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Hi chaps (and chappesses!),

Here's the second glimpse of the next release from the Big Blind Media stable; the newest Magic Media company, headed up by the redoubtable Mr. Owen Packard.

BBM stormed onto the magic tuition scene in 2006, and now boasts a glut of very-highly quality titles, each headed-up by a different magical face, including The Trickery, The Cullfather, Strip With Jon Thompson, Covert Magic, Connected, 2wo Faced, CTW....and now...Fingers of Fury!

Fingers of Fury is a Two-Volume Set, featuring the effects of Alan Rorrison and, unlike some of the previous releases, comprises a hugely eclectic bag of close-up miracles.

This review relates to Volume Two (review for Vol 1 can be found HERE ).





The Effect

FINGERS OF FURY, VOL. 2

Volume Two contains six cracking card-based effects, all stunningly-presented in the kind of glossy, eye-popping fashion that we've now firmly come to expect of BBM.

1) WHITESIDE & PENMAN

This is a two-phase effect, the first phase of which - I must admit - had me (and no doubt any sane spectator) kinda' cringing

A card is selected, and our skillful magi offers to find it's partner (i.e the same colour card, with the same value), by simply counting off cards, and spelling the desired partner's name - say the chosen card is the King of Clubs, the magician then spells out K I N G O F S P A D E S...lo and behold...the King of Spades is revealed.

Once the spec is suitably-revived from the drooling trance he's oddly fallen into, the effect begins in proper

Our teasing magi folds both of the 'Soul-Mate' cards down their centres, and tears them asunder. The spectator then selects a piece of each (a totally free selection), and these mismatched pieces are placed, face up and side-by side onto the top of the deck, forming one torn card of two different suits.

The magician simply rubs the tear, and it visually heals, leaving one, perfect card, comprising of the two suited halves!

A perfect souvineer, to let the spec go home with

I say: This one took me completely by surprise - two phases, which contrast dramatically, in terms of impact; the first phase was Uncle Charlie at our Christmas party, when I was six...the second, Uncle Copperfield, who suddenly turned up to rescue me from permenant catatonia, when all seemed completely-lost.

Without tipping anything, you will need to make a gaffed card, or buy one (though these are very easily sourced, and a supplier is given, if you're not of a creative ilk), and everything else is very easily picked up (Sleight Level 2/5)

Oh - and watch out for the glorious 'Cock-up Alert', during this effect


2) LINKER

Woah! A classic of magic - the linking playing cards!

A single card is chosen, folded, and the middle torn out, leaving just the border.

The middle section is then likewise torn, leaving a smaller 'hollowed rectangle'

Without any messing around, the two are slammed against each other, and visually link - no cover, no suspect 'rubbing' - just...BANG! ...And there's now one piece hanging off the other

There are two possible endings; either an equally-visually-impressive unlinking, or a forcible tearing-apart.

I say: WOW! There's several vesrions of this effect doing the rounds right now, and here's one that's completely imprompteau, and amazingly-well taught!

All of the set-up is carried out right under the audience's noses, and leaves you set to perform to multiple tables.

There's two versions taught here, once of which leaves you totally clean, and everything can be given away

In short, if you get this DVD, do me a favour, and skip this effect totally - I want this one for myself

Better still, immediately after the explaination, there's also a lengthy, 'over-the-shoulder' look at the handling; don't think this indicates any serious sleights either - I'd rate this as a Difficulty-level of 2-3/5!


3) NO WAY

A very nice varient of the classic 'Twisting The Aces', which owes more than a nod to Gary Freed's 'NFW'

The Magician displays four Jokers; he gives the 4 cards a quick shake, and one Joker turns inexplicably face-down. A few more shakes, and - one-by-one - the remaining Jokers all follow suit, and turn over.

Whilst this alone is eye-popping enough, when the packet is turned face-up, there's not a single Joker in sight; all four cards are Aces!

I say: Okay - this is exactly the same effect as NWF - nothing added, nothing taken-away.

However (and this is a HUGE however for those of us who are left feeling a little exposed at the somewhat dirty ending of NFW), this version uses no gaffs whatsoever, and the four cards are immediately examinable!

