Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Tears of The Dragon By Bruce Dickinson

Ahhhh . . . Triumph . . . A classic . . . Also one of the best albums ever . . . Triumph: Classics. Those 3 man Canadian bands just know how to rock it!

Anyway, Array is a highly gaffed version of John Bannon's The Bannon Triumph (aka Play it Straight Triumph). Bannon's version requires no gaffs. This version requires 13 gaffs. I'll let you decide if that's a good thing or not. I'm not here to judge the effect - if you don't like the effect in the demo, you won't buy it and won't do it. I am, however here to judge the following:

• Advertisement Copy
• Method
• Product/Production Quality
• Teaching Effectiveness

Advertisement Copy

The written ad copy has some minor hyperbole (e.g., eye-popping rearrangement, etc.). However, that aside, it's very accurate. The only issue I have is with the video trailer. In the trailer you see a three phase routine that starts with a standard Vernon-esque handling followed by 2 Bannon-esque phases. During the trailer it claims that there is an in the hands version.

The DVD teaches an in the hands version, but not for the first phase shown in the trailer. You only get an in the hands version for the 2 Bannon-ish phases. That's a little misleading, so be warned if you were hoping to learn an in the hands version for all three phases.

As far as the effect you see on the trailer, what you see is what you get. There are no tricky cuts or camera funniness. The effect is that clean.

Method

The first phase is a non-gimmicked standard Vernon-ish handling. It's pretty much the same method Vernon used. The 2 other phases are the Baz Taylor handling that require the 13 gimmicks. These gimmicks give you the ability to spread the deck and show all of the "chosen" card's suit to be face up in order. Then instantly you can close up the spread and re-spread showing the other "chosen" card's suit to be face up.

Though a stack is required, the handling is very simple and very effective. I can't say the same for the alternate version taught by Andy Smith. His version overly complicates things and adds some heavy duty culling and doesn't really gain much in effect. Smith's small packet effect is a two packet transpo that utilizes a few of the gimmicked cards in a different way. The handlings a little fishy and includes one of those discrepancy moves that magicians claim won't be noticed by the audience even though they are noticed by the audience.

For my money, the best method is the straight-forward two phased handling created by Baz Taylor and/or the three phase version with Peter Nardi's addition of the Vernonian handling. However, you must also consider the fact that the deck is gaffed and can only do this one trick. If you're ok with that (I'm not), then you'll be happy with the method.

Product/Production Quality

The DVD, like pretty much all of Alakazam's DVDs, is top notch and well produced. It's simple to navigate, well lit, well mic'd and well shot. The product (i.e., the gimmicked cards) are standard Rider Back Bicycle cards that look great. The overall quality of everything is excellent.

Teaching Effectiveness

The effects are taught well and explained in depth by Peter Nardi and Andy Smith. My only real complaint is that these two need to loosen up a bit. They are extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemly boring and monotonous and very tedious to listen to. They're both nice guys from what I can tell, and I have nothing personal against them.

Maybe they're just nervous in front of the camera. I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it makes for some very dry viewing. If you make it through the dry viewing, you'll learn everything you need to know to perform the effects.

Final Thoughts

This comes up in almost every DVD I review, but just in case you haven't heard me rant about it before, I'll bring it up again. If you perform this effect, please, please, please, write a script for it; come up with some lines, and points of interest. The video demo of Peter Nardi "performing" is terrible. It's dry and lifeless. Please do not emulate that. As always, his performance, as bad it was, does not influence the final star rating. I rate the product itself not Nardi's performance of it.

Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem