|
|
Go to page 1~2 [Next] | ||||||||||
avasatu New user 97 Posts |
I received my pre-order copy of this book in the mail today, and spent all day reading, digesting and learning the material with a deck in hand. I have had the Redford stack memorized for about a month and a half in addition to Mnemonica, as a reference point. I knew buying this book wouldn't be a mistake since I enjoyed Applesauce so much. Anyway, here is an honest review:
The book starts out with a nice introduction, and the magic literally begins there in true Redford fashion. Patrick then goes on to display the stack and list its main properties, of which there are many. He then lists the stack in text. Then things get interesting. He reveals the origins of the stack, how to get into Redford Stack from Si Stebbins, explains Si Stebbins groundwork, then tells you how to get into Si Stebbins, and thus Redford Stack, from NDO (both American and European NDO). His technique has a feel familiar to Ortiz's Si Stebbins secret, but is a refreshing alternative. Patrick then tells you how to get into Si Stebbins from a shuffled deck, and how to hide this sorting method via a few clever routines. We then learn how to go backward from Redford to Stebbins, from Redford to Red/Black Alternating (both non-patterned and patterned alternating stacks, in fact), from Stebbins to Stay Stack, from Redford Stack to "Redford Stay Stack (non Stebbins stay stack)," and then 4 methods to get all the way from Redford Stack to NDO using faros or not. The versatility and transformational ability of the Redford Stack is formidable, and much more is possible. At this point, the book introduces some basic techniques the mem deck practitioner should be aware of, and many of you will be familiar with most or all of this, but there are some nice subtleties to be learned for even experienced workers. You'll learn some excellent things here. The next section is a brief overview of the peg system Patrick suggests you use to quickly memorize the stack, and the section after that gives you some ideas on how to arrange a shuffled deck into stack via routining, a topic that seems to be hot on this forum lately. The suggestions draw from both known and original material, and I'm sure you will be able to easily construct your own fooling shuffled-to-stack routine from these ideas. Patrick then mentions briefly the cards that can be directly spelled to from various positions in the stack, and gives a short list of what he calls "interesting" locations for spelling effects with no details on accomplishing these locations, but you can infer the methods yourself. TRICK SECTION 1: The next section is the first sections of tricks, and deals (no pun intended) with poker demos. ANY POKER HAND CALLED FOR: using the Redford Stack, all you'll need to do is cut to certain positions and occasionally do a second deal. Very cool that the stack was built with this in mind. Most assuredly worth your time if you are into that kind of thing. PROGRESSIVE POKER: A routine where each successive hand increases in quality, culminating in the performer's hand being the top dog. It's built right into the stack provided you make a few adjustments which can be done on the fly. I like this one. BLACKJACK: THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS: The stack has a buit-in, natural-looking Blackjack routine, and no adjustments to the stack are needed. Not my cup of tea, but it is going to be a worker for you if you're into that sort of thing. PARTNER POKER: This routine reminds me of Ortiz's Deja Vu Poker, though it most certainly is its own beast. Decent poker hands are dealt out, the performer suffers a garbage hand. The magician then tells the audience that it's best to work with a partner, and shows his partner to have the winning hand. Upon shuffling and re-dealing, his partner receives a royal flush. The stack is totally retained. I personally prefer the Ortiz routine, but that's only a matter of taste. This has the advantage, though, of working with the stack. BRIDGE/RUMMY DEALS: Patrick briefly an easy way to deal yourself a suit here, for example. An excellent application of stack transformations. Note: After each of the tricks described above, we learn how to get back to stack order. TRICK SECTION 2: This section deals with faro mem deck tricks that work due to the properties of the Redford stack. KING ME: See a performance of this on Patrick's YouTube channel. Very much akin to Ortiz's Hard Target and an effect from Michael Close's Workers series, this trick is about the black kings trapping a selection or selections via faro shuffles. However, this allows you to leave the deck in stack order with some additional faros, but requires a forced selection. Patrick also tells us how to adapt the trick for 3 selections. I am a