Review: James Brown's Professional Oportunist

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James Brown’s Professional Opportunist (James Brown and RSVP Magic)

Available from www.jamesbrownmagic.com for £35 or www.rsvpmagic.com for £17.99 per volume.

General Thoughts

I have been a massive fan of James Brown’s work since a friend of mine forced me to get James’s first DVD, ‘Still Fancy a Pot of Jam.’ I have bought everything James has put out since then (Lecture DVD and Stuff, contact James for information on purchasing them) and none of it has disappointed; Professional Opportunist is no exception. It is, in my opinion, his best work since Still Fancy a Pot of Jam. The production quality is very high, as you’d expect from looking at Russ Stephen’s other products. The performance footage is well shot as are the explanations, the one issue as has been raised by other reviewers is that Ravi could have done with being mic’ed up, for the explanations. There was also, occasionally, a slight discrepancy between the effect shown in the live performance and the explanation. This is much more to do with James’s improvisational style of performance (he’d probably prefer the term ‘opportunistic’ than improvisational though!) than anything else however footage of Box Clever performed in the hands would have been nice.

Effect by Effect (Volume One)

‘Box Clever’
A freely chosen card, which can be signed, vanishes from the deck multiple times, appearing under the card case, inside the card case and finally the entire deck jumps into the case! All done while the spectator is holding the card case!

I’ve already talked to James about this but it really should be called ‘James Brown’s No Palm Card Under Box’ for marketing purposes! Mainly cause the words ‘No Palm’ appear to make stuff sell like mad! So for anyone who’s always loved the Card Under Box plot but is too scared to palm this routine is definitely for you! That, however, is no reason to dismiss it as unsuitable for anyone who can palm. It is the best thought out CUB routine I have seen, technically simple, the routine is designed to create the necessary misdirection. This routine is one of, if not the, best routines James has ever produced, the only two that are in the same league are Cerebral Steal and James’s Card Opener from Still Fancy a Pot of Jam.

‘IthWich’
Two cards are cleanly shown and placed onto the spectator’s hands. After this a card is freely chosen and almost instantly vanishes from the entire deck and appears between the two they are holding!

One of two sandwich effects that appear on the DVDs. Caught Three Times is the stronger of the two but requires at least three participants. IthWich is, however, an excellent effect in its own right. Once again the handling is technically simple but the misdirection and timing, especially if performing the ‘In the Hands’ handling of it. This routine requires brass balls to perform and pull off. I really like the reversal of the normal running order of sandwich tricks where the sandwiched card is selected before the sandwiching cards, while seemingly a small change; this makes the effect much harder to work back through for the spectators.

‘OmniPresent’
A card is chosen and signed. The spectator is now given the deck to hold and told to imagine that the entire deck has suddenly become transparent and that the only card they can see, right in the middle of the deck is their card! A fantastic pseudohypnosis routine.

As the title suggests, this is an alternate effect using the commercially available OmniDeck. James makes the case on the DVD that it is a shame that such a versatile prop is resigned to being the kicker on countless ACRs. I’m inclined to agree with him! OmniPresent is a really clever and simple idea. The full extent of the effect is lost on the other spectators as the angle isn’t quite right for them to see the refractive effect the plastic has on the card. There is one bold (loosely called) ‘move’ which clearly borrows from the realms of pick pocketing and hypnosis to pull off. While certainly daring, there is no fear of being caught, as it is done very openly (confused yet!?). I am going to have to play around with it as a pseudohypnosis effect. I think it might be stronger as a hypno effect if the other spectators do not become aware of the OmniDeck and assume it to be a regular deck; it still however is an extremely strong routine and I think James may have one or two other interesting ideas with the OmniDeck he’s yet to reveal!

‘Caught Three Times’
Three selected cards appear sandwiched, one at a time, between two court cards under impossible conditions!

The summary...well... sums it up. This is my single favourite sandwich routine (except for my sandwich transpo, email me for details! (harry@harrythemagician.ie)). It is an ingenious routine, it is probably the second most technical routine on the DVD, Thought of Triumph being the most technical, due to the liberal use of the cull in both routines. This just floors people; it was previously published in Stuff and I loved it there and still love it now!

‘Reverse Engineering’
Two thought of cards are divined under impossible conditions. James now takes the audience back in time showing that one card placed in his pocket at the start of the routine is one of the selections!

The description for the effect is slightly confusing; essentially it is a thought of card to pocket routine with a nice presentation angle. People may dismiss this as the weakest routine on Volume One but that is a relative term. It is certainly one of the routines closest to pure mentalism and the presentation is adaptable to pure mentalism. I like it a lot, it’s probably not a closer but it’s still a damn fine routine!

‘Cerebral Steal’
The spectator chooses a card and is then made to lose all memory of it! This is then followed by an impossible mind read by the magician. Strong and reputation making magic!

