Computer Problems

Hi everyone. My computer crashed and decided to implode. In short I am working on a new computer being built but reviews will be held back in the mean time. I apologize for the delay.

Beyond The Stage

After taking a quick peek at JC Sum's website http://www.illusionbooks.com/ you will quickly realize that most of these books are for the serious magician/illusionist and they have a price tag to reflect that. Fortunately, JC has written a set of lecture notes that is packed with great information and with a relatively low price tag.

These notes are 37 pages long and the broken up as follows:

Forward by John Teo, IBM Ring 115 President.

Introduction

About JC Sum

Magic's Greatest Secret Revealed

Building a Professional Stage Show

Performing Magic for Money

Producing Magic for TV

Annex: Applause Devices

Our forward is a single page with glowing praise, as is expected in any forward. I look forward to the day when a forward is not complimentary, perhaps if it were written by Simon Lovell? Any who, often the forward allows you to see just how high up one's friends are. The president of Singapore's IBM Ring doesn't seem very significant but that is a North American perspective.

Our introduction is also a single page detailing Mr. Sum's intentions. To allow magicians to produce higher quality magic and shows, an admirable goal.

About JC Sum is like reading the dust jacket of a hardbound book, I understand why it is here, but in a short set of notes, unnecessary.

JC now presents magic's greatest secret, which isn't quite correct. It should say magic's greatest secrets, because there is no single secret, rather many many tips to improving your performance. The main point/secret is communication, and Mr. Sum spends the next 10 pages listing and explaining verbal and non verbal ways to improve your communication with your audience. Broken down into three distinct segments, Creating the Magic Experience, Controlling the Audience, and Captivating (Entertaining) The Audience. A great deal of this information presented follows the lines of good theatre. You could learn much from learning about playwriting and screen writing. The only part of this section that seems out of place is the example. Mr. Sum's example is a close up trick (The Ambitious Card) which seems wrong given he is Singapore's foremost illusionist.

Mr. Sum briefly mentions the need for perfection in execution of technique, and I couldn't agree more. It is imperative that your technique on stage be flawless, otherwise the illusion is destroyed for the audience. Unfortunately, again, Mr. Sum presents close up examples, while they are common and familiar to any magician, they are coming from a world famous illusionist, not Guy Hollingworth.

Other points in this section include the importance of scripting and how to improve with scripts. Distance from the audience and connecting, enthusiasm, sincerity, etc. A lot of great stuff!

The next section of these notes covers Building a Professional Stage Show. This section is short considering the topic and the depth is not what you might hope for. That being said, the information presented is very practical. JC immediately recommends a set of lecture notes by Denny Haney of Denny and Lee's. You can see a review of those notes here.

JC highlights 3 steps in building a stage show:

1. Construction

2. Development

3. Evolution

A variety of tips are given on choosing material, and considerations that need to be kept in mind. This is information only a seasoned pro can really give you. We also get other factors that make a trick better or worse for a stage show than another. Your favorite trick is not always a good trick for your show.

The classics are referenced and a short but strong list of classics is given and as JC mentions, a full show of classics can be put together for under $500 bucks, they can all be done surrounded, and they pack small and play big!

Formatting the Show

This is where these notes shine! JC present his way of stringing his tricks together to create the strongest performance possible. This includes which tricks to choose first, which tricks have to take a back seat, where to put what tricks, etc. All of this information justified the price of the notes. It's rare to find truly career enhancing information and I think this might be just that information. If you believe your show formatting is the best it can be then ignore this.

JC has very specific goals for each segment of the show. Opener, closer, personality piece, etc. Following JC's explanations are an example stage show program. You get to see the work in action.

Development

The second stage of the show building process is development, once you have a show it is far from over. Although the initital show is the most demanding process, the show is like a living thing, it continues to grow or shrink and becomes something different. I grows with you as a performer. Development is when you polish up your material, record bits of businss and get really tight on the scripting. The focus shifts from the physical tricks to the specific presentations. This is also when you being to discard your weaker material for stronger material. Some of your original choices will not work out. That's as it should be. JC continues to help you refine your work and make it professional grade material.

Evolution

This is when you can start taking input from other people, performers, magicians, etc. This process never ends. The chapter ends with a timeline of how long these 3 stages should take.

Performing Magic for Money

I'm a bit disappointed with this section. Specifically because it has been dilluted over a number of areas instead of concentrating on a handful of effective sources. While JC addresses a number of common magic problems he doesn't target any one market well enough for an aspiring full time magician to really get his feet wet. A lot of emphasis is given on how to sell a service, an intangible product, like magic!

