Penguin Live Lectures

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Penguin Live Lectures

Postby FTHO » Oct 20th, '13, 14:53



Penguin's Official Blurb:
If you could ask ONE question to one of the world's most innovative professional magicians, what would it be?

If you’ve never been to a magic lecture, there’s never been a better time. Watch, ask questions and learn things you won't find in any book or DVD.

ATTENDING COULDN’T BE EASIER.
Your subscription is your ticket.
On the day and time of the lecture, click the “MyPenguinMagic” area at the top of the Penguin site. You'’ll see the livestream appear 1 hour before showtime.
Sit back and watch over 2 hours of DVD-quality live streaming magic from the comfort of your own home.
Ask the magician questions and discuss the tricks DURING the lecture.
DON’T WORRY IF YOU MIGHT MISS IT.
Within 24 hours of ending, you’ll be able to download and/or watch the full lecture on-demand, and go over all the great routines and subtleties as many times as you want. It'’ll be waiting for you in your “MyPenguinMagic” area.

Magicians flock to see “workers” give talks. Why? Because these guys see and learn things that you won’t find in any book or DVD. Yes, you'll be learning some incredibly powerful A-material, but the INVALUABLE stuff will be the insight you learn along the way.

Lectures are for everyone, from the beginner to the professional and for magicians and mentalists alike. Don’t miss it!


Cost
$49.95 per month, alternatively you can buy each individual lecture for $29.95
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3104" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Review
I've been meaning to write this review since i first signed up about this time last year, but i just haven't gotten around to it.
Firstly, let me state that I consider this to be the biggest bargain in magic, if you convert it to pounds and break it down it works out to just under £7 per lecture (based on 52 weeks).

What do you get - Every Sunday Penguin hosts a lecture with some very interesting magicians (most recently they had Darwin Ortiz), the official blurb suggests that each lecture will be over 2 hours. I think I've seen 1 or 2 lectures which were shorter than 2 hours, but the majority are all longer, often about 3 - 4 hours, the longest I've seen so far being 4 and a half hours.
Each lecture ends with an interview between the lecturer and the host.
Many of the lectures also come with bonuses, usually PDFs but sometimes extra videos. As an example, Devin Knight included 10 PDFs of his published work.
You can log in and watch the lectures live, and tweet any questions and the host will then ask the lecturer. Since the lecture starts at midnight (in the UK) I've only managed to watch 1 lecture live - Colin McLeod, and he kept me up until 4am! Luckily, you also get to download the lecture to keep and stream directly from the penguin website.

It's difficult to review the subscription as a whole, as such since I am currently rewatching all of the lectures I've already seen, with the aim of indexing them, I will try to add a review of each one to this thread.


Overall
10/10 - My only complaint is that I've seen so much excellent material and I don't have time to learn it all!

Last edited by FTHO on Oct 20th, '13, 18:11, edited 1 time in total.
FTHO
Senior Member
 
Posts: 381
Joined: Jan 3rd, '11, 21:45

Re: Penguin Live Lecture - Darwin Ortiz

Postby FTHO » Oct 20th, '13, 15:27

Penguin Official Blurb
“Some of the strongest card magic I’ve come across in years.” -Jason England, MAGIC Magazine
“Lessons In Card Mastery contains some of the most astounding demonstrations with cards you'll ever encounter.” -Tony Cabral MUM Magazine
“Thank you for a truly outstanding performance on on our broadcast. You are without a doubt the finest card manipulator in the world.” -David Saltman, CBS
“It is a rare occasion that I work with anyone as incredibly talented and professional as you are.” -Anne G. Rohinsky, NBC
What will he teach?