Yup - read that last line again

As with all of the BBM titles I've seen to date, there is one effect on the DVD, which will pay for the entire collection; for me, 'No Way' is that effect!

There are two, intermediate-level moves, used in this effect, both taught flawlessly by young Mr. Rossison (this chap's one HELLUVA teacher, and no mistake). I'm digressing here, I know, but one of the very reasons I've been so impressed by this 2 - volume collection is the sheer amount of utility sleights taught by Alan; the raw 'stuff' of so many other effects, limited only by your imagination...


4) POLTER DECK

Yet another classic of magic (see a pattern forming here yet?!) gets the Rorrison shake-up.

Polter Deck is a superb 3-phase take on the Haunted deck:

The deck is mixed by our kindly - if baffled - spectator, and a single card is freely-chosen, and lost in the deck.

Mysteriously, the top part of the deck begins to move - completely of it's own accord - and the cards effectively cut themselves to the selected card!

The card is removed, and placed, out-jogged and face-up, into the middle of the face-down pack. Our magician waves his hand over the deck, and the face-up card immediately jumps to the very top of the pack.

Finally, the chosen card is turned face-down, and shuffled into the deck. With no messing about, and only a wave of the hand, the deck again forcibly-rejects the chosen card, which literally leaps out, flying directly towards the spectator!

I say: To my utter surprise, like most of the effects on this volume, Polter Deck uses absolutely NO GIMMICKS

There are only a few 'moves' (if they can really be called that) used to achieve this - frankly - killer routine, and the whole thing is no more than a Difficulty level of 3/5, tops.

In short, if you've ever watched a single-phase haunted-Deck routine, with your mouth open, only to be left feeling both disappointed and dirty (my usual state on a Saturday morning!) on receiving it, then Polter Deck WILL restore your faith in imprompteau card magic.

The real haunting aspect of this effect? IT CAN BE DONE WITH A BORROWED DECK (A fact that even Alan and Owen keep schtum about )!!


5) JOKING

From a face-down deck, the magician attempts to locate two Kings, to help with the forthcoming effect. Oddly, he stuffs-up, albeit in a very visual way, by causing all four Kings to spontaneously-appear, face-up at the top of the face-down deck.

The two un-needed Kinds are placed off to one side, and the other two retained.

Our kindly spectator chooses a single card, which is signed by him across the face, and then shuffled into the deck.

One of the two 'helper Kings' is chosen by the spec, and placed - face up - onto the top of the deck. the Magi gives this a quick rub, at which point it vanishes down into the deck. The remaining helper-King is likewise added to the top, where it, too, dives down on a search and locate mission.

The face-down deck is then spread: In the dead-centre of the spread, both of our face-up bounty-hunting Kings are revealed...with a single face-down card, sandwiched between them...our spectator's signed choice!

Both Kings and the signed card are removed from the deck, and held, face-down. The spec's card is brought to the top of the trio, removed, and rubbed onto the table...where it promptly desintigrates - al that's left are the two Kings.

The Magician then takes the remainder of the deck, which has been sitting in full sight, the whole time, and spreads it. One card is revealed to be face-up...yup - it's the spec's SIGNED CHOICE!

The two Kings are again taken and tabled, face down, whilst the signed card is once again shuffled into the deck. The deck is then riffled towards our clever Kings, which are spread to reval.....errm...well, nothing, actually Oddly, it's all gone somewhat tits-up!

Of course, it's always good to have a back-up plan, and attention is quickly-drawn to the two indifferent Kings, which have been sat patiently, to one side since the start of the effect. These are spread, to reveal one, solitary face-down card, sandwiched in-between them....you guessed it

I say: Boy, oh boy...this is one looong 3-phaser!

In fairness, it does take considerably longer to describe, than to perform (I know....it took me so darn long to write a description, that I blocked, and ran through the effect itself - minus any serious consideration of the required sleights).

Joking is quite involved, in some senses, though won't be majorly difficult to get-down.

Very nice indeed...with only one downside; sadly, the phases don't seem distinct enough from each other to give any real sense of 'build', from start to finish.

