Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Mama Tried by Merle Haggard
Manuel Llasser: Total Recall Review
One DVD, one system/routine and $30 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble?
Effect/Method
What you're getting is a series of concepts all woven together to create the illusion that you've memorized an entire deck of cards. By the end of the demonstration, you've had someone name a card and you've told them the exact number in the deck. You've had someone name a number and you've told them the exact card at that position. A four of a kind is named, and you can tell them the position of all four cards.
On and on and on. There are several concepts and techniques at play here. When all combined it looks exactly like you've truly memorized the deck. There are several different presentation ideas and "demonstrations of memory" covered on the DVD.
There is very little actual memorization required. Plus there is a technique taught that allows you to avoid what little memorization there is. This effect has a little bit of a jazz magic feel to it. Things vary depending on the circumstances, but in every case, the audience walks away truly believing that you memorized the entire deck in about 40 seconds. With a reasonable amount of work and practice, you'll be able to convince people that you've just memorized their deck of cards.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is accurate. There is one point I want to clarify, however. In the ad copy it says that at the end of the routine you can recite the entire deck in order. While this is true, it relies on you getting up from the table and basically standing in the corner with your face buried in the wall where nobody can see what you're doing. Then you have to recite the deck from this position. You can't actually do it while you're sitting at the table.
Using the same method, you can have the spectator keep the deck and call you any time they want. When they do, you'll be able to recite the entire deck in order. This is a much better way to perform this effect. Rather than burying your face in the corner, you're just talking over the phone.
The video trailer is very accurate. What you see is what you get.
Product Quality
The DVD is well produced overall, but there was one major problem. However, this major problem is the kind of thing that can't really be overcome and ultimately won't effect the final star rating too heavily.
The problem is that the translation. The native language of Manuel Llaser is Spanish. If you watch the English version, there is a voice over guy speaking in English. This caused a few problems. First, in many cases, the explanation is pretty technical, and a few things seemed to be a bit lost in translation making it a bit difficult to follow at times. I was still able to learn how to do it, but it was a bit painful at times.
When it got really crazy was during the interview portion. Manuel Llaser's friend interviewed him. They are both talking back and forth in Spanish, and the voice over guy is speaking English with a Spanish accent, and in many, many places, all three voices were talking at once — they didn't lower the volume of the Llaser and his friend. On top of that, you couldn't tell which person the voice over guy was speaking for.
It sounded like a room full of people and chaos. It was very nerve-wracking to say the least. I felt like my head and body both were going to explode. It was nuts! Even through all that, however, I was able to get the gist of the interview and the added concepts.
The information was taught thoroughly and taught well. It's just that it was difficult to extract the information as an English speaking person. However, if you like the effect, it's worth pushing through the pain.
Final Thoughts
The concept here is solid and based on the of several others whom he credits. It takes a fair bit of work, but very little memorization. The general concept is actually very simple. It just takes time to master. If you like the effect and want to be able to do a borrowed, shuffled deck memorization routine, then you'll be very happy (and maybe a little annoyed if you speak English) with this DVD.
As I said, I can't let the translation issues dock the star rating too much. After all, if you speak Spanish, there are no problems at all. The fact that they took the time to attempt to convert it to English is valuable.
Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
7 Comments
Jeffy,
This is back on my radar and I will probably get it. Some less than flattering reviews scared me. It got two one star reviews @ Penguin. One said it was the worst instructional video he had seen in 30 years; the other said it was very difficult to understand and really did require too much memory work.
But these were rank amateur reviews compared to what we are accustomed to here. It sounded like when you say, “will take a fair bit of work” others took to mean “another pipe dream destroyed.”
It does sometimes amaze me, however, that entertainers, who would never even think about presenting a show, or a trick to the public without it being professional and polished, routinely put out material for magic public consumption that is very difficult to understand and follow, poorly explained or badly edited. There are probably numerous people that would have clearly explained this in English for a nominal fee and the resultant cost more than covered by increased sales.
RLF
Another top notch review – me, I can’t believe there will ever be another “memorized” deck routine to top Bob Cassidy’s … but this does sound promising.
My question for you is probably one you’ve answered before, but I haven’t seen it – and that is, “Why is the random iTunes song of moment DIFFERENT on the written review than on the one filmed?”
Not a huge mystery … but enquiring minds want to know …
John
I like Cassidy’s routine too. The intrigue of this is to be able to be able to do it with a borrowed, shuffled by a guest, deck.
RLF
@John – I get asked this a lot, so a while back, I made a video about it: The Story of the Random iTunes Song of The Moment
did you understand from the Spanish or the English?
videos like these drive me mad – I suffered through an English/French one last year
@Rob,
This could be a problem for me. I don’t speak Spanish and am also told on a daily basis by certain people close to me that I don’t comprehend English very well either…
RLF
I know of several ways to accomplish this. Still not sure whether I would add one more memory trick or not. All the voices going on at once reminds me of the movie “Scanners” without the nosebleeds.