MagicBunny.co.uk

Name: Basic Coin Magic

Author: Ian Kendall

Price: £10.00 - I was kindly given a copy at Blackpool

Publisher: Kendall Inc??

Difficulty: 5 -10

Out of 10: 10 - Really is excellent

Contents

Palming and the Hang Point

This for me was the most interesting and valuable part of the Cd. Here, Ian talks about the hang point which no other magician or technician has ever gone into. Its a secure position on your hand by where a coin can sit, its like finger tip rest but its alot more secure and detailed. I don't want to give too much away as this is something unique to Ian and you should learn it from him.

He also goes into the classic palm, which IMO is the most valuable and badly done sleight in coin magic. I have a bit of a reputation for being hard on products and other peoples magic, but you would struggle not to learn the palm from this CD. But, saying that, its not difficult to put a coin in the position! It's all about UNDERSTANDING the position, the lay of the hand and so much more. I admittedly used to walk around with a coin palmed in my hand thinking it would help me learn the palm. Well, you can practice things wrong till your blue in the face and they arent going to look right! I've now got the proper technique and am palming quite well.

Simple Coin Pass

This again has been a total life saver for me. I played around with all kinds of passes and vanishes, and none ever fitted me so well I would use for laymen. Retention vanishes look too rehearsed, other ones look silly and flashy. But for me, this has been the way to go. Its simple, its natural and it gets the job done. I also haven't seen alot of people doing this and Ian does it exceptionally well.

French Drop

This is of crouse the bread and butter sleight of coin magic. No one does it becasue it looks stupid right? Well this is garaunteed : Get Ians video and you will use the french drop because there is an absolute gold-nugget piece of motivation for this move that EVERYONE will/should be doing.

Bobo Switch

This is another one of those moves I've been doing for a while and again doing it wrong (jeez I should really learn how to read). The move looks a lot better with the method Ian teaches and I now use this technique for spell bound. I'm that confident with it.

Palm to Palm Transfer

This for me is the mecca of coin magic, do this and do it well and you can call yourself a coin magiician. I now have the technique thanks to Ians great teaching, but admittedly still cant do the move well. Ian does it perfectly and gives me something to aspire too - Still practising this one.

HM Load

Again, this is a great move and a classic in coin magic. Again, Ian adds something to the misdirection and motivation of why you are doing what you are doing to make it not so unuseable anymore! I now use this technique in a transposition.

Himber Vanish

If you have seen the Sankey Revolutionary coin magic, you will know what a great technique this is. Again, its like the mecca of coin magic. Well, once again, Ian has changed the technique, IMO made it better and more useable. This is awesome! Ian, being a human cyborg doesn't even need the coin to hit his hand, he can do it in mid air and catch it! All due to the refinements he's made.

Rosenthal Click Pass

This is an extension of the last technique and again another valuable one. Sankey uses it in alot of his routines to be waaaayyyy behind the audience, or ahead depending on how you look at it. Ian, being inhuman can do this like no other every single time!

Himber Sankey Count

This is again an extension of the last two moves that removes the back and forth motion of Sankeys. Great refinement and alot easier!


Comments

Ian has out done himself with this CD. He taught me the Paul Chosse/Charlie Miller Cascade control via e-mail, so I knew I was going to have no difficulties learning anything from him via video. He teaches everything well, and the CD is well packaged and has a good navigation system done in html. No files to look for, its all done for you.

I suggest you all dive over to Ians site and order one of these CD's. For a measley £10 I bet you will get a lot more out of this than any other coin video you own. It is aimed at beginners, and I think he will be wiping out coin magic noobies one by one with this CD.

Plus, Ian is a great guy and a good friend!

10 out 10 for effort, technique, teaching and presentation.

Contact Ian on m@gician.{remove this}info

Sounds great -what's Ian's Web site address?

Thanks

www.virtualmagicshow.com

Everyone will love this CD!

Wow, thanks for the comments!

The site for the CD is actually www.virtualmagicshow.com/bcm

You won't get to it (at the moment) from the front page.

Take care, Ian

just sent my £10 through paypal. good sales job Shaun!

Hi.
Only to point out that at "The Power of Palming", Michael Close explained in detail the idea of the Hang Point, of course applyed to cards.

He even adviced you to paint the spot with permanent marker.

KR

Daniel de Urquiza
AltaCartomagia
Argentina

Hi KR,

Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately, you've got the facts a wee bit wrong. Michael talks about the _pivot_ point which is the point in your hand where the corner of the card sits.

The Hang Point is my name for a very loose grip of the coin so that the hand appears naturally empty, but the coin is stable and can be moved into various grips easily and quickly.

Thank anyway, and take care.

