OK, I don’t do very many DVD reviews because most of the new stuff coming focuses on Closeup and/or street magic which I have very little interest in, but I saw this the other and it is AMAZING!

Here’s the ad copy:

“Animate an ordinary paper clip with absolutely NO SLEIGHT OF HAND. You can even perform this miracle completely HANDS OFF!

With nothing but a single paper clip, you’ll astound onlookers by making it bend and contort to your will. The method for Bently is unlike anything you have ever seen before.

• No optical illusions are used. YES, IT IS REALLY BENDING!
• You can perform Bently in the hands or HANDS OFF!
• No threads are used.
• Best of all Bently can be reset instantly so that you can perform it over and over with the same paper clip.

Within minutes of finishing this tutorial you’ll be able to flawlessly warp the paper clip from any angle, at any time.

Now, a bit of context. For years, I’ve been performing Banachek’s wonderful fork bending routine and it fries people consistently every time. So much so that while I’ve researched other DVDs and techniques (Osterlind has some really nice stuff) I’ve never felt compelled to actually work on anything new – I’m funny like that, if it works, I’m reluctant to change.

Anyway, a group of us got together…sort of a gathering of the old guard, with the man who initially got me into magic along with another guy we’ve both known for decades.

It used to be an annual tradition where we’d get together and try to fry each other with our newest stuff, but because of our schedules, we haven’t got together like this in many years.

So with some family members, there was maybe 9 of us at this gathering. We showed the family members some of our greatest hits and we were having a great time.

Then my friend says he was working on something new as a sort of tribute to my metal bending routine skills. And then he busts out this paper clip bending effect.

I was floored – the paper clip is REALLY bending/animating. Then he tipped the secret. Here are the facts:

* You can buy a zillion of the paperclips at your office supply store for very cheap

*Heat has NOTHING to do with this

* Zero angle problems

*Once you’re in performance mode, this is dead easy. I mean, you barely have to have a pulse for this to work.

Seriously, if I was more into closeup, I’d be adding this to my strolling set.

Now as far as the ad copy goes, I could quibble with the “anytime, anywhere” line. In truth, the paperclips must be prepared. The preparation is such that you then need to take a second (literally one second) to “get ready” to do the trick. I call this a trick because other than whatever story/script you attach, it’s really ONE effect, even though it’s great so I really can’t call this a “routine.”

Regarding the preparation, you ONLY need the paperclip to do the preparation. You don’t add anything to the paperclip. In other words, you’re not palming anything with the paperclip. You really are JUST holding a paperclip which is why this is so strong.

Additionally, for this to really great, you MUST take your time, so no, you cannot jump into this trick off the cuff with an unprepared paperclip. The best thing to do is have a bunch of prepared paperclips with you if you anticipate using this at a gig or “whenever.”

Another consideration is that since you can’t just do this with an unprepared paperclip at any time, you’ll need to have a reason why, after blowing spectators’ minds with this, you can’t do this if someone says, “Here’s another paperclip off my desk. Do that again.” So that is a consideration. For me, this is no big deal because I never perform informally. When I’m doing the rare closeup gig, it’s usually a corporate function and people are holding onto drinks and not stacks of paper.:)

One more thing to consider – without going into details, you need your paperclips to have a specific characteristic about them. It will not work with just any paperclip. Like I said, though, the specific kind of paperclip you need is ready available at most office supply stores. You should be able to pick a container of several hundred for just a few bucks.

I know this is not how I usually compose my reviews but I wanted to just get my raw thoughts into the blog because it’s rare that an effect fries me that much with an effect that is so pure and happily for those of you who really dig new methods, I’m pretty sure this method is brand spankin’ new.

This gets my highest recommendations, which may seem weird even with all the caveats. It’s just there is no “perfect” magic effect out there and they all have limitations, but for the effect of actually SEEING the clip bending – and no, it’s not an optical illusion it REALLY IS bending – the trade-off of the limitations I outlined is minimal for the great effect you get.

Have fun with this!

’til next time…

Cris