Price$50.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedApr 12, 2007
Bright Ideas
Christopher Williams & Alakazam
(Based on 1 review)
All these routines come straight from Christopher's working repertoire and have been streamlined to work in almost any performing environment. After seeing a live performance each effect is then individually broken down and explained in full detail in the studio including all the necessary sleights and subtleties that have been developed through countless performances.
On this DVD you will learn…
Guiltless Aces - From a borrowed, shuffled deck, the Aces are found with just a simple cut. Each phase gets better than the preceding phase with a killer kicker ending! Christopher even closes his act with this sometimes!!!
Las Vegas Jokers - One of Christopher's personal favourites! Dr Daley's last trick given a logical performance with a second, killer phase!
CTP - The Magicians pockets are checked by the spectator and found to be empty. Four cards, and only four (which can be signed) vanish one at a time only to appear each in a different pocket. Each vanish and reappearance gets better than the one before. This has caught the attention of several top magicians!
Sightseer - Christopher's handling of Larry Jennings 'The Visitor' effect. The spectators signed selection twice jumps from between one set of Queens between another under impossible conditions, with a kicker final phase!
Oil & Hot Water - A simple, easy to follow Oil and water, with just 4 cards! However at the end, the backs change colour! And then back again! Everything is examinable!
Thought of Cards Across - 20 cards are taken from the deck and 10 turned face up, 10 face down. The spectator chooses which packet they want to think of a card from, and in the same condition, the cards are given to a spectator, 10 cards each. Just a snap and there are now 11 in one packet and 9 in the other. The spectator's card has travelled across! But wait, another spectator saw a card…no problem! The magician snaps his fingers and another card has jumped across, leaving 12 cards and 8, the second selection has gone across! All done in the hands!
Also includes the following fantastic routines: Triumphant Colour Changing Collectors, Repeat Sandwich, Un-gaffed Entourage & Queens Transpo.
Running Time Approximately 1hr 57min
Reviews
(Top ▲)
“Now onto my Collectors effect. I’ve been using this for a very long time now. Almost three years, I think.” -- Christopher Williams
In this age of one-off, one-trick DVDs, I’m going to begin my review by addressing the one trick that I think is worthwhile on this DVD. “Thought of Cards Across” is an excellent and ingenious impromptu card routine. 20 (and only 20) random cards are removed from a shuffled deck, whereupon the packet is clearly and fairly divided in half. A card glimpsed (but not withdrawn) by a spectator then vanishes from one packet and travels invisibly to the other. This is immediately repeated with a second card glimpsed by a second spectator. The method, at its core, is fairly old, but this handling is unmistakably contemporary, particularly in the case of the first transposition (and from a theatrical stand-point, I consider the second transposition to be optional anyway). Unfortunately, how much of the handling belongs to Christopher Williams is hard to say, because he doesn’t say - he cites similar effects by James Brown, Gary Jones and John Carey, then states, “we’ve all got together and we’ve all put ideas together to make our own versions, so this is mine, basically.”
The remaining 9 routines performed and taught on this DVD struck me as undistinguished variations of existing (though fully credited) plots - Dr. Daley’s “Last Trick,” Gordon Bean’s “Entourage,” David Regal’s “Deep Guilt Aces,” Dai Vernon’s “Travelers,” Larry Jennings’ “The Visitor,” and Roy Walton’s “Collectors” are among the varied - and I didn’t see any significant advancements or improvements in terms of either methodology or presentation. In fact, I view some of the routines (such as the muddled and misguided “Triumphant Changing Collectors”) as a step backward in both these regards. Moreover, as a rule, the kinds of plots varied here (e.g., sandwich tricks, Oil & Water, Collectors, etc) are not even remotely engaging for real people, much less “commercial” (as the ad copy states) unless the performer himself is particularly charismatic, and that requires the commanding presence of a Larry Jennings, or the story-telling prowess of an Ariel Frailich, or the dynamic energy of a Harry Lorayne. Christopher Williams demonstrates none of these performing styles on this DVD, though he is certainly affable, pleasant and professional.
Call me old school, but I think debut releases should offer new plots, new methods, new thinking in general, like The Magic of Paul Harris did, or Sankey Pankey, or The Card Magic of Brother John Hamman. The material showcased here doesn’t do any of those things, and if Christopher Williams is as intelligent as he appears to be, I would love to see him devote his creative energy to devising some genuinely new (or at least novel) magic.
David Acer
In this age of one-off, one-trick DVDs, I’m going to begin my review by addressing the one trick that I think is worthwhile on this DVD. “Thought of Cards Across” is an excellent and ingenious impromptu card routine. 20 (and only 20) random cards are removed from a shuffled deck, whereupon the packet is clearly and fairly divided in half. A card glimpsed (but not withdrawn) by a spectator then vanishes from one packet and travels invisibly to the other. This is immediately repeated with a second card glimpsed by a second spectator. The method, at its core, is fairly old, but this handling is unmistakably contemporary, particularly in the case of the first transposition (and from a theatrical stand-point, I consider the second transposition to be optional anyway). Unfortunately, how much of the handling belongs to Christopher Williams is hard to say, because he doesn’t say - he cites similar effects by James Brown, Gary Jones and John Carey, then states, “we’ve all got together and we’ve all put ideas together to make our own versions, so this is mine, basically.”
The remaining 9 routines performed and taught on this DVD struck me as undistinguished variations of existing (though fully credited) plots - Dr. Daley’s “Last Trick,” Gordon Bean’s “Entourage,” David Regal’s “Deep Guilt Aces,” Dai Vernon’s “Travelers,” Larry Jennings’ “The Visitor,” and Roy Walton’s “Collectors” are among the varied - and I didn’t see any significant advancements or improvements in terms of either methodology or presentation. In fact, I view some of the routines (such as the muddled and misguided “Triumphant Changing Collectors”) as a step backward in both these regards. Moreover, as a rule, the kinds of plots varied here (e.g., sandwich tricks, Oil & Water, Collectors, etc) are not even remotely engaging for real people, much less “commercial” (as the ad copy states) unless the performer himself is particularly charismatic, and that requires the commanding presence of a Larry Jennings, or the story-telling prowess of an Ariel Frailich, or the dynamic energy of a Harry Lorayne. Christopher Williams demonstrates none of these performing styles on this DVD, though he is certainly affable, pleasant and professional.
Call me old school, but I think debut releases should offer new plots, new methods, new thinking in general, like The Magic of Paul Harris did, or Sankey Pankey, or The Card Magic of Brother John Hamman. The material showcased here doesn’t do any of those things, and if Christopher Williams is as intelligent as he appears to be, I would love to see him devote his creative energy to devising some genuinely new (or at least novel) magic.
David Acer