Any Wallet by Jon Allen. A Real Magic Live Review and Q and A

Hello, look, I might as well start early because it's clearly not going to work. Well, it's a mess. I've just had a nightmare again. I know, it's like I've scripted it, isn't it? Can you imagine? So, I need to know whether you can hear me. I need to know whether I'm good. So, this isn't the Albert Hall I know you'd think. Oh, shut up. Volume's down, right. I'm having to look at the comments on there because, honestly, if you could see it. Now, I wish you could because it looks amazing over there, but I don't know how it all works. I've changed everything. So, hello, welcome to Real Magic Review. I think we are still a bit early, so I'll, you know, waffle for a bit. Hey all, can you hear me all right? Because I've had awful problems for the last few days with my lack of knowledge. I was going to bank bad workman and all that, but it's not the tools. It certainly isn't the tools. And I hope you're well. I'll just waffle for a bit until we start. Hi, Steve. Yeah, I can hear you. Hope you're well. Yay, good. Hi, Dan. Hi, Paul. This is going to be a very waffly one, as if that's any different than usual. Because, well, we'll talk in a second. But I do hope you're all well. And one of the things I've been thinking about a lot is what a lovely community this is turning into. You know, I love the fact I see the same people pop up every time. And thank you for doing that. It's really lovely, especially at times like this. So, this is going to be a review. It's going to be a waffle. It's going to be a bit of a catch-up. Do ask any questions. I'd love to know how you are. You know, it's always me going on. But at the moment, you know, we've had weeks and weeks of lockdown now. I'd love to know how people are bearing up. I'd love to know what challenges you've got. I'd love to know if you've got any questions about how I'm dealing with certain things. I had a proper meltdown yesterday. I'm not going to lie to you. It wasn't a slightly screamy, freaking out meltdown. It was just kind of like, wow, this is starting to catch up with me a little bit. So, before we do that, I know my transparency sometimes isn't palatable for many people, but that's OK. If I look down, I'm looking at my phone, but I'm not looking at my phone because I'm bored and checking my Facebook. I'm looking at my phone to see that you're all there because I've got a new computer, a new monitor. I don't know how it all works and I've got weird things going on. And two minutes before this, it just wouldn't come together. So, I hope it's OK. So, welcome to Real Magic Review. There's no logo or anything. That ain't working. My name is Steve Faulkner. Today we're going to be doing Any Wallet by John Allen. This is a PDF, so it's something you can get wherever you are. You don't have to wait for it to arrive for weeks and weeks and weeks. And actually, the post hasn't been that bad. I've been really surprised at how it's kind of, unless you're getting stuff from overseas, it's been OK. But again, tell me about your experiences. I haven't been playing with a lot this week. I've just given kids back to their mum. I've had them for nine days, sort of on and off. So, it's been really hard trying to get focused on things. One of the things was what I reviewed yesterday, which is the window change, which was lovely. Ten minute download. This is kind of what we want at the moment, isn't it? Especially if we've got kids and we're kind of struggling with time. And I know some of us aren't. It's got opposites for a lot of people, isn't it? Some of us have got way more time, some of us haven't got any. And I find myself kind of, especially in the last week or so, not having much. So, those little things have been really, really useful, actually. I'm just going to check on the comments and then I'll start the review. I'm going to go another six weeks. Checking in from Norway, Chico de Costa. How are you doing? Nice to see you here. Greetings from Sweden. It's lovely to see you all. So, any wallet? Now, there's been a few of these, haven't there? There's obviously the card to wallet. I'm going to tell you, the first time I saw card to wallet, and I have talked about this before, but you'll notice me sometimes repeat myself, not often, but sometimes. I was working in a juggling and magic shop and I wasn't a magician. I was starting to learn a couple of magic. This is in the 90s in Australia. And unbelievably, I am that old, which you're now starting to see a little bit more obviously. Someone came in with their mum. This guy was about 40 with his mum. It's a common thing for us magicians, isn't it? And he was a bit annoying, this guy, right? I didn't know. He was kind of being really cocky. And he did a card to wallet. And then he did