There are at present two MOABT inspired book tests using magazines instead of books. TruTest by Nathan Kranzo and GLANCE by Steve Thompson. I was intrigued by being able to use magazines instead of books. Nobody over here has ever heard of the books used in most book tests perhaps with the exception of Harvey Berg's brilliant "Age of Innocence," "Madame Bovary" and "Pride and Prejudice" 3 book set (highly recommended) and of course Word in a Million that you can do with most any book.
So they all kind of whisper "prop" which cannot be said about TIME or Newseek or the Economist. (If you want to use Newsweek be warned no new printed issues will ever be printed anymore,
so stock up on old issues)
I bought both TrueTest and Glance. They are both vey good. That said, GLANCE is usable right out of the pack, TrueTest needs a little prepration, but that is done quickly. As has been pointed out by many reviewers TrueTest would be excellent were it not for the apparent neglect of detail in the production process. The way it is sold now it is probably perfect for street magic and big audiences but a bit risky for small extremely critical audiences that will not promptly respond to spectator management, e.g. spectators that refuse to be pressured and do not immediately do what you tell them to do but take their time it. My specs are of this type. Oviously what may not be a problem for a performer of Kranzo's calibre may be a problem for less accomplished performers like me. GLANCE is excellent the only drawback being that if you want to do the "tear page" performance that is the "bravado" in TrueTest, you will run up a much higher cost than with TrueTest where tearing up the chosen page sets you back just 1 $.
I have been trying to get hold of the manufacturer of GLANCE to find out whether one could buy a big bunch of the magazines at a reduced price after having paid the very reasonable 50 $ for two magazines, but unfortunately the
http://www.vanishingincmagic.com website given in the instructions never leads anywhere. If you can get hold of that www please e- mail me at
v.freymann@welho.comKaarlo von Freymann Helsinki Finland