My Review of “Live in Your Living Room” double DVD set by Bob Solari $39.95 from bobsolarimagic.com. This will be a review of Disc 2.

This DVD set is a bargain. Bob’s effects are unique and he does an excellent job of explaining each one in his humorous way. Each explanation is clear and concise and constructing each effect is extremely easy. I personally do not have the patience to construct complicated gimmicks for effects and that is the beauty of Bob’s effects (easy to construct and perform and that is why I am a fan of this DVD set). If you were to purchase each of these effects you spend would hundreds of dollars. If you are newer to magic or experienced this DVD set is a winner. I love it! I would rate the production quality as on target (no, you are not going to get modern day motion picture quality that you see in some DVDs but the quality is just fine).

Disc 2-

CUNNING CARD CASE- This is a quick, visual change of a card case into just the playing cards. This is a nice opener to a set and the gimmick is easy to make (takes minutes).

ULTRA MATCH- Spectator shuffles the cards and pulls 3 out of the spread. Performer places the 3 cards on top of the deck. There is a prediction envelope on the deck sealed with a paperclip. When the paperclip is removed and the envelope opened, the 3 prediction cards in the envelope match the 3 cards on top of the deck chosen by the spectator. This is a bold effect that is easy to do.

VISIBLE HALF THROUGH TABLE-This is a half dollar goes through the table effect but instead of pushing the half dollar through the table, you push it from under the table and it appears on top and under a glass cap.

I love this effect as it is visible and very creative. It is easy to make and plays well.

UN-BILL-EIVABLE- Magician borrows a large denomination of money and folds the bill up inside the paper. A knife (or any other sharp object) is seemingly pushed through the paper and bill. When the bill is removed, it is intact. Once again, this is easy to do and requires minimal preparation.

BRAINWAVE FOR DUMMIES- Spectator is handed the deck and asked to place it behind his/her back. They are instructed to reach inside the deck and pullout 1 card and place it reversed on top of the deck. They cut the deck behind their back and hand the cards to the magician. When the deck is spread, the face-up card they chose and reversed is visible and matches a prediction sealed in an envelope that was on the table the whole time. You can turn the card over next to the face up selection to show if they would have chosen that card it wouldn’t have matched.

After the prediction is revealed, the selected card is turned over and is the only odd colored back card in the deck.

This is an effect that was marketed by Bob and I love it. Great spin on the Brainwave and this effect alone is worth the price of the DVD set. Highly recommended.

FOOLS MONTE- This is an excellent Monte effect with 2 jokers and an odd card. The spectator gets 3 tries to find the odd card and when there is only one apparent choice left, all three cards are revealed to be jokers and the odd card is found in an impossible location.

This is easy to do and a high impact effect which I love.

BLING BLING RING THING- You show a gift bag, small gift box and 5 colored rings. When your back is turned, the spectator is asked to think of any of the colored rings and then place the thought of colored ring in the gift box while the performer’s back is turned. The lid is placed back on the gift box and the spectator is instructed to place the remaining 4 rings in the gift bag. You are able to correctly name the colored ring in the box.

This is Color Vision on steroids and is one of my favorite effects on the DVD. You can purchase the “bling” and supplies for this effect for around $6.00 and it takes minutes to construct.

PREMONITION- Spectator takes the cards and deals however many number of cards he/she wants face down in a pile. The deck is cut and the spectator deals more cards onto the top of the stack of cards. They can take cards from the top, bottom and middle of the deck. The cards are dealt into 2 stacks. The spectator touches 1 stack which is used (free choice). When the top card of the stack they freely chose is turned over, it matches a prediction card which was in a sealed envelope.
(Phase 2)- The deck is given to the spectator and they are allowed to mix the cards up. The spectator is handed a jumbo playing card and told to insert it into the deck at anytime while you are dealing the cards face down on the table. The card stopped at matches the jumbo card.

This is an excellent effect and provides an awesome double card surprise. Highly recommended.

CLIP IT- Spectator selects 1 card from a deck of regular-sized cards and a paperclip is placed on it. The card is placed on the deck and shown to the spectator. The performer points to a jumbo deck and spreads through the cards. Low and behold, there is a paperclip on 1 of the jumbo cards and it matches the card chosen by the spectator and paper clipped.

This is a great effect and fun to perform.

BONUS TRICK- Bob’s Breather Card- Bob shows 2 versions of the breather card including a breather effect marketed by him. The breather cards are easy to make and this is a nice added bonus on the DVD set.
Bottom Line- Buy this DVD set as there is a ton of great effects at a great price.