Hello all,
I read the description on Penguin Magic about this effect sounds insane.
Imagine you are having coffee with someone and you bring with you a CD you made for them with some songs, later talking to him/her you ask him/her what some of his/her favorite songs are. they tell you and you continue to chat.
They go home with the CD you brought for them, and they pop it into their Cd player.
To their surprise all the songs they named during coffee that they liked are on the CD. Now isn't that amazing.
Penguin magic has it for 49.95, comes out on Monday June 11.
Wonder how this will play??
Any thoughts??
thanks

ALEX

It's a great plot. I like the idea of it. I wonder if the manuscript will offer anything other than methods we could all think of, though.

Ummm...$49.95 for a trick...to show your friends? Seems like a hobbyist effect to me. I wouldn't spend pretty much $50 on a trick just because I can then show my friend a trick. They know I am a Magician, and the best part, is this isn't 100%!!! It says 'even in the unlikely event that you can’t complete the effect, you’ve still given your friend a CD of music that you genuinely thought they’d like'. So, you could mess up!
I know my friends and what music they like...and with a guess, I can make a mixed tape and try and guess what they will say, and if I miss, well, I was only making a CD of songs I thought they liked anyway!

Sorry, but from reading the description, not an effect I see as being popular!

There are far better, more imaginative things to be performed for friends over coffee. Michael Weber's book Lifesavers contains a very nice time travel plot revolving around a cup of coffee. Everything in there is impromputu, as well.

Thanks for the questions, guys. I've just registered here to answer some of them.

Christopher: It's actually a quite reliable method, but its inherently able to handle any kind of unexpected things happening as well, Murphy's law and all that.

And, yes. This is "for your friends." For anyone who loves sharing *strong* magic for people who are special to them. I'll be the first to admit this isn't for everyone, but it happens to be my "venue" of choice.

Bugjack: There are elements of the method that I'm very proud of. I'm excited to hear the reviews, but especially the stories.

Alvo

My imagination always runs wild when I hear the description of an effect. As someone mentioned before, few friends don't know I'm a magician and most of my friends are other magicians.
The only people that don't know are loose acquaintances or people I'm out on a date with.
The first question that came into my head was Is this second or third date viable material.
"For your friends" conveys a need to know them well.

My imagination always runs wild when I hear the description of an effect. As someone mentioned before, few friends don't know I'm a magician and most of my friends are other magicians.
The only people that don't know are loose acquaintances or people I'm out on a date with.
The first question that came into my head was Is this second or third date viable material.
"For your friends" conveys a need to know them well.

Under the right circumstances, it can be a *fantastic* second date effect. Especially if you're casually meeting up for a drink in the middle of the day or something. That way he/she can listen to it later that evening.

The friends element of it is important solely for the reason that it's your friends who you want to give such a special memorable gift to. Not some bum off the street.

This isn't an effect you'll want to do for everyone you meet. It's a special event to hold when the time is right. Like Max Malini said, "You wait a week if you have to."

I don't want to pry at the method-- but if this is a "second date" effect, I can imagine that it would work quite well with a decent acquaintance --not strictly a friend.

So, I can see this as sort of a deal-closer: an agent, a big gig, a new contact...

The premise is absolutely fascinating. I might have to think up a few of my own methods before making an investment.

It seems too crazy but I don't known.

Alvo, Personally I think you have a winner here whether or no its neccessarily a real effect. What I am wondering is could it be a promotional Item. I.E. Do you actually have to know this person to perform the effect for them?

John

Hey guys and girls,

Its been SO long since I've been here! Its great to be back. I have posted a full review here: http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/view......#1006924 (page 2 under the same username)

In case the moderators feel the need to remove the URL, I will post what I wrote below:

"Here is my review. Alvo's manuscript arrived today and I am somewhat shocked. The effect has many flaws, which I shall 'explain' to some extent (obviously not giving away any secrets and not hinting at any either). But before I continue, I want to say this:

As I am not giving anything away, there is no reason for this post to be edited. I know I've been edited in the past unnecessarily and I should hope this doesn't happen again.

**LENGTH**

Ok, to continue. As you'll already know if you've read this post, the manuscript is 17 pages, 3 of which are layed out on the Purchase page. But hey, the length of the manuscript isn't important.

