Letters to Friends (PDF) by John Carey $15.00
30 pages
Available by Paypal at: johncareymagic@googlemail.com
John Carey is an active participant on the Second Deal and Magic Pebble forums. In his Introduction he states, The title of this latest work comes by way of how I share my material via the net with close friends.
Mr. Carey has lashed together 18 of these effects and released them as a PDF. For some reason, he chose not to re-write this material for sale to the magical masses. If his intent was to preserve the loose, informal nature of these letters, he succeeded, but at a cost.
He doesnt begin each write-up by describing the effect. He mixes together the set-up, method and effect. I found this lack of structure to be irritating as hell.
Some people just dont like certain types of effects, period. Naturally, they dont wish to devote their time to reading about those effects. With this PDF, the reader must wade through the whole write-up just to unearth the effect and determine if it appeals to them. Some readers will understandably feel that their time has been wasted.
At best, Mr. Carey does a passable job of describing the material. His writing lacks detail and depth and is occasionally confusing. He doesnt include fleshed out presentations.
He assumes that the reader is a well-read cardician who possesses an intermediate level of technical prowess. He often refers to techniques by name only. He doesnt actually teach them.
He does a good job of providing attribution, but he repeatedly fails to capitalize the titles of books. How odd.
The PDF lacks pagination.
It also lacks illustrations. Considering Mr. Careys sketchy prose, illustrations or photos would have greatly aided the learning process.
An Approach to the One Deck Do-as-I-Do: A participant freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The performer selects a card and returns it to the deck. The participant removes a card from the deck and the performer places the card in his pocket. The performer removes a card from the deck and the participant places it in her pocket.
The performer names his card, then removes it from his pocket, proving that the participant blindly located it. The participant names her card, then removes it from her pocket, proving that the performer blindly located it. I like it.
Gun Slinger Ace Pro: The performer spreads the deck and the participant touches two cards. The performer removes them and hands them to the participant. She places a card in each of her pockets. She spreads the deck and the performer touches two cards and places them in two pockets. The performer and participant remove the cards from their pockets, revealing the four Aces. I like it.
One Deck again......: The participant freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The performer selects a card and returns it to the deck. The participant removes a card from the deck and places it in her pocket. The performer removes a card from the deck and places it in his pocket. The participant names her card and the performer removes it from his pocket. The performer names his card and the participant removes it from her pocket.
I dont like it due to the fact that the method demands that the performer demonstrate how to put a card in ones pocket. If the participant speaks your language and is at least three years old, they do not need to be taught how to put a card in their pocket!
Two to Tango: Participant #1 cuts off a small packet of cards and silently counts them, to generate her secret number. Participant #2 peeks at a card from the remainder of the deck. The performer cuts the first participants packet into the deck. Participant #1 takes the deck and counts down to her secret number, where she finds the second participants card.
I like the method he describes in his follow-up Notes because it eliminates a cull.
Knowing As I Do: The participant selects a card and places it, sight unseen, in her pocket. The performer selects a card and places it in his pocket. The performer shuffles the deck until the participant stops him. He breaks the deck at the stopping point and tables the deck in two face-down packets. The participant freely picks up either packet and the performer takes the other one.
They each remove an unknown card from their packets and table them face-down. The participant turns her card face-up, revealing a black Seven. The performer turns over his card, revealing the other black Seven. They remove the cards from their pockets and discover the red Sevens. I like it.
Stacked Do-as-I-Do: The performer gives half of the deck to his participant. They select a card from each others portion, return their cards and lose them in the packets. Both parties simultaneously begin to deal their cards into face-up piles. The participant stops dealing whenever she likes and the performer stops dealing at the same time. The performer and participant deal the next card face down in front of their piles.
The participant names her selection. The performer turns over his card, revealing her selection. The performer names his card and the participant turns over her card and discovers his selection. I like it.
Biddle in the Middle with Max: The participant freely names one of the suits. The performer removes all of the cards of that suit, counts them and hands the packet to the participant. The participant shuffles her packet and the performer shuffles the remainder of the deck. He places his cards into the card case and the participant places the case in her pocket.
The performer selects a card from the participants packet, returns it, and the participant shuffles the packet. She counts the cards and finds only 12 cards. One card has vanished. The performer announces that he chose the Ten. The participant examines her cards and finds that the Ten is missing. She removes the cards from the case and discovers the Ten reversed in the packet. I like it.
A Sandwich Transposition: The performer splits the deck in half and tables one half face-up and one half face-down. The participant selects a card from the face-up portion and signs it. The participant lifts off half of the face-down portion of the deck and the performer places her card face-down on top of the tabled face-down portion. The participant places the cards she is holding on top of her selected to bury it.
The performer turns the remaining packet face-down, removes two cards and turns them face-up on top of the face-down packet. He cuts the packet to centralize the face-up cards. He spreads the packet on the table, displaying the two face-up cards. He squares the packet and re-spreads it, revealing the selected card sandwiched between the face-up cards.
Theres nothing new here.
