Apocalypse Vol.1 No.8

Two Shuffles Harry (Bro. John Hamman)
The deck is shuffled and two cards are selected and replaced. The deck is then shuffled face-up and face-down and then again for good measure. The deck is cut in half and a magical gesture is made. When the halves are spread they are completely face-down except for the two selected cards! Then it is revealed that the chosen cards are the only ones of opposite color in their halves! This is a KILLER trick that is based primarily on one move. Please, please try this out, because it is so good. Harry does not explain the move because it is not his to teach, but most of you will know it. I love this effect with a burning passion!

Flipswitch (Bob Elliot)
A coin is laying on the palm of your hand. You turn it over. Oh, and in that simple action you have switched a coin easily. Here is another fantastic utility coin switch that you can use in many situations. As I have told you, I don't really "do coins," I just dabble, but I was still able to pick this move up after the first or second time I tried it. If I can do it, so can you! Definitely learn this one.

Fibonacci Fantasy (Martin Gardner)
I'm not even sure what the effect is here, but essentially it's several mathematical effects based on the Fibonacci pattern, which most of you probably don't know what it is. I personally can't stand most mathematical effects. They don't make much sense and often require too much thought on the part of the spectator to even understand what the effect is. Plus, they will just assume that you had no part in making the magic happen and that the mathematics just work out by themselves. Ehhhhhh.

Shovel Coin Shuffle (Frank Paglia)
A silver coin and a copper coin are several inches apart on a table. You cover each coin with a card, snap your fingers, and the coins have changed places. You then put the silver and the copper coin away in your pocket. They have reappeared under the cards. One more transpo follows. I like this routine quite a bit. It requires no gimmicks, it's fun, it has three phases, and it's a fooler. The only requirement is to have a table that you can perform the standard coin matrix on; most experienced magicians will know what I mean. This will require some practice, but it's a nice, "almost" impromptu, coin routine.

Torn and Restored Coin (David Roth)
You show a half dollar to be normal and then you make a vicious tear down one side of the coin, bending it back slightly. The spectators clearly see the tear, and then you rub the tear and, lo and behold, the coin has restored! Now, you can either choose to restore it or not. I think it would be cooler to do it with a quarter, so that way you can just borrow or "find" a quarter and then proceed to rip it and give it away. This reminds me of a Paul Harris type of effect because it is just...different. I can imagine it having a big impact on an audience. It's like the "Bite Off Coin," but a little bit more "real." So do you guys think that it would be stronger to rip, and then give away the coin, or restore it and then give it back?

Psychic Poker (Jon Racherbaumer)
The magician deals five hands to the spectators and himself, then each "player" thinks of the best card in their hand. The hands are assembled and shuffled into the deck. Then they are dealt out again: the magician shows his hand to be a royal flush, which is made up of all the thought of cards! This flush is set aside and the spectators freely think of another card from their hands. The cards are gathered and shuffled, then a spectator deals out the hands. You ask a spectator to choose one of the hands. When they do, it turns out to contain all of the thought of cards! Sorry for the long explanation, but I wanted you to really get a feel for what this is. The effect is VERY good. When you see the method, you may be turned away. You don't need gimmicks, but you will need a set-up deck with some extra things. You will not be able to use this deck for anything else except this trick if you leave it set-up, so that is a sacrifice you will have to make. To me, the strength of the effect outweighs the method. Decide for yourself.

The Jarred Coin (Sol Stone)
You show a baby food type jar with two different coins inside. You dump them out onto the table and ask the spectator to examine/select one of them. The other is placed back into the jar, and the lid sealed on top. Then you take the selected coin and slam it against the bottom of the jar; it penetrates through the glass! This is an interesting method/approach to the coin-through-something plot. Certainly you could have fun making jokes about the baby food jar and what not; however, I think I will stick to effects like Abyss. The plastic bottle looks much more natural and can be examined, the baby food jar can only partially be examined. A restaurant worker may like the aspect that the jar takes up less space than the typical bottle, so that's something to consider as well. Almost instant reset, and no folding coins either! I won't use this, but you may like it a lot. Let your mind run wild with presentations. I'm sure you'll come up with something!

Columns:

Out To Lunch
How Harry got his job at the Little Club and he talks about tips.

Unlabelled Columns
A To Tell the Truth Variation with six people.

Tidings
A review of "Magic Pipe Monday" at the Player's Club, reactions to Herb Zarrow's Zig-Zag effect, talk about Father Cyprian's new effects, a typo correction for Hanging Coins, and finally, a discussion about accusations of a man "exposing" Uri Gellar's keybend method. That last one is funny, make sure to read it!

Closing:
Sorry it's been a little while since the last review! With exams, projects, papers and everything else wrapping up for school, it's hard to fit in a review. I think most of you will understand!

Hopefully I can write another review in time for this weekend, but next week is exams for me. In other words don't be surprised if you don't see a review by Sunday night! I'll still try though.

Let me know what you think would be a better ending for Torn and Restored Coin, and if you differ in opinion about Fibonacci Fantasy or anything else, please comment. It's always cool to hear other people's views on things.

Apocalypse!