Twisting Time – Flying Through Space

Justin Miller’s – Time and Space (MSRP: $40.00) –

Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Turn The Page by Metallica

Call me a heretic, but I think that I like Metallica’s version better than Bob “My First Name is a Palindrome” Seger . . . also known as Bob “My Last Name is one Letter Away From Being a Palindrome” Seger

On to Mr. Justin “Neither of my Names are Palindromes” Miller:

The effect is basically that of a paradox card in the vein of Brother John Hamman’s Your Signed Card, or Alex Elmsley’s Between The Palms If you’re not familiar with those effects, stop reading this review and go learn those first . . . classics folks . . . classics.

Here’s Miller’s take on it: Add a time travel theme, a few Back to the Future jokes – always fun – and throw in a kicker ending that includes a card stuck in a time warp. All in all, not bad. However, let’s dive a bit deeper . . .

Performance

The premise of time travel is always a good hook I think. However it does depend on how well you address it and how interesting you make it. It’s fun to speculate about time paradoxes. Miller only briefly touches on this.

I’m not a fan of lines like this:
“This is a deck of cards obviously . . . ”

What’s the point!? This is one of the opening lines during Miller’s performance . . . annoying to say the least.

There were a lot of lame and/or weak jokes along the way, and it took almost a full 4 minutes into the routine before anything happened. The trick/presentation/patter was extremely slow and dry.

The spectator – played by the producer, Kozmo – looked less than thrilled at the performance. That’s nothing against Koz (a friend of mine) or Miller (an acquaintance of mine). It’s more the fact that Koz is a well-versed magician who’s been exposed to a lot of magic . . . not the best choice for an effect like this. It would have been better to have either no audience or a real “lay” audience that could have shown a bit more enthusiasm.

Additionally, Miller’s Riffle F**ce was poorly timed. He didn’t wait for Koz to say “stop.”

So my rating of the entire performance, effect and presentation . . . probably a 3 out of 5.

Explanation

There’s not doubt that this method goes a long way to cancel out certain methods in the mind of the spectator. One such effort is the nice subtlty that Miller uses with the signatures. This is very clever and could be employed in many other effects.

Great effort was put into the filming of the explanation, multiple angles and thorough explanations to say the least. That’s one thing I’ve always admired about Miller (even on the effects of his that I hate) is that he is a very thorough teacher. In this particular project, even though he was thorough, he did seem a bit “off” that day . . . maybe a rough night’s sleep or something, but it was a bit stiff, but still thorough.

The set up is a bit obnoxious and hard to reset . . . so much so that this effect (regardless of it’s impact) is very unlikely to end up in my strolling repertoire . . . a set show, maybe, but even still unlikely for other reasons.

Another point to consider . . . in the performance, he had the spectator blow on the face of the signed card to allow the ink to dry. However, once you learn the method, you’ll realize that you can’t actually show the face of the card to the spectator. Miller never explains this in the explanation.

Also, I’m not sure that Miller knows what the word “Psychology” means . . . he constantly says there’s a lot of psychology here, then shows something that has nothing to do with a psychological point.

Another thing about Miller that I’ve always admired is his fluidity of motion. He’s a very smooth technician, even on the effects that I’m not a fan of. This effect is no exception. He is smooth and fluid in both his performance and explanation.

All in all, the explanation is a 4 star explanation on a 2.5 to 3 star effect.

Props

Each performance destroys a gimmick. The DVD only comes with Six cards, and the website mentioned on the DVD for obtaining refills is a dead site. I imagine, however, that you could get refills from Koz. However, let me caution you that the quality of the prop is mediocre at best. The two jokers that are printed on one side of the deck look like the border between them was hand drawn with a cheap sharpie . . . not the best looking gimmicks.

Final Analysis

The effect itself, in my opinion, is not as good as its predecessors mentioned at the beginning of the review. However, the signature subtlety is worth learning, and the effect isn’t horrible . . . it may strike the fancy of some of you out there, so I’m left with a final verdict of 2.5 out of 5 stars and a Stone rating of grubble (a little bit of gem and a bit more rubble).

