Price$24.95
Media TypeVideo Download
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJul 27, 2014
At the Table Live Lecture - Jon Armstrong 6/4/2014
Armstrong, Jon
Murphys Magic Supplies
(Based on 1 review)
June 4, 2014
Jon Armstrong is an amazing performer with a deck of cards both close up and on stage. In this amazing 2 1/2 lecture, Jon will first show you card magic that is geared towards the close up performer. He even shares with you alternate ideas for the Tiny Plunger effect which Jon is known for. Jon then focuses the second half of his lecture for the stage/parlor performer, and does so with JUST a deck of cards.
Close up section
Tiny Plunger Ideas: Jon shares with you brand new ideas and routines for the Tiny Plunger Effect.
Band Through Neck: A rubber band VISUALLY passes through your neck. No gimmicks!
Rubber Band Melt: Jon's handling of the "Crazy Man's Handcuffs" effect. The bands unlink without doing that "move."
Magic Castle Fooler: Using a "15 of diamonds" card, Jon will fool you! Simple as that. Jon also shares his work on the Stop Force, and using a marked deck for maximum impact!
Plus! Jon shares his work on the Zarrow false shuffle and quickly touches on sandwich trick ideas.
Stand up
Jon performs a start to finish, 25 minute stand-up act using just a deck of cards and then breaks it all down for you in amazing detail. In this set, you will learn:
Repeat Card Under Watch: A selected card is found under the spectator's watch not once, but TWICE. In this routine, you will learn Jon's handling of Paul Harris's Whack Your Pack, as well as a way to vanish a single playing card.
Open Change: A hands-free effect! The magician never touches the cards! A randomly chosen spectator cuts to a randomly chosen card and puts that card into his pocket. The magician names that card. This can play to an audience of 5 or 500!
10,000 Dollar Closer: A spectator is asked to THINK of any playing card. That card is revealed in a very unique way! This is also a great way to have a spectator randomly chosen!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Jon Armstrong is very entertaining and he is an expert with a deck of cards. In this lecture you will learn some unique rubber band effects as well as a whole 20 minute stage act with just a deck of cards.
Tiny Plunger Meets Malini: He opens by teaching a handling of Tiny Plunger that is framed as a Malini style card stab, performed by the spectator. A card is chosen the deck is mixed in a heap on the table, a handkerchief covers them and the spectator stabs the cards with the plunger finding their own card. He teaches this effect in full and if you have a plunger or something sticky then you can perform this immediately. One of the great parts about this is that it uses a plunger rather than a knife and would be perfect to perform for children and families.
Plunger Jam: If you own the tiny plunger DVD then he shares some extra tips, ideas and presentations using the plunger including a vanish where it looks like the plunger sucks up the card and a new stick no stick handling with the plunger. He does not explain this effect in full detail as advertised unfortunately.
Band Through Neck: This is a great idea that can be used on stage as well as close up. You pull a rubber band over your head and visually through your neck, of course this is completely impromptu and very visual. This is almost a geek effect performed with a rubberband.
Rubber Band Melt: This is Armstrong’s take on the classic crazy man’s handcuffs unlink move. In this version the bands are clearly interlaced and without any strang movemnts they instantly unlink. This is a great alternative to the original move.
Magic Castle Fooler: This effect was a lot of fun to watch but it didn’t necessarily fool me as described in the ad copy, I really don’t think that this will totally fool most magicians. In this effect he uses a selected card to determine how many cards the spectator will stop at. He covers his take on jazz magic, and the timing force.
He shares his thoughts on the Zarrow, unfortunately because of the angle of the camera we never got to see what his Zarrow looks like to a spectator, but his tips seem to be sound. He covers some of his thoughts on a marked deck the classic force as well as the top change. His work with a marked deck has to be seen to be believed, it is phenomenal!
Sandwich Effect: This is a quick sandwich effect where the sandwich cards find the selection as they are dropped on the table. As far as a sandwich effect goes I don’t know if this groundbreaking but it is a fun alternative to a classic sandwich load.
The second half of the lecture is Jon’s take on stage magic, he performs a small set with just cards and explains each trick in detail.
He talks about the importance of audience management on stage and gives some good pointers on keeping your energy up as you select a spectator. Here he goes over a classic pick a card trick, he covers a side steal, a rising card and a change. There’s some fairly basic magic here but some great tips with cards on stage.
Repeat Card Under Watch: Here he uses an old game to mix a Paul Harris effect and card under watch. He is able to load it multiple times with the kicker of making a personalized signed card appear under the watch as well. This is a fun trick with a nice single card vanish that completely fooled me.