a card to wallet, right? And the important thing is, he did a card. I'm just going to adjust my light a little bit. He did a card to wallet without a signed card. And I took a card, he put it back and it was in his wallet. And it completely got me. And you'd think, well, it wasn't signed. It's just another card. But I knew, I felt I'd chosen it very cleanly. And it was, he had punned it in, because I now remember what kind of wallet it was. But I could not get it out of my head. And I remember that all the time when I think of this stuff, when we think about how lay people see this, I really, really try and reconnect with that. So a card to wallet is a really strong thing. A card to an envelope in a wallet is arguably a stronger thing because it's sealed in the envelope, envelope, whatever you want to say. And when I first saw that, that was also, I was a magician at that point, obviously, I was really, really impressed with that. So wallet, a card, it's in the deck one minute, you see it pop to the top and it is sealed in something. It's an incredible thing. And John Allen's done, you know, he's got a Paragon box. He's no stranger to this kind of concept. And he's kind of pushed, you know, the Paragon box was a kind of push forward, I felt, from a lot of the clear boxes. I'm not saying it's better. It was just felt like a very, when I saw it, I was like, that's cleaner than anything I've ever seen. So he has got a good eye for that. And this, he's almost gone back. And I don't mean back for quality. He's gone back to doing a gimmickless card to wallet, to envelope in wallet. And that seems too good to be true, doesn't it? And I know, like I said, there's been a few, I think, people on media bought a thing you could use with any wallet. And this can use literally any wallet. So it's a hip wallet, sort of vertical, there's landscape and portrait ones on there. And it can use a bigger wallet if you want to use it with a larger wallet for stage. Sometimes it's a thing. So the smaller wallet, you're going to bring a card out that's folded, Mercury card fold, okay? With a larger one, you can do a wallet that's not folded. I would kind of argue that if you're going to use a large one, you might as well use a card to wallet. But then if you're going to be on stage, but then there is a cleanliness to this. So there's always a payoff, isn't there? When you're getting rid of gimmicks, you're kind of, you're making another sacrifice. So first of all, when I read this, I kind of thought, how is this going to happen? And it was, I wouldn't say it was obvious, but it kind of, it was sort of what I thought, but then it's all about the subtleties and the way you make this look really good. So first of all, this is a PDF, it's 20 quid. It's got video in it. So you've got a couple of video links there, and it's got this extra diary trick, but it's talking you through how to use your existing wallet with any envelope. So a cash envelope, I said, can't we say envelope and envelope? What one is it? I've looked this up by the way, and I still don't know. Nobody seems to agree. You can use a cash envelope or a larger one. And it's, it's really, I really, really like it. Okay. It's, it talks you through something that you can imagine you can imagine as you're, as, as you're reading it, that it would look really good. It's, it's one of those things, you know, when you're the way you handle things, it's just so open and so clean that there's not going to be any doubt. And that's the big thing that people are going to think about with this. As magicians, we look at something, when we take the gimmicks out of it, when we see almost like a simple, elegant solution to something that we've been looking at for so long, we doubt it. And, and I remember being at the session convention years and years ago, one of the earliest sessions and somebody showing me some magic tricks and card tricks. And I was really blown away from him. And then he said, oh, that's from one of the early Royal Road books or something like that, or one of the early Vernon books. And it was, they were tricks that I kind of knew, but there were simplifications and it made me realize we don't, we sometimes jump too far. We get too advanced and we, we can sometimes look at something that's just very simple, very elegant. I don't mean easy. I mean, simple in idea, but then you, you stack up the subtleties on top of it. And that's when you've got something really special. So the plus points to this are that it's, in a way it's kind of cleaner because at the end you are completely clean. They can look at the wallet, not that they want to, but I'm just, if they wanted to, if you wanted to say, look, it's all there. They can look at the wallet. They can look at the envelope. They've got the card and