talkmagic.co.uk

In SHOCK FX, Andrew Mayne presents 13 tricks,
stunts and gags for the modern conjurer.

+ Produce a bowling ball in an impossible way
+ Stab a pencil through your face
+ Use insects to perform psychic feats
+ Learn Andrew's brand-new handling
for the paperclip through arm effect
that can be performed at anytime
during your act with everything you
need fitting in your wallet.

Also included is Andrew Mayne's brand-new
one-man illusion: BRAIN DAMAGE
a head penetration effect using umbrellas
that can be made in five minutes for less
than five bucks!

In total there are thirteen effects on this video and they all follow the same theme of "Twisted, devious, gut-wrenching magic fo stage, home and urban environment".

That little quote, which appears on the front of the box, aptly describes the type of effect you'll find on the video; some effects are designed for stage, and some for a more intimate style of magic primarily on the street. However I don't think that you would be able to work many of these effects into a close-up enviroment and thematically it would be difficult to incorporate them into a typical stage show due to the way AM presents them.

However, the principles behind the effects are sound and widely applicable so if you wanted to you could mix and match ideas to create a suitable effect for your usage.

The effects themselves are in general very good little tricks. I suppose the best way to describe them would be classic stage illusions, which get a polite applause and create a healthy suspicion of what's going on back stage, brought into the 21st centuary. These effects are not groundbreaking in terms of presentation (but i suppose that's up to the performer) or working but they are good tricks. Please don't mistake my critisism for dislike.

AM also goes into a good level of detail whilst teaching these effects and covers most issues well. He has obviously worked these effects out well, from conception to performance.

Effects: 6/10
Presentation of video:7/10
Teaching: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

Prices:

$29.95 (Free Shipping) direct from http://www.weirdthings.com

£16.67 (Free Shipping) from http://www.penguinmagic.co.uk

Yeah I'd agree with that. I do think that presentation was very good - both of the tricks and the funny way that he taught them. The bowling ball trick is pretty good and the umbrella through head routine is a good and cheap way to do a convincing and cheap sharp object through body parts routine. Other than that, the tricks seem to be a bit childish and would only be something to pass the time - they're definitely not reputation makers, unless you want the reputation of someone who likes sticking things into themselves and eating weird objects (e.g. a rat, candles, thumb tacks)

This isn't meant to be an attack on ste175, but you happened to use two words that set me into rant mode.

I've noticed that line "reputation maker" recurring in magic ads; from reading the average edition of "Magic" magazine, it appears possible to make your reputation fifty times over by buying the advertised routines. Sorry if I'm showing my inexperience here, but wouldn't the trick that makes your reputation be the one that you can make your own as a signature rather than something you buy off the shelf just as everyone else does the same?

Anyway, my reaction to this cliché along with a number of others is at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/qskerry/naffillusions.htm ; no disrespect is meant to any particular dealers or manufacturers, but if the cap fits bloomin' wear it.

Another thread taken off-topic by your friendly neighbourhood Quicksand Kerry. Sorry about that.

No offence taken. That's a good website btw. I was just trying to agree with GoldFish that these are regular everyday tricks that aren't really particularly amazing - they're just the little things that you do between bigger tricks. As for things that are reputation makers, if there are any, I'd say Paul Daniels' electric chairs come close and Lance Burton's dove productions have made him famous. I completely agree with you as well that the tricks that are called reputation makers really aren't. But then again, something must have impressed the people who put the most famous magicians to the top.

Very impressive QKD. Do you do mail order?

I'll ask Henry Naff next time I see him about the mail order, but he's been a bit hard to contact lately as he's vanished yet again with the only forwarding address being "c/o Ron the Bear, Moss Side, Manchester", following a chance meeting with one of his old colleagues at the Parkhurst Hotel. His son David is busy preparing for the lead role in a new play, "Boxed", and is not to be disturbed.


As for bona-fide reputation makers (starting with the two you mentioned);

Lance Burton's doves routine made his reputation because he won the world championship with it as a first class traditional stage magician.

Paul Daniel's electric chairs proved to be the best vehicle for Paul's biggest strength, his ability to interact with volunteers and members of the audience. He has an ability to be cheeky without alienating his audience or making them feel like victims, vital in a trick like this which really does walk the line on volunteer abuse if you're not careful, and so he could make it his own.

David Copperfield's Statue Of Liberty vanish (created by Andre Cole and Jim Steinmeyer). Doug Henning didn't want it, but Copperfield saw the legend potential could be bigger than the actual illusion, and the rest is history.

David Blaine's levitation; barefaced use of TV editing aside, with an old trick David Blaine became the Man Who Flew and a household name.

Derren Brown's Russian Roulette; another old routine, given new life by a masterful performance and buildup.

Penn and Teller's Bullet Catch; two controversial shock magicians who expose stuff show why they're qualified. Magicians may criticise P+T occasionally, but never this routine.

Pendragon's sub trunk/Criss Angel's Metamorphosis; yet another old trick but this time put over on sheer speed and skill. The Pendragons took it to the speed limit with a curtain, Criss Angel then took the speed direction to it's absolute limit by using a flash pyro instead of a curtain. Anyone wanting to make their reputation with this illusion now will need to find a fresh angle, the speed limit really has been reached.

QKD - I love your collection of naff illusions

Somehow I suspect that Henry Naff was behind the infamous Nose Tip as well.

For some reason it never did take over from the trusty tactifully toned TT.

Good site bananafish - for a second I was really confused and thought that emagictricks was actually trying to sell it! As for reputation makers, the chinese water torture trick made Houdini famous, even when it nearly killed him, as did the classic 'escape from a straightjacket whilst being suspended from a crane' trick.

Somehow I suspect that Henry Naff was behind the infamous Nose Tip as well

Lol! That is so funny! Assume this is the creative genius of seige, well its hosted on what appears to be his webspace.

Great stuff.