Magic Tricks

First, Tarbell 14: Novel Card Mysteries suffers like all Penguin downloads from (1) the same lack of a volume control on the Penguin viewer that all Penguin downloads (and demo videos) suffer from, and (2) no table of contents, or even list of what magic is included in the download description. Penguin should address these for all downloads.

There are 4 or 5 tricks on this download - again no TOC so I can't go back can check easily. Dan Harlan does a good job of presenting old effects in a new way. The last, non-card effect, is maybe the best: the old beginner trick where a banana is magically sliced into pieces despite still being in its peel. Dan adds something to the presentation (which is optional), and suggests equipment for doing the preparation easily. Having the spectator be the 'slicer' rather than the magician is a great idea, especially for kids shows.

Dan's lifelong experience is felt, as he slips in details here and there. One of these is a fix for the rare time when using a forcing deck might go wrong, and is really great and something I expect to use. However in one explanation Dan says to force a card, and only suggests that he will explain his favorite force later, which is NOT in this download. Dan could have at least said the name of his force.

The explanations are long and detailed. The longest effect is an unsigned card to orange effect. Dan does not say anything about using oranges v. the more common lemons - such as more space for a card, kids love bananas, or that you could at least eat a banana afterwards. One of the last card effects, frankly, involves too much preparation for the effect you get out of it, and Dan all but sort of says so himself.

So overall, given the overdue fixes Penguin should make, cost, and slightly over 1 hr length, I give this download 3 stars, although Dan Harlan gets 5.