you, there's just literally nothing to see. The other good thing is that I love the subtleties. It's got a really nice Paul Wilson thing where it, where you kind of cancel out something they're thinking. So they go, they can then take the card out of the envelope, which I really like. It uses a minimum, you can use the minimalist wallet. I think that's really interesting. You know, the little wallets with just cards in, you can use that, which I really like the idea of. It's fair, it's fairly easy. Now, Mercury card fold is a move that I think is very doable, even more doable if you have perfect score. Now there is a deal that John does. If you buy this, you get a perfect score for cheaper. It's not that expensive anyway. I can't remember what it was, but I really like, a perfect score is another one of those things. You can get a little bit egotistical. I don't need help with my Mercury card fold, but I'll tell you what, if you, if you use that and you do it, you kind of never go back. It's for certain tricks when you need it to be spot on. It's, it's really nice. Um, so easy angles, the, the, on the, on the sort of more challenging side of it, I suppose it, it's cleaner, but if, if you take a, a, a normal card wallet with a palm, this uses a different thing. I'm not sure what's easier, really. I suppose a palm is scarier. Um, but I'm not sure it's, it's more difficult. And if you're using the, the larger wallet, again, it's a sort of similar principle. So, but with the smaller wallet, I think it's arguably easy, but there is an angle thing. He says in the PDF that if you can imagine the angles you need for a, um, a bill switch, it's similar angles, which I think it's better than that actually, because bill switch kind of, you can use your body to shield it, but it is very up here. And I think for this one, you can do it. I think it's slightly better than the angles for a bill switch. Um, but I really want to try this now and I'm frustrated because I really liked reading it and I'm like, I think this will play really strongly. I don't think they'll have any doubt that it came out of the thing. I think because people know magicians can do that. They won't, they won't be able to backtrack. Um, I love the way you can do it kind of impromptu. You don't have to have this special wallet. And if you've got something like a rebel wallet or anything like that, it kind of, it's normal anyway. But you know, if you, if you're one of those people that haven't, there's something nice about this. Um, and like I keep saying, there's a, there's a kind of elegance to this. The diary trick you get on it, um, will is good. It's, it's a nice added bonus. It's, it's something you need a special sort of setup for, which some of you will go, yay. And some of you will go, Oh yeah, I'm not doing that. But it's, but you know, for a 20 quid down, even if you don't like that extra trick, I think it's well worth it. It's a really nicely put together PDF. I will say there's something in all of us, isn't there? When we, when we buy a PDF, we're so used to the instant download thing that we go, well, why isn't it video PDF? I thought this read really nicely and I've actually really enjoyed reading it. I think nice happens. Doesn't it? When you read something and I wouldn't be put off by the fact it's a PDF. It's very, very simple to follow. It's really clearly illustrated. It's really clearly described. And you're, I don't think you're going to have any problems. There's no weird hand angles or anything like that. It's, it's one of those tricks that doesn't need loads of detail. The detail is in the subtlety, the communication, um, and how you act. And I will say one of the challenges as well is there's a kind of acting to this. You are going to really have to relax. I think the more relaxed you are when you do this and the more that kind of bold, but my feeling is that when you've done it a few times, you realize it's quite easy, but I think you're going to have to act this and make it really relaxed and not to not cause any suspicion. Uh, but a really nice thing. And I think, I think a lot of people will take this and use it. There is a Facebook page with people. Those are great ideas. Um, and I think in times like this, when we can get something, if we start working on something and get ready to take it back out, it's, uh, it's a lot of fun. I really, I really, really liked it. So, um, any questions I've got a question now because I'm bound to have missed loads off. Let me just see if there's any thing. Oh, that's what I was going to say. Yeah. Um, I sometimes do a, when I do card to wallet, when I've got a bit of time, I'll sometimes fold it, uh, or when I've just done the watch or I've got to do something else or something, I'll fold it. And I found actually, and