Magician Jim Tyler, who is best known as Diamond Jim, often starts with solid effects and adds his own touch, to create commercial, entertaining results. This was most apparent in his book and DVD, “Pockets Full of Miracles,” which we reviewed earlier. In his newest DVD, “Mirrors,” Diamond Jim presents a strikingly different approach and attitude and offers innovative tricks that rely on mirrored playing cards.
Unlike the comical Diamond Jim Tyler that most of us know from “Pockets Full of Miracles,” the Diamond Jim Tyler in “Mirrors” is far more serious and dramatic. In the DVD, he explores the lore of mirrors to lure and repel spirits, read auras, make predictions and act as magical reflectors. The patter and music is downright new age.
The DVD comes with 20 gimmicks to change 20 playing cards into mirrored cards. Depending on the effect, either the face or back of a card becomes a mirror. The DVD offers eight effects (if you include the discussion of “Twilight”). But when you ignore the effects that are based on those that use real mirrors, the list of effects, depending on how you look at it, shrinks to either four and five.
The close-up effects are mostly variations on those where the backs of cards change colors, but here, change into mirrors. “Mythos” is essentially a “wild card” routine. But instead of cards changing colors, they change into mirrors. In “Nebulous,” cards mysteriously flip over, one at a time, and then turn into mirror-backed cards. “Superstitious” offers a brainwave style effect that involves broken mirrored cards. The strongest effect is “Soul Reflection.” Here, a spectator freely selects a card and discovers that it is the only mirror-backed card in the deck.
“Broken” is a card change that relies on a standard move to make a mirrored card appear to shatter. It’s probably not an effect in itself, but a transition, or a closer to a card routine. In “Mirraculous,” Diamond Jim shows how to use a mirrored card as a shiner to perform a mind-reading effect. It may be convenient to have a shiner built into a card deck, but I’m not sure that this method is superior to simply using a traditional shiner. When the shiner is part of the deck, the deck isn’t clean.
Diamond Jim also shows how to make a mirror glass using a mirrored card. The downside is that you have to find the right glass, both in size and texture, which can take some effort. And with low-end mirror glasses available for under ten dollars, I’m not sure that making your own is worth the trouble. Rounding out the DVD is an interesting section that discusses mirror lore and legends, and a segment that shows how to create broken mirrored cards (it’s quite a bit of work).
My reservation is that a back-change routine with mirrored cards may not be more effective than using standard blue and red-backed cards. I fear that audiences will think that the mirrored cards are gimmicked when they technically (from a trick standpoint) are not, and attribute an effect to “trick cards.” Whereas when done right, a good color-changing back routine usually leaves little or no explanation on the part of lay spectators.
I appreciate the thought and innovation that went into Diamond Jim’s approaches, but feel that the mirrored effects may have a limited fit in many magicians’ card repertoires. But if you’re looking for something different, even downright mystical, “Mirrors” may be worth a look.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
www.diamond-jim.com/originals
$34.95
