"Iced Over" by Russ DeSimone and Ed Bedrick
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 7 Out of 10

"Iced Over", a new effect by Russ DeSimone and Ed Bedrick, is a rather neat collection of props and ideas playing with the newly-popular water-to-ice effect that, though lacking in a few areas, is worth buying just for the ideas.

You know how I am: if I get something and get good, workable ideas from it, then it's worth every penny to me and, actually, probably a darn sight more than the creator charged for it. "Iced Over" did exactly that for me. I've been changing water to ice for years now (you can see my weird little handling and the even weirder presentation in "Pentalogy" and "Five") and I thought I had covered all the bases but "Iced Over" still managed to give me more than a few good ideas. That makes it easily worth the asking price.

So what do you get for your hard-earned shekels? You get three small plastic pieces of fake ice (think cracked iced instead of crushed or cubed) and four pages of instructions and ideas. Chances are that, if you just opened the package, expecting all the greatest whiz-bang stuff in the world, you'd be sorely disappointed and relegate this one to the bottomless sock drawer. That would likely be a mistake.

I'll be the first to admit that some of the effects given in the instructions leave me cold (sorry). Most of them require sleeving to pull off and I'm just not that big a fan of the technique (I say this after having been blown away more than once by guys who can do it like Mozart could play a piano; it's just not for me). Also there seems to be a disregard for any visual component for the change, and that's odd to me since it always seemed that the more visual the change of water-to-ice the more powerful the effect is.

For those drawbacks, though, I'd still recommend "Iced Over", especially to those wanting a quick icebreaker (sorry again) without a lot of cost that plays really well if you play it right. The initial effect plays as clean as described in the ads and can really get the reactions and it's within the reach of pretty much anyone regardless of skill level. It should be mentioned, though, that the best way of getting power from this lies in the keys of the presentation -- timing and pacing -- more than technique and a beginner may have problems getting the "oomph" from this they expect.

I'd also recommend "Iced Over" for a couple of the effects that stoked the fire of ideas a bit. These pieces use the props, along with some other bits and pieces (not supplied, but one is fairly common and the other easily obtainable). One of those uses a Cellini idea that I was kicking myself for not thinking of applying to this before and, to be honest, makes this worth the money to me.

Overall, "Iced Over" has some issues and you'll have to decide for yourself whether they are either crippling or workable. For my money, though, "Iced Over" is a collection of neat ideas and good props that is worth owning and exploring.

"Iced Over" by Russ DeSimone and Ed Bedrick
In a Blink: 7 Out of 10

Practicality: 9
There are six different things to do with the props, and the level of practicality runs all over the place, but all are fairly practical at worse. The initial effect, the one described in the ads, requires little set-up, offers a quick reset, and has very few requirements to perform.

Workmanship: 5
It's what you'd expect, those three pieces of fake ice, and they are certainly well enough made to be used effectively in any of the routines.

Documentation: 8
The documentation is clear enough to teach the effects using the prop, but it gets added points for offering some very neat ideas. What is lacking is some of the finer points that an experienced performer will recognize quickly.

Effect: 8
Changing water to ice, done properly, is an intriguing, powerful thing, mostly due to the strangeness of the effect. The routines here certainly carry the theme well enough.

Presentation: 5
"Iced Over" concentrates on cleanness, and the routines supplied are that, but the visual component, something that really sells the whole water-to-ice thing, is sadly lacking.


Shane