BLACKOUT! by Platt

Magic Friay is written by Vancouver Magician Jamie D. Grant

What The Audience Sees:

”Today, I saw the impossible, man. It was unbelievable! Check it out, right. Jamie comes bustin’ in and says that he’s done it. I guess these crazy magicians have some things that even they can’t do, and Jamie says that ever since the late 1800s every magician has tried to solve the problem of creating a “Flying Coin” , whatever the ^#^%# that is.

Anyways, he showed us these two huge coins that were American Silver Dollars from the 1920s and described how Houdini himself had tried to take a couple of coins, exactly like the ones he was holding, and make one of them go from one hand to the other. He said that there were lots of ways to do it, but that Houdini had wanted to use real magic, and now Jamie thought he had figured out how to do it. B#&&sh&*, right? Wrong! The absolute truth! Jamie is real magic. He took a coin, one in each hand, and then, *poof!* he turned into a leopard! Okay, not really, but he might have welled (welled?). Because, when he opened up his right hand, the coin was gone, and in his left hand were two. That coin travelled though the Spiritland and went into his other hand. And these coins were big man, there’s no way that Dollar got by me. No, it travelled by magic. Real magic. Leopard $^#% magic. This guy is fo real!

How It Went:

Wow, what a great day Friday was! Blackout took no prisoners! From first thing in the morning right up until the very end, this effect rocked and socked all day long. It’s not too often that I come across something that is so clean and can be repeated so quickly. You want to see it again? No problem. Boom! Coin gone. What’s that? Again? Sure! Boom! Coin’s in the other hand! Pure sweetness.

I basically did the simple handling all day, as well. I gave the whole Flying Coin Houdini presentation but, at the end of the day, I was making one coin go from one hand to the other. That’s it. Now I know there’s a whole bunch of ways we can do this, but Blackout is by far the easiest. I didn’t have to do a sleight all day! I just Blacked Out (that’s my past tense of performing Blackout) all day long. It went so well, that I’ve been setup all weekend, too. It’s a good thing I like black shirts!

Best Lines:

”Ooooooooooooh! That was a sweet one!”

-I think she was trying to flirt with me, lol.

”Do it again...Again...Again...”

-It’s just so crazy that no one ever catches it. Granted, I have my hands fully extended in front of me for a while before I reveal.

Angry Bob Rating:

For those of you reading this article for the first time, Angry Bob is a co-worker who has an understanding of some magic because his uncle was a magician. Angry Bob knows that TT’s exist, for example, but he has no desire to become a magician himself. He also has an anger management problem that can be experienced first hand if he can’t figure out how a trick is done. A high rating means he has no idea.

Let’s all do the Angry Bob Dance! Bo bad a da- to the left! Bo da de dum- to the right! Bad a da cha cha cha na na na!

He didn’t have a clue. Not even a hint. He was deathly silent and watched it three times before he stormed out. 5/5.

My Rating:

I have ruined magic for five people. No kidding. These people hate magic and it’s entirely my fault. I’ll explain- Every time I get something new, I perform it for these five people first. They don’t get the full meal deal. Sometimes, they barely get a snack. I’ve dropped cards on these people, spilled water on them, wrapped them in sheets, ripped their clothes, and bored them to tears. Literally. Woe to the magician who comes across one of these five and asks them to pick a card! They would sooner eat it. Luckily, they’re my friends. And, as a reviewer, they are an absolute must. Because I need those five attempts to see if an effect has something that I might have missed. Not that Blackout is the case here, but I just read a review for it in MAGIC that left me kind of “meh”. Now, I have no idea if they reviewer actually went out and tried it a few times or not, but he didn’t leave me with the impression that he did (Apologies in advance if I'm mistaken). And I think this is crucial. I show my Sacrificial Five everything that I get. Just in case I missed something. (Sorry about the D*n A*my guys- Forgive me!) I digress...

Blackout, in my opinion, is not a “meh”. It’s an absolute 10/10 in my books. Maybe it just suits me, or perhaps it’s just a super killer effect! The coin is extremely well made and I found Platt to be likeable and a good teacher. To be honest, I could care less about production values (this was also noted in the MAGIC review), but that’s just me. As long as I can figure out what the heck I’m supposed to do, I’m ready to roll. And roll, I did. Blackout rocked and I love this effect.

The JDG Tip:

About halfway through the day, I switched from my body to my shirt- when you get the effect, you’ll know what I mean. Two words- Duct Tape. Just be warned! A residue can be left if you’re not careful- not a big deal to me, though, since it’s on the inside- but be aware of that anyway. I found it more comfortable.

Closing Thoughts:

I really like that Brian and his Dad make magic stuff together. It reminds me of that book, “Danny, Champion of the World”. Cool.

Have a great week, everyone!

Jamie D. Grant
www.jamiedgrant.com
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