It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call!
Each Monday (give or take), I use this feature to highlight a few of the things that have made their way in over the past week or so. Packages, purchases, and emails -- oh my!
It's the holiday season, so to keep with the festive mood I ordered Socks: Holiday Edition by Michel Huot! This trick is identical to the original Socks, except the cards and physical socks each have a Christmas theme to them. Heck, it even comes with the wallet! The instructions are with the regular version, but I honestly didn't expect them to make a second "how to" video just because there's a different pair of socks to put on 😋
While I was on Vanishing Inc.'s site (to order Socks), I also caved and picked up Joshua Jay's latest release: Particle System. I was hesitant. I saw the email before, but decided the $100 price tag was too high. I saw it again, and re-read. I wasn't sure. I watched the video, ugh, it looks too good to be true. So, I bought it. The regular edition, mind you. Not the $250 "deluxe" which, other than a fancy case and two decks, comes with a "Particle System Notebook", said to contain additional routines and ideas... but let's be honest, I can hardly touch read half the books on my shelves as it is, I doubt $150 for a small notebook is going to be a good decision 😅
So yeah, Particle System. While waiting for the book to arrive, I decided to check out the video that was added to my account. Holy crap, it's over 4 hours long! I've seen Joshua Jay tutorials before, for Inferno and Prism Plus, but this one just feels better. I'm not even 2 hours into it and I can honestly say, this video alone is worth more than the $100 price tag -- and he's upfront at the beginning of it that the book teaches more than the video. When the book arrived and I started going through it, I can confirm, there's even more in the book!
I'm not trying to sell anyone on anything, but the way he's marketed his custom stacked deck as a "system" is spot-on. The caveat to his stack, or the "one downside" that he acknowledges too, is that it doesn't look shuffled if you stare at the cards for more than a second or two -- but he does offer ways to still show the full deck face-up and have this not be an issue, if you need to. Other than that, I actually haven't found another downside yet, and the stack was easier for me to memorize than Mnemonica and Aaronson!
I've put "trying to learn coin magic" to the wayside for the last week while I've been diving head-first into the world of Particle System, and if you can afford it, I do actually recommend this one!
Last, but not least, I... mystery decks from Art of Play! This is the third or fourth year in a row that I've grabbed some of these, they're so much fun to open and see what's inside. I haven't bought any decks from Art of Play all year, and they've released a handful of new ones, so I'm bound to get something I don't already own... hopefully.
I haven't opened any of them yet, but I will really soon -- and, I'll record it and slap it up on YouTube!
Socks, books, and cards. Oh my!
Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!
Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.