This is a packet trick book full of diverse material–both in method and effect. The quality is high throughout the book and if you are a fan of packet tricks and don’t already own this book then shame on you. Don’t look like a dweeb at your next magic meeting. If someone asks you if you own the book, just lie and say yes.
This first video contains two things that I HATE in demos. First, the slow and methodical counting of cards onto each Ace. Second, the soundtrack music playing over the effect where you hear no one talking. This is not how effects are presented in the real world and I don’t like it when I’m subjected to it on video. So I thought I would have a little bit of sport with this presentation.
Having said that, my wife loved this video and she literally hates every other thing I’ve ever shown her–so what do I know?
As for the effect, it’s an ace assembly where the aces are odd-backed. A very nice effect.
Next up is an ungaffed, impromptu universal card plot. Lots of magic moments here. You really need to do this one with real people to fully appreciate how nice this is.
A cards-across plot involving two small packets of cards. This one was sold commercially as a stand-alone effect (and still is, I believe).
Another interesting take on the ace assembly. Please forgive my sh***y J***** C****s. As I haven’t really worked my packet tricks in a while they are clearly not up to snuff. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, sit back, relax and enjoy the trick.
This last one you’ll be tempted to turn this one off before it’s finished…but don’t. If you don’t know the trick you’ll enjoy how it turns out.
This book is everything the reviewer stated and more. It is a gem that will be referred to for many years to come. The illustrations and instructions are second to none. Everything is clear and fully explained. The descriptions of the sleights involved will educated you to some new ideas. A must have. You will not be disappointed.
Great that you cover that book. I had the pleasure to go through the book last year when I was still doing the daily card trick. All the ungimmicked packet tricks I covered (save two). So if you wanna check them out: http://weeklymagic.blogspot.com/search/label/Focus
Of course you can delete this comment if you don’t wan’t that sort of back linking.
mmG Roland Henning
Hey Roland! Andrew Musgrave brought your blog to my attention. Great stuff! Your site has so much content it’s ridiculous. And, yeah, I hate back linking so much that I’ll do my tiny part to get more people to check out your site. 😉
If anyone wants to go to a great blog, look no further: http://weeklymagic.blogspot.com/
Hello Steven,
just a quick thank you,I really appreciate your website.
Much as I like books,it is very helpfull to see these tricks performed..
Good luck from a happy subscriber,
John
Thanks, John! It’s been a lot of fun so far.
A great book chock full of interesting stuff. The effect i used to do almost daily was “lassie”, and it is not only mind blowing but is also very entertaining. My only criticism is the cheap paper dust jacket they chose to put on it, mine has long since discolored.
Lassie is a very good trick. The continued reappearance of the Queen is shocking enough but then when all the cards are shown to be blank it’s a real stunner.
Believe it or not, I like the paper book cover. It almost has the feel of a lightweight paper shopping bag. It’s so different from every other dust jacket out there, that’s probably the appeal. Fortunately, mine hasn’t discolored yet but it’s certain to happen eventually.
I realized I never posted about this, but your review was the reason I bought this book. I know about J***** C*****, DLs, TLs, etc., but that didn’t matter. When I saw you perform “Diminishing Returns,” I was left wondering how you moved the extra jokers from packet to packet. Your brilliant use of squaring the cards at the beginning (for each of the three red card packets) left this suspicious magi way off track. Having fun with this effect as well as countless others in the book, thanks to you! Thanks for another great review!!
P.S. What is the word on the front of the book (not the dust jacket, the actual book)? It doesn’t look like “Focus” to me, but I’m sure it’s something simple I’m overlooking.
Thanks, Jeff! It was a lot of fun to do this review.
I took the dust cover off and looked at the book. Never noticed that before! Although it doesn’t look like it, I believe that to be Goldstein’s signature. From the looks of it, he should have been a doctor with a signature like that.
That final display in Diminishing Returns negates all the skepticism and annoyance that accumulates with so many counts/displays that just aren’t how people naturally show cards. Which is to say that, probably deliberately, Max structured it so that there was a lot of unresolved tension when all the cards were face down at, seemingly, the end, and then relieves that tension viscerally, in a way that completely takes the spectator out of the rational rut that things seem to end in, thinking how many Jokers are really in the last pile, wondering how many of the cards he was actually shown. etc.. Nicely executed all around, as always.
Robert, that’s the one demo that I almost left off because of the performance itself. I just remember thinking “I really need to practice these Jordan Counts some more before I actually commit this to video”. But did I do it? Nah…
Love the trick but am quite disappointed in my execution on this one as well as Ascension. On that one I was trying as many different false counts as I knew and trying to put them together in a deceptive way. The result? Epic fail.
My only saving grace in Ascension is the dodgier the counts look through the trick the more surprising the kicker becomes, so in that sense the mystery of the trick isn’t necessarily impacted by the poor execution.
Hi Steve,
This is Bob G from the magic cafe. I really appreciate your taking the time to put up these videos. I’ve had Focus for a while but haven’t tried anything from it yet. I find that it’s hard from a book description to tell what a trick is going to be like, and your videos helped with that by bringing to life the five effects you covered. I know from our chats how good you are at adding nice touches (Jeff mentioned an example in his post above), so I look forward to trying these tricks (eventually) with some of those touches.
Magic is so rich — I don’t know how people find the time to learn all of this wonderful stuff. I’m progressing slowly, but I’m progressing. A year from May I’m retiring and then I get to spend *lots* of time on magic!