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The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Dvd, Video tape, Audio tape & Compact discs. » » Utopia Review part 4/4 (1 Likes) Printer Friendly Version

magician102
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First and foremost: Dani, Luis, Team at studio33… Thank you SO much for sharing all of this material with the magic community.
To those of you reading these reviews: Hope you all enjoyed them. I'll post a note in the next few days about each of the tricks in terms of difficulty, as well as a more critical review of the tricks in terms of difficulty.

On the whole, if you are a fan of Jazz magic, Psychology, Playful, Energetic, non-gaffed, FASDIU magic, this DVD set is PERFECT for you. Despite my usual rule of not recommending DVDs, this set has come a long way in it's approach to teaching. The cuts are at the right times, even when following along, I never felt rushed to grab cards, nor bored and fast forwarding to get to the point. I found the tutorial "feeling" of the forces amazing and one of the best ways to learn how to force a card. Finally I'm really glad that they were able to capture Dani's personality so vividly and provide a look at a live performance.

Moving on, here's DVD 4.

Semi-Automatic:
Dani talks about how it's a great concept, but mostly misunderstood. "What the magician does is only a reflection of himself… The magician is more important than the trick."
All of these self working tricks(or rather most) should be FASDIU type effects. I have seen all of these tricks before as they are in Dani's "Semi-automatic Card Magic" lecture notes, but here's the review.

Twin Prediction:
Two shuffled decks, one is cut into two piles. The other has a card selected, replaced. It is shuffled and cut. And yet, at the sum of the top cards is the selected card in the other deck.

Dani demonstrates that the entire trick is about focus of attention. This trick when I first saw it late at night, performed by Dani for a group of maybe 3-4 magicians, completely fooled me.

Imaginary Dice:
Two spectators provide random #'s from the imaginary dice in their heads. One remembers the card at the location of her # (4th card if the # is 4…) Then, after a shuffle and a cut, the magician asks for both #'s for the first time. Both #'s are named, the sum is the actual position of the card in the deck.

Astounding, simple, clean and the thinking behind the psychology of what spectators think is phenomenal.

Business Card Collector:
A card is selected from a small packet, the spectator makes it random by moving cards from the top to bottom.
Finally, a card from the top of a pile of business cards is turned over matching the prediction in a comical, entertaining fashion. Also a great routine to hand out your business cards.

Missing Player:
Dedicated to Howard Hamburg, a poker demonstration, to win a 5 handed game without ever touching the deck.

Card and Number:
Spectator cuts off some number of cards, and counts them. Then they memorize the card at that position. The magician instantly knows the number and the card at that position. Then, the magician repeats the feat.

Abracadabra:
The spectator cuts a pile of cards, takes any card out of that pile after shuffling it, memorizes it and places it on top of the deck. A brilliant "new, or maybe it is old" idea as Dani says.

3 Opportunities:
A spectator chooses a card and is given the choice between two tricks. One in which the spectator's card is magically face up in the middle of the deck, or the card is told to the spectator out of nowhere… or with 3 opportunities.

Chaotic 21 Card Trick:
One of my favorite late night sessioning card tricks… a trick that completely devestates magicians, with a fun, impossible "21 card trick" presentation. Spectators often worry they did something wrong at first, but by the end guarenteed to be laughing and enjoying themselves.

Interview 4/4:
Dani's answers the internet and how it relates to magic question. Also some discussion of "el grupo Kaps."

Bonus Trick:
Crescendo:
The other "The Wire" download, wasn't expecting this either… pleasant surprise!

Blooper 4:
Funny. Makes me sad to be done watching these DVDs… but thankfully I can go back in time, and start again with DVD 1.
riju1985
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Thanks
These are really helpful for all DANI fans
U have done a great job doing an initial round of review
I hope the thoughtsof a great card worker like dani will help a lot many,
to give a thought to their approach and way towards CARD magic
:)
brehaut
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Quote:
On 2011-10-23 03:26, riju1985 wrote:
Thanks
These are really helpful for all DANI fans
U have done a great job doing an initial round of review
I hope the thoughtsof a great card worker like dani will help a lot many,
to give a thought to their approach and way towards CARD magic
:)



ditto-thank you
magician102
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@brehaut/@riju1985 - it was my pleasure.
rockwall
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Very excited to receive my copies! Thank you!
magician102
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@rockwall - my pleasure.
papawemba
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I love card magic that is :
* (Very) easy to do.
* Easy to remember Smile
* That can be done impromptu with any deck (trash or incomplete).
* That is effective.

=> Very hard to find...it is like a collector’s quest Smile

My favorite in this DVD is "3 Opportunities". Nothing really new but a nice idea an touch, I'll do it for the rest of my life ;-)
Dani handles the card very fairly, I love his "sloppy" style "mix mix I don't care"... He always got me, even with card principle I already know !

Nicolas
lumberjohn
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I was left a bit cold by these "self-working" effects. If these had been included in a book of fifty or so effects by Aldo Colombini, for instance, I think most people would pass over them quickly and never look back. They really don't add anything new to the plethora of self-working tricks already on the market.

What Dani does add, and it is no small contribution, is his infectious personality and performing style. Dani demonstrates that a strong presence can elevate even the most mundane effect into something entertaining. Unless you plan to channel his performance style, however, I don't see how you will get the same mileage out of these effects. Since I can't imagine anyone actually doing that (or foolishly attempting it), I doubt many of these will be making their way into most performers' repertoires.
Shikina
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Quote:
On 2012-01-04 11:41, lumberjohn wrote:
I was left a bit cold by these "self-working" effects. If these had been included in a book of fifty or so effects by Aldo Colombini, for instance, I think most people would pass over them quickly and never look back. They really don't add anything new to the plethora of self-working tricks already on the market.


I disagree. Perhaps I'm not as familiar as I could be with the whole body of self-working card effects, but in my experience the vast majority use stacks. In fact, thanks to my exposure to the magic of Nick Trost and Steve Beam (Perhaps the work of Mr. Columbini is different), I had pretty much considered it a given that self-working effects are synonymous with stacks. So I was delighted to discover that essentially none of the effects on disc 4 require set-ups. It's practically all FASDIU, and I don't happen to think that one needs Dani's exact personality to make these effects work. Over the years I've found myself gravitating further and further into knuckle-busting territory for the convenience of having an impromptu repertoire, but I'm thrilled by the prospect of adding several of the routines in these discs into my mix.
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