Don't Waste Your Time - eBook

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Don't Waste Your Time - eBook

Postby ryanmagic » Apr 12th, '11, 20:43



Hi All,
I highly recommend this new eBook by busy Close-Up Magician Steve Sherrington. His magic is interactive & fun and you will find some fantastic magic throughout!

Steve Sherrington is rapidly becoming one of the UK’s most sought-after performers, for his powerful magic and cheeky charisma! The combination of both Steve’s unique style and his smooth sleight-of-hand has lead to the creation of 8 purely superb routines. Steve focuses on the entertainment aspect of his performance and each effect oozes fun and visual magic. Many magicians make the mistake of solely concentrating on their magic, rather than the entertainment value of what they are doing. In Don’t Waste Your Time, Steve will take you through the process of adding an important spark to your material, in order to ensure that you get booked again! As well as 8 workable routines, Steve shares his secrets of the trade, including how to deal with Children and his truthful thoughts on entertaining.

The routines you will learn in Don’t Waste Your Time are:

Flash Box Production – A visual and interactive opener that utilises great misdirection.
Here & There – A simple but deceptively clean transposition of two cards under tough conditions.
Monte Surprise – A smooth transpo effect followed by a strong kicker that will fry your audience.
4 Coin Production – A fresh and revitalised use of the purse frame to produce 4 coins.
Not My Purse! – A snappy gem of comedy magic that will really tickle the laypeople.
Jackpot Currency – A unique twist on the coins to glass plot with an astonishingly funny finale.
Smokin’ Hot – A beautiful collection of cigarette manipulation that includes 4 eye-pleasing moments of amazement.
Out of Cointrol – A versatile and easy one coin routine that features Steve’s sublime coin work.
BONUS – 2 Cheeky Gags that get Children out of the way at adult events.
1st edition 2011; 19 pages.

http://www.lybrary.com/dont-waste-your- ... 03851.html

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Postby Coin Lover » May 6th, '11, 18:29

I’ve looked at this ebook and I have to say that this is without a doubt the WORST ebook I have ever seen. We do not review ebook’s on the Wizard Product Review but I felt so strongly about this product that I felt I had to review it on the Talk Magic so that nobody gets suckered into buying it. There are 8 routines altogether so probably the best thing to do is look at them one at a time.

1 – Flash Box Production. This is basically the production of a pack of cards in a flash of fire and there is nothing new here. The method follows the classic method of the pack falling down the sleeve and flash paper but I cannot understand why this was included in the book. There is also no crediting for this either even though the production is as old as the hills. I do not perform this type of effect but off the top of my head John Carney, Steve Bedwell and David Stone should at least be name checked. Anyone reading this with no prior knowledge would be led to believe this is Steve’s idea when it is not in any way shape or form.

2 – Here and There. Firstly Steve refers to a card loading move as being similar to a move used in a Card to Mouth routine. This shows just how little effort has gone into research and crediting for this book. The actual sequence he uses is Wesley James’ and I think he calls it ‘Coming Up In The World’. Steve actually credits Bill Malone because he is the first magician he saw do it which is absolutely stupid. The actual effect is a small variation of Brad Christian’s ‘Here Then There’. I actually think this routine is much older than Brad Christian but I am not too sure to be honest. In all honesty the original version is far better than Steve’s version which makes the effect far more convoluted.

3 – Monte Surprise. This is terrible and has no redeeming features at all. Basically it is a two card transposition and a coin production. There is no motivation for the coin production at all – it’s just terrible. By the way the coin production should have been crediting to Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic (I think) although there is no crediting. The move he uses to perform the card transposition should be used as a subtlety and not the main sleight in the sequence. The move is not strong enough used in this context and just shows that Steve has no clue at all about creating routines and should not be charging people for his thoughts.

4 - 4 Coin Production. If you were trying to think of an easy way to produce four coins from a purse frame using minimal sleights this is how you would do it. That’s not a good thing – I am sure that anyone who has played around with coins in the past for any length of time has ‘created’ this sequence. There is not crediting at all other than to Curtis Cam. David Roth and Michael Rubienstien and Mike Gallo should be credited at least. This is a step backwards from routines that were released in the 1980’s in Coin Magic by Richard Kaufman. Those routines were far better and had stronger structure than Steve’s ideas. Oh and by the way the display move should be credited to David Roth from (I think) Expert Coin Magic.

5 – Not My Purse. At the end of a purse frame routine the bag reappears around the frame. This is the only item in the book that is not bad. I have never seen it before and it is a fairly good ending to a purse frame routine.

6 – Jackpot Currency – THERE IS NOTHING NEW HERE. This effect does not advance the ‘coins to glass’ plot at all. In fact it takes it several steps backwards from John Bannon’s Coins to Glass in Smoke and Mirrors. In addition the finale for the routine which is a production of coins from your sleeve was put on my Split Happens DVD over four years ago. I know Steve has seen this routine and I receive no credit at all.

7 – Smoking Hot – This is not a routine, this is four uncredited sleights put together into what Steve calls a routine. I actually call this a waste of paper, if you want to learn cigarette manipulation there are better places to go where the moves will probably be called by their real names. If he was teaching a routine then this might be okay BUT HE IS NOT THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.

8 – Out of Control – This is a one coin routine or a coin flurry. There is no mention of Tony Slydini or David Roth for originating the plot. David Roth is credited for his lapel coin concept which Steve uses. Unfortunately this routine offers nothing new and is a direct rip off of the Roth routine. It should not have been included in this project – it is not Steve’s routine to teach.

9 – Kids Bets – This is not a routine it is instead a couple of bets that Steve uses to make kids go away. Call me an idiot but offering to give a child a £20 note to guess what you are going to pull out your pocket is not the best thing for a professional entertainer to do. Does this man ever work in the real world or does he actually believe this c*** (not the best). As a side not someone that (and I quote) does not perform for kids and never will might want to reconsider the photo he has put on the front of the book. The plastic light up magic wand with stars on might give people the wrong idea when trying to put across the image of a hardcore close up guy. Just a thought.

Look, I’ve wasted too much time on this at all so let me sum things up by saying that this book should NEVER have been brought out. I have no idea who Ryan Adams is but judging by the quality of his writing, his lack of research and his blatant disregard for the history of magic I don’t think he should EVER be allowed the go never a pen and paper again. As for Steve Sherrington judging by this offering he is not a good magician. For $16 you can get much better items from professional creators that no what they are talking about. There is nothing original or good in this book and both Ryan and Steve are ripping off the magic community trying to charge for this absolute trash. Don’t waste your money, don’t buy this book and hopefully Ryan and Steve will never feel inclinied to write another one.

Craig Petty

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Postby jim ferguson » May 6th, '11, 18:45

Coin Lover wrote: I have no idea who Ryan Adams is
    I wonder if he is the poster above yours ? Thanks for your informative review Craig.
jim

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Postby Grimshaw » May 6th, '11, 20:41

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Re: Don't Waste Your Time - eBook

Postby Mr Grumpy » Sep 25th, '11, 01:23

I don't usually "bump up"' such negative threads, but this whole thing (all of the above) just has to be read to be believed.

I was about to buy Ryan Adam's classic album "Drag My Guitar Along the Dusty Road to Memphis", but am now having second thoughts.



*goes to bed early and watches one of the Muppet movies on VHS while sighing heavily*

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Re: Don't Waste Your Time - eBook

Postby Craig Browning » Sep 25th, '11, 16:48

This seems to be a great example as to what I mentioned in a past article (my still be a sticky here, don't know for sure) describing the wave of newbies pooping out eBooks. Kenton Knepper has penned a couple of similar articles for VISIONS more than a few times over the years and I know Stan Allen's MAGIC has addressed this plague. Unfortunately this is a creature that has oozed from the swamp of technology; a series of accidents made possible via the Net and "ego-publishing companies" like Lulu. . . and before it's said, yes I use Lulu as do several other here, all of whom tend to be sound writers. I'm just pointing out that rotten apples get into this barrel and in so doing, create a stigma that does, like it or not, hurt each of us; further cheapening public perception when it comes to such sources. . . fortunately that corner is being turned, the more folks get used to the eBook idea and similarly, the more companies like Amazon and eBay lend credibility to said publishing sources.

There will always be half-wits that don't do research as well as those that look at every book they pen as some kind of Doctorates thesis, offering far more referencing than is actually required; not a bad thing but an act that can prove confusing and even threatening to the typical middle-of-the-road human being. Even books put out by recognizable names who are typically applauded, have hit the market and proved wanting, so I guess nothings safe or sacred in today's world of easy access.

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Re: Don't Waste Your Time - eBook

Postby Mr Grumpy » Sep 25th, '11, 17:01

.... Hence the need for review sites such as this!

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