UK Lecture 2013 by József Kovács

[Tom Frame]

UK Lecture 2013 by József Kovács £9.59 / $15.10
33 pages
Available at: http://the-magic-of-jozsef-kovacs.webno ... product-2/


József Kovács is back with this set of lecture notes containing 15 of his pet effects. Mr. Kovács’ writing is adequate and he does a good job of teaching the material. He doesn’t include presentations. He dutifully cites his inspirational sources.

Most of the material requires an intermediate level of technical prowess. Much of the methodology involves stacks and/or special cards.

Now, there is no way in hell that I’m going to write obsessively detailed descriptions of all of these effects. Ten of the 15 effects didn’t levitate my luxury liner, so I feel no need to describe them. Life is too short and so is my fuse.

Suffice it to say that I frowned upon them because I didn’t like the plots, or the methods were odd, protracted, or inferior to previously published methods. I cannot resist the impulse to provide an illustrative example.

A participant freely selects a coin. The performer picks up the coin with his right hand and places it in his left hand. His left hand tosses the coin back into his right hand. His left hand removes the coin from his right hand and tables it in front of the participant.

Sweet Bald-Headed Buddha! I am by no means a coin man, but I immediately knew that the switch could be executed in a more direct and motivated manner.

I would pick up the coin with my right hand and bring it close to my face to check its date for some plausible presentational purpose. I lower my hand and in the process of tabling the coin, I execute the switch. Come on, that’s Bobo 101!

Enough of that ugliness. Here is the good stuff.


Amazing Prediction: The performer tables a cased prediction deck. He removes a second deck from its case and displays the faces. He turns the deck face-down and hands it to a participant.

The participant cuts the deck and deals 16 face-down cards into two alternating piles. She tables the deck. She chooses one of the piles. The performer shows that the other pile contains indifferent cards. He turns it face-down and deposits it on top of the deck.

The participant cuts her chosen pile. She transfers the top card of the pile to the bottom and then deals the new top card to the table. She repeats this procedure until she s left holding two cards.

The performer places the six tabled cards onto the deck and places it in his pocket.

The participant tables her two cards face-up, side by side, in any order. Let’s say they are the Two of Spades and the Three of Diamonds. She uses the value of the card on her left and the suit of the card on her right to create another card, the Two of Diamonds. She combines the value of the card on her left with the value of the card on her right and arrives at the number 23.

The performer removes the prediction deck from its case and hands it to the participant. She counts cards into a face-down pile on the table. The 23rd card is her face-up selection. She slides it off to the side. She spreads through the deck and sees that the rest of the cards are face-down. She turns all of the cards face-up discovers that they have blank faces.


I like it.


Gossipy Kings: The performer tables a face-down packet of four cards and a cased deck. He turns his back.

A participant shuffles the deck. Three other participants select cards and table them in a face-down row. A participant puts the deck into the card case.

The performer turns around, picks up the packet, turns it face-up and displays the four Kings. He turns the packet face-down, places it on top of the first selection, and picks up the combined five-card packet.

He counts the four Kings into his left hand and tables the first selection off to his right. He holds the King packet to his ear and the Kings whisper the name of the selection to him. He names the first selection.

The performer repeats this procedure with the other two selections, placing them on top of the first selection before the Kings whisper their names to him and he announces them. The three-card selection packet rests on the right side of the table.

The performer counts the four Kings, squares the packet and tables it off to his left. He snaps his fingers and turns the King packet face-up, revealing the three selections.

He picks up the selection packet and spreads it, displaying four backs. The crowd believes that the packets have transposed. The performer reveals that the four cards have blank faces. With empty hands, he removes the four Kings from four different pockets.


This routine was inspired by a Dave Campbell effect from Peter Duffie's Dave Campbell Legacy. It features four separate, increasingly surprising effects.

I really like it.


Far and Wider: A participant freely selects a card from the blue deck and signs it. The performer inserts the face-down selection in the center of the face-down deck.

The performer turns the top card face-up onto the deck, revealing the selection. He turns it face-down onto the deck and then deals it to the table.

