Hi all!

I have just finished my Ebook; American Dream, which will be sold soon.
I will give away 5 FREE REVIEW COPIES to the first 5 people that PM me their E - mail Address!

Best wishes,

Kyle

2 Gone ALREADY!

Kyle

3 Gone!

Kyle

1 LEFT!

Kyle

Still 1 left!

Kyle

All of them have gone!

Kyle

Kyle graciously gave me a copy of his American Dream Ebook. Not only is this my first exposure to Kyles's work but my first reveiw on the Café. Here goes nothing!


American Dream by Kyle MacNeill.

The ebook begins with a straight forward indroduction telling the readers the inspriation behind the ebook: Kyle's trip to the USA. After an impressive table of contents we get to the effects:


Hoffe Chew: This is Kyles take at the Hofzinzer Ace Problem. Not only does Kyle's version provide lots of extra magic but it has a unique yet logical presentation. The only problem with me is that I think it may be too much for an audience to follow; but then again I haven't tried it yet. 4/5


Rule of Gum V 2.0: This effect is apparently a variation of Kyle's effect Rule of Gum. I didn't have the props with me offhand, but they are easily available. Not really that much else for me to say. 3/5


Poker Players ACAAN: This one is a neat ACAAN type of effect. It can be done with a borrowed deck of cards. Kyle definitely thought out of the box on this one (oweners of the book will regognize the box reference)4/5

A love of Cards: This one is a card revelation. The idea istelf is very clever, but as I live in the USA, it may be hard to find the prop involed. Those who like Rule of gum V 2.0 will like this. 3/5


Biddle ACAAN: This next one is a favorite of mine. In plot, it is a opposite biddle effect and then a counting revelation; don't worry, its not as confusing as it sounds. It also has an instant reset. With a good presentation, this one will knock the spectators away; especially because one of the revelations happens in their own hands. 5/5


A Famous star: Wow! This is truly awesome. A collecters effect with a kicker ending. All this with a fun presentation about spotting famous celebrities. Epic. 5/5

Baseball Aces: I myself, don't follow baseball but most of my friends do. This ace assembly will be perfect for them. Although nothing is wrong about the effect itself, the explanation is a bit confusing. 4/5


Reverse hypnosis: This is a beautiful multi-phased card routine where the spectators are told they are under hypnosis (not really). Has some akward handling, but the effect makes up for it. 5/5


Ketchup, slow coach: This is another card revelation with food. This one is perfect when you are at a resteraunt and someone asks you to peform a card trick. Simple and creative 5/5


Celeberity status: Another celeberity themed affect. Each phase is justified by the fun patter about the celeberity that is there card. A quirky opener indeed. 5/5



Overall, I found the book highly enjoyable. Theres sure to be something for everybody I give the ebook 8/10. I love Kyle's style and hope to get more of his ebooks soon.



Your Thinking Cap Reviews copyright 2010.

Thank you very much for your Review 'Your Thinking Cap'!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Best wishes,

Kyle MacNeill

Once again an amazing book of ideas.....

ALl the best

R

Kyle,

I'll try my best to get a review up by the end of today. I'm currently at work.

Thank you very much James, that would be great.
Also thanks Russel!

Best wishes,

Kyle

Just had the pleasure of reading through Kyle MacNeill's ebook American Dream.

The first thing I would mention is that the presentation and general look of the ebook is very professional and good quality, this instantly makes you feel like you're reading something that hasn't been dreamt up over night - it is obvious that a lot of work and time has gone into coming up with these effects, streamlining them into workable pieces of magic and making sure they are as hard hitting as possible.

I will not be going into each individual effect as I feel that it something that should come from getting the book yourself.

American Dream has a great variety of tricks from pick a card type tricks, packet tricks, ace assemblies and card tricks which to the lay person will seem impromptu using objects it would be very natural to have around you in certain situations.

The tricks using random objects, for instance a pack of "love hearts" are very clever and strong out of the box thinking which I think would be brilliant if you could just show a few friends in a certain situation - I'm not sure how commercial they'd be to a walkaround magician for instance but that's not to say that they aren't very well thought out and different effects.

The other tricks in the ebook are all VERY well thought out indeed, Kyle obviously hasn't gone into this blindly and has researched various resources to find the right sleights or inspiration for tricks and this shows in his work.

Biddle ACAAN and A Famous Star are probably the two strongest effects in the book and can easily fall into any working magicians repertoire.

This is overall a terrific ebook with a great variety of tricks in it and Kyle should definitely be congratulated for coming out with such a selection of great tricks.

Nice one!
Chris Piercy

Thanks very much for your kind comments Chris!

Kyle

Hi guy,
again I am here to write just a comment about the Kyle's work and again
I have to say that is another very good ebook. Many of you already know that I like a lot the ACAAN and OP challenge and inside this ebook there are 2 intersting ACAAN: my favourite is Biddle ACAAN. Very creative with Rule of Gum V2 and I like a lot "A Famous star" and without write a comment for each effect I can say that this is another excellent work. Congratulations Kyle.

I highly reccomend it.

Tommy.

Review:

I received an advanced copy of Kyle's book. Here are my thoughts:

Firstly, the ebook front page is very slick indeed. Overall I enjoyed reading Kyle's ideas, and I recommend this book. That's all folks.




Just kidding (I hope you're still with me)

1) Hoffee Chew: I know I can here the groaning, another Hofziner ace trick. And at first I didn't think much of it, because I thought that the effect might be too confusing for spectators. But then I re-read again, and again, and 1 more time. And now I must say this trick has some cool magic going on, and plus it's not that difficult to perform.

Pros: - Basically impromptu (set-up is done in front of the victims .. I mean spectators lol)
- 1 phase of the trick involves doing "twisting the aces". And I must say it's a very clean way of doing it. Kyle says he got the idea from Liam Montier's Cardio book.

Cons: - I'm not sure if this should be a con, but I didn't really like the patter Kyle had. But, this isn't a problem at all because every magician should have there own patter for trick.
- There were no tips on the reset, but I'm assuming it was left out because the reset seems pretty obvious.

Overall I like this trick.

2) Rule of Gum V 2.0: Effect - A card is selected, and placed in between the Two Jokers. Two gum packets, magically, reveal the chosen card! The card then vanishes from in between the Jokers, and with Empty hands, is shown to be folded up in the Gum compartment of one of the gum packets!

I'm not going to say anything about the props that need to be purchased, because a previous reviewer already went over it.

Pros: - I would imagine that this trick would get great reactions from lay people.
- The moves and sleights are not difficult to do.

Cons: - You end a little dirty with no explanation for clean-up or reset. But yet again you can easily figure it out yourself.

Overall: Nice original thinking for an intersting and organic revelation using gum. For those reasons, I like this trick.

3) Poker Player's ACAAN: Effect - ACAAN using a barcode principle I discovered. Impromptu, simple, and it uses a borrowed deck!

Five words sum this up - "Out of the box thinking". Now this trick can be done with your own deck, and I can see the reactions being good. But I think, in order to get the most out of this trick, it should mostly just be done with a deck supplied by the spectator. Because that's how I think Kyle's barcode principle would work best. People who have this book should know what I mean.

Pros: - Impromptu
- Kyle states that the barcode principle is new. And I think it's clever.

Cons: - Now someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But I don't think this qualifies as ACAAN. Any card can be chosen, but any number can't be chosen. So I felt that this should be mentioned.
- This is a minor con. But Kyle says 1 percent of the time, this trick won't work.
- Stronger methods for the ACAAN are on the market.

Overall: I really like the thinking done here, but if I were to do an ACAAN I would look to another method.

4) A Love of Cards: Effect: A sweet packet patches up its message to form a revelation of a chosen card!

It's already been mentioned in an earlier post that it might be hard to find the props in places other than the UK. This trick is a card revelation using candy.

Pros: - The revelation and transformation happen in the spectator's hands.
- Low level of difficulty.
-Kyle says the trick gets nice reactions.

Cons: - The candy isn't examinable at the end.
- In my opinion there are better revelations out there, but then again variety is the spice of life.

Overall: I do like the idea of this trick. But because I live in Canada and finding the required props might take some work I wouldn't perform this one. This one didn't do it for me.

5) Biddle ACAAN: Effect - My opposite take on Elmer Biddle’s Biddle Trick plot, which was first described in Hugard’s Magic Monthly, Volume 11. No 8 April 1947, named ‘Transcendent’. It is mixed with a nice ACAAN. It almost the opposite of the original plot.

A good trick that uses multiple spectators. There is a bit of a set-up which wouldn't take too long. But the reset can be done pretty quickly. This trick would definitely play well for an audience.

6) A Famous Star: As already stated above, this is a collectors effect with a KICKER ending. This trick has a couple good things going for it.

A) This trick has a "Hollywood" theme to it. And as we all know, America (and Canada) are obsessed with celebs. So this trick would appeal to most spectators.
B) There is a kicker ending, that I must admit got me.

I could see this one going into some magi's repertoires. Good job Kyle.

7) Baseball Aces - I'm not really a fan of assembly tricks at the moment, so my opinion wouldn't mean much on the subject. So I will take a walk on this one, sorry for the pun. ( I know it was pretty cheasy)

8) Reverse Hypnosis - Kyle says this is one of his favourite tricks to perform.

