Magic reviews by Steve Hendry

I used to wear cargo pants when performing magic because there were so many items that I would bring with me while performing my walk around magic. This wonderful and creative device has been a real life saver for me, and has made carrying all my cards and other items incredibly clean, as well as clearing my pockets where I used to carry all my other items. I now own two of these and I couldn't possibly be more great full to Joshua for creating a device that puts everything I need on a daily performance basis, into this pouch that's connected to my belt. Thank you Joshua Jay!

Double Back has been in every performance I have done and will continue to use in the future because it simply blows away the spectators. I also performed this effect at my local Magic Store, and the owner, who says he hasn't been surprised by an effect in years, was completely dumbfounded by this effect. He told me after I had finished the effect, that he felt like he had just witnessed something that hasn't astounded him since he first started to perform Magic. I love this effect and highly suggest others to pick up a copy because it really is an amazing card effect.

Using Loops has been something I have added to each and everyone of my performances. The sheer versatility that can be done with this, is staggering, and not just you but to everyone you perform it for. There is a 3 DVD set that is dedicated to teach you some of the best effects possible with loops. Here are just a few of the ones I use on a daily basis: Haunted Deck (1 & 2 people) Spirit Forces, Life, Scud, and many more. Using these have gotten me more bookings that any other routine I have performed.

I highly suggest buying these because you will learn some of the most highly visual magic you'll have seen in quite sometime.

If you have ever contemplated about choosing to make a living and career by performing magic, or close-up magic in general then this book is an absolute MUST have in your collection. As the sequel to Strong Magic this book tackles some of the most important and rarely discussed aspects of what it takes to both perform and create a magic effect. The psychology that Darwin Ortiz discusses in this book is absolutely priceless information and truly delves into the insight of a professional performer that you will be hard pressed to find written anywhere else.

This book forever changed my perspective on everything there is in Magic. In the first couple of chapters I was made aware that I was looking for magic effects and presenting magic effects from the Magicians point of view, when the point of view you need to explore and understand is the spectators point of view. A perfect example would be a certain type of card trick where I might previously know a method, but a new method would be sold that didn't require a certain sleight, for example lets say not having to use a pass or palming the selected card. Before purchasing the effect using a different sleight, I would think that this would be easier or more impressive because a sleight that I either didn't know or could not perform would make the effect more magical from my perspective. Then once receiving the effect I would be disappointed because all that it taught was a different way to get a card for point A to point B, or having to give up a particular method and change to a different/new/improved method that would accomplish the same effect which would impress the spectator all the same, but quite possibly not the performer.

In essence, it would be similar to actually expecting a new method to be performed as if by pure magic with a gimmick that would do all the work for you. The effect to the spectator would be the same but the way to achieve the effect would not impress the performer. And this is what is so important and one of the main topics Darwin Ortiz discusses and changed my perspective on Magic. That would be to no longer look at the effects structure from the magicians point of view and focus on what truly matters and that is how the spectators perceive the effect.

Darwin goes into tremendous detail on how a spectator will watch and attempt to analyze the performance of the magician, and will try to find a logical way of how the effect works. Or at times, they will not even have to be correct in their assumption, all they have to know is that something happened at a certain time, thus the magic is gone and the magic effect turns into a puzzle; which is the enemy of good magic.

So if you have ever noticed that the impact of a certain effect is received much better from another performer and not the same for you, then you owe it to yourself to purchase this book. In fact, I suggest purchasing both Strong Magic along with Designing Miracles and you will be blown away at how the incredible insight and years of experience that Darwin Ortiz accumulated throughout his entire career in performing close-up card magic, will forever change how you view, understand and perform magic for the rest of your life.