Open Change: Here, the spectator takes the deck and places one card in their pocket. The magician is able to divine the exact card even before the spectator knows what it is. This is okay, in my opinion there are better ways to present this trick using the same method that would play just as big.
10,000 Dollar Closer: A spectator is asked to just think of a card and you are able to show that you predicted it. I’m not crazy for this as a closer it is a simple prediction effect with a lot of set up and work involved. This is definitely not something you would do if you were not performing for a large audience but the method was very interesting and it looks like a very free choice.
It bothers me a little bit that when we say card trick we often mean a pick a card trick. There are thousands of plots in card magic and half of them do not require you to select a card and the magician will find it. On this lecture though you learn a whole bunch of ways to basically find a selected card and in the stand up routine that is all he does. I feel like laymen would think that they were all the same, even if they were different in presentation. So I wasn’t a huge fan of much of the magic. I did enjoy his rubber band work and his thoughts on card sleights and techniques but it was lacking in variety to some extent.
Tiny Plunger Meets Malini: He opens by teaching a handling of Tiny Plunger that is framed as a Malini style card stab, performed by the spectator. A card is chosen the deck is mixed in a heap on the table, a handkerchief covers them and the spectator stabs the cards with the plunger finding their own card. He teaches this effect in full and if you have a plunger or something sticky then you can perform this immediately. One of the great parts about this is that it uses a plunger rather than a knife and would be perfect to perform for children and families.
Plunger Jam: If you own the tiny plunger DVD then he shares some extra tips, ideas and presentations using the plunger including a vanish where it looks like the plunger sucks up the card and a new stick no stick handling with the plunger. He does not explain this effect in full detail as advertised unfortunately.
Band Through Neck: This is a great idea that can be used on stage as well as close up. You pull a rubber band over your head and visually through your neck, of course this is completely impromptu and very visual. This is almost a geek effect performed with a rubberband.
Rubber Band Melt: This is Armstrong’s take on the classic crazy man’s handcuffs unlink move. In this version the bands are clearly interlaced and without any strang movemnts they instantly unlink. This is a great alternative to the original move.
Magic Castle Fooler: This effect was a lot of fun to watch but it didn’t necessarily fool me as described in the ad copy, I really don’t think that this will totally fool most magicians. In this effect he uses a selected card to determine how many cards the spectator will stop at. He covers his take on jazz magic, and the timing force.
He shares his thoughts on the Zarrow, unfortunately because of the angle of the camera we never got to see what his Zarrow looks like to a spectator, but his tips seem to be sound. He covers some of his thoughts on a marked deck the classic force as well as the top change. His work with a marked deck has to be seen to be believed, it is phenomenal!
Sandwich Effect: This is a quick sandwich effect where the sandwich cards find the selection as they are dropped on the table. As far as a sandwich effect goes I don’t know if this groundbreaking but it is a fun alternative to a classic sandwich load.
The second half of the lecture is Jon’s take on stage magic, he performs a small set with just cards and explains each trick in detail.
He talks about the importance of audience management on stage and gives some good pointers on keeping your energy up as you select a spectator. Here he goes over a classic pick a card trick, he covers a side steal, a rising card and a change. There’s some fairly basic magic here but some great tips with cards on stage.
Repeat Card Under Watch: Here he uses an old game to mix a Paul Harris effect and card under watch. He is able to load it multiple times with the kicker of making a personalized signed card appear under the watch as well. This is a fun trick with a nice single card vanish that completely fooled me.
Open Change: Here, the spectator takes the deck and places one card in their pocket. The magician is able to divine the exact card even before the spectator knows what it is. This is okay, in my opinion there are better ways to present this trick using the same method that would play just as big.
10,000 Dollar Closer: A spectator is asked to just think of a card and you are able to show that you predicted it. I’m not crazy for this as a closer it is a simple prediction effect with a lot of set up and work involved. This is definitely not something you would do if you were not performing for a large audience but the method was very interesting and it looks like a very free choice.
It bothers me a little bit that when we say card trick we often mean a pick a card trick. There are thousands of plots in card magic and half of them do not require you to select a card and the magician will find it. On this lecture though you learn a whole bunch of ways to basically find a selected card and in the stand up routine that is all he does. I feel like laymen would think that they were all the same, even if they were different in presentation. So I wasn’t a huge fan of much of the magic. I did enjoy his rubber band work and his thoughts on card sleights and techniques but it was lacking in variety to some extent.