Side Steal DVD

[Paul Cummins]

Today I received the master to the side steal dvd, and I'll be shipping it off for replication tomorrow. This should mean that I'll have shipable product by around October 20th.

The dvd is all about Ed Marlo's Deliberate Side Steal as published in The Side Steal, by Mr. Marlo. The handling described and demonstrated differs a bit from Mr. Marlo's move as it can be done surrounded without a body turn and the right hand never leaves the deck - two significant personalizations, I believe. There are also four additional functionalities using the mechanics of the steal that are explained: the steal as a shift, as a control to the second-from-the top, as a secret slip cut, and into a full right-hand palm. Six routines are performed and explained in detail, five of which go into detail about each of the abovementioned functionalities. The sixth routine is a bonus routine (that - yes - uses a side steal). There are also performance-only clips of two routines that have recently been published in both Jason Alford's Freebie magazines (made available at the TSD conventions) and in a recent MAGIC Magazine: Punken Droker and TAPALACK.

For members of the TSD, Conjure Nation, and Genii Forum websites, I'm offering a pre-publication special. The dvd will retail at $40.00. Orders received between now and October 31st will only require a $30.00 payment (plus shipping - $5.00 domestic and $10.00 International). While it is not possible to order from my website (www.fasdiu.com) at this moment, it should be possible to do so by the end of the week. Any snail-mailed orders postmarked in October will receive the 25% discount too.

Jeff Pierce of Orlando, Florida shot and edited the dvd and produced the artwork for the cover - and he did an outstanding job! I only hope that my performances and explanations do justice to his artfulness.

If anyone has any questions for me, feel free to email me at pcummins@fasdiu.com, or call 904-260-9943 (home office), or 904-614-9306 (cellular).

Thanks,

Paul Cummins

[Paul Cummins]

The Side Steal DVD is now orderable through the secure ordering page at www.fasdiu.com at the special pre-publication price.

Paul

[Guest]

Woo Hoo! I'm in!

[Guest]

i'm in as well.

[Guest]

I'm side steal challenged...can a person like me learn from this DVD?
Steve V <---can't juggle either

[Jeff Pierce Magic]

Originally posted by Steve V':
I'm side steal challenged...can a person like me learn from this DVD?
Steve V <---can't juggle either

Steve V, I to am side steal challenged but after watching Pauls explanations I find that I can grasp the techniques and have begun to enjoy these routines.
I predict that Pauls explanation of Bill Simon's Top Card Cover will be the next big ambitious card move, absolutely brilliant!

Jeff Pierce

[Guest]

I first heard of it in Fusillade (sp?) when Doc Eason mentions how good Pauls side steal is, in face he says it is one of the best.
Steve V

[C. Hampton]

Steve,

he is very good at it. I was honored to have Paul as my guest at home early this year and he gave me many tips on the side steal. I've been practising Paul!!! but I still have to practise more.
He also delighted many people in his Spain tour where he was able to show this move to many top card magicians here and the responses he got were FANTASTIC. Without seeing the DVD yet....HIGLY RECOMENDED!!!! :whack:

[Bill Duncan]

Long time forum members may recall that Paul posted a lengthy message here on Genii detailing some of his work on the side steal.

Those who are interested are encouraged to use the search function to discover it for themselves.

Or you can wait and buy Paul's DVD...

Actually, you're probably gonna want Paul's DVD anyway, but the post would be a nice preview.

[Paul Cummins]

Jeff Pierce has put together a quick promo for the SSDVD. If you're interested, go to www.fasdiu.com and look for the link in the middle of the home page or navigate to the Side Steal DVD page and find the link there.

Thanks,

Paul

[Bill Palmer]

This sounds great to me. I have placed my order, as well.

[Guest]

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir on this one, but I have to put in a plug for Paul's DVD.

The side-steal is one of my favorite sleights. I've studied several of them and seen a lot of guys use them. Paul's handling of Marlo's Deliberate Side-Steal is the best I've seen. So, for those who haven't seen Paul perform, you CAN believe the hype about his side-steal.

While I haven't seen the DVD, I know that Paul can teach the side-steal, because he taught it to me. I consider it to be one of the most useful sleights in my arsenal and I owe any skill I have with it directly to Paul's instruction.

Buy Paul's DVD, take his advice, and put the work into the move. With Paul's instruction, you'll probably discover (as I did) that the move is easily within the grasp of any card handler willing to put in a little bit of practice. When you're done you'll have an invisible, virtually angle-proof control literally at your fingertips.

If Paul only taught the move as the control of a single card, that'd probably be worth the price of the DVD (I think I spent more than that driving back and forth to Jacksonville). With the routines and the additional uses for the move, buying this DVD is a no-brainer.

Paul

[Paul Cummins]

Thank you one and all for the kind words...

Paul

[Paul Cummins]

I'm just back tonight from the Buffalo Get-Together (flight cancelled, stayed an extra night) and the Side Steal DVD's are here. So, I'll be shipping them all this week.

The 25% discount special ($10.00 off), is still in effect for orders received (or postmarked) in October.

Go to www.fasdiu.com for info and thanks to all who have already ordered!

Best,

Paul Cummins

[Paul Cummins]

Just a final reminder that tomorrow (10/31/05) is the last day of the 25% off special on the side steal DVD. Orders have been plentiful, for which I am grateful!

Best,

Paul

www.fasdiu.com

[Guest]

Wow the demo looks great!!

[Guest]

I posted this review over at Conjurenation, but figured I should put it up here as well, for anyone who's interested.