HOWEVER...that said....taken in isolation from the effect, as presented, the moves taught here are, quite simply, WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD, if you're preapred to adapt and utilise them in other effects; again, Alan's teaching, under Owens 'poking' is First-Class, with a capital F and a capital C

One other, major bonus, with this effect is that - again - you're left totally clean on both start and finish.


6) 242 (AKA 'Knacky Litle Git')

Your spectator shuffles the deck, prior to choosing a card, which is then lost into the deck.

You, being an omnipotent miracle-worker say that you'll attempt to cause the selected card to return to the top of the pack...which you do...only it unfortunately appears face-up

Trying desperately to resolve your unfortunate cock-up, you give the card a rub, and...phew!...it finally behaves and turns face-down.

However, on displaying it, the lil' bu**er is now a totally different card!

Turning the errant back face down, you literally spank the naughtly thing onto the table, where it visibly becomes the chosen card, once again.

I say: a VERY nice 'Wham! Bang!' of an effect, 242 will, however, require some work to get it down pat.

There are only a couple of sleights used here...but it's not without reason that the word 'knacky' is used by Alan, and it's a great testiment to his skills that he's able to present it in such an effortless fashion; this guy has officially become my god - at least until I can pull this effect off


Cost: £14.99 (per volume) direct from Big Blind Media



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)
3-4 - Somewhat more demanding than Vol. 1, this volume does produce far more bang for it's buck, if cards are predominantly your thing.


Review
Following hot on the heels of their lastest release (Strip With jon Thompson), BBM are continuing to raise their own personal game, as each new release pushes their production style further and further.

Fingers of Fury absolutely does not disappoint, in this respect; the presentation and production values are now second-to-none, with Owen Packard now noticably far more relaxed, and beginning to inject significantly more doses of his own personality and sense of fun into his slick, polished babies.

Picture and sound quality are simply excellent (although the sound levels do vary between the Presentation and Explanation segments, and I found myself reaching for the volume control a couple of times, in order to prevent from being deafened by Mr. Rorrison!), and the shooting and editing are perfectly executed.

Unlike it's sister-volume, Fingers of Fury Vol. 2 is more of a traditional BBM offering, concentrationg solely on one type of magic.

Rorrison is an excellent teacher, and I'd love to see more of his stuff a little further down the line.

As with volume 1, this whole DVD was an absolute pleasure to watch, from start to finish; innovative, visual magic, great teaching, and some truly jaw-dropping, eye-watering visual comedy, breaking the whole thing up (imagine Alan happy-slapping a hoodie-version of himself, who frequently doubles for his own spectator...it's bizarre in the extreme, and very, very funny.)

As a huge, extra bonus, which I'm sure many folks will miss, the sleights and moves taught here are seriously worth far, far more than the price of the DVD itself....ignore this at your peril!

Also...find out why Owen, from here on in, to me, will be forever known as 'Passless Packard'


Overall
Packed, chocka-full, of great card magic...all of which exceedes the norm...I'm somewhat saddened that it's come to an end as quickly as it has

9.7/10

Release Date: Mid August

I feel like homer simpson in front of a gormet spread..

or a pair of gigantic boobs

WoW!!!

Great bleeding review Ro..superb.. but BBM do tend to put out top dog material. The only thing I dont own is Covert Magic.. Must resist.. well Ill have to its not out till August

Some great effects there, it looks like.

Yup - it has to be said that Big Blind are really raising their game with each successive release now and, unlike some other media-release dealers, are actually going to the extreme in terms of the workable content which they're cramming their disks with.

In terms of value-for-money, too, Owen and co. are really, really looking after their customers, rather than attempting to coin-in...quite frankly, I'm more than a little in awe of the sheer amount of work that's gone into their stuff so far, and the latest releases really are something quite special.

Thanks again for the great review Rob! You really taken a lot of notes while watching it

robstanley1 wrote: In terms of value-for-money, too, Owen and co. are really, really looking after their customers, rather than attempting to coin-in...quite frankly.

Some of those tricks seem like they could be stand alone tricks sold for the price of the whole DVD (that is... if Ellusionist had their evil ways.)