I’ve forgotten what I was going to say about Cerebral Steal... No, it is truly one of the finest bits of hypnomagic out there. I also played around with the concept of spectators forgetting stuff (my preference was and still is ESP symbols) based on routines by Jay Sankey and Luke Jermay, I think Amit Badiani has also toyed with a similar effect as have a few others; I have no problem saying James’s is the best of the lot. This routine was talked about a lot when a video surfaced on YouTube of James performing it (okay he put it there). A lot of people doubted that the routine was done cold; it was, and still is! I have performed my version would some James inspired changes (or more his version with some bits from mine!) for a lot of people and it just floors them. If I am doing two effects at a table, Cerebral Steal is one of them, if I’m doing one it’s a toss up between it Polygraph (routine of mine) and Reality is Bent (another routine of mine, see The Manchurian Approach by Anthony Jacquin available from www.anthonyjacquin.com or www.alakazam.co.uk). That is how much I love this routine, it displaces at least two out of three of my pet routines that I have spent countless hours developing! My one regret with James publishing this is that now a lot of people will be doing it! Technically it’s simple; however attitude and patter are essential for it. It is probably the most challenging routine in that sense on the DVD; (my essay to be published in the forthcoming Manchurian Approach Supplement touches on this area, though more in relation to hypnotism, contact me on the address as above if you want a copy and don’t have Anthony’s DVD (Why not!?)).

Effect by Effect (Volume Two)

‘Thought of Triumph’
The deck is shuffled face up into face down and the spectator thinks of one card. The whole deck now turns face down except for their selection!

Can you cull a feck load of cards? No? Move along! This is undoubtedly the most knuckle busting routine on the DVD purely because it requires a lot of multiple culling; Lennart Green has a slightly easier move that will achieve the same thing, just not as well, if you have his excellent Green Magic DVDs and this one, you will know what I’m talking about. The effect itself is excellent and harder hitting than the already hard hitting triumph! The best variation of the classic plot around.

‘Burn’
A card is selected and placed onto the spectator’s hand. Suddenly their hands are now stuck together and slowly heat up. When they open their palms, the selected card is now seen to have a burn mark on it.

Burn is an example of something I think we’ll see a lot of in the next few years: visual representation of a spectators perceived feeling. Two routines that I know of in print that play with the same idea are Reality is Bent, my routine from the Manchurian Approach DVD, and Anthony Jacquin’s Briefer Therapy, a lovely idea available on Proper Mental Three, his supplement to Reality is Plastic, email Anthony on enquiries@anthonyjacquin.com for more details. Aside from the opportunity for self-promotion, Burn is a really nice routine. Powerful, emotionally involving and technically easy. However, like with Cerebral Steal, attitude is everything when you do it.

‘Triple Whack’
Three cards are freely selected by three people. The cards are dealt onto the table for the spectators to slam their hands onto their cards when they see them. All spectators chose the same card! This card (signed) instantly vanishes and appears on the ceiling above them... Stunning magic!!!

Triple Whack is another highlight from Stuff. I liked it then and I like it now. The ending is however optional; the three people whacking each other is enough misdirection for a parade of dancing strippers to pick everyone’s pockets! If you’ve ever wanted to do something with a card but didn’t have the courage to pull off a bold move, Triple Whack is probably the solution!

‘Underhanded’
A chosen card appears under the spectator’s hand!

What he said. Exactly as described. This is a lesson in audience management. Do yourself a favour and try it, just once. This is not one for the D&D school of magicians who spend hours mastering wanky sleights; you can only learn this by doing it... live.

‘Thought of Card Under Watch’
Card under watch goes to another level! The spectator freely thinks of any card which instantly appears under their watch. Simple, clean and direct as it reads.

Yeah, description’s accurate. Chosen card under watch: good, thought of card under watch: excellent.

Final Thoughts

As you’d expect, a seriously top quality project from James and Russ. If you can only get one volume, get both. If you can really only get one, then the first volume is slightly better, if only for Cerebral Steal and Box Clever.

Technically most things are achievable however the routines need to be performed. Mastery of the sleights is only the smallest part of James’s performances; mastery of the audience is much more important in almost every effect. With routines of this quality, it’s easy to see why James is becoming a celebrity in the magic community. His attitude to performance is really a step in a great direction for magic, a direction that could do with more performers.

Everything on the DVDs is seriously workable material, so many magicians’ magicians put out material that is impractical for any working pro to use, whether it’s because of the reset time, awkward angles, and impractical sleights or just because it’s a crap trick. Nothing here falls into those categories.

I do not give products a rating out of ten; I don’t think any number can sufficiently sum up more than two thousand words of feedback. I will however say that both volumes currently sit next to Derren Brown’s ‘The Devil’s Picture Book’ on my shelf.

oeb

Cheers for the review Harry, this is the next item on my list (as you know) and I am now just getting more eager for it =D

I love James Brown's style of magic.