talkmagic.co.uk

I would like to contribute my first review for these forums:

Book of Cool by Ocelot Productions LTD

Cost: $39.99/ ₤24.99/ €38

The Effect Various, see review

Difficulty 1~3
(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)

Review

The Book of Cool is a project to learn from masters those tricks and skills that make people go wow. It is a 3 DVD set with over 9 hours of viedo and a 320 full color book. It covers tricks and skills in the following areas:

BatonTwirling
ScooterTricks
Football
Ropes&Whips
Frisbee TM
FlatlandBike
StreetBall
Bar Flairing
RugbyKicks
Pool
Skate
Blade
Footbag
BreakDance
StreetBike
StreetSoccer
Juggling
GunTricks
PenSpinning
GolfTricks
Yo-Yo
Casino&Cards
Cards&Magic

The two playing card sections show some basic skills, including how to do some flourishes and shuffling techniques (in the Casino techniques section, as taught by George Joseph, number one cheat spotter in Vegas); as well as three basic card tricks, card boomerangs and card throws (taught by the UK magician Aladin). The three basic tricks are:

1. Spectator’s card shows up in deck face up
2. A basic card force
3. Spectator’s card is found in a randomized deck, and is revealed by throwing the deck down and having the card flip jump out face up

The skills are taught well, with multiple camera angles, and all of the masters of this set have good personalities.

The other topics include skills which could be used as part of a stage act to supplement a magic act, while some do not really apply to the magic performance arts.

Overall

If you want a pure magic DVD set, this isn’t it. If you want to learn various techniques to add flair to your performance, or to impress your friends, these are the DVDs for you. The price is good for the whole package, while it is a bit steep for just the card tricks.

-James

i've been humming and arring over this for ages. there are about5 sections I'm interested in. Seems to me a 16 year old might get more out of it though. They would probably have about 6 of the ares that would be relevent.

Johndoe,

Well, I'll say if there are as many as five sections you are interested in, it would most likely be worth it. Each section provides enough basics to go out and start doing the skill taught.

So to get a working knowledge of each skill set for only 8 dollars each, and a bit of resell value if you are in a campus/corporate/bar scene setting...

Who knows, you get what you need, and then sell it to a 16 year old for $20, and you are only paying 4 dollars for each basic set (which through shear repetition for the rest of your utilizing the skill set, should never atrophy).

-James

Hi James - nice first review