I couldn't find a review using the search so thought that I would add one (or possibly another
). Anyway, here goes.
The Effect
Direct from the packaging - The routine follows the classic lines: The magician cuts a deck of cards and produces four aces. Each ace is then covered with three indifferent cards. Three of the aces vanish from their piles and reappear together in one pile.
See here for a demo
http://media.putfile.com/A-Dream-of-Aces
Cost
Around £20 if you shop around. It should be noted that a number of sellers are still shifting the older version of this with the VHS video rather than the newer DVD (I say newer
- read on).
Refills (spares) - about £5 per set
Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
2 - some sleights required but easy and all are taught. What makes this is the presentation (I know that's true of almost everything but this one in particular).
Review
Well , where do I start?
I fist saw a version of McDonalds Aces performed by Copperfield under the title of Grandpa's aces and I was blown away. I'd not seen this routine before and it impressed me, although he uses the Shotgun Aces routine to present the aces rather than the cutting to the aces that is taught in this package.
I then saw a post on TM and recently, the video of this on the Ellusionist web site (although I don't buy directly from there) and like a true CUPS sufferer I knew that I just had to have this
.
After a 2 month wait for one of my local dealers to get this for me, it finally arrived last weekend, along with a spare set of the refills - If you know what I mean
(more about this later).
I was expecting the DVD to include a tutorial on the routine but alas, it contains very little instruction at all. Instead, the accompanying booklet contains the instruction for the routine.
THE DVD - This contains an intro by Gary Ouellet that is
VERY dated and is in mono. It's strange hearing audio coming from the right speaker only and at first I thought that I'd blown a speaker. The image is grainy to say the least, all coming from a mid to late 80's recording pressed onto a DVD without
ANY extra technology being added. The intro is then accompanied by two recordings of the routine performed by Alaine Choquette - one recorded in the studio and the second from his live stage act. Finally, the first presentation is cut up into bite size chunks so that you can view step by step but again, with no instruction. It is explained that all of this is
ONLY for the benefit of being able to see what the performance should look like.
The short of it is that the DVD sucks big time and there's little excuse in this day and age, let alone for the cost, for there not to be a decent and updated recording- even if it isn't instructional!
THE BOOKLET - This saved the day as far as I'm concerned. It's a good quality publication in the sense of the materials and printing with a decent number of B&W photo's. The first section gives you a history of the McDonalds Aces routine from the beginning all the way up to Gary Ouellet getting his hands on it. It actually makes a rather good and interesting read and even tells you a little bit about the musical arrangement. You then get a step by step instructional guide which is very well written and easy to get along with. Nothing is too difficult and as previously stated, all of the sleights are taught.
I
MUST say what a
JOY it is to learn from a book again and there is just so much more of a sense of achievement when learning something from the written word.
Finally, there is a section detailing the patter that goes with the routine although everyone seems to perform this to music
.
Overall
The routine -
10 out of
10. I just
LOVE this routine and know that I will get a lot of mileage out of performing it
.
However, I would score this as an
8 for the overall package as it is let down by the dated DVD footage (not because it's not an instructional DVD I hasten to add). It would have been marked much lower had it not been for the excellent booklet. I know that some may say that the DVD quality isn't important if the book is giving the instruction etc. but I would dispute this. We all talk at great length about the presentation of our magic being important - so should we not expect the material that we buy to be equally well presented? We talk about one of the benefits of buying originals rather than pirate copies being the quality of the original. This argument is lost IMO with this one as the booklet can be photocopied or scanned with ease. Please note that I am not condoning such behaviour - merely making a comment.
Finally
As I mentionned earlier a refill set as I'll call them is available for around £5. However, if you buy a deck of DB'ers then you'll find that you get two, if not three sets of what you need for the same price and have a number of other cards left over for other uses. Ultimately, the set that comes with the package will get grubby and need replacing.
Member of the Magic Circle & The 2009 British Isles Close-Up Magician of the Year
It's not really an optical illusion - it just looks like one!