In my opinion there is a lot going on in this trick. There are many phases. If I was to do this trick, I would stop after probably the fourth phase (where the king of diamonds reappears between the 4 aces). If you were to stop there, you would have a good trick which would get good reactions.

But Kyle has added more phases and that's fine. But in my opinion, I'd stop after the 4th phase.

9) Ketchup, Slow Coach: Effect - A card is divined and revealed with the help of a Ketchup bottle!

The effect pretty much sums it up. A card revelation that to me feels very organic. Heck it's magic with a ketchup bottle !!

Overall: I can see some people getting some use out of this in restaurants. But it's not for me.

10) Celebrity Status: Once again this tricks main advantage to me, is that it's about celebrities. People are obsessed with them.

Kyle says this is a fiery and magical opener. I can see why he likes it.
My only issue is part of the handling. If I was to do this trick, I would make some slight changes to it, but nothing major. And also there is a bit of a set-up, but nothing major.

Overall: This opener isn't difficult to do, has a good theme, and some good magic going on. I like it.

So that's it for the 10 effects. To sum it all up, I would recommend this book to any magi' looking for a good read, and also for any magi' looking for some workable material. My main goal was to be as fair as possible, and I think I succeeded. Thank you Kyle for letting me review your book.

Also one more thing I wanted to mention is Kyle seems to do a good job of crediting throughout the book.

Thanks and goodbye,


James Colonna

Thanks very much for your lovely comments, James and Tommy!

Best wishes,

Kyle

A few days ago, I discovered Kyle’s offer of 5 ebooks to the first 5 people who PM’d him. I hoped that I would be able to get one, but, as usual, I was too late. Well, Kyle was kind enough to review an ebook I’m about to sell, and he post messaged me after he reviewed my effect and offered me a free copy of his ebook American Dream! Of course I jumped instantly at the chance and here is my review of the ebook.

Hoffee Chew- I really like Kyle’s creative presentation for this effect. This effect is Kyle’s solution for the Hofzinser Ace problem. The creative part is that the patter line has to do with wrapping candy! I’d give this effect a 4/5

Rule of Gum V 2.0- This is one of my favorite effects in the entire pdf. Kyle has invented a brilliant method for revealing a selected card using two packs of gum, and then causing it to travel into one of the packs. This one is definitely a 5/5!

Poker Player’s ACAAN- This is an impromptu ACAAN effect which I really love. It can be done with any deck and almost always works! I’d give this a 4/5.

A Love of Cards- Unfortunately I won’t be able to perform this effect since I don’t own the materials required. I therefore cannot rate it.

Biddle ACAAN- Biddle Acaan is probably my third favorite. This effect has the potential to really stun a spectator! 4/5

A famous star- This is an incredible effect in which the four aces discover three other cards. “A famous star” is a great trick that will definitely blow the spectator’s away. Definitely a 5/5.

Baseball aces- An ace assembly with a baseball presentation for the patter line. I think the effect is amazing! The only problem is the explanation and patter line is a bit confusing. 3/5

Reverse hypnosis- From what I’ve heard, this is a good effect, but I myself cannot give an opinion. I got a little lost at the beginning since I didn’t know one of the sleights involved.

Ketchup Coach- If you’re ever in a restaurant where there are ketchup bottles, this is a great effect! The method behind it isn’t new, but I really like the presentation. 5/5

Celebrity Status- This is another card effect using a sleight I did not know. I therefore cannot rate it.

Overall, I’d give this ebook an 8/10. The only problem with this ebook is that there are several sleights which, although I knew most of them, are not explained in the pdf. If you are not fairly experienced in card sleights, you will probably be lost in this ebook. I know there were a few sleights which I did not know. Kyle, I would recommend you list each sleight at the top of the ebook along with the explanation of how it is done. If you do that, this ebook will be absolutely perfect! I also really like how Kyle has credits for each effect! Awesome job Kyle!

I just got on google and researched the two sleights I did not know. It turns out I DID know these sleights, but I didn't know the names.
Matt

Thanks very much for your feedback and lovely review Matt!

Kyle

Don't want to go over what everyone has already said but I want to add my thoughts.

This is a great little collection of tricks and effects. It almost goes without saying that we are dealing with a high quality product here, but there, I've said it.

The effects are built upon Kyle's usual style and way of thinking but also have a lot of magical undertones (the Gum v.2 trick). The Poker Player's ACAAN is something I will surely be using, it is a great effect that will be on hand for a 'do a trick now!!' moment, bang for your buck on this one. Hoffee Chew is a great effect too, nice story around it makes it here.
Reverse Hypnosis is another nice trick, with a Famous Star being a real highlight.

I think this book offers something for everyone and offers a great insight into Kyle's mind and they way we should all approach magic. It has fun and enjoyment at its core and comes from a genuinely nice guy.