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Review: Stealing Pips by Oz Pearlman

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Review: Stealing Pips by Oz Pearlman Copyright Murphy's Magic
A refreshingly different DVD on card magic that teaches innovative moves and then shows how to use them in excellent routines, Stealing Pips: The Card Magic of Oz is a winner. The DVD's routines are commercial and strong, and throughout, Oz Pearlman offers thorough instruction. Learn the moves and you'll be able to perform Pearlman's bafflers, and you'll also gain some new moves to apply to existing routines.

The Moves

Let's start with the moves. Pearlman’s SAC Move is the best thing on this DVD. It's a powerful table spread that allows you camouflage a different card, for example, a red card in a blue backed deck, or a face-up card in a face-down deck. Pearlman uses the move as the basis of a couple of powerful prediction effects.

Pearlman tips a strong key card principle that he calls the Dirty Deck Principle and often uses. This one is practical and virtually undetectable, however, you do have to consider lighting (I think I would have problems with this one in one of my restaurants). But it will work under a wide variety of conditions.

The Zenneth Alignment

A stunning color change, the Bertram Change causes a card to transform as it turns in your hands and with minimal cover. Die hard card workers will like this one. There's also a fast segment of multiple card vanishes and productions that reminded me of Gary Kurtz' "Flurious" routine with jumbo coins.

The last moves are the Zenneth Alignment Move and the related Oz Alignment Refinement. By holding a series of cards in your hand, you cause one to turnover or change into another card. It's a visual and stunning change that can be used in the culmination of many card routines. With these moves as a foundation, Pearlman applies them to his routines.

The Future

Two great prediction effects, Perfecto and IC3 rely on the SAC move. Since Perfecto requires a spectator to work with the cards behind his back, I prefer IC3 that offers a prediction of three cards.

In these effects, spectators freely select and turnover cards and you have correctly predicted the exact card or cards that would be chosen. I initially thought that Pearlman was using gimmicked cards to accomplish these results.

Once Upon a Time

My favorite effect was Once Upon a Time. You talk about how you watched a magician somehow produce four aces and that you will now attempt to demonstrate the same feat. Unfortunately, the first card you select and turnover is not an ace, but to save face, you pull out three more cards, which complete a four of a kind based on your first card. In the second phase, you turn the four of a kind into the four aces. For this routine, Pearlman teaches a strong four-card switch.

Pearlman also offers a powerful two card transposition, and Lord of the Twist and Twist and Shake, make first rate use of the Zenneth Alignment. There's also a hard hitting variation on a "Red Hot Mama" style effect.

The effects on this DVD are commercial and strong - you’ll like both the moves and the routines that are based on them. The only downside is that most of the effects require a table, which means that they won't work for me in most of my close-up and strolling situations.

Despite this, "Stealing Pips" is one great DVD that I highly recommend to all of you who get to work on close-up pads. And even if you don't, you’ll still find some jewels here.

-Wayne Kawamoto

MSRP: (US) $29.95

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