Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: I'll Be Alright Without You By Journey

Let me start by saying that one of my favorite magic videos that I own is Danny Archer's Working Alone lecture video. There are a lot of commercial ideas on there. One of them made its way to this DVD set - a set which should not have been a set. It should have been only 1 DVD. There are only a total of 11 effects plus the The Archer Shuffle. That's it. However, for only $35 for the two disks, It's not horribly over priced.

I've met Danny Archer - he lectured at our local club a while back. I enjoyed the lecture and learned a lot from him and he has a lot of clever ideas. Additionally, I like the way he thinks about magic. He's pretty good at pulling together ideas, lines and presentational ideas. However, he is sometimes so scripted that his routines are just him going through the motions. He rarely really connects with his audience. And a good handful of his lines are insult lines (e.g., you're not color blind are you? I saw the shirt and was wondering). I've never been a fan of that.

I know that the environment he works in is a pretty fast-paced venue, but even in those venues, you can slow down and take a moment to connect with your audience. I recently saw an interview of Paul Gertner on Reel Magic Magazine where Gertner made the comment that when he saw footage of himself from even just a few years ago, he saw a 'robot' . . . someone who clearly had done the same routine, same patter, same moves, etc., thousands of times.

I think Danny Archer is in that category. I point this out because I want to make sure that those who buy this DVD set don't pick up his bad habits - we all have them. Probably the biggest one you'll see in this video is that when he makes a secret move (i.e., goes to his pocket to grab or ditch something), his body motions are drastically overly NOT-SUBTLE. It's never a slight turn of the body away from the audience. It's more like a dislocate my hip as I swing my entire left half of my body up stage. Please . . . don't pick up this bad habit.

So let's exam the effects. I will try to limit my commentary to the potential of the effect and not focus on any performances weaknesses. I've already mentioned those above. Each effect will be given a 1 to 5 rating (1 is worst; 5 is best).

Disk 1:

Eye Exam (4 stars)

Danny's opener and a good one at that. The premise is that before you start you want to test their vision because often people 'can't believe what they see in a magic show.' As with most of Danny's effects, it's logical, it has meaning and has some good one liners. The downside is that you'll have to make up some special cards . . . cards that the audience can examine, but it'll take time to make the cards look professional. However, you also purchase the special cards from Danny's site.

Pick A Coin . . . Any Coin . . . (4 stars)

This is another good effect that I'm considering for my own repertoire. I was the guy brought up on stage when Danny did this at our lecture. I liked the presentational potential, the props and the fact that it was a coin trick that even I could do. The method is dirt simple but will require about $30 worth of stuff that you'll have to purchase.

Animental (4 stars)

Another good one with lots of potential where Danny just delivered his lines without really connecting. The effect requires you to make up some printouts or cards with pictures of animals on them. Or again, you can save yourself the hassle and order them from Danny's site.

Eight The Hard Way (2 stars)

I've never been a fan of multiple selection routines. This one is really nothing new and had one of those moments I mentioned where a huge obvious move is obviously being made. There are a gew good lines (as with most of Danny's material), but overall, not really worth considering.

There It Is Again (3 stars)

Danny's answer to card on forehead. It's ok . . . it's more of a fun trick than a magical one. The spectator keeps seeing her card in the deck, then suddenly it's gone and on his forehead. The moves are good, but this one's just 'Ok.'

Disk 2:

Illegitimate Sponge Bunnies (2.5 stars)

Really nothing revolutionary here. It's pretty much the standard Sponge Bunnies. There are a couple of good lines and gags in the routine, but all in all, you've probably already done a routine almost exactly like this one.

Anniversary Waltz My Way (4 stars)

This is essentially Doc Eason's handling of Anniversary Waltz / Card Fusion. However, there are a couple of really nice moves and convincers that make this one worth studying for sure. But again, even in a routine like this where it's very intimate and personal, there was very little connecting with the audience. So again, focus on learning the method, the handling and maybe some of the lines, but make it your own, and try to connect with people.

Purse Fly (2 stars)

It's three fly. You either like it or you don't. Almost every version I've seen, the magician just blazes through the meaningless patter (i.e., then this coin flies over here, then it flies over there . . . AAH!!!). This one is pretty much the same as all the others . . . fast and un-interesting. With the exception of a couple of one liners there's really nothing new being shown here. I have no problem with not-new stuff being in a magician's repertoire, but when publishing or selling something, it should be different from what's already out there.

Ballz (2.5 stars)

Though there are some nice magical how-did-he-do-that moments in this routine, overall it is the epitome of what I consider poor presentation . . . 'if I take the red ball here and pass my hand over it like this it becomes a yellow ball but if I take the yellow ball and cover it like this it becomes red again and then if I put it in my pocket it jumps out of my pocket and comes back to here then if I cover it again it turns green . . .' I just cannot watch magic like that. It's rushed and meaningless. However, there are some really good moves for you ball manipulators

Dye & Dye Again (1.5 stars)

Ugh! Same exact 'patter' as Ballz except with a handkerchief and less magical looking.

MemDeck Trifecta (4.5 stars)

Here you get a three part routine using a Memorized Deck. That's the good news and bad news. If you don't have a stack memorized then you'll have to learn one. If you DO use a memorized deck, then you've got a really good routine that can relatively easily go into your repertoire. You also are taught the Archer Shuffle which is, in my opinion, a not-very-convincing in the hands false shuffle.

Danny has a lot of great one liners and is a clever thinker. Learn from that and not his over exaggerated movements or lack of audience connectivity. If you're willing to do that, then you should get this DVD.

Final verdict:
3.5 stars with a Stone Status of Gem.