Magic Tricks

Now, Jay Sankey has some good material out there, but lately he's been rehashing sleights and old moves into apparent "new ideas" with slightly "new" handlings. Bending The Real falls into the category of mediocre and plainly unusable. I'm not entirely sure what was going through Sankey's mind when releasing this. apparently he was trying to convey that a "bend" is a way to misshape reality or thought. Bending was an apparent ploy to use deception as a social activity. Basically in a nutshell, what other impromptu DVD's have been trying for years.

Jay doesn't really hit any new ground with his Bend idea and it seems to fall flat once the project is finished. I'm not sure what was to come of this, but it was hyped up more than I can remember with different videos and a claim of "redefining" magic into some art form. But sadly it's just an orange-shaded mess with bad music.

Literally, the product description says: "Bending is about creating dream moments, inspiring people to open their eyes wider than ever. And we wanted to make sure that this surreal FEEL played a big part in the viewing experience of the DVD. The result is a DVD that is far more visually interesting and engaging than 95% of the ‘magic trick’ dvds on the market." If by visually interesting they mean annoying camera cuts, orange and blue tint that distort picture quality, and short explanations to tricks, well then job well done Mr. Sankey. I seriously do not know what they were thinking when they filmed this, most tricks are explained really fast and with the Watercolor splash they add to the picture, most times it's hard to see what is going on in the first place. For a DVD that claims it's "visually Stunning" is it no surprise that No one, including Sankey, filmed this way again?

Now onto the tricks themselves. There literally is nothing here anyone can use. Most of these tricks(I'm not calling them bends cause it sounds stupid) are either pranks or useless feats you can do for some type of betting games over friends. One even goes as far to include a rock and your friend's car...You can see where that will go. Aside from the pranks, there may be 2 or 3 that you may use, but in no way a display of your true magical prowess. The only ones that seem worthwhile are the ones were the gimmicks are supplied to you, but not all are good. Hijacked and Vanishink are both pretty decent. Descendant comes with an incomplete gimmick and is a slap in the face, and Zero Gravity is altogether useless. Even with Hijacked and Vanishink it is not worth it.

BtR also includes two "booklets"(non-pre orders only get one) that state they have more ideas and essays. I use booklets with quotations because these things are barely pamphlets. About the size of a video game manual and only four pages long, I think the material of both pamphlets could of been covered in the short intro on the DVD.

I may be overly-critical on this but it is because of this one reason. HYPE. Jay Sankey as well others that helped in the project prior to release stated many times how Bending the Real was going to reshape how we all think of magic and how it will be unlike any magic DVD before it. It's a complete lie. If he had said Bending The Real will help beginners not be scared about magic but be able to think in a more social way, then it would of made more sense. As a worker or professional, this does nothing for you. Even if it was tailored for new hip audience into their first foray in magic, I still wouldn't recommend it since there are plenty of tricks and DVD's suited just for beginners(Hell Penguin magic even has a free two hour beginner DVD). So this is why I do not recommend this at all.

Now this isn't a stab at Jay Sankey himself. Jay has a ton of good material out there, but unfortunately he has a bunch of stuff like this that is drowning his great work. I strongly recommend Front Row Sankey, Hemispheres, 22 Blows to the Head, In a Flash, Kaleidoscope, or Spontaneous Combustion, just to name a few, over this any day. Do not make the same mistake I did.