sucker for this type of trick, but I also hate forces as a general matter, so I'm torn. If you don't hate forces, and love faros, you'll do this trick or some variation on it. It's a neat feature of the Redford stack. KM POKER DEAL: This trick is a follow up to the previous effect. We learn there is a bonus poker deal that can be performed if some very easy shuffles and cuts are done after King Me. Effectively, you and your opponent both easily receive a royal flush. We then learn how to get back to stack. Effects that are built into the conclusion of other effects are usually great, and this is no exception. TUT TUT TUT: This pays respect to Tut Tut from Close's Workers 5. Four Aces are turned face up as the magician spreads through the deck and three cards are selected. With some faros, the aces move around to meet each other, then finally converge and trap the 3 selections. Very cool; I'm sure many of you will like this. As a full disclaimer, the selections are all forced, and you will be 5 faros away from original stack order, or one triple anti-faro. THE ACES HAVE IT!: This is a combination of the previous effects. Two selections are made, two aces turned face up. The aces trap the selections after some faros, but the catch is this can be instantly repeated with two different selections thanks to the Redford Stack. All selections are forced, and again we know how to return to stack order thanks to explanations from prior effects. The last page of this sections explains very briefly some basic properties found in arrangements that are various numbers of faros away from the Redford Stack. TRICK SECTION 3: Generic mem deck magic (as Patrick puts it), as in these effects work with any stack. VELLEITY: The participant thinks (calls out) a card, puts her hand on top of the deck, visualizes the card moving up through the deck, and once her hand is removed, the card is on top with a bend in it. While I'm sure you all can ascertain the method here, the presentation is what is most important. This effect will be a dud if performed incorrectly, and Patrick spends most of the description making sure that won't happen to you. Presented correctly, this is Patrick's favorite mem deck effect, so he writes. I won't do the effect because it's not my style, but I believe him. The deck is almost instantly back in stack order. THRU THE TABLE: Card through table. I don't do things like this as a matter of taste, and this was the one thing in the entire book I skipped, so I apologize for the lack of total completeness of this review. Of course, that's not to say it's a weak trick; I simply skipped it as soon as I read the effect, so I have no idea what it looks like or how strong it is. I'll leave that to you all WHAT'S THE CATCH?: The spectator names a card, the magician dribbles the deck, reaches in and pulls out the named card. The cool part about this is that you will actually reach in and grab the card out. It's a very honest effect in that sense. It will need some preparation, and earlier in the book Patrick gives brief descriptions for this preparation. Again, something that's not really my style, but I actually wish it was, because I can imagine this effect really slaying someone. Barely disturbs stack order. TWAIN: This trick is crazy strong. I will absolutely use this. The deck is split in half, each half is given to a different spectator, and they cut the deck however many times they like after the performer turns his back. They exchange the top cards of their halves, memorize their new top cards, and bury them with a cut. The performer divines one card, then divines the second card, the cards sandwiching it, and its position in its packet. I'm leaving out a bit there, but it doesn't matter. One complaint I have here is that a simple glimpse and a quick calculation would tell you the exact position of the second selection, but Patrick recommends estimating it or doing an impractical restructuring of the routine. I suspect he avoids the glimpse because he wants the second half of the deck to be boxed prior to divination, but of course you can still work around that without too much imagination. Either way, this is a candidate for my repertoire. Not hard to return to stack order. NINJA TOSSED OUT DECK: Tossed out deck with no questions asked, and examinable. Strong if you're into that, and very simple. Clever method, and you would be stumped if you saw this in performance, more than likely. Great, lengthy description, and includes a description of a similar effect from a shuffled deck. I'm considering this one. Only thing holding me back is my deciding whether or not it's my style. Not hard to return to stack order. TRICK SECTION 4: More Redford Stack tricks. O.F.M.: Performer makes 10 piles, turns his back, participant chooses a pile, looks through, chooses