For $35 dollars you can buy Conscious Magic episode 5. It will knock you unconscious! Ok, sorry for the terrible word play, but this is a fantastic episode of the conscious magic project. Probably the best I have reviewed by Gerard and Pink to date.
Gerard and Pink state “Our mission with Conscious Magic is to elevate the art of magic by empowering the performer to have a deeper insight into the process of creating, performing and even thinking about magic on a new level.” I think with this latest release they have accomplished what they have set out to accomplish. I don’t know if they feel as if they have grown as individual magicians through the process of releasing these 5 DVD’s, but it sure seems that way to me. If you want an overview of the DVD you can look at the promotional video which is 13 minutes long and gives a detailed description of each effect. Additionally, the ad copy describes each trick, which is copied below for your convenience.
Know Technology
The performer apparently uses a “special” app on their phone to read a spectator’s mind, only to show that, in the end, there was no phone and no app! This leaves a mystery as to how he knew their thought. Take a classic of mentalism into a new direction and learn the techniques that will make this possible.
Deja Vu
The performer has a moment of Deja Vu and writes something down on a piece of paper and places it on the floor. The participant thinks of someone in their lives. The performer gets another bout of Deja Vu and looks at the paper on the floor, which reveals the name of the person that was just thought of.
Key Accessory
A completely normal key is selected, signed, and placed on a rubber band around the spectator’s wrist where they feel it bend at their fingertips. More than just a metal bending effect. This is an experience your audience will literally keep with them for a long time.
Decades ago, Richard Marx created Key Warper. Andrew Gerard created a routine that maximizes the impact and hides all the dirty work. Key Accessory is strong enough to make them ask themselves a question: could this be the real deal?
Dreamweaver (Gimmicks Included)
Reveal your spectator’s thought-of dream with no fishing or peeks.
Bidding Around
Bidding Around is a prime example of Gerard-isms in full effect. A classic turned on its head and rearranged into distinct moments that evolve into an impossible ending. Spectators question whether what they saw was even real!
I think that all of these tricks are great. They may not all be for you, but they are all real strong. With Know Technology, you first see a highly edited street encounter performance. Both Gerard and Pink chat about the trick and discuss the effect before they teach you the secret and show you a full performance. The twist to this trick that I really love is that often in mentalism and mind reading routines your spectators question whether or not technology is used. They wonder if you used a listening device or if you used your phone somehow. In this case, you take out your phone and tell them you are using an app only to show at the end that the phone is really an empty phone case. You are taught a method how to divine a written down word that was scribed by the spectator. They teach you Acidus Novus by Millard Longman and refer to T-Rex which was taught in the first episode of Conscious Magic. I enjoyed the discussion on mentalism subtleties and how you can make a very similar trick feel completely different based upon how it was presented.
Déjà Vu starts with a live performance on the Hollywood streets. This is a very similar word divination mentalism effect with a very strong presentation. Your spectators will feel weird after Watching this. They will feel somewhat lost in a haze that you brought them to and astounded at your ability to know a secret. Your audience is totally thrown off by you presentation and I applaud this fooling patter. Real smart, very cool! You are caught in a time warp and I think that the value of this trick is in the strong thought and creativity behind it.
The third trick, Key Accessory, is a Gerard effect that was inspired by a Richard Mark. Gerard sold this trick years ago for $75. No doubt expensive, but meant to keep it in only select hands! Basically your spectator holds a key that apparently bends in their hands. They key is signed and not switched and it is very strong. The great part about this trick is that the spectator feels that they have done something incredible and they don’t know how.
Dream Weaver is a Paul Carnazzo effect that sells for $30. With this trick you get s gimmick and are able to divine a specific type of dream that the spectator has picked from a card with columns containing several words to choose from. You will need to put some memorization work into this ahead of time, but it is not too bad. It also contains requires very simple math skills, but anyone that knows how to add numbers under 10 will not have a problem. This is a good trick to carry with you in your wallet.
The fifth trick is my favorite. It is Gerard’s take on the The Biddle Trick by Elmer Biddle. It starts with a live performance that really freaks of the audience. You can do this trick with a borrowed shuffled deck and you hit your spectators several times in a row with different pieces of magic. This is one to learn and perform over and over.
As a veteran reviewer of magic, I can only modestly suggest that this is an excellent choice for your shopping cart. Pink and Gerard have mastered the excellent.
Thanks to Murphy’s Magic for providing this DVD to me for my review.