Christopher Congreave’s and Gary Jones’s- Flying Tonight (MSRP: $20.00) –

Random I-Tunes Songs of the Moment: Purple Rain by The Artist Formerly Known as “The Artist Formerly Known as ‘Prince’”

So . . . 3 Fly eh . . . yeah . . . so . . .

Let’s take a look at each effect individually, but first let me make it clear in as nice a way as possible that this would have been a much better DVD if Gary Jones was the only performer. Don’t get me wrong, Chris Congreave is a nice guy, and I have nothing against him personally, but he was an extremely annoying distraction during the sections where Jones was trying to teach his effects. Additionally, Congreave’s effects pretty much seemed to be knock-offs of Jones’s effects, and they weren’t performed near as well as Jones.

It got to the point where I was getting angry by the annoying interruptions and questions that Congreave was asking Jones. I almost stopped watching because I don’t like to feel that much anger toward another human. To add insult to injury, most of the time I couldn’t even understand what the heck Congreave was saying because he seemed to be mumbling. Couple that with the fact that he wasn’t mic’d when Jones was teaching, and you’ve got a recipe for one annoyed viewer. Again, I don’t dislike Mr. C or even think he’s a bad person. I just felt that he was extremely annoying on this video.

Putting aside the annoyances of one of the co-hosts, my overall take on this DVD is that you could probably pass on this if you already have a three fly routine in your repertoire, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s talk about the video quality first:

On a scale from Crap to Rotten Milk . . . it’s somewhere in the range of wet diaper. The audio was bad; the lighting was bad; The effect of each performance was lost because the camera was too far back to see anything. Additionally, during the close up explanations, the camera wasn’t keeping up with Jones and Congreave, so much of the visual nature of this type of effect was completely lost on the viewer.

Effects

I’ve already, hopefully, made it clear that Jones is the better performer of the two. One thing that makes him a solid performer is his pantomime skills. He did a great job here, and I assume that his appearances and vanishes were also good, but as I mentioned I couldn’t tell due to the quality(?) of the production.

The effect of 3 Fly is simply that 3 coins held at the finger tips of one hand magically vanish and reappear at the finger tips of the other hand. It’s a beautiful effect when done right, so the question is . . . did Jones and Congreave do it right? The answer . . . I’m not sure because the camera work and lighting were so bad. From what I could see, I’ll try to review some of the effects, most of which are variations of the 3 Fly concept.

GJ 3 Fly:

There is a very pretty Hanging Coins sequence performed by Jones here, but the rest of it was very difficult to see. The camera cut at bad times; The lighting is bad, and of course during the explanations we are bombarded with boring babbling from our friend Chris Congreave. I’m sorry to be so harsh on this point, but it really was a huge, and I mean huge annoyance that the video could really have done without. The only thing as annoying, maybe even more annoying was the camera work . . . not keeping up with the performer’s hands . . . not knowing when to zoom in or out . . . bad lighting, and oh, did I mention bad lighting and poor camera work!?

CC 3 Fly:

This is pretty much the same routine as GJ above, but not as smooth and of course . . . bad camera work and bad lighting

Additional 3 fly ideas:

Mr. C., Please for the love of all that is good and holy, stop talking and let Mr. Jones talk! During this section we are treated with a beautiful addition for the 3 fly using a glass.

GJ Coins Across:

This was the epitome of what drives me crazy about many performers . . . Too confusing and too fast . . . No clarity of effect at all, and again with the interruptus Maximus . . . Mr. C, and his pal the bad lighting and camera work. The explanation was very messy and annoying, and Chris made it worse. I will say that this effect does have a nice kicker at the end, however.

CC Coins Across With Shell:

Yet another very confusing, very annoying, very bumble-y routine with a bit of light at the end of the tunnel – that’s where the light went, because it sure wasn’t in the room when they filmed – with the in-the-hands ending which could be applied to multiple other routines.

GJ Free Fly:

This is pretty much the same old same old that we already have seen on the previous effects, with one addition . . . bad camera work, bad lighting and super-fast-and-hard-to-follow performance. Oh wait, that’s the same as the other ones too.

