talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect

These are the sleeve notes from the packaging:

If you want to learn magic that is practical for performing in the real world, Danny Tong is the magician to look to. I you want to entertain the audience as you fool them, Danny Tong will teach you how to do that too.

There are a lot of great magic tricks out there, but the majority of them cannot be used when performing close-up magic in a restaurant or at a cocktail party. Perhaps that is why so many magicians all perform the same close-up tricks.

Danny Tong stands out among real world, working magicians. After viewing his DVD, you will see why Danny is held in such high esteem by his peers and why I am a fan of his magic – Steve Dusheck

Content

* Card to Wallet: A simple no palm approach to get signed “card to wallet” effect.
* Bill Matrix (coin assembly): This simple method not only produces the cin assembly effect, it provides two additional effects (that’s the colour change and production of a lard coin). However, it’s main function is to get money on the table. One simple adjustment and you are reset.
* Sponge Balls: With 2 visible balls you will perform several effects, including the classic in the spectators hands.
* Ring Flight/Ring on Stick: A very strong combination of two classic effects that mane a great closer.

Bonus:
* Martix: (Additional)
* Bills and Bowls: It’s the classic Benson bowl routine done with borrowed bills and a sugar bowl. Like Bill Matrix, the routine was designed to get money on the table.

Cost

£22.23 from here:

http://world-of-magic.co.uk/tricks.asp? ... offset=252

£27.99 from Alakazam

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)

The routines are no more than a 2 in terms of skill level required but they require some additional utilities that you will either already own or will need to purchase.

Review

Upon reading the sleeve notes before opening the case, there were two main points of interest for me and one of them wasn’t Dan Tong. I don’t mean to be disrespectful; it’s just that I’ve not heard much about Dan before and first came across him as one of the contributing magicians on the Live at the jailhouse DVD that I recently reviewed.

The two points of interest for me were the link to restaurant/table magic which I’m studying at the moment by watching and reading all that I can get my hands on. The second point of interest was the amount of VARIETY in the featured routines and this DVD set is full of variety. If you want to add more to your current repertoire than just cards, cards and more card tricks then read on.

This DVD is part of a two volume set (I’ll be reviewing volume 2 after this one) and whilst I already perform a lot of the effects that are contained within, I very much enjoy watching and studying other magicians perform the same.

However, before I begin I should out of courtesy go back and address an earlier comment and ask “who is Dan Tong”? Unfortunately a quick (about 10 minutes) web search did not reveal too many results about Dan Tong the magician (and he’s not the Dan Tong that is listed in the Spurs football reserve squad) but what you will find is that Dan has been around for many years so he speaks with a great deal of real world experience and that should be respected. The reviews from his lectures from the 1980’s up his 2002 IBM Ring performances all, without exception have great reviews and demonstrate how much Dan Tong is respected throughout the magic community. Anyway, back to the DVD.

* Card to Wallet: There are two variations of this routine that are demonstrated along with the explanation that uses a Balduci wallet. This is a simple routine that is based around a two card monte. There’s nothing at all here that’s too difficult to learn and will result on the card in wallet without the need to use a top palm.
* Bill Matrix: Again, the performance starts off this particular routine and a shell is required for one of the coins. Some nice coin sleights are taught including a classic palm if you don’t already know this move. A modification to a jacket is required if you wish to follow this routine and end with a jumbo coin production. This is a nice little routine that is a classic in its own right but isn’t that difficult to learn and perform. If you’re looking for a coin matrix routine then this would be more than adequate. There’s also a version using a Chinatown half dollar rather than using a shell.
* Sponge Balls: Another classic of magic and just as there’s a view that every magician should be able to perform the cups and balls, so should every magician also be able to perform a sponge routine. This is a relatively simple but effective routine that’s easy for the audience to follow yet still fools them. There is a simple yet extremely visual production of the fist ball from a bill which I will be using myself from now on.
* Ring Flight/Ring on Stick: There are two effects here that are rolled into one. The first is the ring on and off a stick which could be a chop stick etc. and this is simple to perform. The second phase requires a ring flight and the explanation shows how to set up the r**l and how to h**k up. It’s nice and simple and if you’re looking for a ring flight routine then this will be more than adequate for your needs.
* Benson Bowl Routine: This is a delightful little routine that’s both visual and easy to perform. The moves are all cups and balls basics using rolled up bills and it makes you wish that we still had the £1 note available as you won’t be getting many people leaving you the smallest note as a tip which is the £5 (but that is perhaps dependant on you and your skill at entertaining). Once again, there’s very little that you won’t be able to perform effortlessly after some practice and I’d rate this at 2/5 in terms of difficulty.

Rating

Overall I’d rate this DVD (volume 1) at 8.5 from a possible 10.

Partly because this will appeal to a novice more than experienced magician and it would have been a nice opportunity to find out a little more about Dan Tong himself.

Overall it’s a very a very good quality DVD in terms of the filming and print to DVD but it was slightly spoiled because of a red wall in the background that tended to fool the lens into lessening the otherwise good sharpness on the three or four occasions that it was shown. I’ll watch this again on another screen and let you know if this is resolved. This doesn’t spoil then enjoyment too much though and is more nit-picking than anything major. The sound track is very good throughout.

Overall

What is nice about this DVD is that Dan Tong’s personality and experience come across well in the filming and there's a warmth about him that is captured in this recording. It’s also a nice change to have a mature magician performing instead of a younger ‘up and coming’ magician who sometimes are still developing their stage personality and who therefore come across as a bit ‘stiff’.

Volume 1 will be more suited to beginners and intermediate level magicians who are looking to expand their repertoire of tricks and learn new sleights and subtleties at the same time. The material on this DVD is taught very well indeed and will, with the required practice look as professional as most other routines that are out there. These routines also fit together very well so you could if you choose to script your whole first magic act around these routines. For their skill level, they are about as good as you will get anywhere else on a single DVD and it’s a joy to watch something that doesn’t only revolve around card magic.

Now go back to the beginning of this review and re-read the first paragraph from the sleeve notes. This DVD does exactly what it says it will do. It gets my vote!

I've now posted the review to volume 2 which can be found here:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/sutra145968.php#145968