Gotcha: Two cards are freely selected, signed and lost in the deck. The performer turns the top card of the deck face-up, displaying an indifferent card. He turns the card face-down and places it on the participants palm. The performer waves his pen over the card. The participant turns the card over and discovers that it is now her selected card.
The performer causes the pen to vanish. He reveals that the pen is actually behind his ear. He hands the pen to the participant and instructs her to wave it at the deck. The performer reveals that he is holding the second selected card, and the rest of the deck is in his pocket. I like it.
My Way: The performer spreads the deck face-down and out-jogs one card. A participant touches three more cards, which the performer out-jogs. He strips the four cards from the deck and flips them face-up on top. He lifts up the four card packet, thumbs three of the cards individually onto the deck and turns them face-down. An Ace is left face-up on top of the deck. He removes the top four cards and disposes of the deck.
The performer places the face-up ace on the bottom of the packet, then spreads the packet to show that the Ace has risen up one position. He spreads the packet again and shows that the Ace is now second from the top. The Ace finally rises to the top of the packet.
The performer waves the Ace over the remaining cards, then reveals that they have turned into the other Aces.
I dont like it because the performer has to select the first card, in order to purportedly demonstrate how to touch a card! Enough of the bogus demonstrations already! Superior methods exist.
Reds 'n' Blacks Revisited: The performer separates the deck into four packets, which are shuffled by four participants. He assembles the deck and then cuts it into six packets to show that the red and black cards are mixed. Upon reassembling and spreading the deck face-up, the participants see that the red and black cards are now separated.
Theres nothing new here. Considering that Mr. Careys lamentable participants require demonstrations of simple, psychomotor tasks, it should come as no surprise that it takes four of them to shuffle a deck.
In Full View?: The performer displays a odd-backed card in his pocket. A participant selects and signs a card, which is lost in the deck. The performer removes the odd-backed card from his pocket and tables it face-down.
The participant spreads the face-down deck on the table and slides out any card. The performer shows the faces of the rest of the cards in the deck. The participant doesnt see her selection. She turns over the card she slid out and sees that its not her selection. She turns over the odd-backed card and it is her selection.
Its hard to beat Brother John Hammans original methodology and psychology for The Signed Card. I dont like Mr. Careys handling because its unnatural to use two hands to remove a card from ones pocket, particularly when one hand is holding a deck.
Controlling the Aces: This is a method for apparently burying the Aces in the deck while actually controlling them to the top.
Theres nothing new here.
The Truth will Tell: The participant selects a card which is lost in the deck. The performer cuts the deck into three face-down piles, which potentially represent the selections color, value and suit. The performer asks the participant to state her cards color, value and suit. She can lie or tell the truth.
The performer turns over each of the piles, revealing that the participants card was red, a Queen, and a Heart The Queen of Hearts. The participant acknowledges that is her card. She picks up a pile and dealing one card for each letter, she spells truth. She turns over the card that falls on the final letter and discovers her card. I like it.
One for Sid & Henry: A female participant shuffles the deck and deals 12 cards into a face-down pile. A male participant chooses a card from this pile and returns it. The performer fans the packet to a female participant and asks her to think of a card that stands out in her mind. The performer mixes the packet face-up and face-down.
The male participant mentally sends the color, suit and value to his partner and she correctly divines his selected card. The performer fans the packet, revealing that all of the cards are face-down except for the face-up selection. I like it.
Simplex Mental Location: A participant freely selects a card from a shuffled deck and stabs it into the deck near the center, leaving the card protruding. The performer reverses the marker card and hands the deck to the participant. She spreads the deck and thinks of a card either below or above the marker card. She removes the marker card and loses it in the deck.
The performer retrieves the deck, shuffles it, scans the faces and cuts it. He gives the deck to the participant and asks her deal the cards face-down into his hand. The performer calls stop and asks the participant to name her card. She turns over the next card and discovers her selection.
I dont like it because after the selection, the performer must study the faces of the cards and cut the deck before proceeding.
A Divine Matching: A participant cuts the deck several times and reassembles the deck. She removes the top card of the deck and places it in her pocket, sight unseen. Three other participants take a card from the top of the deck and hold them between their palms.
The performer retrieves the deck and turns away to allow the three participants to view their cards. He turns back around and correctly divines the three cards, which he places face-up on top of the deck. He turns the three cards face-down and tables them.
The performer names the fourth selected card, say the Three of Spades. The participant removes it from her pocket and tables it face-up, verifying that the performer is correct. The performer turns over the previously tabled selections and reveals that they have transformed into the other Threes. I like it.
The Pack of Mystery: A participant selects a card, which is lost in the deck. The deck is tabled and the participant cuts it in half. The performer shuffles the original bottom half of the deck face-up and face-down. He cuts the other half of the deck into three packets.
The performer asks the participant to mentally project her cards color, value and suit onto each packet. He turns each packet face-up, revealing a red card, a Queen and a Heart. He correctly announces that the participants card is the Queen of Hearts. The participant spreads through the other half of the deck and discovers that all of the cards are now face-down except for her face-up selection. I like it.
Recommended