The short review:

This might be the most well-produced magic DVD Ive ever seen. The material is excellent, the explanations clear, the camera-work is great, and the format is easily navigable. If you have any interest in learning (or improving) the side-steal, this DVD is as close to a must have as I can imagine. Highly Recommended

The long review:

Paul Cummins does things right. Unlike the million and one flash-in-the-pan magicians youve never heard of (who nevertheless churn out products daily), Paul has spent years developing a reputation as a solid close-up performer. Paul is also distinct from the masses in two additional respects: his commercially available material is uniformly excellent and he performs Marlos Deliberate Side-Steal better than just about anyone on the planet. So its not surprising that Pauls side-steal DVD has been eagerly anticipated by the magic community.

Having watched the DVD, I can state confidently that the magic community will not be disappointed.

Sleights

While its listed second on the DVD menu, Ill start with the sleight explanations. The guts of this is Pauls description of the Deliberate Side-Steal as a control to the top of the deck. Pauls explanation covers not only the mechanics of the sleight, but also addresses all the potential screw-ups than can happen along the way. Follow these instructions, put in a couple months of regular practice (your mileage may vary, but thats how long it took me) and youll have a reliable, invisible, practically angle-proof control. Even better, youll have it mastered in a fraction of the time it would take to master the classic pass.

In addition to the basic description, Paul offers four additional functionalities of the side-steal mechanics: a control to 2nd from the top, a shift, a secret slip-cut, and the side-steal into full palm. These explanations are a little shorter, mainly because Paul doesnt recapitulate the basic mechanics, but theyre full of great tips. Once youve mastered the steal as a control to the top, all 4 of these should be very easy to attain. These sleights dont have the same broad utility as the basic side-steal, but they do have practical uses as Paul demonstrates in the performance section of the DVD.

Performance

The main performance section of the DVD consists of 5 routines: a la Annemann, Bar None, The Trick that Never Happened, AACAAN 1, and Just In Case. A la Annemann is a great opener, and will instantly cement your reputation as a real magician. Its also done entirely in-the-hands, which is always nice. Bar None is a very brief ambitious card phase followed by an extremely clean card transposition. It is the only trick that cant be done with a borrowed deck, but when you get the chance, its very strong. The Trick that Never Happened is a clever variation on (I believe) a Roy Walton plot. It requires a table and (preferably) a close-up mat, so you might not get to perform it all the time, depending on the venues you usually work in. When you do get the chance though, its great. AACAAN 1 is almost any card at almost any number. What it lacks in faithfulness to the any card at any number plot it makes up for with the advantage of being relatively quick, without a lot of laborious dealing, and a particularly clever use of the side-steal. Finally, Just in Case is a multiphase card-under-and-then-into-card-box routine (with an optional kicker). If youve never performed a card-under-object routine, Pauls is a great one to learn; its very magical and relatively pain-free.

All of the routines are typical of Pauls clean, direct approach to card magic. All of them are commercial and worth adding to your repertoire.

Trick Explanations

The explanations of the tricks are clear and to-the-point, but it should be noted that Paul doesnt provide explanations of standard sleights (Zarrow shuffle, under-spread cull, etc.). This shouldnt be a problem for all but the most novice card handlers. Paul does include references in the credits to where the sleights can be found. Keeping with the format of his lecture notes, Paul references the appropriate volumes of Card College for the standard sleights (a practice I hope becomes more widespread). While Pauls explanations are direct, he doesnt leave out any of the important details. Any intermediate-level card handler should have no trouble learning from the explanations.

Miscellaneous

The DVD really takes advantage of the benefits of the format. The menus are easily navigable. I really liked the separate menus for the performances, sleight explanations, and trick explanations. Within each of these it was possible to select an individual item or to play all in sequence. An additional menu allows the viewer to player the trick, the sleight explanation, and the trick explanation in sequence. Separating the sleight explanations from the trick explanations is definitely the way to go. For the viewer who just wants to focus on the sleight, it means he doesnt have to skip through the rest of the trick explanation. For the viewer who already has the sleight mastered, it means he can quickly learn the mechanics of the routines without having to slow down for the sleight explanation. I hope that this format becomes the standard in magic DVDs.

The bonus material is also great. Paul has performances of Tapalack and Punken Droker, both of which were recently written up in MAGIC. The former is a really great mind-reading trick and the latter is a very commercial drunken poker routine. Both (of course) can be performed FASDIU. The finale in Tapalack gets a great double-take reaction, one of the best on the DVD (more on that in a minute). Paul also performs and explains Stumped, a fast, amusing revelation of 3 (sort of) thought-of cards. Finally, the bonus section has a promo video for Pauls Up in Smoke DVD. Dan Watkins has a great review of this DVD on his website (www.coinvanish.com), for those who are interested in coin-work.

A couple final observations seem worth mentioning. I dont really consider these criticisms, so much as prophylaxes against what I would consider to be unwarranted criticisms. First, Paul is a low-key performer who tends to let the strength of the magic speak for itself. Theres nothing wrong with this (at least I hope not, because my performing style is a lot like Pauls), but Paul isnt going to generate the guffaws that a Bill Malone or a Dave Williamson might get out of an audience. Second, the audience is comprised of two magicians (shout-out to Monty and Rafael) and their wives, who--while appreciative and polite--have a generally low-key response to the performance. The result is that the performance section doesnt convey the real strength of the routines. Ive seen Paul perform a number of these routines for real people and I can assure you that they generate a bigger response than the oh, isnt that nice feel of the DVD. It would be a mistake to dismiss anything in the performance section based on the somewhat muted audience reaction.

Conclusion

Pauls side-steal DVD lives up to the standard of excellence hes set with FASDIU, FASDIU II, Fusillade, and Up in Smoke. It goes beyond what one would expect from a DVD devoted to a single move, both in format and content. Its a great value and I highly recommend it.