Constant Fooling Review (Part 1)--(Scroll down for Part 2)
Title: Constant Fooling 1
Author: David Regal
Price: $40.00 from Penguin.
Where can I find it? http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S4858
How long is it? 232 pages on high-quality gloss paper.
Introduction: David Regal is one of my favorite magicians ever. I can say that without ANY doubt in my mind because of the following reasons:
1) His methods are original, devious, and simple.
2) His performance skills are unmatched.
3) His premises and presentations MAKE SENSE and are entertaining.
4) He is one of the funniest magicians I've ever seen.
5) He is unbelievably likable, you just can't dislike him!
This was my first book from David and since getting it, I was/am hooked on Regal. This is absolutely some of the highest quality magic you will see getting published today. If you don't want to read this whole review I can spare you the time and just tell you to BUY IT. However, you may want to know some of the contents of the book and what I think about them, so, I have reviewed every item in the book. Hopefully by the end you'll understand why I love David's magic so much and maybe you'll even take the plunge and buy this book the next time you have the chance. With that, let's dive in...
The Effects:
Section 1-Cards: (153 pages)
Bottoms Up Aces: The cards are cut four times by the spectator and at the end, they turn over the top cards of those piles, revealing four aces. You're totally clean and there are no gimmicks, crimps, duplicates, switches, etc. This takes about 20 seconds of set-up. This is an interesting version of this classic trick with a very nice presentation. Overall, this leaves a quite clean feeling that the spectator did, in fact, cut to the aces. John Bannon's is still my favorite, but this has a lot going for it. ****
The World's First Card Trick: The ad for this could read, "Multiple spectators shuffle a deck until they refuse to do so anymore and the last spectator keeps their hands on top of the deck. Somehow, the magician has still predicted the top card." I really love this effect because, as David points out, there is almost no method to it! The simplicity of this is brilliant. This is the type of effect you can have with you at all times and use whenever you want. There are no gimmicks, multiple outs, or set-ups btw. This is one of David's favorite effects in the book. *****
The Sum of the Parts: This is David's improvement on Paul Harris's effect "Mickey Mouse Math." A card is selected and lost into the deck. An ace, two, three, and four of clubs visually "add" together. Eventually the cards melt into the selected card. I think this is a great improvement of Mickey Mouse Math, yet I still feel like it is more of a "cute" trick. There are some very nice visual moments in this routine though. This is not a "killer," but it is definitely a fun effect to perform. ***
Carried Away: A selected card is placed face-down into a packet of four, face-up aces. The kings are in a pile across the table. No moves are made (apparently), and yet when you spread the aces, the selection is gone! The selection is then found face-down in the middle of the king packet! This looks really nice! It will take some guts to do this, but when you get the technique down on this, you'll be greatly rewarded! ****
The Wild Bunch: The "selected card" (Ten of Spades) arrives in the middle of a face-up, tabled packet of four aces. The aces then turn into the rest of the royal flush. The method is similar to the last effect, yet the effect is totally different. NOBODY will see the ending coming, and I think the initial effect (transportation) is almost strong enough to stand on it's own! Great structure in this one. ****
Distant Transfer: Another application of the method explored in the last two effects. A spectator places a card into the middle of their deck. They shuffle the deck and quickly deal the cards onto the table one at a time as you attempt to "read markings" on the backs of the cards and find the selected card. You stop them on one card and, of course, it is the noted card. This has an entertaining presentation, and it is a nice, quick effect to do when somebody hands you deck and asks you to "do something." ****
Thinking It Over (R. Paul Wilson)/Method One: A thought-of card travels to a packet of opposite color, with some great convincers. Like an ungimmicked Strange Travelers effect. You don't end
totally clean at the end, but I don't think that is a problem at all. I really like this! ****
Thinking It Over (R. Paul Wilson)/Method Two: Two thought-of cards transpose packets one at a time. I personally like Paul Wilson's first contribution better than this one. I think the effect is not structured in the best way possible because it does not allow for a dramatic moment at the end. Also it is not very convincing IMO, as you must ask for the name of the card, fan through the packet towards yourself, outjog it, square the packet and then finally show the card. ***
Four the Hard Way: Four spectators each select cards and return them to the deck. Each spectator then cuts a portion of the deck for himself. You then find each of the spectator's cards in different ways from the packets that they cut-off themselves. This is a great routine that might take a little more work, but it is not a "knuckle-buster." Multiple location effects are always fun, and this is no exception. Also there is a lot of flexibility for variations in the revelations which I like. Impromptu too. *****
The Two O'Clock Jiggle: A pass method that eliminates most of the usual awkward movements associated with a pass by decreasing the distance that the packets have to move. I use this a lot as a control. ****
Open Additions: These are two variations on Vernon's great strip-out addition. In one of them, you table the cards after stripping them out and in another, the cards are displayed in a completely different way than the original. Both of these are very nice, but the first one is a bit more versatile, but both are very good. I believe them to be improvements on the original. ****
