Ok, here is my full review of the downloadable version of the DVD. This review and a video of me performing the Two Dollar Window effect are also on my blog at:

http://magic-yeti.blogspot.com/2008/05/d......ada.html

Jay Noblezada has a new instructional DVD on money magic; appropriately named "Money Starring Jay Noblezada." Jay had a smash hit DVD on coin magic called "In The Beginning There Were Coins" (ITBTHC) is a brilliant introduction to coin sleight of hand. Money magic is a slightly different genre of magic than coin magic. It has a different vibe. People get interested when you're waving valuable bills around. Money magic also differs by relying more on presentation and gimmicks than pure skill.

The format of the Money DVD is quite a bit different than Jay's earlier ITBTHC DVD. ITBTHC was a introduction to coins starting with individual sleights such as palms and vanishes. Money is pure magic tricks. These are hard hitting illusions with paper money.

Marketing Fluff

From the Penguin Magic web site...

MONEY. It's hard to imagine a better item to do magic with. Everybody has it. Your spectators are literally walking around right now with your props in their wallets, pockets, and purses. And everybody cares about it. When there's money in play, you've got their attention. This DVD will take you from beginner in money magic to the point where you can do an entire act with just the money and props in your wallet. The focus of the DVD is four show pieces. These are four of the strongest effects in money magic. Learn these effects and you'll be able to entertain anywhere you go. The DVD also features a bonus section packed with fun money tricks and puzzles. Incorporate your favorite items from the bonus section into your money act.

Degree of Difficulty

Beginner. But don't let that put you off if your an intermediate to advanced mage as they are strong effects. The difficulty is in the presentation. A creative presentation is going to make these tricks appear to be miracles. A good presentation is going to hide the flaws, dirty work and gimmicks associate with your money magic.

Teaching

Jay Noblezada is one of the best instructors I've seen. He is thorough and his pace is slow. He gives you many different handlings and variations. He makes this DVD engaging and fun to watch.

One of the key factors in the DVD format in comparison to books is the ability to show actual performances for real people. You get not only one street performance but multiple street and restaurant performances of the same effect. Although it looks a bit silly, you also get a spectator point-of-view helmet camera!

Jay doesn't credit the creators or reference external resources for the effects during his instruction. You will find that some of the effects are prominently credited within the ending credits. I'm guessing that a few of the originators have been lost. Joshua does credit some of the basic sleights in his effect.

Quantity of Effects

You're going to get a lot of material on this DVD - a total of 16 effects. I'm not sure I would classify any of these effects as a "routine." My definition of a routine is a multiphase trick or lengthy presentation of an effect. With the exception of Cornered, these tricks are quick and hard hitting. Only 12 of these are tricks - 2 are gags and 2 are puzzles.

Penguin is marketing this as four effects. The other material are bonus effects. I think I would have been happy with the four effects so the bonus material is just icing on the cake. Penguin sells a few of these effects as instant downloads so this DVD is a more cost effective method of purchasing a variety of money magic than forking out $10 per trick. Here are the effects you'll get:

Five and 1 Transpo
Two Dollar Window
Cornered by Joshua Jay
Alpha Cash

Joke the Ripper
George Smiles
Torn and Restored Bill
Insta Cash
Pennie Split
Dollar Division
Psychic Steal
$100 Bill Switch
Sweet Surprise
Haunted Dollar Bill

Five Coins
Heads and Tails


Quality of Effects

From jaw dropping to ho-hum. The four "showcase" effects are very strong. Among the bonus effects, Psychic Steal and Haunted Bill are my favorites so I'll review these tricks:

Five and One Transpo is an in-the-spectators-hand effect. It uses a gimmicked bill which is easy to construct. The spectator is holding the $1 while the mage holds the $5. The mage waves the bill and it visibly transforms into the $1. The spectator is surprised to find they are now holding the $5.

Two Dollar Window is my favorite so far. This trick relies on another brilliant, yet easy to construct gimmick. The mage show the front and backs of two $1 bills. The mage hypnotizes the spectators as he/she folds the two bills into a small packet. Without skipping a beat the mage unfolds the packet. In place of two $1 bills there is now a single $2 bill in it's place. You show the bill front and back and you look extremely clean at this point. This is going to be the opener I utilize to grab attention in an impromptu setting.

Cornered is a creative torn and restored bill by Joshua Jay. Joshua provides the teaching and does a great job. He provides some interesting variations that would astonish. This is my first Joshua Jay trick and I would certainly purchase more of his materials in the future.

Alpha Cash is a rework on Patrick Page's classic Easy Money. There are a number of variations of this effect on the market. Extreme Burn, Heiny 500, Hundy 500, Prophet, et. al. If you're buying this DVD just for Alpha Cash then you would be happier with one of the others. After watching the other versions, Heiny 500 is my favorite. The count is more natural than Alpha Cash and the change is more startling.

That being said, Alpha Cash is still a strong effect. The plot is simple; you count out five $1 bills. A quick flip of the wrist and the change to $20s. I haven't performed this one yet. The downsides are the strange count, it is very angle sensitive and very dirty. Plus, if you follow Jay's presentation, someone might walk away with your $100.

At the end of the DVD, Jay shows an alternate presentation of Alpha Cash using ordinary paper instead of $1's. It's a fun bit to watch Jay pay for his restaurant bill with worthless paper - only to shake it into real money for the dumbfounded waiter.

Psychic Steal is the best of the bonus material. It is a dandy little feat of mentalism. Nothing new or groundbreaking but Jay's handling of the revelation is novel. Borrow a dollar bill and divine the serial number. Like most mentalism, it's 2% sleight of hand and 98% acting.