The performer cuts the deck and turns it face-up, displaying the selection at the face. He turns it face-down onto the deck and then deals it onto the tabled card. He turns the deck face-down and cuts it.

The performer spreads the deck and the selection appears face-up. He cuts the deck to bring the selection to the top. He turns the selection face-down onto the deck and then deals it on top of the tabled cards.

He snaps his fingers and produces the selection from his pocket. He places it face-up on top of the tabled pile. He cuts the deck and tables it face-down.

The performer picks up the selection, turns it face-down and uses it to scoop up the tabled, face-down pile. He displays the four cards and they are all the signed selection.

He turns the packet face-up and reveals that he now holds all four Queens. He cuts the packet, places it on top of the face-down deck, and cuts the deck.

The performer spreads the face-down deck and reveals the four face-up Queens, with the face-up selection sandwiched between them. He pushes the five cards out of the spread, removes the selection and tables it off to his right.

He picks up the Queen of Hearts and uses it to scoop up the other Queens. He reveals that the Queens have red backs. He removes the blue-back Queens from his pockets.


This is Mr. Kovács’ version of Hofzinser’s “Everywhere and Nowhere” plot.

I like it.


Yet 2: The performer displays the four Queens and tables them in a face-down pile. He shuffles and cuts a blue-backed deck. A participant selects a card and signs its face. Let’s say it’s the Five of Hearts. The performer loses it in the deck.

The performer spreads the face-down deck and a red-backed card is seen. He removes the cards above the red-backer and tables them face-up. He turns the red-backed card face-up onto the deck and it is the signed Five of Hearts. He turns it face-down onto the deck and then places it on top of the Queen pile.

The performer picks up the tabled half deck and places it face-up on top of the face-down portion of the deck in his hand. He cuts off the lower portion of the deck, turns it face-up and places it beneath the face-up portion. He tables the deck face-down.

The performer picks up the Queen/Five pile and cuts it. He displays the face-down cards and the red-backed Five is seen sandwiched between the four blue-backed Queens. He displays the face-down cards again and the red-backed Five has vanished, leaving the four blue-backed Queens. He deals them to the table in a face-up pile.

He spreads the face-down deck and the Five appears face-up in the spread. He removes the card and hands it to the participant. She turns it over and discovers that its back has changed from red to green.

This effect was inspired by Aldo Colombini's "Yet."

I like it.


Si Stebbins-Rest: The performer shuffles and cuts the deck. He gives the face-down deck to a participant and then he turns his back. The participant cuts the deck several times and tables it face-down.

She cuts a small packet off the top of the deck and tables it to the right of the remaining deck. She removes the top card of the left-hand portion of cards, remembers it and places it face-down on top of the right-hand pile.

A second participant cuts a small packet off the top of the left-hand portion and places it on top on the right-hand portion, to bury the selection. She removes the top card of the left-hand portion, remembers it and places it face-down on top of the right-hand pile. She picks up the left-hand pile and drops it on top of the right-hand portion, to bury her selection.

The performer states that his lucky numbers are three and five. The first participant takes the deck and deals it into a row of three face-down piles. When she is finished dealing, she is left holding one card.

With his back still turned, the performer takes the remaining card from the participant and puts it in his front pant pocket. The participant places the right pile on top of the middle pile and then drops the combined pile onto the left pile.

The second participant takes the face-down deck and deals it into a row of five piles. She is left holding one card. The performer takes the remaining card from the participant and puts it in his front pant pocket. The participant assembles the piles in any order. She can shuffle the deck if she wishes.

The performer turns around and retrieves the deck. He deals it into five vertical columns. The participants name their selections. The performer turns the selections face-up in the columns.


Charles Jordan’s "The Discard Trick" inspired this effect.

I like it.


Despite the fact that I didn’t like most of the material, there is something ineffably appealing about Mr. Kovács’ quirky approach to magic. So the handful of effects that I liked tip the assessment scales in his favor.


Recommended

[József Kovács]

Tom, thank you so much for your honest review! I am glad you like my approach to magic.

Best wishes,
József