Price$35.00
Media TypeBook
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedMar 16, 2003
Impossibilia: The Close-Up Magic of John Bannon
John Bannon
L & L Publishing
(Based on 3 reviews)
Reviews
(Top ▲)
As far as content goes, this is not your typical John Bannon of late. The tricks are not self working and many need quite a bit of practice. I have learned a few of them including a coin matrix routine that fell within my skill level. It needed a lot of practice and a good close up pad to pull it off.
There are other coin routines that are fun to do including one that needs a special coin purse that may be hard to find.
This book is not for beginners but many of the tricks are learnable with effort. The variety is great. Coin, cards, Chop cup and other stuff.
Instructions are clear and well illustrated with very good drawings.
My main criticism is that some of the tricks, f.ex. T,T & A require slights or moves that are not explained at all. This is an omission that I find unfortunate. That's why I only gave it 3 stars.
(Top ▲)
This book is absolutely fantastic and full of hard-hitting and useable magic. If cards are your thing you will have plenty here to use. If coins are your thing you too will find plenty here to use.
Even though I do plenty of card work because people like it, I am not a card guy. This book has such great card material in it that it gets even me excited about cards...
Over the years John Bannon has proven that he is a top-shelf magical thinker and performer and this book shows why he has been revered by magicians world-wide.
My favorite card effects in this book include the "Discrepancy City Prediction" (boy is it discrepant but it never fails, especially on magicians!), "Twilight Zone Assembly" (this one is off the beaten path and around the corner from your typical assembly - nothing like the rest of them!), "Oh, Calcutta" (this is a really neat prediction effect using a well-known principle in magic), "Play It Straight Triumph" (super easy to do and quite surprising to an audience) and "Wild in the Straights" (a really fun take on a three card monte-style game crossed with a poker kicker). I also like using "Tourist Class Travelers" (a nice interpretation of the classic Dai Vernon plot) in conjunction with my JOL wallet, which is not even necessary!
I cannot even begin to pick a favorite set out of the coin section, but there are some wonderful ideas from other performers here, including Bob Kohler and Harvey Rosenthal.
There are some truly fantastic takes on the Coins Across plot and these make sense because you perform them with a backstory. "Coins Across the Water" involves borrowing three coins and having them signed, after which they vanish, reappear "elsewhere" and reappear again inside an envelope in your wallet. Not wanting to give away the effect, it is most wonderful. "Triple Threat" and "Coin of Voodoo" are both strong players too. "Glass Reunion" is an excellent method for Coins to Glass with ideas from Harvey Rosenthal and Larry West.
The book also contains a routine and thoughts on cups and balls with Chop2 (that is Chop 'squared', as in the mathematical operation), and "Of Cups and Fuzzballs" which is the cups and balls routine personally used by John Bannon. Very strong material here!
There is a bonus section of the book that contains a different and quite clean take on the Torn and Restored Cigarette Paper called "Shriek of the Mutilated" and another piece called "Photologic", which can be quite a theatrical presentation piece for revealing a selected card. Very different and worth reading.
One of the coolest things in the book is "Engraved Five-Star Prediction" and is basically the "Al Koran Five-Star Prediction". The difference between the two is that this version is essentially gaff-less. I have gone through the trouble of having the props made up for it and it was more than worth it! If you are familiar with the Al Koran version, just imagine what it would be like without the gaffs...
With the small fraction of things I have mentioned above, there is still much, much more material to be had from this book! Some of the stuff in it will definitely take some practice to learn the moves and make them smooth but once you get a handle on anything in this book, you will have some unique, strong and memorable magic to add to your repertoire.
Highly recommended!
Even though I do plenty of card work because people like it, I am not a card guy. This book has such great card material in it that it gets even me excited about cards...
Over the years John Bannon has proven that he is a top-shelf magical thinker and performer and this book shows why he has been revered by magicians world-wide.
My favorite card effects in this book include the "Discrepancy City Prediction" (boy is it discrepant but it never fails, especially on magicians!), "Twilight Zone Assembly" (this one is off the beaten path and around the corner from your typical assembly - nothing like the rest of them!), "Oh, Calcutta" (this is a really neat prediction effect using a well-known principle in magic), "Play It Straight Triumph" (super easy to do and quite surprising to an audience) and "Wild in the Straights" (a really fun take on a three card monte-style game crossed with a poker kicker). I also like using "Tourist Class Travelers" (a nice interpretation of the classic Dai Vernon plot) in conjunction with my JOL wallet, which is not even necessary!
I cannot even begin to pick a favorite set out of the coin section, but there are some wonderful ideas from other performers here, including Bob Kohler and Harvey Rosenthal.
There are some truly fantastic takes on the Coins Across plot and these make sense because you perform them with a backstory. "Coins Across the Water" involves borrowing three coins and having them signed, after which they vanish, reappear "elsewhere" and reappear again inside an envelope in your wallet. Not wanting to give away the effect, it is most wonderful. "Triple Threat" and "Coin of Voodoo" are both strong players too. "Glass Reunion" is an excellent method for Coins to Glass with ideas from Harvey Rosenthal and Larry West.
The book also contains a routine and thoughts on cups and balls with Chop2 (that is Chop 'squared', as in the mathematical operation), and "Of Cups and Fuzzballs" which is the cups and balls routine personally used by John Bannon. Very strong material here!
There is a bonus section of the book that contains a different and quite clean take on the Torn and Restored Cigarette Paper called "Shriek of the Mutilated" and another piece called "Photologic", which can be quite a theatrical presentation piece for revealing a selected card. Very different and worth reading.
One of the coolest things in the book is "Engraved Five-Star Prediction" and is basically the "Al Koran Five-Star Prediction". The difference between the two is that this version is essentially gaff-less. I have gone through the trouble of having the props made up for it and it was more than worth it! If you are familiar with the Al Koran version, just imagine what it would be like without the gaffs...
With the small fraction of things I have mentioned above, there is still much, much more material to be had from this book! Some of the stuff in it will definitely take some practice to learn the moves and make them smooth but once you get a handle on anything in this book, you will have some unique, strong and memorable magic to add to your repertoire.
Highly recommended!
(Top ▲)
If you love card tricks one can't go wrong with John Bannon. Play It Straight Triumph would sell for $20 alone if it had gaffed cards. It doesn't so it can't be sold for that. It can be learned in 30 minutes. It kills laymen and fools magicians. What more can you ask for? Personally use 3 routines from this book. How many books can you say that about?