talkmagic.co.uk

Band of The Hand booklet by Docc Hilford

http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorde ... hp?ID=5242


Effect: First, let me state these effects are meant for the bizarre performer. However, I feel that any type of performer can come away with some great new ideas either about scripting and presentation, or about how one can use simple methods intertwined with fantastic presentation to create an amazing effect.

There are five effects in total. I will briefly describe and comment on each.


Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper - a complete seance in your pocket! This is an effect that would be a great impromptu piece in a seance at someone’s home. It is a take on the classic spirit bell effect, in which a bell eerily rings when a ghost enters the room. In Docc's version, no bell is needed and it is basically impromptu. Set up might take about 5 seconds before you get to the performance. I would say that 99% of people would have the needed item to perform this.

A Study in Scarlet - Take your audience through the dark in search of a murderer with the light of a single match! A box of matches is left amongst a group of people in a room. Whoever decides to take a match out from the box becomes the “murderer.” The performer re-enters the dimly lit room and strikes a match on the candle or lantern he is holding. One by one, the performer approaches each guest in the room. He shines the light on each potential murderer until he settles on one and pronounces him, “murderer.”

This is again a great, great method that I have already used to create an effect. The method is simple, but the presentation of this effect is huge. The method can be applied not only in magic, but also in mentalism.

Swamp Water - Demonstrate control over pure evil contained in a jar of water which reveals things no one knows! In this effect, a jar of swamp water reveals the answer to a question that the spectator poses. Only the spectator knows the question, and only the swamp water reveals the answer. It is hard to say more than that without hinting at methods…

The effect plays like this; a spectator writes down a question, drops it into the swamp water and the water consumes her question. She drops in another blank piece of paper and after a moment of gurgling and moving around, she is told to fish out the paper, which now has a written answer to her question. All I can say is that this is the most justified use of the CT that I have ever seen in my life, but I doubt anyone would ever perform this as is.

Nightmare Coins - Turn a dream into a tangible nightmare that you can hold! In this effect, a spectator is asked to choose one of three imaginary coins. Before the spectator chooses one, the performer closes his hand and says that he is holding the imaginary coin. The spectator names any of the 3 coins, the performer opens his fist, and the coin lying on his palm is the coin the spectator named.

I didn’t want to give too much away about the presentation, but again, this is such a simple effect wrapped around an amazing presentation. This effect is worth the price of the book alone. One of the greatest presentations I have ever read.

Murder by Mail - Prove that you possess powers that can actually kill someone! WARNING: You may not want to perform this effect, it's too strong!

This effect is as strong as they state. I can’t say much about it without tipping the method, but it is one of the strongest effects you will ever come across for a well known method/effect. The problem though is that few if any should ever really perform this. Hilford mentions that he has stopped performing it because it really isn’t the right thing to do.


Price: $21.57 on Penguin Magic


Teaching: The teaching is crystal clear. Everything is very easy to understand. You do need to have some basic knowledge of magic and mentalism in general, but the majority of magicians/mentalists will have no problems. If you have been performing for a few months, then you should be fine.


Difficulty: Method wise, I would say a 3 out of 10 (10 being the hardest).

Presentation wise, I would say a 9 out of 10 as presentation is everything in making these simple effects strong.


Overall Rating: 9 out of 10.

I really think everyone can learn a thing or two from this booklet.