Yet again rob thank you. In answer to your thought. YES I AM LOUD lol...... cheers bud. Im in ur debt

Ps. In reply to donkeylord. I have 1 stand alone dvd out there and im not pleased about it. I feel that if you are going to spend alot on a dvd you should get the biggest bang for you buck per say. Thank you for noticing and i hope you enjoy the dvds.


Alan

I ordered both volumes and can't wait for the realese. (hope I can pull them off)

Yeah yeah, I've watched the DVDs and the magic is visual... amazing... easy to perform...practical... but who really cares? What's important is that Alan beats the heck out of himself... who is sitting across from himself... and I won't even mention the moment with the finger.... oops I just did. VERY entertaining production.

I loved this volume as well. I think I prefer the first because I've got enough card effects to fill the Great Pyramid but both are simply excellent.

Three cheers for Alan... hip hip hoooooray... just me then?

Oh and a quick note to I.D.... Covert Magic is one of my fave releases from BBM in terms of magic content. If you get some spare cash to throw away, there isn't a better place to throw it!

Hey Peter

I managed to pick up covert magic. I succumbed to my urge. I agree, its amazing.

Iain Moran is just a little wizard with a deck of cards isnt he? This dvd gave me a headache in terms of the WOW factor, but im over the inital '' This is above my head '' internal thought process and am working on a couple of the effetcs in there.

I'm surprised that nobody has added to this since the volumes
have been released... so I guess I'll put my two cents in.

Unbelievable. The tricks in both volumes are simply unbelievable. Rob is right in saying that the slights learned on this video are worth itself. I watched the performance of No Way! Countless times just because it was so fun to watch. I also like how in both volumes any gimmick that is needed can be easily made or bought.

Well done Alan and BBM another success.

I looked at both the DVD's and was incredibly tempted. Now I want both of them. Curse Rob Stanley and his great reviews!

yet again i am happy that you guys are enjoying these. Donkey( if i may call you that andkeep in mind im scottish so it sounds very shrek) I always try to keep and gaffs or gimmicks easy. Its more for my benafit as im not to shmarts!
Alan

It is strange when you find yourself in the unenviable position of having an opinion which conflicts with the group, but i really didn't like this dvd.

I found the effects to be average on the whole and did not like the sleights used. His polter deck is just derrens browns haunted deck move dressed up with a couple of other sleights, the 'shift' type move is not good, and has bad angles.

I found this to be a bit of a beginners level dvd. Alot of the tricks on this dvd reminded me of the sort of tricks that Jay Sankey will stick on a dvd as bonus material, blah blah blah erdnase, blah blah DL. I was just left feeling very uninspired.

Having said all that, it is slightly cheaper than a normal magic dvd, but why do magic dvd's have to be twice the price of normal ones anyway?!

Oh god, and i forgot to mention Linker!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to laugh, and cry at the same time, this was such a disappointment!!!!! probably the flimsiest method to achieving this effect ever. The whole point of this effect is that it should be clean and examinable. His is not. You either end with unexaminable cards or your left very dirty - dont kid yourselves- after such a powerful effect they will want to see empty hands and check out the cards. If you think otherwise, then be brave and actually ask your spectators opinion. Smoke Rings by david forest is better, and Paul Harris has the real work. To call linker one of the better linking card effects is scandalous.

Im probably going to be hated on this forum forever now. but i honestly love magic, i read alot of books, and buy alot of dvds, and perform a lot in all types of situations. This dvd added nothing to my knowledge, and provided me with no performable tricks. And im not referring to the difficultly level, im talking about the low standards.

3/10

I hope his next card based offering is much stronger, because i think this guy has got potential. but right now, if you compare this to almost any American card trick dvd then things start to look bad.

In terms of value-for-money, too, Owen and co. are really, really looking after their customers, rather than attempting to coin-in...quite frankly.

I just noticed this comment further up the thread. Infact i perceive things rather differently. I would say that together vol 1&2 just about make up enough good material to be put on one DVD, it is a clever marketing move to split it onto 2 volumes, which together cost £30, which is infact more expensive than most other magic dvds.