and replaces a card, and puts the pile back. The magician then reassembles the deck and has the card named out loud. Instantly, the magician can announce the position of the named card. This is then repeated under more impossible conditions: the selected card is not even named, but the magician correctly identifies both the position and the identity of the card. I'm leaving out a few small details here on purpose. This a strong effect, I just hate dealing cards into large numbers of piles, that's all. Some of you will certainly use this, and method is well described and clever. Your spectator will not be backtracking this one. The deck is able to be brought back to stack order pretty easily, though not in the traditional ways you would normally do so. Can't say too much there without revealing the method. TWEGEN: Twain on steroids for the most part. Instead of the deck simply being split in half as in Twain, the deck is dealt into two piles by the spectator. The rest is all the same effect as Twain, but the method is in fact easier by a bit, and leaves the deck in suited order! This is all done with a simple stack transformation. Of course I will use this given that I used Twain, and the possibilites for this within a full routine are boundless. SHUSH ROOKIE (THE ANY CARD SPELLED TO STACK): This is a system that allows you to more or less spell to any card named from a suited deck. I'm not much of a spelling trick guy, but this system is useful regardless. There is some great information here that you'll want to know. TEMPORARILY OUT OF ORDER: The flagship effect. Check out the YouTube video; it's awesome, and that video speaks for itself. You'll use this. I'll use this. Disclaimer: in the YouTube video, the first phase of the trick is actually something described later in the book, and not part of this routine. It's Patrick showing you how to get from a shuffled deck into a stacked deck using a d**k s****h. That said, if you really liked that first phase and d**k s****h, it IS described later in the book. TRICK SECTION 5: Story tricks. I'm not going to list them out, but there are 3 story tricks fully described here, ala Sam the Bellhop. Go nuts. TRICK SECTION 6: The loaded deck. Here Redford describes how the stacked deck can be combined with marked deck, the trilby principle or the stripper deck using one effect: red/black instant separation and remix. Worth your time if you're into gimmicked decks. UTILITY SECTION: A list of false shuffles and cuts with descriptions. All of them are great. TWO D**K S******S AND A FORCE SECTION: A d**k s****h using a suit jacket, and the effect from the first phase of the routine in the Temporarily Out of Order video on YouTube. Recall this phase is not actually part of the trick Temporarily out of Order, but a demonstration of how to get into the trick using a d**k s****h combined with a killer effect. I'm too tired to link it right now, but I'll say it again, watch that video if you haven't already. I will use this, no doubt, probably just like Patrick does: as an intro to Temporarily Out of Order. SWITCHING INTO OTHER EFFECTS SECTION: The last section of the book briefly describes how to get setup for some of his favorite tricks from other magicians. A unique and thoughtful addition to the book, and some plugs for some really cool tricks of which you may not have heard. CONCLUSION: Overall Pro: Thoughtful material, even the stuff you won't use. This is one of the best qualities a magic text can have, in my opinion. Every word is worth reading. Additionally, you will use some of this, no doubt. Appeals to several different styles of magicians. Overall Con: I have found 6 typos without even trying too hard, and a few actually caused me confusion. The book also lacks detail in many places, but if you're sharp, you'll be ok. Descriptions are terse, in general. I will personally use: Twain, Twegen, Temporarily Out of Order, the D**k S****h routine, and possibly the Tossed Out Deck. The rest, again, is all worth reading, and I'm sure every trick in here will be used by many performers of different styles. Nothing weak. As far as quality goes and other works this book reminds me of stylistically, I'd put this in the neighborhood of In Order to Amaze, maybe a bit lower. The book makes it into the "strong" collection of mem deck material, in my opinion. This includes Menmonica, Aronson's work, Workers 5, In Order to Amaze, Behr's Books, etc. It's required reading in my opinion. If not, it's very, very close. 4/5 rating overall. The stack itself and it's properties yield a 5/5. Several miracle class 5/5 effects. |
|||||||||
Waterloophai Inner circle Belgium 1368 Posts |
Detailed review. Many thanks.
|
|||||||||
adiabaticman Regular user Indiana 144 Posts |
Very nice review avasatu. I'll be receiving my copy today.
