Random I-Tunes Song of the Moment: Yesterdays by Guns and Roses.

The premise of this 3 disk project is that it's a collection of Dan Hauss's notes and ideas that come to him in his sleepless hours. I can totally relate to that. Much of my own work in my act and my products has come from the very same place. Overall I think I like Hauss. I like his overall attitude and he seems like a nice guy. However, I'm not sure that I like this DVD. It does have a good menu system, but the lighting quality is pretty bad and often at a critical spot. I actually had to watch the DVD in a completely dark room to try to see the material on the DVD. Additionally, the lack of lighting left me wanting after many of the performances; it was very difficult to see what the effect was in many cases.

I wasn't too impressed with most of the material, however there are a few hidden gems in here. Below you'll find the effect title, my ranking (scale from one to five . . . five is best) and a brief commentary.

Box Prediction: 1/5

I had no idea what the effect was when I saw it performed. The camera was too far away and the lighting was bad. Essentially, this is a way to over, over, over, over prove that the card you placed on the card box is really the card you say it is. Frankly, I would have done the exact effect with a double lift and without the card box gimmick. Additionally, the Alternate Version is even more ridiculous. Way too much work for such a simple effect that can be done many other ways.

Blurred: 3/5

Again, not sure what the effect is. Lighting is horrible. While creating the gimmick he kept using the phrase, 'where the fade stops.' He kept trying to warn us not to cut the gimmick the wrong size, but he never explains what the right size is and because the lighting was off, I have no idea what he meant by 'where the fade stops.' Finally sometime during the explanation, I was able to figure out what the effect is. And it's actually pretty clever. This is the kind of effect, however, where you will likely be in a casual setting, and people will want to see the bottle . . . they can't.

Hauss did have a few tips on how to blend this with his marketed effect Flow. I see the potential there and done right, this could be a decent piece in a show rather than the aforementioned casual setting. In that scenario, this one is worth considering.

Torisit1: (3/5)

Many fidgety and unnecessary moves that make this effect hard to watch. You'll need to buy a gimmicked card to do this effect. And each performance destroys a gimmick. Additionally, this gimmick is not a gimmick that you can buy in bulk, but rather, it's one that is 'included in many gaff decks and packet tricks' as pointed out by pop-up text on the DVD screen. So in other words, you'll have to destroy one of your Ultimate Monte cards every time you perform. Oh, you'll also have to destroy a regular card from your deck each time as well. Not practical at all if you're strolling. However, you do learn A nice switch, and the gimmick that creates the illusion has potential. The particular routine included, however, is not the best application of this gimmick.

Unmatched: (4/5)

It's obvious the method by the way he held his hand while holding the matches. Many effects created by Hauss seem to be for an audience of one . . . himself. In the performance sections, you'll see him, quite often, looking at the magic as if he were the spectator. This is very apparent in this effect. There are so many problems with performing magic this way. First, you'll get the angles all wrong. You'll always perform at an angle that works for your viewpoint but not the spectator's. Second, you'll often just block the actual effect from the spectator's view.

A funny thing to note is that during the instructions section, he suggested using tweezers for a particular part of the construction. Needle nose pliers would have been much more effect, and I'm just not sure why he suggested tweezers. He was barely able to make it work with the tweezers.

The only reason I'm giving this one a 4 star rating is because you learn Eric Jones's handling which is so much better. The gimmick's relatively clever, but the effect is beautiful in Jones's hands.

Billiard:(2.5/5)

Just about every effect on this DVD requires ridiculous construction and preparation, and very often the gimmick is destroyed or given away during the performance. Thus a new gimmick is required for each new performance. This effect is no different. It's a pretty visual effect, but has quite a few awkward moments, and the clean up is a little fishy. Also, he gives the dollar away each time, which isn't a huge deal except that the bill is slightly gimmicked. Not in a way that the spectator will ever discover. However, that means that you need to create a new gimmick for each performance.

I do like the free feeling-ness of the routine. You get to truly lose the card in the deck. The alternate handling is a bit weak and we never get to see a good version of. Plus it's meant to be hands off no deck approach, but then he goes back to the deck for the clean up.

Hello My Card is (1/5)

Basic effect is that your name tag (Hello My Name is . . .) has the signed card on the back of it when you remove it from your shirt. The construction is insane. The handling is anything but smooth or logical. Another case where each time your gimmick is destroyed because the spectator signs it. You may say, 'well Jeff, you don't have to have the card signed.' That's true. However, if you're not going to have it signed, then none of the prep work is needed. In my opinion, a non-signed version with a duplicate would be a much better effect. He could be wearing the name tag before the trick starts. Whereas the signed version handling is extremely fishy and requires some awkward moments where the stickers have to come in contact with the deck in a fishy and illogical way. Plus you've got a bunch of extra stuff in the deck.

Gum Stick Through Gum Pack: (2/5)

Handling looks fishy . . . Gimmick is pain to create and is destroyed each time you perform the effect. For each performance you need a new pack of gum.

Overall, the DVD had some funny moments . . . I was entertained on more than one occasion. However, just about every effect is either super quick and not worth the extremely time consuming prep work and/or the gimmick is destroyed each time you perform and/or the effect was just an elaborate over-working of an idea that doesn't add much to the effect. I just didn't find a whole lot of stuff on here that was worth the effort.

A few minor annoyances:

  • Many times during the construction of gimmicks, they could have just skipped over parts of it or sped up the camera . . . which they finally got towards the end.
  • Constantly referring to the marker as 'that bad boy' was quite annoying.
  • Additionally, starting every segment with 'alright guys' got annoying real quick.
  • And finally, 'Combineded' is not a word

Trick Average Rating: 2.35. Add in some poor lighting, extreme over-thinking of effect and method, a slight over-pricing ($35) and you're left with . . .

Final Verdict:
2 stars with a Stone Status of Rubble.

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