**EFFECT**

When you read the Purchase page, it sounds impossible. Indeed Alvo has come up with a nice idea to some extent (in that its not as revolutionary as it sounds on the purchase page), but there are a few things.

You need certain equipment which, while many may have it, a LOT of people won't. For example, it is unlikely school pupils will have this 'equipment' and it seems like the unemployed would not need this technology (with no offence intended whatsoever - I am just trying to give some examples of people who MAY not have the equipment). And this equipment must have two specific features, one of which can be troublesome. If you do not have this part of the equipment, you can go out and buy it, but this would be getting a bit expensive.

**PERFORMANCE PLACE**

When you go out and perform this effect, it actually needs to be in a public place such as a coffee shop (obviously I can't explain why), which would have to be in a big town or, most likely, a city centre. This is a tad troublesome if you live about 20 miles/32km from a city (which is where I would have been living just 2 years ago).

Furthermore, its not like you can just wander into a coffee shop for example and grab a quick something - you're going to be there for about half hour, so you'd better make sure your person doesn't want to leave for any reason. This means you can't go around to a friend's house and perform it for them (which was my intention, as a birthday gift) or just out and about.

**PERFORMANCE**

There's not too much preparation I guess, but that doesn't really matter because you can prep all day long when you're not around someone. To quote Luke Jermay from the Purchase page: "It combines three great elements - magic, music and a natural way of performing". This latter could be just that Luke hasn't actually purchased the effect or that he happens to be one of the people who fit the requirements of this trick. Not everyone will (as I've said already - equipment matters, where you perform).

The performance is rather appauling. You may note that the actual step-by-step performance is not laid out. And there's no demo, of course. But why of course? Well, if you actually watched this step-by-step it would look rather ridiculous. The equipment you need (which is not some small piece that you put in your pocket by the way) must be carried with you at all times to look somewhere near "natural". Then you need to carry this thing somewhere which would just be a bizarre place to take it into (not that its a huge problem really).

**MY BIGGEST PROBLEM**

...with this effect is the technology that is presumed to be at your disposal which is very untrue for MANY people, and spending £30/$50 for an effect you can't perform unless you go out and buy some VERY expensive equipment (trust me on this, you won't go out and buy this equipment solely to perform this effect).

**ALTERNATIVE HANDLING**

There is an alternative handling produced - and its scary to think that it can actually count as an alternative. This is basically the same method with an EVER SO SLIGHT twist - I can't explain how slight this really is obviously, but truely it does not make anything any easier.


**OVERALL RATING**

A 2 out of 5 - you've created some stir about this effect in the magic community and just for that you've got the second star. The first star was for making it out of plain and simple paper (apart from the front and back glossed paper cover) so I can recycle it and you haven't wasted material.

*******************************************

Alvo, I'd love to hear a response to this - but please post it publicly here because I believe a response from yourself is important for others considering purchase."

Thanks a lot for the review, I think a lot of people need to hear this if they are wondering about purchasing this product. It helped me form a decision. Im just not into that type of an effect right now, and this review definitely kept me from getting very upset about what was needed to do the efffect.

Yes, I totally agree. If I'm disappointed with somethin I'll almost always post a review about it, haha. Just think its the right thing to do

Looks like alvo got scared away. glad I didn't purchase this. seems way to impractical for me. I mean, cmon, for 50 bucks, atleast demo the thing with a vcd or something. boo.

I received this as a free bonus item from Penguin and I have to say, that it is quite good. The price tag is a bit steep for what it is (17 page booklet), but the method and routine is killer. I was laughing to myself after reading Mix Tape, because of its simplicity and potential to hit HARD. Now, I havent performed it yet, so this is not going to be a review. With all the bad press this has received, I just thought people would like to know what I thought about it. It's not for everyone, but if you think this would fit you, I highly recommend it. I certainly hang out at coffee shop shops all the time. The method is very easy as well. Im happy with MIX TAPE.

Hey Toph, give me $50 bucks and then tell me your happy with it, then I'll believe you Maybe if GRANT wasn't still in your pocket you might not think its happy. I don't know the method behind this, but from what I have read, to perform something for primarily your friends, this doesn't sound good for the pricetag.


just my opinion...

A greater piece of mentalism would consist in erasing from our minds the fact that this effect ever existed.

Jheff just gave this a hilariously bad review in his Marketplace of the Mind newsletter. He doesn't catalog it so I can't link to it, but if you get his newsletter you can check it out.