Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Just the Two of Us by Will Smith

It's Just The Two of Us (thank you Will Smith): You, Me and an iPhone and some other stuff that you have to buy . . . I guess that's more than two of us. For $25 bucks you get a DVD with three ideas that you can do when you spend more money on another something that costs about $5.00.

It's not a hard thing to find, but it would have been a much more complete project were this extra item included. However, in the defense of the creator(s), the thing you buy for $5.00 depends on what type of phone you're going to do this effect with. It works with iPhones and many others.

Anyway, the DVD quality is pretty low budget and poorly lit and sometimes the sound is a little off. As for the ideas you're paying for . . . they're not bad in my opinion. Two of the effects make it appear as if you somehow damaged their phone. In one case you apparently scratch the crap out of the back of their phone. In another, you apparently break the home button off of the phone. Both of these effects will pretty much only work with the iPhone.

But it's hard to say for sure without buying the special $5.00 something for every model of phone out there. Yes, the stuff you need to make your gimmick is very phone specific. You basically have to decide which phone you feel is the most likely available and easily borrowed, and then make a gimmick for THAT phone.

The main effect shown in the trailer is torn corner through iPhone screen. The illusion is very convincing and you can even let the spectator feel that the card is indeed inside the phone screen and not just stuck to phone. However, they cannot handle the phone in this condition. That's the big bummer about this project: at the very moment when the magic has happened (i.e., the phone is scratched, the button is broken off, the card is in the screen), the phone is not examinable or handle-able by the spectator.

Additionally, two of the three (not the broken button) are quite a bit angle sensitive, and you never actually see a live performance of the effects for the camera or an audience. You simply get a verbal walk through of how the effect will look. Even what you see in the demo is not a complete performance . . . some stuff is missing (likely to protect the method).

Bottom line: it's a poorly produced DVD that should have come with at least the gimmick for the iPhone - after all, the DVD IS called "I" Project . . . as in "I" Phone. The ideas, however, do have some potential. You also (if you can find it) get a bunch of effects you can do with Tic Tacs. This even more poorly produced video with some good ideas is a secret Easter egg on the DVD.

When you put it all together, a little bit of gem survived the crumbling rubble.

Final Verdict:
2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Grubble (little, little bit of gem amongst some rubble).