Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Toxicity by System of a Down

For $35 you get a set of well made "special" cards, a fun premise for an Ace assembly, royalty free music and a well produced DVD.

Woody Aragon is a genius. I've said that before in other reviews of his other works. He's a master at taking classic plots and putting his own "self" into them thus giving them meaning, logic and an actual presentation. Take The Bumblebees for example. It's an Ace assembly. Four bumble bee cards are shown. One is placed as the leader . . . the other three magically disappear from one spot and reappear with the leader, but just as the cards are about to be revealed as bumblebees, he "accidentally" slaps the cards, thus killing the bees. When the cards are turned over, they are seen to be smashed bumblebees.

Only 8 cards are used. At the beginning, very clearly, 4 cards are shown blank on one side and regular backed on the other. 4 Other cards are clearly shown to have a bee (not smashed) on one side and a regular back on the other. At the end, there are no "non-smashed" bees. Clearly 4 cards are shown to have a smashed bee on one side and a regular back on the other while the other 4 blank cards are still blank.

I'd say that about 90% of the handling is super clean and very clear. Of the non-clear 10%, it's not much more fidgety than traditional assembly effects. The killer in this is that you are using only 8 cards, and at the climax of the effect, the handling is so smooth that you'd will be hard pressed to find a cleaner ending that looks this legitimate. You really seem to see fronts and backs of all 8 cards (four blank face and four smashed bees). Frankly, I'd never do this trick . . . it's not my style, and even though the premise is cute and fun and much better than typical assembly, it just doesn't suit me personally. However, I think that there are many of you out there who would do it, and I can think of a better method, handling and plot than this. Additionally, you get a royalty free version of The Flight of The Bumblebee. Aragon recommends that you perform the effect using the music.

He's right. When he performed it with the music it was very powerful. Other than a few minor pieces of fidgety handling, this thing is darn near perfect.

Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Total GEM!