The Haunted Dollar Bill is another Penguin instant download that made it onto this DVD collection. I loved the Haunted Deck! I had almost added it's brother, the Haunted Bill to my shopping card many, many times. The method is be easily discovered if you're not careful with the lighting and clothing selection. Almost self-working, the real skill comes in camoflaging the method and coming up with a scary story. I'm thinking about to to a coin shop and purchasing an old (but not too rare) bill to add to the mystique. In the right situation (Halloween party) this is going to freak your friends.

Joke the Ripper and George Smiles are not tricks at all. Amusing diversions at best. George Smile might be fun to teach your kids - making George Washington smile and frown via a little optical illusion.

Insta Cash is a little ditty that use two credit cards. Showing front and back of each card cleanly (sort of), you shake a bill from between the two cards. Insta Cash teaches you a nice little sleight that could come in useful with credit cards and playing cards.

Torn and Restore Bill has you tearing out George Washington's head, eating the head and spitting it back onto the bill. When Jay demo'ed it on the street it looked great one time and really bad another time. I think any kind of close examination by a non-drunk spectator is going to reveal the method.

Production Quality

Cool factor is high! Noblezada makes the hippest magic DVDs out there. It's tough to completely comment because I haven't receive the physical media yet. This review is based on the downloadable version so I can't comment on the menuing system yet as the download version plays like a video tape. The music is catchy but a little repetitive.

Overall: 7/10

For someone who doesn't have a lot of money tricks in their toolbox, this is a great value. Two Dollar Window is an over-exposed effect but it is a killer effect so don't over look this gem. This trick is permanently replacing the Greed gimmick in my wallet. Pull out this little $2 wonder and you're going to instantly establish yourself as a real magician on the spot in every circumstance.

If you already know some of this material, you might give it a much lower score than I. This DVD doesn't have the wealth of foundational material that ITBTWC does but it packs in a lot of tricks that could fill out your repertoire and add a welcome break from your deck of cards.

Thank you very much for the great review.

Personally I'll stick to the master, David Roth and his Ultimate Coin Magic DVDs.

Do the Roth dvds have paper money effects on them?

How is Insta-Cash different from Fred Kaps Flash Cash?

I'm not that familiar with Flash Cash but the examples I've found are not like Insta Cash. Insta Cash is two ungimmicked credit cards. You show both sides of the credit cards. You then stack the cards together. You fan the two cards slowly and shake (lightly) as a $100 bill is produced from between the two credit cards.

Can these effects be done with english notes?

Sorry, I meant what is the difference between Flash Cash and Alpha Cash.

I am interested in Alpha Cash, but also want to get Extreme Burn. Are they similar or much different?

I think, the reviewer is not talking about the DVD "Coins" by Noblezada, but about the DVD "Money"....

Carsten

So, how are these tricks substantially different from the versions already marketed or those taught on say the Ammar Money Miracle DVDs (with permission).

UF Grant Slow Motion Bill Change - once marketed item. Sold in many variations.
The $2Bill to $2 dollar bills - taught on the Ammar series based on an idea in Polland's book.
And the handling of the Easy Money looks almost identical to that which we taught on the Ammar series.

From the demo it looks like there is a version of Stefan Shutzer's oft ripped off self folding bill and a version of Ross Johnson's Rip it (both taught with permission on the Ammar Tapes).

So, other than a fancy demo video and a goofy hat - what's new? Is this the new way of creating magic - taking someone else's succesful product and just reshooting it?

Why are people still supporting what appears to be this den of thieves?



Brad Henderson

The Two Dollar Window trick taught here is NOT the same as the two dollar trick on the Ammar videos. Completely different gimmick.

How is it different from the one that was marketed years ago or the one on which Ammar's was based?

They're not too similar, Alpha Cash looks very awkward in my opinion.

Well, I'm not sure about the wearing of that scarf. Kinda like Elton John if he was a Magician.

Anyway...Sweet Surprise - A spectator's signed coin vanishes and ends up inside a sugar packet.

Well, he borrows a coin places it into his hand closes his fist and...it doesn't vanish. Depending on the perform and the psychology behind doing a gag like this it can work. In this routine it wasn't needed.

Ok, so he gets a Sharpie out 'cause that's his magic pen and he gives it to a girl and tell her to wave over his hand ( she makes as good a magical gesture as anyone I've ever seen ) and he tells her to say the magic word. She says Abracadabra and he says "nice, but that isn't the magic word". She surprised because..well...that is THE magic word and he says....

"I don't know"

This joke doesn't work on so many levels.

OK, so now he tells her...remove the pen cap and look inside ( I'm going to be as amazed as she is when it falls out )

Well...it doesn't fall out..it's another gag.

At this point, I really don't care where it is, but he has her hand him a sugar packet ( why can't she open the packet? OK, she can't ).

This is pretty much the feeling through the whole DVD. If this was relased in 1990, it would be pretty darn good. But..there are so many better methods for most of the things on it. If the methods were improvements or not ones other people already do and teach, I'd just turn the sound down and learn them.

If you weren't familar with any of the effects, you might like it.

I hate to say it but, I actually purchased this dvd for a shot at the $1,000.

It's garbage. Anyone want a Money dvd? It's for sale.

Sorry, but it looks like Penguin has simply re-packaged its already existing downloads, and tossed in random "effects" to make the DVD appear to be a bargain.

Brad hit the nail on the head here, just re-hashed effects from other sources.

The premise of the DVD is wonderful. The execution is...GHASTLY.

Yes, you could learn one or more of these and entertain, but there are just better ( original )sources.

There has to be SOMETHING on it though. A move, a line ( ok I doubt that )..anything. I thought it was $19.00. How did I pay $29.00 for it?

They charged you a fee for being Christopher Kavanagh.

Anyone ever sell or buy something from DVLKCC? PM me.