Andy Nyman's Kosher Products Lecture Notes
(Or: my interest with Mr Nyman continues to grow into an obsession)
The Effect
More high-calibre mentalism from leading performer & creator Andy Nyman.
KOSHER PRODUCTS
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Charade
Con Air
Mr. Saturday Night
Dead of Night
Cost £12.00 from Alakazam.co.uk
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)
It contains a few sleights but nothing that would require years of practice, so I guess 3.
Review
I’m guessing as a precursor to the upcoming re-release of Andy’s Get Nyman DVD, Alakazam has seen fit to put Mr Nyman’s Lecture notes back on the market. I know that one of his set of notes has been reviewed here: http://talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic3342.php so I thought I’d contribute with my amateur’s assessment of another set that I recently purchased.
The notes are short (24 pages) but sweet and the effects whilst not overcomplicated to learn and perform on the whole will require some preparation and a bit of time with scissors and glue. They also have an additional section of some tips on the previously released ‘Killer Elite’ and ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ which although not worth shelling out £12 for, I’m sure would be an extra bonus for anyone who already owns either of those two effects.
My favourite out of the effects contained within is most certainly ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ which in Andy’s words is ‘a triple prediction routine that (doesn’t) use a one ahead and (uses) a different technique for each level’. It is a devilish routine for the simple reason that although each prediction is revealed to have been in its own envelope, the method of getting the prediction in there is different each time. Consequently, you not only gain a new trick for your repertoire, but you learn 3 different prediction methods for the price of one.
'Charade' is a clever card effect that sees you first locating a spectator’s card whilst wearing a blindfold and then it is repeated but this time with the now visually obscured punter recreating your own miracle. The response is so strong that apparently your audience will vomit not just once, but twice in surprise. I’m hoping that this is more of an amusing embellishment in the writing up rather than something that actually happens as no one really wants to take a bow with their shoes covered in sick, but nonetheless, I would imagine the audience response would be pretty good and the method allows the perverse pleasure you get from letting your spec hold onto a quite heavily gaffed deck without them realising it.
'Con Air' is an updated version of Al Bakers ‘Out of the Air’ from ‘Mental Magic’ which Andy has modified to clean up a couple of bits. It also is pretty much the only thing in the book that requires some sleight of hand but anyone who is familiar with Al’s original would be more than capable of pulling it off.
'Mr. Saturday Night' is a nice little routine if you’re planning on working a Hen party. I personally can’t stand being in the same room as one let alone having the guts to actually try to impress them with magic so I’ll leave it to those with way more experience and toleration for drunken cackling mobs (of course, the only thing worse than hen parties are stag parties and I really wouldn’t recommend doing a trick for the groom-to-be where you reveal who Mr. right is for him). Of course the principles behind the trick, I imagine, could be easily translated to other settings and with a different narrative thread running through them.
Finally, 'Dead of Night'. You could choose to purchase this trick separately through Alakazam and you’d receive the necessary apparatus to perform it. However… if you do have a spare couple of weeks to fill and enjoy hand-crafting your own props then ‘Kosher Products’ does go into full detail as to how to produce your own ‘special’ pack of cards. Again this is only my opinion, but I would think you were mental for trying. It looks hugely complicated so my advice is to let some other chump do the hard work for you and buy the cards pre-gaffed. Either way, if you put in the practice to making a decent performance out of it, I think you’re onto a winner.
Overall
I’m still a little unsure if £12 for 24 A5 stapled pages with a blue card cover could be considered value for money, and I wouldn’t have a problem with paying about £25 for all the lecture notes in one handy volume however the actual contents are fantastic and Andy’s writing style manages to be both easy to understand and highly amusing, giving plenty of detail to each effect. Whether or not the price tag will be worth it once the majority of the contents become available in the re-issued DVD, only time will tell. Overall, I’d give it 8 out of 10. Some fantastic gems but the quality of the book itself could be up for debate.
