talkmagic.co.uk

Hello again everyone! I've yet to see a review for the HoverCard, so I guess I'll make one Quick little notes before I start though; this is my first review, so if it leaves some things out, please, by all means, don't hesitate to criticize! With that out of the way, let's start the review

Effect:
The magician asks a spectator to choose a card. Taking back their selected card, the magician then places it face up on the rest of the deck. Holding the cards with only the tips of his fingers in a vertical position, the card begins to rise up and split away from the rest of the deck. It then pauses in mid-air, and slowly floats back to its' original position on the top of the deck. The card can be handed out to the audience if necessary.

DVD:
Brad Christian, for those who don't know, is Ellusionist.com's Founder, and one of the greatest magician/teacher I've seen so far. He teaches everything with such clarity that even a caveman could do it. (Bad joke from a Geico commercial) But honestly, the approximately 50 minute video goes through everything that you could possibly need for performing the trick, such as angles, crowd control, and of course, the mechanics of the trick itself.

Gimmick:
Now for the gimmick. First off, the gimmick isn't the strongest thing that you can get. On the other hand though, it is made very precisely, and works very well (just as long as you know what you're doing) As long as you take care of the gimmick, it will -and should- last you a very long time.

Reactions:
Now for the fun part. The reactions that you can get with the HoverCard are amazing. The first time I performed this for a group of my friends at school, everyone there was completely blown away. This was, of course, a HUGE confidence booster being a somewhat new magician with little performance experience, and it felt great. Just as Brad Christian himself says, it's a very simple effect, but the reactions you can get out of it is unbelievable.

Overall:
I highly recommend this effect to everyone. Whether you're just starting, or you're an advanced magician, the HoverCard works very well. It's exciting, and something that people don't see every day. People will remember you for this one.

Nice review for a first attempt

You may want to take a look here as it has a template for when you write a review, so you don't miss things out like - difficulty level, price, where to buy etc .

Brad Christian, the greatest magician you've ever come accross??

You are Kidding aren't you??

Check out David Stone, Lennart Green, Juan Tamariz to name a few.

Brad Christian is pretty amateur compared to these. And he wears eyeliner, someones going to mention it

Ya the eyeliner is a bit much... however I give him the benefit of the doubt that it's make-up for the camera/stage. Anyone who's been in even a school play knows that you have to wear make-up when there's a bright spotlight shining on you. I HOPE.....

In all honesty, the first time I came across Brad Christian and Ellusionist - I would have said the same thing about him. As a matter of fact, when compared to many of the other instructional video rubbish there is out there, he IS a good teacher - especially when he's explaining something that's not too difficult to begin with. The phrasing and clarity of his explanations for 90% of the material in his videos is quite good (notwithstanding the CONTENT of the videos - which might be another issue).

the content? I take it your referring to the 2 bit hookers sprawled across trailer park vans during the skits not to mention they are all over 40 I would imagine!!

But isn't that the ideal way to market DVD's, whose target-audience are generally in the teenage age-range?

I.D wrote:Brad Christian, the greatest magician you've ever come accross??

You are Kidding aren't you??

Check out David Stone, Lennart Green, Juan Tamariz to name a few.

Brad Christian is pretty amateur compared to these. And he wears eyeliner, someones going to mention it

True, he does wear eyeliner.. But it is just for the cameras. It still doesn't change the fact that he is a great teacher. I'll look those names up as well, I've only really heard of Brad Christian and the other Ellusionist magicians. I've only been into magic for about a year so I'm still a little.. Unexposed, I guess you could say, to the more advanced magicians/magic, so I'll definitely check them out. Thanks

robstanley: Yes, I remember seeing those skits where those old women are sprawled out over the trailers and I must say.. That was definitely one of the reasons why I bought the DVD.
Just to add onto the marketing to teenagers subject, they did advertise "MTV style" teachings for the Hovercard. I guess Ellusionist producers really are smart.