Watching those electrons dance on the adiabat, from Franck-Condon to the Asymptote.
|
|||||||||
Walt D New user 29 Posts |
Thanks for the review; I was on the fence about this one. Shame about the typo issues though.
|
|||||||||
avasatu New user 97 Posts |
I would recommend it for anyone on the fence. As I recall, only two of the typos caused me issues, and I am more than happy to describe them via PM to anyone who buys. I sent Patrick one of them, and just haven't had the time to send the others.
|
|||||||||
Patrick Redford Inner circle Michigan 1751 Posts |
Thanks for the kind words and your excitement about this project. It's been many years in the making and I'm very excited to now have it out in the world.
|
|||||||||
shakuni Inner circle 1170 Posts |
Will it be available today on magic retailers? Thanks.
|
|||||||||
Ferry Gerats Regular user the Netherlands 190 Posts |
Avasatu thanks for that well-grounded review!
|
|||||||||
Patrick Redford Inner circle Michigan 1751 Posts |
Quote:
On May 8, 2017, shakuni wrote: Sorry to be late in response! It was and is! |
|||||||||
shakuni Inner circle 1170 Posts |
Yes, and I already got it
Thanks! |
|||||||||
DadwithAPen New user Los Angeles 39 Posts |
Ordered from Patrick's site and I can't wait to receive it! I devoured the pdf preview.
Wife and I decided to stay home instead of going to the castle last night and all I did was watch TV and do faro's all night long to go from NDO to Si Stebbins to Redford Stack and back to NDO. Although I prefer(ed) Ortiz's NDO to Si Stebbins but it doesn't put you in the position to go straight to Redford Stack. So now I'm leaning towards Redford's handling THEN after watching him do it on his website and how he does the 'proper displacements' I fell in love with it. |
|||||||||
Patrick Redford Inner circle Michigan 1751 Posts |
It's a lot of fun, isn't it! Your story made me smile!
|
|||||||||
Zedd Loyal user Germany 270 Posts |
The book and the stack are FANTASTIC!!!! Will switch from Aronson (using it for years) to Redford!!!
Please keep going!!! Best regards, Zedd |
|||||||||
Dave the Knave Regular user Cochise County, Arizona 163 Posts |
Excellent review. Thanks!
|
|||||||||
tincture Special user 587 Posts |
So I've finally gone out into the world with my cards stacked in Redford stack. I'm confident that I know it well enough and that the other stack I was using doesn't get in the way. I'll tell you I had a moment of panic when I couldn't remember a card in the sequence but thankfully the built in "reminder" feature helped. Also working through the main effect, Temporarily Out of Order is like a little machine! You can go do this routine on repeat and doing a walk about performance you're reset and ready for the next group! It's a dream. The rest of the material is great. When are the next two books coming out, Patrick?
|
|||||||||
Patrick Redford Inner circle Michigan 1751 Posts |
I have no set timeline for the next too books. This one just came out! Let it breath a bit! Let folks find it. No reason to flood the market with the second and third volumes just yet. Enjoy the material in the first book, come join us on Facebook and get a sneak peak of some of the material in the second and third books, and of course have fun with it!
|
|||||||||
John Nesbit Inner circle United States 1421 Posts |
This book and the work within it, represent a significantly new and rich approach and execution of card magic on many exciting levels.Temporarily Out of Order will stand the test of time with principles involved as well as applications and routines. I have yet begun to absorb the majority of it's contents. It will make life most interesting and very cool to wrap my head around and perform these great effects and ideas. Bravo Patrick.
|
|||||||||
Patrick Redford Inner circle Michigan 1751 Posts |
Thanks, John! I really do appreciate your wonderful words. I hope you continue to enjoy the work!
|
|||||||||
divomas New user 19 Posts |
Just watched Ben Blau's contribution. if it's any indication of the rest of the book it should be amazing. Going to pick up a copy ASAP.
|
|||||||||
BlindWizard Regular user 116 Posts |
I just ordered a copy this evening from George's website. I can't wait for it to get here.
|
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Shuffled not Stirred » » Review of Patrick Redford's Temporarily Out of Order (4 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page 1~2 [Next] |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.09 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |