"Acting Naturally: Card Magic" DVD by Allen Zingg
Suggested Retail USD$35.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

"Acting Naturally: Card Magic", the second volume in Allen Zingg's "Acting Naturally" trilogy, is a fantastic collection of old sleights redone to achieve a level of naturalness that makes this one a must-have for anyone working with cards. Period.

I fell in love with Zingg's work when I saw the first volume, "Acting Naturally: Elemental Coin Magic". His work there was so deep, so thorough, when it comes to thinking about handling coins and still making everything look natural, "normal" if you will. When he told me about volume two being about cards, I was thrilled to see more of Zingg's thinking, but a bit reserved about what I could get out of it.

You know where I'm going with this so I'll get there quick.

I've been doing card magic ever since I got my hands on "The Amateur Magician's Handbook". I've lifted and turned and shuffled and passed pasteboards until it's all second nature. Unlike coin work, which I've always struggled with, cards and I have had a lifelong relationship that's quite strong and firm. Could Zingg teach me and people like me a thing or two?

Turns out Zingg can teach everyone who works with cards a thing or two or twelve.

Zingg takes sleights that are at times about as "unnatural" as you can get, makes them look as casual as scratching your nose, and in the process makes them simpler.

That's a huge thing. There's a chain-reaction is doing sleights that goes like this: a sleight learned well instills confidence and confidence creates comfort which, in turn, gives the sleight a level of naturalness and yields the final result of a sleight that works within the routine to create magic. Zingg gets a jump on this stream of events by making the sleight natural and easy to do in the first place, all but ensuring successfully integrating these sleights into existing routines.

There's a lot of stuff to cover here, but let me give you an example: Zingg's "No-Guilt Cut Pass". We know the reputation the pass has, but Zingg throws it all away with a version that works, looks natural, and completely eliminates extra movement and the risk of getting caught. Even if someone is at an off-angle, even if they are burning your hands with laser-like intensity, they'll see nothing out of the ordinary, nothing suspicious at all. And it all comes courtesy of a single, natural action.

All the sleights are like that. Take the Thompson/Rutledge Palm. Zingg thinks just a bit outside the box, starts playing with what a natural action would be in the context of the sleight, and comes up with a more natural, smoother, and, in the end, easier, way of executing the sleight. Zingg's "Natural Double Lift", which really is more of a multiple lift since it can be done with doubles, triples, and quads, is another thing of simple beauty. No fancy flourishes to accomplish things, no "striking" or pinky-counting or the like, but just a simple, natural way of executing the move.

I won't go through a full rundown of the sleights -- there's more than a few of them -- but other than the ones I've mentioned, Zingg's work with the Psychiatric Shift and the Elmsley Deal are also especially interesting things to examine and learn.

Zingg teaches most of the sleights within the context of his four card routines. All of them are great routines, done as natural as you'd expect, and they are all worth learning and doing.

"Identity Theft" begins things, and it's a card-to-impossible-location plot, this time to a sealed envelope. However, the presentation and the sleights involved make this a solid piece of work and I'll end up using both a lot (which means pretty much every chance I get).

"Slydini Suite" was my favorite routine on the disc. It's an oil-and-water plot with a huge kicker ending that easily calls to mind the Master of Misdirection. I loved this one on a lot of levels, but mostly to Zingg's work here with the aforementioned misdirection. Beautiful work.

"Amazing Memory Aces" is Zingg's take on the Ace Assembly and it's a great one. The presentation is different, but it's the sleights here that make this one clean and direct.

Lastly, there's "Intuitive Choice", which is Zingg's version of the "Stop" plot. Once again, it's all about being natural and using natural sleights to pull this one off. You'll have to see it to appreciate just how easy this is, especially after you see the sleights being used (hint: these are sleights usually classified as "difficult" or "advanced"; Zingg, of course, makes them easy and workable).

I only mention the routines, really, for the sake of completeness. The meat here is Zingg's thinking on the sleights and his ideas about natural actions. The routines, as great as they are, are showcases for those sleights and serve to illustrate what can be done with them. Think of them as springboards to other ideas of your own.

Like his "Coin Magic" volume, this volume does more than pass on slick routines and improved sleights. After a couple of viewings you'll begin to grasp Zingg's thinking on a different level and apply it to other sleight work you do, allowing you to take his ideas and principles and push your own sleights up a level or two. That's really the icing on the cake at this point and makes "Acting Naturally: Coin Magic" worth every penny no matter what your skill level.

All in all, "Acting Naturally: Card Magic" is something every card worker needs to be exposed to. The routines are easily worth learning, the sleights worth mastering, and the thinking golden.

You can't go wrong with Allen Zingg, and you can't go wrong with "Acting Naturally: Card Magic".

"Acting Naturally: Card Magic" DVD by Allen Zingg
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Material: 10
Zingg's material can be summed up easily: excellent card sleights, altered in the most direct of ways, to be as natural and as simple as you could ask for. Toss in the four routines that make use of those sleights -- all of which are excellent -- and Zingg's wonderful thinking on "natural actions" and you've got a disc that every performer interested in cards should own.

Practicality: 10
Take a deck or two, add a table and a spectator, and you're ready to go with the routines. However, the card pieces are really the minor players here: the reason to get this disc is for the sleights and they are simply wonderful.

Quality of Production: 10
Simple and direct, with excellent video, sound, and navigation. You'll have no problems learning Zingg's material here.

Quality of Instruction: 10
As in the previous volume of this trilogy, Zingg's teaching is phenomenal. The attention to detail he pays to things, so you walk away understanding the mechanics and the psychology of his sleight variations, is perfect.

Presentation: 10
Well, judging from the title we know what we're getting here, and we get it in spades: sleights that are as natural as you can ask for, used just as naturally. Great, great stuff.


Shane

Available direct from your favorite dealer. Dealers, please contact Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc. toll-free at 1-800-853-7403 or visit Murphy's Magic Supplies website.