One Shot, One Kill
A true card miracle that’s virtually self-working. Yet it will convince anyone that you’re a sleight of hand master.
Bulletproof
A disarming control of any four of a kind that sneaks up on an audience to shock and overwhelm them. Then it hits them with a great kicker.
Positively Fifth Street
The finest Texas Hold’em routine to date. It destroys Hold’em players; it destroys non-card players.
Sweating Bullets
A complete treatise on Vernon’s Aces, culminating in Darwin’s ultimate version of the trick. Along the way, you’ll learn tips and improvements you can apply to any version of the trick you perform.
The Supercharged Nine-Card Location
This includes a revolutionary concept that can be applied to ANY multiple-location routine turning it into a true miracle. (The spectator shuffles the selections into the deck)
Memorized stack innovations
Groundbreaking concepts that can benefit anyone who employs this powerful tool.
Test Your Luck
A powerful opener for any series of memorized stack effects.
Calculated Risk
A great presentation and ingenious method turn an old beginner’s trick into a baffling miracle.
And more...

No matter what your skill level, you're going to learn some world-class card magic from the expert who the experts trust and respect.

Who is he?
Darwin Ortiz makes his living with a deck of cards and is recognized throughout the world as a master of sleight-of-hand and an expert on crooked gambling techniques.
His corporate clients include IBM, Silicon Graphics, Aetna Insurance, Price-Waterhouse, and even the Pentagon!
Darwin has appeared on over SEVENTY television and radio programs on CBS, NBC, HBO, CNN, CNBC, A&E, USA, TLC (and a few of other combinations of letters too).
He has also been featured on both America's Most Wanted and Britain's Most Wanted...as an expert on card cheating, not as a fugitive!
Mr. Ortiz frequently conducts seminars for casino gaming management and police agencies including the Division of Gaming Enforcement in Atlantic City, and the LAPD, for whom he made a training film on the subject of crooked gambling.
All that to say this, when Mr. Darwin Ortiz teaches you something with a deck of cards, you can be sure that you're learning from the BEST of the best.
Now, in his all-new lecture for Penguin Live, Darwin has selected choice material from his book "Lessons in Card Mastery" that he will teach LIVE for the first time ever.


Cost
$29.95


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)
4 - Anyone who knows Darwin's work will be expecting some pretty difficult sleight of hand!

What You Get
The lecture - 3 hours and 50 minutes long!

Review
I've been a fan of Darwin Ortiz since I was a kid. I saved up my pocket money at the age of 15 to buy Scams and Fantasies. Since then I've tracked down a copy of each of Darwin's books and DVDs. Although this isn't the style of magic I (often) perform I love it. Darwin's books Strong Magic and Designing Miracles are fantastic for any style of magic and great reads whether or not you agree with everything he says. Needless to say, i was really looking forward to this lecture!

Darwin did not disappoint.

He starts with a performance of 5 tricks, which was a good entertaining performance. During this performance Darwin made a small mistake - I mention this because it was interesting to see how he dealt with it.
He then provides some useful advice for use with a memorized deck and explains the tricks from the previous set. The underlying theory here (the reason Darwin came up with these methods) could be applied to any other method you use.
He finishes with a couple of other tricks including his amazing system for a multiple selection routine where the spectators shuffle the selections back into the deck themselves - I wish I performed for large groups of people just to use this.
Finally, the lecture ends with an interview by Dan Harlan which contains some interesting discussion and stories.

The whole lecture is filled with advice, tips and theory, all delivered during the explanation of the tricks.


Something I've immediately taken from this lecture - I've tried learning the pinky count before, from Card College, from Doug Conn's DVD, and most notably from Darwin Ortiz's book At The Card Table. I just couldn't do it... my hand was tense, multiple cards would jump by, it would look ridiculous and was very unreliable. Darwin said just a couple of words (about flesh) in the lecture, and now I can do a great pinky count - it no longer hurts my hand, my hand looks relaxed (because it is!) and its now accurate.

The material is taken from Darwin's latest book Lessons In Card Mastery, and it is great to see him perform some of these routines.


