Apocalypse Vol.1 No.4

Intro: Thanks for all the great feedback last week guys! It helps me feel like I'm writing to some one out there! I can't think of too much else to say so I'll just shut up and let you read on to the really good stuff!

Effects:

The Armchair Bowler (Max Maven)
A spectator plays an imaginary game of bowling in a chair you have up on stage. You ask them how many pins they knocked out. They name any number of pins, in this example, six pins. You ask them to reach under the chair and pull off the envelope that has been under them the whole time. They open it and on it is printed, "Six!" You can perform this in somebody's house, all the way to a full size stage show. It's a good piece of mentalism! It's not a closer, but it is something that I think people will remember if you present it right. You need to form a picture of a bowling alley inside people's minds. Bring them TO that bowling alley. Use some of those descriptive writing techniques that we all learn about in school, and you'll create a strong impression.

Quarters (Bob Hyans)
A card is fairly torn into four quarters and then from under those pieces of card, you produce four quarters (pun intended)! This doesn't appeal to me very much just because you have to rip up a card every time. It's certainly a good idea, and the whole "quarters" pun is cute, but most of the time I would probably use another four coin production, because of the practicality factor. It is non-gimmicked, so that's a plus. It also looks quite natural. If you don't mind tearing up the card, you'll like this.

Kenomental (Looy Simonoff)
This is a principle that can be used to create many effects. In one of them, a spectator marks a card and then REALLY shuffles it back into the deck. No crimps, palms, cops or anything. You immediately snap your fingers, and spread the card to show their card has vanished! You can even have the spectator count the cards; there are only 51! This principle is a situational effect because of one thing that is involved in the method (not a gimmick) that you most likely don't see everywhere you go. Restaurant workers could get some mileage out of this though. I can't say anymore about it because it would totally give away the method. I like it, but I couldn't use it a lot of times. P.S. No DST, can be a borrowed deck, no gimmicks, impromptu.

Marionette Coin Vanish (Ken Krenzel)
Essentially, four coins vanish from your hand. You'll see why it's called the "Marionette" Coin Vanish when you read the method. The entire vanish seems fair and motivated. This could take some time to work on the timing aspect of it and some of the movement, but it shouldn't be too terribly bad for you. I was able to get the feel for it pretty quickly. I wouldn't perform this as a standalone piece, but rather as part of a larger routine. I like it!

Hole Card (Trevor Lewis)
You show a playing card with a nickel size hole in it. You fold it and place a quarter inside, saying it won't go through the hole. You do the old puzzle where you bend the nickel and cause it to go through the hole. Then you do it again but this time you don't bend the card, and they see the quarter go right through the too-small hole. I haven't had time to this one out yet (even for myself!), but it does seem to have a good presentational line, which you'll see when you read it. I'm afraid this may come off more as a puzzle though. Also the card is not examinable, which I don't like because the card does happen to have a hole that the audience may be intrigued by. This didn't do much for me.

Gene Maze Predicts (Gene Maze)
A red deck and a blue deck are given to two spectators. They both shuffle their decks and take any five cards from their decks without looking at them. The decks are non-gimmicked and there are no stooges. The person with the red cards lays their cards in a row on the table, then the other person lays their blue cards on top of the red card row. You ask the spectator's to decide on which pair they would like. They choose a pair and the other pairs are shown. They contain indifferent cards, but the pair they selected turn out to be the same cards! This is a stunner! It really is a strong card trick/mentalism effect. The presentation is great and it's really fun to do for couples, saying how "connected they are", etc. Check this out, don't pass go!

Columns:

Unlabeled Columns
These weren't really columns, but more of asides within the magazine. We won't see this type of thing throughout the whole series. Ken Krenzel makes two good suggestions on the Two Card Trick by J.K. Hartman. Also, Harry shares a card cutting principle.

Editorial
A thought-provoking article on exposure that you should definitely read.

Tidings
Here's a funny/heart-breaking story about a magician exposing magic (and himself!) in an adult magazine. Also, a story about a man who took advantage of exposure and made his audience think he was one of the best magicians in the world.

Closing Thoughts
Gene Maze Predicts and Armchair Bowler were my absolute favorites in this issue, with Kenomental close behind. This was a good issue, but a lot of the material in this issue was a bit more situational, which is certainly not always a bad thing. All in all, another good issue.

And, as always, if you have anything to say, make sure to post it below.

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Past Review Directory:
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.1
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.2
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.3