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wunceaponatime Loyal user 280 Posts |
Magica V (or Five) is the latest magic book written by Dr. Larry Barnowsky. I have the prior four books in the series and each one of them is great. This latest book has a treasure trove of original effects with a variety of with objects including cards, coins, dice, balls, and small apparatus. The book is exceptionally well produced with glossy heavy paper and hundreds of color photos which are annotated with arrows and captions to make learning easier. Retail $35. 148 pages. There are step by step instructions with accompanying suggested patter. Here are some of my favorites from the 30 chapters.
First, read the preface. There is a clever quick trick described there which you might otherwise overlook. Ch. 1 Deuces Wild is simply outstanding. Deck is riffle shuffled several times. Spectator names any four of a kind. The magician removes the four deuces and places them on the table. The deck is then dealt into four piles. The spectator cuts each pile freely and inserts a deuce facedown. The piles are reassembled and the magician deals four hands of poker. At the end, the magician gets the four deuces and the spectator gets his chosen four of a kind. Very easy to. And there is no full deck stack. Ch. 2 If you’re into high end sleight of hand with coins, you’ll love Three Coin Recital where coins appear and disappear repeatedly within the bare hands. Ch. 4 The Kingston Gang is a story type effect where the four kings and the AH are dropped into a hat and the AH removed. When the spectators checks the hat, they find the kings are all gone and the AH has returned along with the other three aces. The four kings then magically turn faceup one at a time in a packet of cards from the top of the deck. This uses a clever gaff that you can easily make up yourself. Ch.7 Out of Place is a fantastic impromptu effect you can do from shuffled deck. Using about half of the deck, the cards are thoroughly mixed and two cards freely selected and returned. Packets are repeatedly and randomly turned faceup or facedown according to spectator’s free choice. At the end the deck has a mixture of faceup and facedown cards. When the cards are spread, all the faceup cards are red except for a black chosen card and when the spread is flipped all the faceup cards are black except for one chosen red card. A Faro of 26 cards is used but you can deal cards into two piles if you want to avoid doing a faro shuffle. Ch. 9 Match or Mismatch is red black separation effect that requires a setup. This one uses the Gilbreath Principle. Spectator directs which pairs of cards go into different piles. A pair consists of a facedown card and a faceup card. One pile is designated if you think the colors match and the one if the colors mismatch. At the end, all the pairs mismatched pile pairs are found to be mismatched. The match pile is shuffled once and all the faceup cards are red and on the other side all the faceup cards are black. Very easy to do. Much more deceptive than other OOTW effects. Ch. 11 The Peripatetic King is an unusual effect that that has some features of the very difficult Ray’s Rise. The KC is inserted faceup randomly into the deck and is used to find a freely selected card. The king is reinserted faceup into the top third of the deck and in an instant it is now faceup in the bottom third. This is repeated. Then the king jumps to the bottom and then to the top. The deck is cut and the chosen card is found again next to the faceup king. Some basic moves do it all. Ch. 13 Jack and the Magic Seeds is an apparatus effect that will make you want you to dig out your old Passe Bottles or buy a new set. The charming patter in verse is the type of effect that would play well on America’s Got Talent. Bottle and glass change place under two tubes repeatedly, but then a sponge ball appears in one glass and then two different colored ones in the other glass and then a giant sponge appears in a glass and then another sponge ball all while the bottle and glass are changing places. The accumulated sponges are placed in another tube and change into a large bouquet of flowers. Very clever routining and the sponge appearances take the heat off the Passe bottle transpositions. Great synergy between the appearances of the sponges and the bottle and glass transpositions. Ch. 18 The Telekinetic Gazing Crystal is a 3 phase effect using a small gaffed cylinder that Larry has created. The cylinder is gaffed in two ways. It can be examined. A half dollar is covered with the cylinder but the spectator does not know whether it is tails or heads up. The spectator gazes into the small crystal ball for the answer and his guess it correct three times in a row. The half is covered again but when removed there is an English Penny. The Penny vanishes in the hand and the cylinder lifted and a larger crystal ball appears. The penny returns under cylinder. A silver coin taken from the pocket and placed under the cylinder and the penny under the hand. They switch places twice with no fancy moves. At the end of this phase the coins disappear. A third optional phase is a Chop Cup routine with a crochet ball where at the end the crystal ball reappears. By the way the coins are not magnetic but are gaffed. Ch. 20 Sherlock’s Paradox is another effect with verse that would play well on TV. A wooden tube is shown empty and can be examined. A ball and two 1 inch dice are introduced. Both dice are dropped into the top of the tube followed by the ball. When the tube is lifted the ball is now on the bottom. This is repeated again. A third time the ball is found to be between the two dice. The ball is placed under the two dice and the tube inverted. This paradoxically is found to be at the bottom again. Last phase has the ball placed in the pocket and when the tube is lifted the ball is between the dice. The tube is shown clearly empty and a 48 inch rainbow streamer is produced. Each phase is perfectly matched with the rhyming patter. Learn the patter and you’ll have a professional routine. I bought the apparatus before the book came out and it is very well made and everything was included. Ch. 22 Diematrick is an ingenious little effect that will blow the minds of your spectators. A 1 inch die is placed in a small box so it just fits in. There is a hole on either side of the box. With the die in the box a wooden match is magically passed though the die though the two holes. The match is lit and pulled back through as if to seal the hole with heat. The die is removed and found to be without a hole and all can be examined. Clever idea. Ch. 23 Mental Pickpocketing is a self-working trick using a roll of pennies bills. However any tokens or small objects that will fit in a pocket can be used. Totally mathematical but no calculations by you. You can predict how many pennies the spectator placed in his pocket and how many dollar bills in another pocket. Very easy to do. Ch. 28 The Trick Deck is done with a regular deck with several gaffed cards. Magician appears to show a deck with all the same cards like the 5D. A packet of five cards is removed and instead of five 5Ds there are only four and a joker. He tosses the joker away but when he counts the four cards there are three 5D and another joker. This is repeated until he’s left with a joker and the 5D. The joker is tossed one last time but at the end the remaining card is a joker. Beautifully crafted effect which I am now performing. Basic gaffs that you probably already have. All in all this book has something for everyone. Easy self-working effects, unique original apparatus, great story type effects, some challenging effects with sleight of hand, and those startling effects that produce jaw dropping gasps. Highly recommended. David |
wunceaponatime Loyal user 280 Posts |
I forgot to provide a link to the book's page. Here it is.
