Project 365 Bonanza (159-163/365)

Since I'm not going to be in town for a few days starting tomorrow, I figured it would be best if I made my posts in advance rather than made them after the vacation. Hope you like them all!

.:163/365: Rock And Roll Aces:.

Ever wanted to learn a routine that requires nothing but constant repetition of basic card sleights from you? Elmsley? Flustration? DL’s?

Well, Rock and Roll Aces is definitely the routine for you, with a simple script, and very methodic, systematic moves meant less for superb magic and more for acquainting a beginner magician with basic card moves that are necessary for one’s progression in the art form.

Watch how simple the routine really is, and see if you can follow what’s going on. The fact that it’s performed silently helps you piece together the logic of each and every move involved, and it makes for a very entertaining way to train yourself as sleights can only get harder and harder as you progress, yet your job is to constantly make it look like you’re not doing a single one, to begin with.

Rock and Roll Aces may not be the most impressive card routine out there, but mastery of the routine would reap major dividends for a beginner card magician wishing to step into

.:162/365: Closeup Illusion:.

The close up illusion was supposed to be something I’d talk about in Stage Illusions month, but I decided to talk about it right now instead because it’s one of my favourite packet routines of all time. It’s a pretty awesome head-scratcher and really hits the spot, since it achieves the seemingly impossible card penetration with the most minimal tools: a measly three cards, as opposed to an entire deck, in the case of Raise-Rise or Fallen.

That this routine is performed as though it were a true illusion like the ones you see onstage makes it all the better. The script is very simple, but the visuals accompanying the script, out and out penetration occurring right before your very eyes, is undoubtedly a thing of beauty. The card melting through is just so stark and visual that you can’t help but be stunned at it happening so plainly in front of you.

For the most part, I also like the simplicity of performing this routine. I was never fond of excessive sleights, and this has next to none, yet the eye-popping results are simply awesome. Keep on watching this routine as often as you can, because it just never gets old, even for someone like me, who already knows how it’s done.

Anyways, there are many people who have done this, including Copperfield himself, but the first version I learned was by Geoff Williams in his “Miracles For Mortals” video.

.:161/365: Raise-Rise:.

Now, if you really wanted to perform something like Daniel Garcia’s Fallen, I personally believe this is the better routine to do it with.

There are many versions and names for Raise-Rise: Elevator, Lazy Rise, Shifty, all of these are variations of the same principle: take any card, and magically make it rise from near the bottom of the deck all the way to the top of the deck, all the while keeping the card in apparent full view at all times as it magically melts from card to card.

It’s visual, it’s impromptu, and most of all, it’s nowhere near as angle-sensitive as “Fallen”. The magic is clean the minute the card has jumped places, as opposed to the amount of time you’re “dirty” when performing Fallen. There is just no comparison, when it comes down to these two routines, in all honesty.

I have seen multiple versions of this routine while looking around for videos, and I must say that every single video that was properly done has impressed me far more than Daniel Garcia’s performance of his own take on the card melting to the top routine. Half of these performers aren’t even named magicians, so that underscores how strong these routines are as opposed to the other one I’ve been maligning for quite a while already.

.:160/365: Elevation:.

Card transpositions are very tricky, but when done properly, the results can be mind-boggling, to say the least. Elevation is one such routine.

The script is rather simple: you can make a deck of cards act as an elevator, sending four suits of the same card from top to bottom of the deck in rapid-fire fashion, without having to break into a sweat as you put each card in the middle of the deck. The routine has to be fast-paced, because it’s really the best way to present this one, and the performer definitely did well in this regard.

This routine reminds me of that old 3-jack routine everyone seems to know about. It’s one of the first tricks a non-magician would learn to do with cards.

.:159/365: The Haunted Deck:.

I used to have this routine in my arsenal, but it got a little too clunky for my tastes, when I specialized in street magic.

Looking back, though, I realize that I may have not given this routine a fair shake and go back to it at some point. It has the makings of a powerful performance simply because there’s something very surreal about seeing a deck move on its own to reveal a selected card or two or three. I know this would’ve been best for Supernatural month in November, but I guess I’d rather go over it now, to at least remind myself to give this routine in particular a second look. I do believe it has a lot of potential, and with the perfect script, it can definitely take you places.

It’s very impressive the way the deck just moves right in your hands. Watching it just do that slowly and eerily tends to have quite an effect on you, especially since it’s something that would often happen virtually unannounced and silently in order to maximize the impact of the apparent ghostly apparition.

By the way, for the more knowledgeable out there, what nationality is Jay Noblezada exactly? He looks very Filipino to me.