Price$25.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJun 18, 2009
Permanent
Chris Ballinger
Magic Geek
The Effect: The magician shows both sides of a Sharpie marker, and then rubs some of the ink off the side. The magician transfers their powers to a spectator so that they can do it themselves! Then, in the blink of an eye, the writing jumps back onto the marker. The Sharpie can be examined and used in your next routine.
Visual magic with a prop you already use.
The ultimate in audience participation.
Resets in seconds.
Great for walk-around.
Bonus Effects:
Letter Carrier:
The magician pulls a printed letter from one side of the Sharpie to another.
Ambitious Card:
Chris' favorite trick to use with the Permanent routine. A signed card repeatedly jumps to the top of the deck.
Ball of Yarn:
Another great classic that can be used with the Permanent gimmick. A signed coin vanishes and ends up trapped in a ball of yarn.
Trick Specifications:
Comes with custom-made Sharpie gimmick, two bonus gimmicks, and instructional DVD.
Running Time Approximately: 30 min
Reviews
(Top ▲)
This DVD however, was very well shot, comes with a few props/gimmick and only cost $25 bucks. I loved the Hollywood style production. It was fun to watch, and one of the coolest features about the DVD was the "commentary" section where you would get to see the performance footage again (after seeing the explanation) while Chris Ballinger did commentary on what you were watching . . . much like the director's commentary on DVDs. I thought it was an excellent idea and really added to the teaching.
In addition to the well produced DVD, a fun and funny host and the gimmicks, essentially what you get is 4 effects. Two effects (Ambitious Card and Coin in Ball of Yarn) are very brief effects that, frankly, Ballinger kind of stumbled through that were only shown as examples of the types of tricks that would use a Sharpie pen to have something signed.
The other 2 effects were effects with the Sharpie pen itself. One effect is that you visibly erase the logo off of the pen even though the spectator just touched the ink and it wouldn't erase.
In the other Sharpie effect you drag one of the letters from the word Sharpie to another part of the pen.
Ballinger's presentation is a bit rushed and he misses several opportunities to connect with his audience. He's very much like many magicians today, so caught up in what to say while "presenting" the "trick" that everything else gets ignored. I only bring this up as yet another reminder that you should come up with your own presentation and personality and not copy the creators of the effects.
I like Ballinger. He's a genuine nice guy and seems friendly, even when he's missing those audience connection moments.
As for the effects, I'll give his rushed and short handling of Ambitious Card 2 stars, the Coin in Ball of Yarn 3 stars only because it's a classic and can be good (even though he struggled a bit in the performance). However it's not covered that well in the DVD. Again this and Ambitious card were more like "Hey here's a trick that uses a pen to sign something so let's include it on the DVD."
I think the two effects using a sharpie are possible worth considering if you have a better presentation. I'll give Permanent (erasing the logo) 3.5 stars and Letter Carrier (moving a letter from the logo) 3.5 stars as well.
The average trick rating is 3 stars. If you like the effect (Erasing the Logo), then you'll get your money's worth.
Final Verdict 3 stars with a Stone Status of grubble . . . little bit of gem . . . little bit of rubble.