JC gives some basic promotional tools that every performer should have. Nothing revolutionary, Business cards, website, promo video, and show information (Brochure, flyer, etc.). Some great information is given on how to write up your show for marketing materials.

This section ends with some ways to get started marketing yourself. The first one being Referrals. It's a bit difficult to get work through referrals if you are just starting out, afterall who is going to refer you? Charity work is great for getting those referrals and meeting good people to hire you. JC does give advice on harnessing your social circles for referrals.

Direct Marketing, cold calls, targeted mailings, etc. This requires a very specific market/list of people to approach and market to. This can get very costly as well. If you have the money to back a marketing strategy like this it could prove to be the best money you spend!

The last source is agencies. A google search will uncover many reasons you should and should not work with agents. But the most important one in my mind is that this is work that you otherwise would not get.

The last sections of the notes is Producing Magic for TV. I understand that this is good information but in a book that plans to move you from amateur to professional it seems a little out of place. That being said let's take a look at the worthwhile nature of this chapter. JC has clearly been on TV A LOT. All of that experience is clearly demonstrated in this chapter. How to prepare for a television appearance, what sort of material is good and bad for TV, having your creative voice heard even! All very important information that would be hard to learn elsewhere. Fortunately there is another set of lecture notes available from the Camirand Academy that was written by the late Gary Ouellet on this exact topic! You can take a look at those here. If anyone is interested in those notes and would like to see a review, please email me and I will post one.

Following this chapter is Annex: Applause Devices

Once again this is very theatrical information. More emphasis on theatrical training than magic here but nonetheless some great information. JC presents his techniques for garnering applause and his personal opinions on applause cues. First we are presented with the 3 mistakes magicians make with regards to applause. Next we are given verbal and visual cues to prompt applause. Last, we are given a run down of the different types of applause, from polite applause all the way to standing ovation.

This set of notes is a bit pricey at 30 bucks. I would expect a 20 dollars price tag on something like this. That being said the information presented is very good for the performer very new to performing professionally. If you read the above review and feel these notes are the proper stepping stone in your career, buy them! If you are curious about the demands of performing professionally, buy these notes. If you are looking for information that is very specific, such as magic on TV, perhaps you would do better with the notes from The Camirand Academy of Magic.

These notes are certainly helpful to a me as a professional and I think that any professional magician wouldn't hesitate to throw 30 bucks at the possibility of a tip, trick, or bit of advice that could lead to even just one more booking.

I recommend these notes available from JC directly at Illusionbooks.com for 30 dollars, shipping included.

Update: JC Sum Week

I apologize for the delay. Many of you have asked for more books so I am working hard to review all the books JC Sum has available on his site Illusionbooks.com. As you can imagine, books take a while to read and review. Once some of these books are done we will be having our first TMR Contest! One luck winner is getting a free copy of JC Sum's book The Event Illusionist!

Details will be posted at The Magic Review Facebook group page.

New contests will follow!

Lunch Is Served

Paul Romhany and TC Tahoe have put together a book that should have happened long ago! The Out To Lunch principle is a fantastic one. The routines you can do with this rather simple concept are remarkable and fortunately there is a book dedicated to the subject. As per usual I will begin with a general verdict then follow with a more in depth review.

This book is quite good if you are looking to play with the Out To Lunch principle OR if you are a professional looking to add an effect to your repertoire. Due to the preparation associated with OTL tricks it is very difficult to carry more than one or two tricks on you at a given time. If you are an amateur/hobbyist who wants to try magic with a different type of "prop" then this might be just the thing for you. You don't need personal business cards, you can always get blanks from a stationary/office supplies store. For those wanting to try new tricks this book will keep you happy and busy. For the working professional trying to diversify their repertoire, you will find something in this book to add to your line up. The book is available from Paul directly, about half way down this page.
The tricks in this book vary from fantastic to garbage. I say garbage because some tricks are the same as the one before with a slight aesthetic change. A trick where a key bends and then later on a trick where a spoon bends are the same trick in my mind. It doesn't take a creative genius to realize other visual representations of objects can be visually bent. We are also treated to a section on trick by TC Tahoe, another section on tricks by Paul Romhany, and a final section on tricks by everyone else who contributed. While I appreciate the creative talents of all people involved it would have been nice the tricks separated by subject. For example, tricks involving: time, mind reading, transpositions, etc. If tricks were separated by effect this book could be used much more effectively as a desired effect section could be flipped to and a suitable trick found. Because it is sorted by creator you are left with a hodge podge of magic to go through with no defined organization. This works in a library, not so much a magic book covering a single principle in depth.



