Meet the Jack by Jorge Garcia is an Alakazam project in which Argentinian Mentalist, Jorge Garcia performs 8 mentalism and mind reading routines in an intimate parlor setting and then explains the secrets to every part of his act. The Jack, as he was known, shares some real gems and I highly recommend this project. Unfortunately, the Jack prematurely and tragically passed away a few months ago in April 2017. There is no better was to honor his memory than to learn from him. I did not know about the Jack before this DVD and I now mourn his loss.
The DVD is an hour and forty six minutes and is divided into two sections. The first are the performances and the second are the explanations. The performances take place in a small ornate room with dark curtains, candles, an hourglass, stained-glass windows and bookshelves in front of a small live audience. During the explanatory section of the trick, Garcia explains and credits the history of each trick along with Peter Nardi. They discuss how to perform the trick, brainstorm a bit about various ideas and most importantly teach you the secrets. Some of the tricks require homemade gimmicks and you are informed how to create the gimmicks. 
The ad copy accurately describes the 8 routines so I will address a few of my favorites here.
To Lovecraft is a version of the Pegasus Page effect. Here the performer riffles through a book and the spectator stops him at a certain page. There is no force of a specific page. An envelope is used as a bookmark and to mark the page and the spectator chooses a word from that page. Amazingly, the envelope contains a handwritten word inside which matches the spectator’s chosen word. When the spectator then opens the closed book to the selected page, it is missing — it is torn out of the book. The torn-out page then appears inside an envelope that the spectator has been sitting on the entire time. The rips on the torn-out page is compared to the rips in the book and it is truly the exact page. The book can then be given out to the spectator as a souvenir.
Another favorite of mine was L-Mental. In L-Mental, 3 spectators are sitting on chairs behind the Jack and truly out of his sight. They each take an envelope with an image; either a rock, a sheet of paper or a scissors. The spectators continuously change seats and sheets of paper and the Jack is able to divine who would have won a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors every time. At the end, he removes a prediction which accurately predicts who wins the final round. This trick is so fooling and so amazing and so simple! I cannot wait to try this!
Project Fear is a great routine in which a spectator writes a phobia of theirs on a business card and places it onto a stack of business cards each with a different phobia written on it. When the spectator concentrates on what they fear, the Jack is able to read their mind. This is a great trick and requires some minor arts and crafts work and the purchase of some things to make the trick work. It reminds me of a lottery prediction effect that I perform. The arts and crafts work is simple and this is a great trick because you are asking someone to think about their greatest fear. Very evocative and impactful.
The Jack also performs a few card tricks which are worthwhile. I particularly enjoyed A Think and Stop, which you can perform with a shuffled and borrowed deck. Its origin is from the classic magic book, Greater Magic, and it is easy to learn and perform.
The DVD also comes with a 44 page PDF that contains excerpts of the performed routines from Garcia’s book, 7 Mysteries. The PDF is excellent and I will soon be looking for a copy of 7 Mysteries for my library. At the time of the writing of this review, the DVD retails for $30.
This is a great mentalism DVD with 8 very strong routines that anyone can perform. This purchase is a fantastic value.
This mentalism DVD is available at your favorite Murphy’s Magic dealer.