CC Expensive Fly

One word: Annoying
One Redeeming Quality: Very clean vanishes
One Redemption Canceling Caveat: It requires the Triple Threat gimmick which is a very expensive coin gimmick.

Bonus: GJ Pop Up Coins Plus:

I honestly couldn’t tell what the routine was due to the . . . wait for it . . . bad camera angle and bad lighting.

Final Thoughts

Look folks; most people who know me would tell you that I’m a pretty positive and upbeat guy, yet here you read this review, and I’ve got not much nice to say. My job as a reviewer is to give my opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned cash (in this case, only $20 bucks) on certain products. My guess is that if the DVD lighting and camera work weren’t so poor, I’d recommend this DVD to those unfamiliar with 3 Fly. However, with the production problems, there wouldn’t be much schooling you could get from this product. From what I can tell, Gary Jones is a pretty well seasoned performer, and if you have a really High-Def TV, you might be able to get something out of this DVD, but my vote is a 1.5 out of 5 stars with a final status of rubble.

Oliver Meech’s – Plot Twists (MSRP: $18.00)

Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Tribute by Tenacious D

I think there’s an “Oliver Twist” joke in here somewhere . . . maybe even an “Oliver Stone” joke, but I just can’t seem to find them, so on to the review:

Is the plot thick or is it twisted? Does it need to be thick or twisted? The answer to these questions can be found in the answer to this question: Does the spectator’s signed card “rise to the top” because it’s “ambitious?” If it does, I’ve got one word for you . . . STOP! Give your Ambitious Card Routine (ACR) some personality . . . Think Yeast Card by Michael Ammar or The Puppy Trick by David Regal. These routines give an ACR some meaning . . . Add Oliver Meech to the collection of people who’ve given meaning to ACR. He draws a balloon on the card that is filled with helium . . . perfect! There’s a kicker ending that I won’t spoil for you.

In general terms, it seems that Oliver is on a mission to get magicians to stop thinking about new ways to do a trick, and to start thinking of new reasons to the trick. I LOVE this thought.

Oliver takes methods we’re all familiar with and creates new effects (or plots) that maybe we’re not so used to . . . this is a good thing for magic. The spectators don’t care whether you used a double or a tilt to get the card to the top. What they care about is why it got there. It all goes back to Dai Vernon and the “Emotional Hook.”

Oliver’s book is full of reasons to care. How ’bout a two coin transpo with dog tags (not the military ones, but actual dog tags). How ’bout business cards that take pictures of your spectators . . . or two card traspo with photographs . . . This book opens your mind and gets you thinking.

I will say, that there were a few effects that weren’t much of a twist or new, but they were still great effects; they just didn’t fit the theme of the book as much. Also, Oliver assumes that you are a relatively experienced performer. He leaves out a bit of the details and even the presentation. His mission seems to be more focused on giving you the premise, basic concept, basic handling and some pointers. In most books that might be a problem, however, in a book with the goal of this one, this format is a smooth as a raw plucked duck covered in peanut oil.

Speaking of peanut oil, let’s talk about the quality of the book. If you’ve seen, handled, read, or walked near Oliver’s previous book, The Plot Thickens, then this volume will look quite familiar to you. Great care was taken in converting Oliver’s left-handed wording and photographs into right-hand friendly formats.

Additionally, the effects are written up with creatively conjured characters that relate to the plot’s theme. For example, if a trick were about dreams, the spectator’s name might be “Dennis” . . . as in Dennis Quaid who starred in a movie called Dreamscape. And yes, some of the references are that obscure. It just makes the reading that much more fun. Another great bonus is that most effects are described in terms simple enough that the entire performance, explanation, etc fits on a two page spread.

In this month’s issue, I’ve given you a taste of the contents of the book. Oliver has allowed me to publish a chunk of his book as this month’s Roots and Branches article: Act Accordingly.

Is every effect a gem? Of course not, but there are so many great thoughts, ideas, plots and . . . wait for it . . . plot twists, that with a price tag of a mere $18.00 I would feel dark inside if I did not recommend this book. Definite GEM. 4 Stars.