Since this book covers so many tricks I will highlight the best and most unique tricks, in my opinion. I'd also like to point out something slightly awkward about this book. Paul Romhany wrote his section, and TC Tahoe wrote his section, but the styles of writing are so different that the book lacks continuity.

The beauty of a book with so many contributors is that the creativity flows freely! A number of tricks in this book are just spectacular, some are diabolically clever, and others are basic attempts to use the principle and seem to be in here strictly for political friendship reasons.

Here are a number of my favorite tricks and the accompanying effect as seen by the audience:

Fortune Cookie: This specific routine caught my eye because of the size of the effect. It is meant for a parlor situation. The effect is this, a spectator signs the bottom of a large postcard with a fortune cookie on it, from the folds of the cookie is a large blank fortune paper. The card is removed and set down. The spectator chooses a random fortune from a large plastic bag and the audience gives the magician 3 numbers. Those numbers are added up to determine a fortune number. The postcard signed earlier is turned over to reveal that the fortune and lucky number match. I particularly enjoy the prediction feel and the ability to play large. The graphics required to make your own postcards is included in a CD provided with the book with a number of graphics for other tricks as well.

Signature Transpo: This is a fantastic effect and the reactions will prove that when you try it. A card signed by the magician and one by the spectators switch places in their hands. Then a second card is taken and signed by another spectator. The second card is placed in the second spectator's hand. Passing a flame by the magician's signature it vanishes and is found on the second spectator's card. I don't think I need any commentary here. It's an amazing effect!

Burnt Bill to Anywhere: This is a fantastic application of the OTL principle to steal an item in plain view AND have it signed for verification at the same time. This is a brilliant application and I suggest you take a look at it. Page 39 for those who plan on buying this.

The 8 Ball: While I am not usually a fan of this type of magic, as it doesn't suit my performance style, I know many magicians whom this trick would be perfect for! You draw a circle on the back of your business card. They sign the bottom and you finish making it look like an 8 ball and write "8 ball" above the drawing. The card is removed and given a shake, a large black 8 ball falls into their cupped hands and the card is shown to have "8 ball" written but no drawing.

Look Ma No Bands: Although not really a trick this is a cool concept to use on the fly. TC Tahoe has come up with a way to use the OTL principle without and bands or clips. Pretty cool!

Secret Writing Techniques and the OTL Principle by Christopher Taylor: This is a very unique section of the book. Mr. Taylor takes us through a number of ways to produce secret writings as well as how to conceal various things throughout. A slightly bizarre feel to the effects but wonderful nonetheless. I enjoyed this article. Also an old method of producing smoke from your fingers is given at the end of the article.

Newspaper Prediction: BRILLIANT! This trick blew me away. It's a great solution for producing a headline prediction. Utilizing a balloon and the OTL principle you can predict any headline... A blown up balloon with a prediction inside is seen. Some from the audience chooses a word or headline or what have you an this is written down. The card with writing is handed to the spectator with the rest of the cards. The balloon is taken and popped. Aside from balloon bits is a piece of paper. On this is the correctly predicted word. Although these ideas have been explored in other sources, this trick by Gerard brought it together well.

R248 The Stars: Remember to Forget the Stars: In an apparent feat of mind control/manipulation you cause a spectator to forget one of a few symbols presented to them. This is a trick by Banachek and I must say it is a very clever effect to be done with the OTL principle.

The Exploding Light Bulb: Steve Hocevar performed this effect for a trade show. A light bulb is seen on a card. The bottom of the card is signed, and the card removed from the stack. It is held signature and light bulb face down. A large flash and puff of smoke is seen. The card is turned over to reveal the bulb has exploded! By combining a number of special effects with this simple application, Mr. Hocevar has come up with an effect that people are surely going to talk about! Finally something you CAN use the FISM flash for...

There are many other tricks in this book that will please any style of magician. Due to the setup required for any OTL effect, the tricks in this books will be hard to all use at once. Adding one or two to your existing repertoire will work wonders! Pun intended...

The book ends with an article by Paul Romhany with Tips on Business cards. For the magician new to having business cards these tips will be invaluable.

Although a very niche book, if you are doing close up and do not have an OTL trick in your repertoire perhaps this will change things. I'd recommend this book for the diversity of effects and the wonderful stage applications. Available from Paul Romhany for 24.95.