John says, when it comes out of the wallet folded, it's stronger. And I've always wondered that, but people do often say, but how did you get it folded and into the wallet? It kind of adds another thing. So you've got the original card to wallet, which is really strong. You've got the envelope in wallet, which is really strong. You've got this folded into envelope and wallet, which is really strong. You can do a nested envelopes, which he has in there talking about that, which is really, really strong. I'm not sure they're all strong, but I'm not sure it's really interested in it. Are they stronger or is it just more, is there only a certain level of impossibility and then it doesn't get more impossible. I like, um, Gustav Kuhn in, in, uh, experiencing the impossible talks about the fact that can something be more impossible than something else impossible. And he says that if you could lift, you know, a car, you know, with your mind, would it be more impressive if you can lift a truck? Because if you can lift stuff with your mind, it's not heavy anymore, is it? It's not about weight. So it's, so there's a kind of logic to that, I think, but anyway, it's discussion. Uh, not sure that made sense, but let's have a look. Um, you need to check out Danny Goldsmith's other projects. Yes. Um, I do. I really do that. I really like, and today I made a little bit of a breakthrough with his, um, CB Vanish. Yes. CB Vanish. That, that really beautiful. I've been working on it for so long. And today I really, with both hands, so the left hand is really, really difficult, but I made a bit of a breakthrough with that. So I think it's absolutely stunning that vanish. And I've got some more of that kind of stuff from Copland Coins to, to review soon. So I'm going to be reviewing more coin stuff. So do keep an eye out. Um, do you ever do juggling in Magic Act? Uh, any idea how impossible construction? Not sure about that, Tom. Uh, juggling in a, in a Magic Act. Yeah, I do. I do. I do my show. So my show's got a five minute juggling routine in the middle of it. And I find it lifts the energy massively. Actually, it's a nice break. Um, it can be a bit of a clang. You've got to kind of justify that. I talk about how I go into talk about how I used to be a street performer and I used to be a juggler and for old time's sake to make it, um, all that time worth it, I bring it into the show. But, but it's almost like when you see a juggler in a magic convention, it really lifts, it can really lift the energy. So I think that there's a, but you've got, it's like magic. You've got to make it something. It can't just be the juggling. It's got to be either funny or beautiful or mine's certainly not beautiful. Um, but I think it's quite funny maybe. So I think that's it. Um, please look at the, the, the links below afterwards. It's really important because I'll put John's link in there. Remember this is the independent people bringing that independent stuff. I love all the shops. I love the, the other stuff that I do, but you know, it's really worth supporting people if they're putting the work in, you know, we're all struggling. And when people bring out good stuff, I don't mean just stuff, if people, it's worth having a look at at least. So do look at the links, please like, please subscribe. I didn't say it at the beginning, please check out carfmagiccourse.com go on, you know, you want to. And just before we go, I'll have a quick look. Um, okay. Hey, John's here. Hi. Uh, just want to clarify. It is possible to produce a flat card from a hipster wallet, not just a yes. Good point, John. Um, yeah, I'll just say that again. I did sort of rush through it earlier. You, you can, if you don't want to do the fold. Yes. If you've got, um, uh, you can do a flat one from hipster wallet as well. I kind of made it look like you'd only do that from the bigger one, but you can do that. John goes into a lot of detail in this. It's, and it's good because it's not a PDF that goes on for pages and pages and pages, all the details in there, he's made it really concise and, and you'll see some testimonials from people that really like it. And it is, it's, it's really, John doesn't really release rubbish, does he? And I'm not just saying that because you're here, John, you know, I've said it before. Um, it's, you know, you know what you're doing. You, you, you work, you're a worker. So thanks a lot. Have a great one. I'm glad it all worked because I was properly panicking. I've got to go over there to turn it off now. So it's going to be empty for a bit, but, uh, stay safe, everybody cheers. Um, keep in touch, please comment. And I really, really, really hope you're, you're all okay. Check out car magic course. It's brilliant, but I would say that I've got to go miles away now.