by Sexton Blake » Aug 10th, '07, 02:20
My booklet arrived today so, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts.
The Infinity aspect is not really for me. That whole, um, 'pool' of techniques is too hit and miss (except for a few effects where the presentation allows me to be invisibly laborious and blatant about it) for my not-sensitive-enough fingers. However, this is no real problem with this effect as you can use any number of other methods to achieve the same end: the Infinity aspect is more to fool magicians, I reckon. And I don't spend much time trying to fool magicians.
The clocking I had come across previously in, I think, Scarne. But I'd had a quick bash at it in the bath and moved on with a dismissive sniff. This was certainly because it wasn't either so lovingly and repeatedly covered, nor used so thoughtfully, in the effect being described. Here, tried again, it provokes a grin that won't leave your face all day.
Reading a spec's mind is powerful, but those effects where they read yours are nuclear. To be able - through clever thinking - to achieve this with a borrowed, shuffled deck, pretty easily, and with certainty (even if you 'get it wrong' you know in time and can correct it before the revelation) is so lovely that I know you'll forgive me for hoping that no more of these booklets are sold and those of you who already own one die before Monday.
So, basically, though there's nothing wildly new or unknown here (which has been mentioned), the thing is constructed so intelligently, craftily and beautifully that, before my girlfriend arrived and I put it away in a locked drawer, I secretly kissed it.
Last edited by
Sexton Blake on Apr 1st, '09, 14:04, edited 1 time in total.