Astral Projection by Jay Sankey

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Astral Projection by Jay Sankey

Postby Mahoney » Aug 21st, '05, 20:41



Does anyone have this? I Don't think it has been reviewed. It looks pretty good in the demo video though...

http://www.penguinmagic.com/europe/product.php?ID=366

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Postby Demitri » Aug 21st, '05, 21:51

Ask and ye shall receive: Here's a quick and dirty review.

Astral Projection - Jay Sankey

Available From:
Penguin Magic http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=366

Price:
$12.95 US
EURO 10.91
GB£7.25

Difficulty: 1
If you can hold a deck of cards in your hand without dropping them all over the floor, you can do this effect. No sleights, no hassle.

Effect:
Magician runs through the cards, cutting them into two piles. The spectator is given one pile to hold onto (you can have them put it ANYWHERE). Then, spreading through his own pile, the magician asks the spectator to pick one but not name it, just think of it and remember it. The pile of cards is now placed on the table.

The performer asks would spectator be impressed if he/she named the card, and the magician made the card disappear and move to the packet the spectator has been holding. He then asks if they'd be more impressed if he didn't touch the cards to do it. Finally, he asks if they would be even MORE impressed if they didn't even name the card? The spectator is then asked to concentrate on the card to "project" the image of the card to the performer. In an instant, the performer can clap his hands, say a magic word, or whatever. Spreading the cards face up reveal the chosen card (which the magician DOES NOT KNOW) is gone.

The spectator turns over their half of the deck, and sure enough - the selected card is now in their pile!

Opinion:
This is a cool little effect that can work well in a walkaround situation. The description is exactly as it says - no sleights, entirely self-working, and it IS angle-proof. The only drawback is the cards aren't examinable, but with the right presentation and some quick moves, you can easily remedy the situation.

The only problem I've ever encountered with this, is that the size of your audience can bring A LOT of suspicion down on you. Without revealing the method, I'll just say that this trick will also work on someone whom you haven't asked to participate. This effect really should be kept to a walkaround situation, where one or maybe two people are around you at a time.

Overall, a cool mentalism effect that can be performed within 2 minutes of receiving the purchase. If you're not a fan of gimmicks, then look elsewhere for your mentalism. If gimmicks aren't a problem, by all means, give it a shot.

Overall: 6-7 out of 10
Good reactions, easy to do - not examinable and multiple spectators can cause a ton of suspicion and get you caught.

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Postby Mahoney » Aug 21st, '05, 22:12

Hey thank for that speedy review! :D really helpful

Do you think it is good value for money?

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Postby Demitri » Aug 21st, '05, 22:16

For the money, I think it's pretty good. If you're looking for a quick, easy to do mentalism effect to do in a flash, this is a great choice. If you want something more in-depth, then I'd probably look elsewhere.

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Postby samdan » Nov 28th, '06, 05:10

Sounds exactly like strange travellers.

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Postby Demitri » Nov 28th, '06, 05:33

Yes, it does sound like Strange Travellers - however please note the date of the original posts. This effect was out on the market well before David Blaine released Travellers.

It's also necessary to mention that the concept of the effect is much older than Astral Projection as well.

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Postby XTTX » Nov 28th, '06, 08:56

I believe I have this effect. Ill check for you tomorrow. Its 2 AM right now and I have school tomorrow morning... or rather, this morning. Also if youre wondering why Im not using apostraphes, its because my apostraphe button keeps enabling the find in my firefox at the moment.

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Postby moodini » Nov 28th, '06, 13:54

I have/use this one as well......can be quite good, but as was said earlier, keep your spec number to a minimum......I like to use it in a restaurant when performing for a couple! I will then get them both involved and have them each select a card....

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Postby XTTX » Nov 29th, '06, 00:20

Just found mine. Just a quick review (not a very complete one.)
Difficulty
1
One or two VERY minor sleights are used, other than that it's pretty easy to handle.
Review
Just from taking a quick look over at the instructions and performing it 3-4 times in front of friends and family , I can say that the reaction to this effect is VERY powerful (even without the patter.) It can be performed more than once to the same audience, although it's kind of risky if they have a good memory. Also, yes, this trick is similar to Strange travelers (in terms of effect, I'm not sure about method because I don't own Strange Travelers,) but the difference I noticed is that Astral projection uses the whole deck rather than 2 packets of 10.
I'm not sure if there are video instructions for this trick, but I found mine was just an envelope with the gimmicked cards and some paper instructions including a (long) patter and 2 pages of instructions. The instructions are pretty straight forward, you just need to know which side is face up or face down sometimes.
A con to this trick is that the gimmick is not examinable, but the handling that Jay Sankey teachers is pretty much foolproof if you use the misdirection (and your spectators don't try to mess up the trick purposefully). Also, like I said before, you might be caught if you try to perform this twice unless you do a little prep again.

Overall: 7.5/10

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Postby moodini » Dec 2nd, '06, 13:53

Do you suppose their would be any advantage to making this effect up with a stripper deck type of idea......start with the cards being riffle shuffled face up a number of times, then appearing to Hindu shuffle them a while (really stripping and stacking)...and going from there?

Just a thought.....maybe overkill, but wondering if it provides a little more "RANDOMNESS" to the effect and a bit of an added convincer!

Would like to hear opinions on this before I go to work on trying to do it!!!!!

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Postby Demitri » Dec 2nd, '06, 14:21

For this particular effect, I don't think any added convincers are really needed. The deck is cut in half - the spectator thinks of any card from your half, and without any moves or funny business, the card disappears from your half and winds up in theirs.

Shuffling the deck isn't necessary, but you CAN spread the deck entirely to show the deck is clean and there are no duplicates, if you want to add to the fairness of the effect.

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Postby ankh » Dec 2nd, '06, 17:42

If anyone has this, could they please PM me and simply tell me if this is the same concept as Strange Travellers, but on a larger scale? I don't wish to expose anything, as Strange Travellers is one of my favourite tricks, but I am terribly curious about this one.

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Postby Demitri » Dec 3rd, '06, 20:57

Seriously, there's a review up here for it - there's been numerous discussions (that you've obviously seen) that detail similarities between the effects. If it sounds good, buy it. Please don't fish for the method just to save yourself a few bucks.

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Postby ankh » Dec 3rd, '06, 21:42

I hadn't meant any offense, nor was I fishing for the method. I own Strange Travellers, and am simply curious if it's the same concept. If it is not, I will look into it, if it is - I already have the packet I can deal with. I can see how it would be taken as such, and I retract my question. As for the true methodology - Feh.

Nevermind. I'm mildly insulted you would immediately assume I would phish for the "secrets", but I'll chalk that one up to you simply not knowing my character due to my low post count here. I have no need to phish, and am quite capable of purchasing it to find out.

Thank you for the review. If CUPS hits, I'll look this one up again. Carry on.

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Postby Demitri » Dec 4th, '06, 06:57

My comments have nothing to do with your low post count. As for feeling insulted - I call things how I see them. It wasn't meant as an insult - my comments were made in the interest of respecting the property of other magicians.

You asked for a pm to "simply tell you if this is the same concept..."

No, you didn't come right out and ask how it's done - but that question does ask someone to give information about the method of an effect in comparison to Strange Travellers.

Since you've clarified, I'm fine with it. No harm, no foul...

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