Doc Dixon
DIARY OF DECISION
$36
Suggested Retail Price: $40
THE BLURB:
"For centuries we've said playing cards - even a single
playing card - could reveal a person's innermost thoughts.
Now you can prove it!"
You explain to your participant that playing cards can
actually reveal how a person feels about life's biggest
metaphysical questions. You offer to prove it. She removes a
card from a deck and places it aside.
You ask her five questions of a metaphysical/afterlife
nature, including ...
Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in ghosts? etc.,
And a fifth question entirely of her choosing and creation.
She picks up the Diary of Decision, an artistically crafted
hard bound book with a gold foil embossed cover. The book
has a personal thought profile for each card of the deck,
including answers to the five questions.
She turns to the profile for her card.
The profile matches her first answer.
The profile matches her second answer.
The profile matches her third answer.
The profile matches her fourth answer.
And it even matches the answer of the question she created
herself!
Plays big for close-up, strolling and platform.
At 4-1/2 by 6 inches,the Diary of Decision easily fits in
your pocket.
No memory work required.
Several routining options from virtually sleight free to
entirely sleight free.
Bonus routines are built into the book for such special
situations such as anniversaries and birthdays.
Includes instructional/performance dvd.
MY COMMENTS:
This is a very cool idea and an utterly original approach to
the "diary" type of effect. It's not a diary at all,
actually. The title of the effect is somewhat misleading,
and I'm assuming it's such for sales purposes. It's
actually a book that has one playing card and its meaning on
each page. Also, there are five questions to ask. Only one
is customizable, which is a great idea.
What I find useful about The Diary of Decision is that it
can be used with a regular deck of cards and that no
memorization is necessary. There is a stack involved, and
it uses the Aronson stack (which only underscores the fact
that a magician, as opposed to a mentalist, created this),
but the stack does not need to be memorized at all, nor does
the deck need to be in stacked order.
The big consideration to this is that the book is called
"The Diary" right on the cover. As mentioned above, it's
not a diary, at least not by the traditional meaning. It
should be called something like "Hidden Secrets of Playing
Cards."
Now here are my personal obversations. Of the five
questions being asked, one of them is a simple "Are you born
in an even or odd year" as opposed to the opinion questions
of the other four. To me, that seems odd when a question of
fact is in the middle of a set of opinion questions. I'm
also not too wild about the design of the back cover which
simply lists the questions rather than having them within
the text of the book's description.
Despite these considerations, I definitely recommend this,
especially as a fresh alternative to all those other diary
effects. Now, if you're curious what the modus operandi is,
all I'll say is that if you're a fan of Leo Boudreau's work,
which I certainly am, then you'll like this. The package
for this clever and unique effect includes the DVD
instructions, the diary (6.25" x 4.5"), and a gimmick that
you'll need (though you probably already have it).
"For centuries we've said playing cards - even a single
playing card - could reveal a person's innermost thoughts.
Now you can prove it!"
You explain to your participant that playing cards can
actually reveal how a person feels about life's biggest
metaphysical questions. You offer to prove it. She removes a
card from a deck and places it aside.
You ask her five questions of a metaphysical/afterlife
nature, including ...
Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in ghosts? etc.,
And a fifth question entirely of her choosing and creation.
She picks up the Diary of Decision, an artistically crafted
hard bound book with a gold foil embossed cover. The book
has a personal thought profile for each card of the deck,
including answers to the five questions.
She turns to the profile for her card.
The profile matches her first answer.
The profile matches her second answer.
The profile matches her third answer.
The profile matches her fourth answer.
And it even matches the answer of the question she created
herself!
Plays big for close-up, strolling and platform.
At 4-1/2 by 6 inches,the Diary of Decision easily fits in
your pocket.
No memory work required.
Several routining options from virtually sleight free to
entirely sleight free.
Bonus routines are built into the book for such special
situations such as anniversaries and birthdays.
Includes instructional/performance dvd.
MY COMMENTS:
This is a very cool idea and an utterly original approach to
the "diary" type of effect. It's not a diary at all,
actually. The title of the effect is somewhat misleading,
and I'm assuming it's such for sales purposes. It's
actually a book that has one playing card and its meaning on
each page. Also, there are five questions to ask. Only one
is customizable, which is a great idea.
What I find useful about The Diary of Decision is that it
can be used with a regular deck of cards and that no
memorization is necessary. There is a stack involved, and
it uses the Aronson stack (which only underscores the fact
that a magician, as opposed to a mentalist, created this),
but the stack does not need to be memorized at all, nor does
the deck need to be in stacked order.
The big consideration to this is that the book is called
"The Diary" right on the cover. As mentioned above, it's
not a diary, at least not by the traditional meaning. It
should be called something like "Hidden Secrets of Playing
Cards."
Now here are my personal obversations. Of the five
questions being asked, one of them is a simple "Are you born
in an even or odd year" as opposed to the opinion questions
of the other four. To me, that seems odd when a question of
fact is in the middle of a set of opinion questions. I'm
also not too wild about the design of the back cover which
simply lists the questions rather than having them within
the text of the book's description.
Despite these considerations, I definitely recommend this,
especially as a fresh alternative to all those other diary
effects. Now, if you're curious what the modus operandi is,
all I'll say is that if you're a fan of Leo Boudreau's work,
which I certainly am, then you'll like this. The package
for this clever and unique effect includes the DVD
instructions, the diary (6.25" x 4.5"), and a gimmick that
you'll need (though you probably already have it).
