The Effect
As the title states, this is volume 7 and the latest in the Green Magic series of DVD’s. Whilst Green’s other titles in the series are for intermediate and advanced skill levels, this title is billed as the one for self-working, easy to do card effects. The volume also features the ‘Eye of Stonehenge’ which is billed as Lennart’s masterpiece of card magic and quite possibly the most mind-boggling card effect ever created!
Much has been written about this particular card trick and it’s for this that I made this particular purchase.
Cost
Around £28 from various dealers and widely available.
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)
As proclaimed self workers they couldn’t be anything else but 1’s – could they?
Review
The first thing that you note about this DVD is that the picture quality and sound is spot on. The camera angles are also reasonably good as you get to see everything from the specs perspective and also from close up where needed but at times it could do with an overhead camera.
You do need to get used to Lennart’s Scandinavian accent but that’s a small price to pay for such quality work. What you soon realise about him is that he’s quite humorous. Part of the joy of watching Lennart handle a deck of cards is that he actually comes across as being rather clumsy, despite being regarded as one of the world’s foremost card experts. In giving this impression he just makes everything look so much more natural.
Fractured – Lennart’s humorous opener and the only non card routine on the DVD. The routine sets the scene for the card tricks as it opens by talking about mathematics, probability and statistics such as: if there are ten people in a room and 12 of them leave, then do two of them have to return before the room is empty?
Rain Man This effect is a different presentation of what many will know as the Jeopardy routine by Paul Green. However, Lennart gives full credit back to the origins of the principle used and in my opinion Lennart’s presentation is just so much better than Paul’s and it looks so much more of a feat of skill than a trick. I’ve loved Green’s version for some time but this will make you think about it again. It’s also much easier to manage the actions of the spec with this version as those of you who have performed Paul’s version will know that you will occasionally get the spec who will accidentally mess the cards up for you. If you’re a cardie then you will almost definitely use this!
4 Aces Squared – Lennart starts off the presentation by producing the 4 aces from a deck shuffled by the spec and then again from a dribble having re-shuffled the deck. This was jaw dropping but these two productions are not in the explanation. No doubt they are included on an earlier volume. This is a mathematical effect that may be used if you need to produce the four aces for another routine but it’s not one that you will probably use on it’s own. There are some of Lennart’s own ideas on the use of this principle that make interesting viewing.
$26,000 Bet – This effect is what I can best describe as the opposite of the ‘out of this World’ effect in that the cards are dealt and the spec selects which pile the face down card goes onto. The bet is that on the turning over of the cards in each pile, no two cards will be of the same colour. For every red turned, the one in the opposite pile will be a black and vice-versa. This is despite the deck having been shuffled. I’ll stick with the OOTW routine.
Stolen Cards – Reviewed elsewhere on TM as this is sold as a separate effect with a gimmicked deck of cards. I was surprised that this was included on the DVD as you can’t perform it without the deck which isn’t bundled with the DVD. It’s good to see Lennart perform this particular trick as it’s a favourite of mine and one that I regularly perform when I’m working and which always gets great reactions. The explanation pays credit to the original Gemini Twins version as well as the magicians who have developed this over the years. It then leads onto the explanation using a normal deck of cards which in itself is a great fooler but the gimmicked deck and story line adds that much more. If you own this deck then it’s well worth watching Lennart’s handling and subtleties.
The Eye Of Stonehenge – I watched the performance of this particular effect three times before watching the explanation and despite having a few theories, each one appeared to be well and truly squashed as I watched more of the performance. When viewing the explanation I found that I wasn’t too far away from part of the technique but still without understanding exactly how it worked for this particular effect. This is as cunning at it comes and if you can add and subtract then you’ll have little difficulty in performing this. Lennart goes further than just the explanation of this routine by providing more of his own in-depth views and ideas on other workings of the principle involved in the Stonehenge effect. This is one that I will use again and again.
The Dragon’s Pearl – This one is just a baffling! Spec shuffles deck, Lennart produces matching pairs, complimentary suits and two sets of aces through to kings with each being the opposite of the other. Brain into meltdown there just seems no logical explanation how this works, How can this self work?
Overall
This DVD is a veritable feast of skull crunching card effects that you just wouldn’t believe were self workers without watching the explanations. You also get, which is unusual in this day and age a great history lesson in card magic with Lennart giving credit wherever it’s due. He speaks with authority and is a good teacher but you will need to watch these explanations a few times to pick up the techniques. There’s nothing difficult – it’s just the amount that you have to get through so expect to be kept busy for some time.
However, don’t dismiss these routines just because they are self workers as most of these are far stronger than a lot of card effects that you could present using sleights or gaffs. You’re left totally clean as you’re using a normal deck and in most of these routines the spec does all of the work for you under your expert guidance.
I’ve been a fan of Lennart’s work for some time although I’ve seen limited amounts of it, and this DVD does nothing to change my mind. If you can get self workers this strong then you can’t help thinking if there is a need for volumes 1 to 6?
I rate this DVD as 9/10, only because it would have been the perfect package if it had included a deck of Stolen Cards which to be honest would not have cost that much more to include.
There are a few other self-working or easy-to-do cards DVD’s including Andre Murray’s ‘Thirteen’ which has been one of the recent well reviewed of these. Green Lite knocks spots off anything of a similar ilk and is well worth the money – even if you’re not a novice!
Definately one for the CUPS sufferer
