Coin in Balloon
In “A Marked & Borrowed Quarter,” a signed quarter ends up inside a clear pencil balloon. The balloon is ripped open to retrieve the coin, which is given to the spectator. The magician then shows that the balloon is fully intact and blows it up. There are no switches or gimmicks, and this one can be performed with no preparation. It’s a real fooler.As the name implies, in “A Signed & Borrowed Bill,” a signed bill ends up inside of a rubber-banded aspirin tin. It’s essentially Knepper’s version of the coin into the nested box trick but with a tiny aspirin tin. There’s no palming, switches or even slides and the effect immediately resets, which makes it great for walkaround magic. There is one bold move that will take some getting used to. The only other concern, do aspirins still come in tiny tins? Such a tin may be hard to find.
Torn and Restored Cards
Knepper presents two torn and restored card routines. What is different about Knepper’s approach is that the torn card is not switched out when it’s restored. One method involves a card that can’t be given to the spectator. The other allows a spectator to sign the card and take it home as a souvenir. There’s some clever and innovative approaches here.Knepper, in his “Sponge Balls like Never Before,” offers a fresh take on sponge balls. The balls not only multiply in spectator’s hands, but vanish. And in Knepper’s intriguing, freeform routine, sponge balls appear from almost anywhere, from a spectator’s watch, from under a mug and more, and continually appear. Knepper offers some different approaches to sponge ball handling that I thoroughly enjoyed and plan to master.
Incredible Cards
“One Incredible Card Trick” aka “Conscious Overload,” offers a visual card routine that involves a color change and various phases where the deck appears to be all backs, and then all blank, and then all of a chosen card. There’s even a sequence where the deck shrinks in size. The methods are well known card moves, but Knepper has combined these into an astonishing routine that keeps spectators guessing and entertained. This one reminds me a bit of John Carney’s “Mercurial Cards” that he explained on his Chicarnery DVD (please click here to read our review).The only downside is that the video is grainy and the lighting is poor. This becomes a problem when Knepper demonstrates his sponge ball routine as it’s hard to see the balls. But on “Klose-Up And Unpublished,” Kenton Knepper offers some intriguing and visual close-up effects for intermediate and advanced magicians. I like the material on this DVD.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
MSRP: (US) $29.95
Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