Ian

Btw, he talks about pivot point not the hang point!

just finshed watching.
it's a great VCD and very informative. a couple of the sleights looked fairly difficult to get the hang of but i'm used to becoming fairly capable with new card slights quite quickly so it was a bit of a shock when i first opened bobo's to realise i couldn't do some things after trying for a long time. Ian's VCD has very good instructions and good camera angles to show how to do it all, very easy to learn from and some very nice ideas. the hang point really does help emmensely.

I've been interested in learning coin magic for a while. I bought Bobo's ages ago and found it a real struggle though. I bought this on Shaun's recommendation and I'm really glad I did. The videos are clear and well-made with good angles and Ian takes his time with his explanations, pointing out likely problem areas. He also seems like a very nice bloke!

I can only repeat the positive comments above. I'd recommend this to anyone who is starting with coins, even if you already have Bobo's. I find with many moves where timing is an important factor I need to see it in real-time action or I really struggle to learn it. For a tenner including postage (and mine arrived very quickly) you really can't go wrong.

I think this is great. I can now see where I have went wrong and his explanations are first class.

He is even putting more video clips up on his website for everyone who buys the CD to use.

Brilliant.

Colin

This really is an excellent CD.

In my short time in magic I've come across some excellent magic taught by expert and professional magicians. Unfortunately their expertise in magic does not automatically qualify them as teachers. As such their methods are often under explained and at times simply quite confusing.

Ian on the other hand is one of those people that seems to be able to explain everything eloquently and concisely (all from the comfort of his "Big Brother" diary room style chair . )

There's no fishing around for explanations or extended hyperbole, Ian teaches what you need to know without the irrelevent nonsense.
In fact when I first received the CD and had a browse my immediate thought was that the lessons were quite short. Don't be mislead, there's more information on this than other similar DVDs twice the length.

I'm no expert, but I wouldn't consider myself a beginner when it comes to coins either. I own Ammars DVD and of course Bobo but there's still plenty of stuff new to me on this CD.

Criticisms...... well at a push I could say there's no routines (although it is only supposed to be a techniques CD) and the picture and sound quality won't be what you're used to with L&L releases etc. However these are minor crits and are simply to balance out the review.
If I read a 100% glowing review of something I tend not to believe it. I'd rather know what the bad points are and then decide just how bad they are for myself.

Finally I have recently received an downloadable "update" to the CD (free of charge).
To me this is unbelievable. Its like finishing a great book and then being sent some bonus chapters. Not the sort of service I'm used to at all.... But you won't hear me complaining. This update also dispensed with pretty much the only other criticism I had, since I thought that the hang point to classic palm is slightly glossed over in the CD. This is all cleared up in the update.

If you're looking to learn or improve any of the techniques on this CD I think You'll struggle to find them taught better anywhere else.

Nice one Ian.

I will add my vote of confidence to what everyone else has stated on this thread. I received my copy of Ian's CD just prior to going out of town on a gig. It is only in the last couple of days that I've had the chance to go over Ian's work thoroughly. This is an excellent contribution to coin magic.

The sleights that Ian includes in this CD are an excellent cross section of what any beginning coin worker needs to know. With Ian's added insight into several of these sleights and his work on such sleights as the Himber Vanish, this CD is a must have for the beginner. I would even suggest that the advanced coin man can find some worth while bits to add to his or her own subtleties. Given the price of this CD, it belongs in every magician's library.

The production value of this CD is professional in quality. The videos are clear and easy to follow. Ian's teaching technique is very low key as he explains each maneuver in clear and concise language. The man is a natural teacher. I particularly like how he sits in the chair and explains the nuances of each of these sleights - it is like he is sitting right across from you and teaching you in real life! Ian also takes into account the need for showing the sleights (by way of explanation) in several different angles with close-ups of the hands when the situation calls for it.

So, if you're having problems with your sleights (and even if you've managed to suss them out with texts such as Bobo), this is an excellent investment of your money. I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with this purchase and the price is definitely right. Personally, I prefer books to videos, but I have to say, I am right pleased having this CD in my library. And, the CD is signed by Ian, which is something that I personally treasure with any of my learning items, be they books, VHS tapes or CDs.

An excellent contribution. Thank you Mr. Kendall!

Mike.

Just received an email informing me of yet more updates to this CD. I haven't watched them yet so I don't know what they're like but they could be videos of Ian doing his ironing and I wouldn't care because THEY'RE FREE!
I still can't get over this updates thing. Its not as if the CD was bad in the first place and Ians had to post these to keep people happy. They're all just added bonuses.

Hi, have got this CD now and it blew me away. It is brilliant I echo everything Shaun said in his review. I have DVDs by some of the greats but no one can surpass Ian in his teaching skills IMHO. He shows how it should be done at speed then slows it all down and also shows at different angles which I haven't seen before.
If you are into coin magic whether you are beginner or seasoned performer. Go and buy.

Barry