Price$30.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedFeb 29, 2008
Winks Diary
Bill Thompson
(Based on 2 reviews)
Contents include:
Two different versions performed by both Peter & Martin to real people in real situations! Peter Nardi's mindreading routine that uses NO playing cards. Direct and to the point...A REAL MINDBLOWER! The Bill Thompson routine, as performed by Martin Sanderson using a deck from which a card is freely selected with no force. BRILLIANT!
Hints and tips from Peter and Martin including Peter's destination prediction, which takes the effect to a whole new level.
Get ready for the easiest and most direct Card Diary to date - Bill Thompson's Winks Diary.
- Use a regular diary!
- No multiple outs!
- No stacked decks!
- In fact don't use a deck at all!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Winks Diary was described by another reviewer as mediocre and confusing; I believe that this is far too generous. The routine begins with you asking a spectator to think of a card. This creates the expectation that you will reveal the card they are thinking of – but you don’t. You can never reveal the thought of card because you don’t know what it is. Instead, the value of this card is used (via a mathematical process) to produce a date, next to which is written the name of a different (totally unrelated) card – which you do reveal. This is hardly a direct effect and the spectator in the trailer is clearly confused. She has to ask which card she’s supposed to be thinking of – her original one or the card written in the diary. The card in the diary can be predicted in advance, but this climax is far weaker than the anticipated effect of revealing the original thought of card.
The confusing effect, however, is not the most important problem. Winks Diary is simply one of the least baffling magic tricks I have ever seen. The date used is not “chosen” by the spectator – it’s arrived at by a mathematical process that creates no illusion of a random date. The spectator only has to think back to the process by which the date was formed and the entire method become blindingly obvious. I honestly don’t believe that this could fool any intelligent person. The only way a spectator could fail to work out the method would be if they were just not interested enough to think about the effect afterward.
This is the sort of idea that, if it was published at all, should have been offered as a magazine contribution. Yes the DVD is very well produced, but the effect simply isn’t good enough to release as a stand alone item. Not recommended.
The confusing effect, however, is not the most important problem. Winks Diary is simply one of the least baffling magic tricks I have ever seen. The date used is not “chosen” by the spectator – it’s arrived at by a mathematical process that creates no illusion of a random date. The spectator only has to think back to the process by which the date was formed and the entire method become blindingly obvious. I honestly don’t believe that this could fool any intelligent person. The only way a spectator could fail to work out the method would be if they were just not interested enough to think about the effect afterward.
This is the sort of idea that, if it was published at all, should have been offered as a magazine contribution. Yes the DVD is very well produced, but the effect simply isn’t good enough to release as a stand alone item. Not recommended.
(Top ▲)
My recommendation for Winks Diary is that you watch the demonstration video, available at the link provided in the product description here at My Lovely Assistant. The video isn't entirely accurate, those artsy cuts you see omit important, and required, parts of the process. The participant selects a random date, performs some math on that date, then ends up looking in the diary to find the identity of a "random" playing card.
There's no self-interest or motivation, and too much process involved, in my opinion. As you'll see in the demo, the participant is nonplussed and only responds "weird." I think she's being polite and is really thinking "so what?" In another performance clip on the DVD, the participant is clearly confused by the process and has to ask if she's supposed to be thinking of a card or a date. As Dai Vernon opined, confusion is not magic.
But if you disagree, and Winks Diary appeals, you'll be happy with the DVD. It's very nicely produced in widescreen format. Personally, I think it would be better as a booklet. You'll need to refer to the DVD several times while making up the diary. The producers have attempted to address this by providing easy access to the critical points in the video, but the bottom line is that the medium doesn't work very well for this type of instruction.
I don't know if the method used in this trick is original. There's no crediting given, and the odd name is not explained. It's a shame that the producers don't give us a little more background, history, or other leads to follow. Bottom line, I'd call Winks Diary a mediocre trick on a DVD that has great lighting and sound.
There's no self-interest or motivation, and too much process involved, in my opinion. As you'll see in the demo, the participant is nonplussed and only responds "weird." I think she's being polite and is really thinking "so what?" In another performance clip on the DVD, the participant is clearly confused by the process and has to ask if she's supposed to be thinking of a card or a date. As Dai Vernon opined, confusion is not magic.
But if you disagree, and Winks Diary appeals, you'll be happy with the DVD. It's very nicely produced in widescreen format. Personally, I think it would be better as a booklet. You'll need to refer to the DVD several times while making up the diary. The producers have attempted to address this by providing easy access to the critical points in the video, but the bottom line is that the medium doesn't work very well for this type of instruction.
I don't know if the method used in this trick is original. There's no crediting given, and the odd name is not explained. It's a shame that the producers don't give us a little more background, history, or other leads to follow. Bottom line, I'd call Winks Diary a mediocre trick on a DVD that has great lighting and sound.