http://www.barnowskymagic.com/MagicaV.html |
blackstone99 Regular user 169 Posts |
More fantastic original magic from the prolific doctor. If you are looking for the 100th way of finding a selected card sandwiched between two other cards, this book is not for you. If you want to learn carefully crafted routines that are worthy of a professional magician, then you should consider this book. David did a very good job describing some of the effects in the book. For me Out of Place, Angry Birds of a Feather, and Match or Mismatch are card effects worth the price of the book and two of those three can be done with a shuffled deck. I like card manipulations and if you do also, Sedona Aces is like Phoenix Aces on steroids. Four indifferent cards and four aces are lost in the deck. You then produce one at a time each of the four indifferent cards from the bare hands. Then each indifferent card changes one by one to the lost aces. He provides two methods to accomplish this. Jack and the Magic Seeds is an apparatus effect with props you likely already have. It’s nice to see a classic effect which is amusing turned into a deceptive multiphase routine with a startling climax. The script is outstanding and very entertaining. The Parlor Dice routine is a multiphasic effect using some easy sleight of hand and some apparatus. A jumbo die changes into 4 white dice and a blue die. They are arranged in a row and the blue die travels from one end to the other by just covering the hands. At the end, the five dice are changed into all blue dice. Sherlock’s Paradox which I bought before the book came out is exceptional routine with original gaffed apparatus that can be examined. I’ll mention also that there are many effects in the book that are essentially self-working and some based on very cool mathematical principles including one which I never heard of and can’t pronounce. All in all, great routines well taught with fantastic color photos. In fact every one of the five books in the Magica series is outstanding.
Paul |
Mb217 Inner circle 9520 Posts |
As I've done many times now, I crawled up into bed with yet another one of Larry's good books. 📚
This new one does no disappoint and is jamb-packed with a variety of wonderful magic. Larry gives you a bit of everything in this latest work from his deep repertoire. It's really amazing how he keeps coming up with this stuff, but Im so happy he keeps explaining it in his books. I'm a bit of a coin guy, so his "Three Coin Recital" of course quickly caught my eye, great piece of work, some real good SOH. But there's tons of good thinking in this book coming at you from all directions. His "Dueces Wild," "The Telekinetic Gazing Ball" and that little penny trick, "Mental Pickpocket" have my undivided attention at the moment, but I suspect that will change as every door you go through is interesting and refreshing...I stayed up way too long again last night. 🛌 Finally here, 🤔 I have to say that I just love the cover of this book, it says everything as to all you get in the package...You get everything in living color! The photos throughout the book are spectacular and so vivid, a professional job through & through, again & again through every effect. Everything is well explained and The Good Doctor continues to deliver the magic with clarity and crispness. Another job, errrrr "book" well done. Can't wait to get back to bed so I can NOT get some sleep. Highly Recommended! 🎩
*Check out my latest: Gifts From The Old Country: A Mini-Magic Book, MBs Mini-Lecture on Coin Magic, The MB Tanspo PLUS, MB's Morgan, Copper Silver INC, Double Trouble, FlySki, Crimp Change - REDUX!, and other fine magic at gumroad.com/mb217magic
"Believe in YOU, and you will see the greatest magic that ever was." -Mb |
boxjumper Veteran user 362 Posts |
Great book. Let me repeat GREAT BOOK.
I've already performed Angry Birds of a Feather and Deuces Wild several times with fantastic audience reactions. The Parlor Dice Routine is exceptional. If you like apparatus, Sherlock's Paradox is a superbly routined dice effect with a ball and special wooden tube. Jack and the Magic Seeds is the best effect with Passe Bottles I've ever seen. Lots of original magic well taught in a beautiful book with outstanding color photos and helpful annotations. Something for every skill level. BJ |
Larry Barnowsky Inner circle Cooperstown, NY where bats are made from 4770 Posts |
Thanks guys for those posts and reviews.
Rick Carruth the publisher of the Magic Roadshow has written an extensive and detailed review of Magica V which you can read at this site |
RCarruth Veteran user Spartanburg, S.C. 341 Posts |
Thanks Larry.. My pleasure! Yes, the review is up and will also run in the next Magic Roadshow in a few days..
Magic Roadshow - Magic's #1 Free Newsletter
http://magicroadshow.com |
Larry Barnowsky Inner circle Cooperstown, NY where bats are made from 4770 Posts |
Thanks Rick for a very thorough review of Magica V.
By the way, the Special Deal on all 5 titles of the Magica series with free USA shipping can be found at this site Larry |
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