Overall
As I am indexing each lecture I am giving each section (performance, trick, theory, etc) a rating out of 10 based on how much I enjoyed it, whether I would perform it, if it inspired me etc. So i guess the fairest way to rate the lecture would be to take the average. I rated one of the individual components as 10/10, two at 9/10 most at 8/10 and two as 7/10 resulting in an average of:
8.23/10

Last edited by FTHO on Oct 20th, '13, 18:12, edited 1 time in total.
FTHO
Senior Member
 
Posts: 381
Joined: Jan 3rd, '11, 21:45

Re: Penguin Live Lectures - Simon Lovell

Postby FTHO » Oct 20th, '13, 17:51

Penguin Official Blurb
"Simon shows you how to get more out of your magic and to think more of your audience.” -Randy Wakeman
"Simon cheats, swindles, scams and cons better than anyone. That's why we love him. Combine Simon Lovell's slick tricks and Matt Bomer's smooth charm and you get Neal Caffrey." -Jeff Eastin, Creator and Executive Producer of USA Network's White Collar
"You were a pleasure to work with and a real pro." -Greg Sadler, CBC Network Canada
"One of NYC's most skilled and original tricksters" -Time Out New York
"Thank you for all of your hard work ... you were fantastic...PS. Can I have my pants back now?" -Chris Martin, Executive Producer of VH1's Celebracadabra
"Superbly gifted" -Stage and Television Today
"We at the Magic Castle regard Simon Lovell as a most skilled operator in the field of detecting crooked gambling " -Billy McComb, Director of the Hollywood's Magic Castle
"A large part of the remarkable achievement of the Festival this year can be attributed your talent and generosity" -Just For Laughs Festival, Montreal 2001
"You are one of the few performers who pass my quality threshold" -John Fisher, Thames Television
"He's part Emo Phillips, part all the members of Monty Python, part a male version of Dame Edna ... This guy can wise crack with the best of them" -Back Stage, NYC
"We were all stunned with breadth and depth of your superb skills!" -PBS
"Mr. Lovell was well spoken, immensely polite and obviously highly educated. He is a man of many talents and very comfortable in front of the camera. We were absolutely charmed by his demeanor and rich English accent." -Bob Fulbright, Wave 3 television
"The Biggest Maniac in Magic!" -London Daily Express
"Simon, you were fantastic!" -ABC TV

What will he teach?

Fingered 3
An amazing card transpo that happens in the spectators hand
Packed Wallet
Not only a card to wallet, but also a DECK to wallet!
Namer
Change the color of the back of a SIGNED card.
Nightmare Deck
A very silly joke deck.
Pen Through Tongue
Exactly what it sounds like!
Smedley The Great
Simon uses his pet lizard to find a chosen card!
Another Departed Point
Simon's clever version of the Elmsley plot.
Heartless
An ambitious card routine with an amazing ending where the center of each card vanishes.
Lemming Ace Exchange
Simon's play on the Roy Walton plot.
Wobbly Wombat
A multiple selection routine ending with all the cards in your wallet.
Blues Sisters
A surprise routine created with Dan Harlan!
Four-Play
A cool card revelation where the card ends up with its mates.
Star Trick
A very interesting version of the aeroplane effect with a deck of cards!
And more...

In addition to his amazing work with cards, he'll share gags, jokes, and bits of business including the musical mice and screaming chicken.
Simon will also be taking requests! Feel free to chime in and ask him to perform any of his effects.
Be sure to tune in here to Penguin Live to see why watching Simon Lovell is the most fun you'll ever have while being fooled.

Who is he?

Simon Lovell is a world-renowned close up entertainer incredibly gifted in the art of sleight-of-hand. His level of skill is second only to his ability to entertain and create laughter. His talents are especially popular at private parties and corporate functions where he can seamlessly entertain from group to group, amazing everybody along the way! Oh, and by the way, he spent his early years allegedly as a conman and now advises the hit USA Network television show White Collar as well as other television appearances. You can check from the TV and Video links! Yes, Simon is America's Conman... on the good side of the law!
Simon's live engagements have received wide acclaim. Simon's performed all over the world, from the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood to the London Palladium, through the middle and far east to Australia, and South America. Whatever the group, he has never failed to please them!
One of Simon's specialties is catering his work to corporate clients. Whatever the size of the group he can use his magical talents to give them an experience they will never forget. He has integrated his clients products into his performance designing specialized magic into each show.
Simon is a highly experienced performer with over 350 television credits to his name. Additionally, Simon has produced 16 videos, published 21 books, and written hundreds of magazine articles, short stories and scripts. In recent years he has been professionally engaged advising others performers in live and film situations, lecturing world wide to casinos and also to specialist groups of magicians.
Over the years Simon has appeared in every kind of venue. His unique style and audience involvement make him one of the most popular magical entertainers around. Reviewers have described his trademark straitjacket routine as one of the funniest tricks in the world!
Watching Simon Lovell is an unforgettable experience.

Cost
$29.95


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)
3 - Most of the work is very easy, but some sleights are used.

What You Get
The lecture - 3 hours and 20 minutes long!

Review
Simon Lovell and Dan Harlen seem to be great friends as they have a lot of banter during the lecture. Simon's sense of humor is quite quirky and inappropriate for some audiences.
The lecture generally follows the performance-explanation format.

Some of the highlights:
Packed Wallet is awesome - card to wallet followed by pack to wallet - it is very easy and has a really really nice additional feature
Some very interesting theory on making the impact of the 2nd or 3rd trick live up to the impact of the first.
Blues Sisters is a really great performance piece, a full multi-phased routine involving (card) sandwiches and colour changing backs. This is something i enjoyed watching, but have no desire to learn - it may appeal to others.
Smedley! - This is really cute. A toy lizard finds the selected card... What more could you want
A section on creating magic without doing any tricks.
A rather inspiring story.

All in all a very enjoyable lecture, there were some sections i really didn't like, but some sections i really liked.

Overall
As I am indexing each lecture I am giving each section (performance, trick, theory, etc) a rating out of 10 based on how much I enjoyed it, whether I would perform it, if it inspired me etc. So i guess the fairest way to rate the lecture would be to take the average. With this lecture I've looked two averages. Simply because there were two items (they were gags, not tricks but they were not to my taste) included which I thought were so horrible I rated them as 0 - resulting in an average of 6.38/10. The rest of the lecture was great (one item at 10, one item at 9 and most at 7 or 8), so I don't think it is fair to let them bring the average score down so much, if i remove the 0s from the average then the overall score would be 7.55/10. Please use whichever score you think is most appropriate.
7.55/10

Last edited by FTHO on Oct 20th, '13, 18:14, edited 1 time in total.
FTHO
Senior Member
 
Posts: 381
Joined: Jan 3rd, '11, 21:45

Re: Penguin Live Lectures - David Williamson

Postby FTHO » Oct 20th, '13, 18:10

"Penguin Official Blurb
“Williamson is one of the finest sleight of hand magicians I have ever met. You may not notice this at first, because he is so funny and entertaining, it tends to overshadow his skill, which is second to none. Dave has the talent, and the ability to sell it. If you want to be a better magician, it would be foolish to miss an opportunity to hear him speak about magic!” -John Carney
“David Williamson is my favorite magician. I've seen him lecture more than a dozen times and still he manages to teach me something vital every time.” -Mac King
"When you hear the words funny, innovative, creative, amazing and one-of-a-kind to describe a performance it's a pretty good bet they they are talking about David Williamson. If you get a chance to see him lecture… don't miss it. You will be learning from one of the best in the business." -Paul Gertner
“Most magicians know David Williamson as the funniest performer in the business but they are often not aware of his serious side. Underneath all of the laughter is a very serious student of magic who has developed theories about performing and presentation that are based on thousands of shows. All of us can learn plenty from this master magician.” -Mike Caveney
“David Williamson is simply one of the funniest people on the planet!” -Stan Allen

What will he teach?
His famous T&R Transpo
His personal rope and ring routine
Silver Eagles (Coins Across)
His version of Chink-a-Chink
5 Cards and 5 Glasses - Saline Solution (salt rick)
His 2 cups and balls, with a flurry of endings
The 3 Card Trick
Color Stunner
Cut the Aces
51 Cards to Pocket
Matrix
Fortune Telling Fish
Funnier Color Stunner
And More...
He'll even touch on Pencil Through Quarter, The Strike Vanish, The Pass, Top Change, Miser’s Dream and The Tenkai Pennies.
David Williamson unpredictable which is why we love him!
We're going to see stuff from his bestselling book, "Williamson's Wonders," and stuff from his wildly popular DVD's, "Sleight Of Dave," "Dave 2," and "Magic Farm".
David has promised to share many UNPUBLISHED ideas, tricks, and techniques...we're in for some great surprises.
He'll also be available to answer all of your questions to make this a truly interactive experience taking the session in unexpected, interesting and fun directions.
Join us here as David Williamson shares his magic, wisdom, and stories from his decades as a professional entertainer.

Who is he?

Considered to be one of the world’s most talented magicians, David Williamson knows the secret of capturing the imagination of any audience. A born showman and an unusually accomplished sleight of hand artist, David dazzles audiences with a unique and delightful brand of entertainment, blending heart-stopping magic with sidesplitting hilarity.
David has been featured on ABC’s, Champions of Magic, where he appeared with Princess Stephanie as he performed his miracles at different locations in and around In 1981 David won first place in the International Brotherhood of Magicians’ sleight of hand competition. That year he also became the first ever recipient of the prestigious Gold Cups Award of Excellence in close-up magic. David was voted “Sleight of Hand Magician of the Year” two years in a row by his peers at Hollywood’s renowned Magic Castle. He was also twice awarded the “Magic Castle Lecturer of the Year” and the “Magic Castle Parlor Magician of the Year”. David was voted “Most Wanted Magician” at the 2003 FISM convention in Den Haag.
David has also co-starred in several top-rated prime-time network specials including CBS’ Magicians’ Favorite Magicians, NBC’s Houdini: Unlocking His Mysteries, and NBC’s World’s Greatest Magic III. He can be seen this season on Masters Of Illusion.
As host of the United Kingdom’s acclaimed television series The Magic Comedy Strip, David’s irresistible mix of humor and skill helped make it one of the highest rated shows in the country. He has created illusions for and performed in several commercials and has developed TV shows for Walt Disney Productions and ABC, as well as consulting for illusionists David Copperfield’s and David Blaine’s TV specials. Most recently, David appeared on PAX TV’s World Magic Awards special where he was awarded comedy magician of the year.
This year David will return to China to co-host BTV’s Springtime Festival Global Gala special which will be viewed by millions all over Asia.
His best-selling magic book, “Williamson’s Wonders”, has been translated into four languages. His instructional DVDs “Sleight Of Dave”, “Dave 2″ and “Magic Farm” are bestsellers worldwide.


Cost
$29.95


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)
4 - Some effects use advanced sleights, but also some simple stuff.

What You Get
The Lecture - 4 Hours and 24 Minutes (of pure entertainment)

Review
Forget about the actual content. This lecture is brilliant just for the enjoyment of David Williamson. He is very entertaining.

As for the content (some highlights):
T&R Transpo - A detailed explanation of this great routine including some excellent theory.
Peeked card transposition - An awesome lesson in how to make this simple trick amazing
Coins Through Napkin - 4 coins pass through a spread open napkin on the table one at a time. Last coin happens under spectators hand. A very nice routine
The 3 Card Trick - always fun
A really entertaining story about performing cards across
Triumph - A really fantastic version of triumph, with a colour changing deck finale. Amazing way to make the effect play big.

Fortune Telling Fish - I don't really want anyone else to know about this. It is really fun. Do you remember the little red fortune telling fish?


(I made some of the trick names up myself if they weren't named in the lecture - this is true of all the penguin reviews i post.)

Overall
As I am indexing each lecture I am giving each section (performance, trick, theory, etc) a rating out of 10 based on how much I enjoyed it, whether I would perform it, if it inspired me etc. So i guess the fairest way to rate the lecture would be to take the average. The final score seems really low to me, I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture, there were just a couple of things he performed that really weren't for me and bring the overall score down.
7.92 "

FTHO
Senior Member
 
Posts: 381
Joined: Jan 3rd, '11, 21:45


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