I.D wrote:the content? I take it your referring to the 2 bit hookers sprawled across trailer park vans during the skits not to mention they are all over 40 I would imagine!!

no... actually that wasn't what I was referring to... I was actually referring to the magic tricks that are performed for said 40-year-old-sprawled-over-various-vehicles-in-trailer-parks women!

I'm just saying that while the content (however you want to interpret that ) of the videos is mediocre or questionable, he does TEACH well... for a video. Of course, enough cannot be said about various little tidbits and pointers that can be picked up in various books like RRTCM, but I maintain that a simple trick taught well is more valuable that some complex effect that you can't understand because the guy in the video can't explain properly.

Well I started out with ellusionist products and all I can say is I wish I had started off with the card college volumes. They worked out cheaper and I have learned so much more from them.

I just dont like Elluionist, and brads sleight of hand is very average compared to MANY MANY magicians whom ellusionist fanatics seem to never have heard of. Ellusionist rename old moves to hide their tru identity so kids think that Ellusionist bloody well started magic!!!

Card College
David Roth Expert coin magic made easy
sponge balls
pay envelopes
paperclips
a svengali and stripper deck
A TT

thats all you really need to be honest, regardless of how much you actually buy.

I thought Brad was great whenI started it took a couple of books and dvds to quickly realise how wrong I was

I only do magic now because when I was 12 some guy sold me an overpriced TT is a really high end Washington DC magic shop.... but, it was really well made and selected for my hand and the guy really explained how to use it well.

I've found Brad explains things really well and overpriced or not ellusionist sells some pretty well made items. And oddly enough, I for some reason had more pocket money when I was 12 then I do as an adult somehow... so sad.

If someone had said, "Hey don't buy that, it's only one trick spend your money on this book here "The All Knowing Gigantic Encyclopedia of Sponge Ball Magic" I would be doing my work right now and not writing on this forum... Oh dang, I should get back to work!


...but seriously, sponge balls are so lame.

I commend them on their custom playing cards..

I love Vipers, Ghosts, Tigers n that order, and I like a couple of products they have products as overpriced as they are. I like the look of their site..

it stops there..

I.D wrote:I thought Brad was great whenI started it took a couple of books and dvds to quickly realise how wrong I was

Yeah I'll give you that... I'll probably get there too after being exposed to other things over time. I just feel that if you take that stuff for what it is and you've got some cash to spend it's got its benefits. I'll take Brad as a TEACHER (again not for his knowledge but for his way of cummunicating it) anyday over what I've seen from Justin Miller, to some extent Daniel Garcia, and a lot of the guys over at Penguin. Even Jay Sankey can be pretty vague at times and not offer that little extra tip that would be really beneficial. Again, my opinion is based on my [limited] knowledge of what I've seen.

If you want expert tuition, check out David Roth and David Stone on coins, Juan Tamariz for deep emotional hooks, and the likes of Michael Ammar for clarity of teaching, Lennart Green for what must be the most stunning card magic Ive seen next to Tamariz and Jeff McBride.


For misdirection, check out Slydini, for ingenious concepts David Forrest, For awesome performance David Stone.

Not bashing ellusionist, just theres more to life than those kids.

I got a free download of 2 card monte for installing that terrible troublestarter program of theres. anyway... Brads explanation of the 2 card monte was great. I had learned it and never took it serious before because the top change seems so right in front of everyone. Brad explains the top change better than anywhere I've seen it before (even RRtCM) Brad explains things really good and leaves you feeling very confident with what he's shown.

I would gladly stare at his awkward eye make up rather then watch one of the younger guys at peguin ramble through an explanation. Being great at magic and being great at teaching magic is not the same thing. Brad seems pretty good at both. Okay, that ends my Brad love-fest

Hover Card is not worth of its price, i made it myself, using scissors and plastic box Working as good as Hover card from ellusionist. You guys should try to do a gimmick yourself sometimes, personally when I presenting a trick with my own gimmick its brings me much more fun, I'm feeling like genius