The Effect
A ring links onto a band, then unlinks. You all know the story. Move along, nothing to see here.
Cost
~ £5.80 depending on exchange rate.
Download from http://woodencigars.com (demo video available)
You also get access to his "secret page", which currently has details on performing a modified version of Bob Hummer's 3 Cards.
I think the contents of this page may vary over time.
Difficulty 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)
It's hard to rate the difficulty of rubber band stuff, as almost all of it involves "sleights" of one type or another. The moves in this aren't particularly hard to do if you already know a few band tricks, however they will probably require a bit of practice to get as smooth as John demonstrates.
Review
What you get when you buy this effect is a short video clip (2m 47s) explaining the handling of the effect you can see on the demo video. You'll want to select "Launch in external player", then save the file to your hard disk, as you will need to watch this video a few times.
The overall effect will be familiar to anyone who has the Russ Niedzwieki Pinnacle DVD, Vince Mendoza's FLRT manuscript, or Dan Harlan's Bandshark (amongst others).
This handling is a subtlety based on an existing method (properly credited), which makes it more deceptive than the original method, and allows you to show more of a realistic linking effect.
The quality of the video is not superb, showing simply one camera angle from a spectators view, making it a bit hard to work out what he's doing, however the handling is somewhat different to any I've seen before, and could allow a bit of variety in a band routine. It's also fairly inexpensive.
Overall
Difficult to rate overall, as whether this is good for you will depend on whether you like the effect, and your level of experience with band magic.
Absolute beginners to band magic: probably not for you, as the camera angles may cause you problems in picking up what's going on.
Absolute experts: probably not for you, as you probably already have a handling that you're satisfied with. Heck, you probably invented your own
Intermediate: If you're looking for a slightly different handling to add to your linking abilities, you may find this interesting. It certainly won't break the bank.
Owners of FLRT or Pinnacle: The handling is different, although has some things in common with one of the phases of Pinnacle. There is less material to this than to either of the other effects, but it is obviously cheaper. This could provide an alternative handling to one of the phases in Pinnacle. In some respects this is cleaner, in some, very much less so.
CUPS sufferers: Lets face it, you'll have bought it by now anyway. Hey, Woohoo it's a download! Instant relief.
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So there we have it. A review with no clear recommendation on whether to buy or not. Generally the main point is to say that it's there, and you may like it. Take a look at the demo video and see.
EDIT: After all that even-handedness, I should add that I think this is a nice handling of a classic effect, and is good value for money. You may have to work at understanding the video angles a bit though.