All in One (William Goodwin): A joker takes on the appearance of the ace, two, and three of hearts, one-by-one with almost no moves. Then it is placed on all three and it changes to the six...of spades. The joker got the right value (sum of 1, 2, and 3), but the wrong suit. With no moves, it changes to the six of hearts, and finally back to the joker. What a brilliant impromptu piece of magic! The changes seem to happen even though you apparently do nothing! I can definitely see myself performing this one a lot. *****
Still Holding On: A (signed) card penetrates the table under very clean conditions. You must have a certain item that some performers may not use much for casual situations, however, many formal performers probably use it all the time. There is nothing bad I can say about this effect other than that requirement, which really isn't a bad thing. ****
A Match Made in Heaven: Three cards are freely selected and yet your odd-backed prediction cards that were in the card box match perfectly. This effect introduces you to a move that will be used in the next two effects. This is a very basic use of the move, yet I think it could be a crowd-pleaser. ****
Control Yourself: Two cards are selected, put back, etc. The deck is cut and one half put aside. Both spectators randomly select a card face-down, in an attempt to find their cards. They don't succeed, but the values of those cards are counted down to in the other half, and they find their card at those locations. I REALLY like this effect for some reason. The ending is unexpected, surprising and clean. All in all, a great "go-to" effect. *****
Open From the Bottom: A spectator deals cards face-up one at a time until they decide to deal one card face-down. The face-down never goes out of view, yet it matches your prediction. Even though the name implies an OPEN prediction effect, I prefer a closed prediction for this version and David does as well. This is quite clean, but this isn't the holy grail that all magicians look for. It does it's job well though. ****
Clandestine Jokers (John Lovick): An ultra-clean version of collectors with no gimmicks, set-up, or extra cards. Unfortunately, you must be able to reverse fan a deck, which cannot always be done with all decks, however, if you are able to do so, it's a SUPER clean effect. I like how the selected cards are seen to be separated in the deck right before they "collect." ****
Flash Flight: A selected four-of-a-kind are placed into the pocket. The four faces then instantly and visually change into the pocketed cards, and the aces are found in the pocket. I like the presentation on this one, and also the very visual nature of the transposition. You aren't left completely clean at the end, but it doesn't really matter that much, however that might bother some people a little bit. ****
The Color of Science: A red-backed joker changes four blue-backed kings to red, one at a time. Then, as a kicker, the joker changes to blue-backed! This effect will take a little more set-up than the other effects in the book, and you will also need two decks of cards. I think you would only perform this in a set close-up show situation. The magic moments are very nice and I think the routine could be something people will remember. ****
A Subtle Hue: A blue-backed ace, two, and a three are rubbed on a red-backed joker. They change to red backs one at a time. It's a pretty simple plot with a very simple method. It's a bit too repetitive for me, since the audience sees the exact same thing three times in a row. It's not bad, but it just doesn't really stand out from the other material. ***
Lonely Are B'Wave: A verbally selected king turns out to be the only face-up one in a packet of four...it also is the only one with a red-back. As the name suggests, this is an gaffless version B'Wave. You still have to carry around this little packet of set-up cards, and they aren't examinable anyway, so I don't see why you wouldn't just use the normal B'Wave. That would be cleaner, simpler, and have a stronger impact. I just don't really see any need for this. ***
Three...Two...One: You show three cards, an ace, two and three. The ace has an odd back from the other cards. They are mixed and the spectator is asked to find the ace. They guess the odd-backed card, but now that is the two! This is repeated and it changes into the three! The cards are mixed a last time, and the odd-backed card changes into a joker, leaving no ace to be found! I love the premise of this effect and the surprise ending. I think a lot of restaurant guys will like this. *****
High & Dry: (Taken from the book)
A spectator shuffles half the deck. Setting up "test conditions," the magician deals the spectator's cards into four piles. The top cards are the four aces (End excerpt). This is mostly impromptu and a great effect. Personally I would rather use this to force four "random" known cards rather than the aces because I think it would be a more believable effect. The script justifies the actions taken in the effect very well, which is important for a certain part in the effect. ****
The Mystery Card: Three cards are given to each of three spectators. It is noted that each "hand" contains three of a kind. A spectator chooses an odd-backed mystery card from a deck and it is shown to be the one card that completes the first three of a kind. Somehow, the mystery card is also shown to be both cards that complete the other three-of-a-kinds. I have mixed feelings on this one. It's not really my cup o' tea, but I think other people may get more out of it than me. ***
The Butterfly Hop: An acrobatic addition to Paul Harris' butterfly cut. It's a little knacky, but if you like doing card cuts and things like that, then you'll have no trouble learning this. By the way, this can also be used as a control. I don't feel like I can rate this, so I won't.
(Stay tuned for Part 2!)