as lay audiences. 

As you know, any card effects that associate with the use of double blank cards with mystery messages on them may create astonishment to any lay audience. This is what you are about to discover in this routine. 

A card is freely selected and lost in the pack. You summon the ghost cards (blank cards) as a resort to locate the spectator’s selection in an amazing manner along with a bizarre revelation at the end of the routine. The revelation here is an interesting one as one of the ghost cards vanishes and it goes into the pack to find the spectator’s selection.   

The best part is, the cards can be handed out for examination and the magic takes place in the spectators’ own hand. I always believe that this kind of magic has its own merit where the spectator involves and feels the magic takes place in her own hand. They can examine the entire pack and there is nothing to find. 

I believe you will have lots of fun in performing this card routine as much as I do for years.

Here's what a few of them say:

"I LOVE Spirit Cards! What a great, commercial routine! Congratulations!"

-- Cameron Francis

"One more strong routine from Andrew Loh. An easy to do trick with an easy to follow plot. Perfect choice for professionals who work for lay people."

-- József Kovács

"The Spirit Cards is a performer's dream! I performed it at a corporate function the day after I received it and my spectators were elated! After the trick appears to be over, you then "floor 'em" with an even stronger kicker!  Highly Recommended!"

-- Paul Lelekis

Available at: http://www.cardicianden.com

ALSH

My Review - CCARN

I had a pleasure in going through József Kovács' CCARN (Chosen Card At Random Number) recently and I would like to say it's a very clever and nice little routine. Please do not get confuse with the ACAAN plot as this is a different effect and the title says it all. 

It's a 3-page (includes the front cover) pdf, well laid out and mind you, there is no single illustration that you could find. The steps are explained in a very straightforward manner and I think it would be better if the author could include some simple illustrations on the cutting cards sequence so that the reader could follow the steps easily. There is a simple formula that you need to follow but I believe with practice, you will remember its sequence easily.

The beauty of this routine lies in its simplicity and elegant construction that involves two decks in the performance. However, there is a set-up you need to do beforehand and surprisingly, it's not difficult at all. The only requirement is that you must have more than three decks (includes the set-up) at your disposal. In terms of the routine, what I like is that apparently, the entire sequence looks very fair as the spectators can shuffle and cut the packets. In spite of the fairness of the procedure, this works 100% automatically all the time; that is the spectator is able to locate the chosen card in the pack. 

To sum up, in performance, suppose any card is selected (the King of Spades) and then buried into the deck by the spectator. Using a second deck, a number is very fairly generated, again by the spectator (let's say 25). You won't believe this, but the 25th card dealt to is in the first deck - the King of Spades!

In a nutshell, this is a simple and effective card routine. If you don't mind with the setting up of the pack, I think this routine is very strong and plays very well to any audience.

Get this pdf at the price of $7.50 at lybrary.com. 

ALSH