duno the name:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX_w07YYr7g

finding the card (triumph)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFdXJmdOwoI

4 tries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plMUhbeOMOw

double or nothing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HGst4sDYqU

do give your sincere comments on my performance (i dun mind critiques). some of them are kinda boring (duno how to add songs le ;p )

Here's my little "truthful review" of your performances:

"duno the name": This trick is actually called "The Jumping Gemini" by Darwin Ortiz (I believe). You performed it well, although I feel you rushed it a little and your patter was boring. Your descrepence when showing the final Kings was also too great. Do not ever use two of the same coloured kings in this routine, have a black and a red. That way, you'll get the descrepency of showing the same cards twice a lot easier, otherwise (if you're performing to a sneaky layman) he'll notice that there's apparently four red kings instead (which is what he'd have seen in your performance)... ouch. :mellow: 6/10

"Triumph": Standard Triumph effect, pretty cool. You had some better patter to your previous video, but the handling was just a little too sloppy. Try to "loosen up", you seemed very tense. Overall it was good though. 7/10

"Four Tries": Hehe, simple but effective, good work. 7/10

"Double or Nothing": Wow, that was bad. Not necessarily your performance, but the actual effect. The thing didn't make any sense in my eyes, it was pointless. But your presentation was OK. 5/10

Don't take any of this the wrong way. Overall, you did pretty well. Just work on some finesse in your performances, and smoothen everything out a little, it'd make viewing much more pleasurable. :)

- Lapping.

thanks lots. dun worry, not offended in any way ;p will work on the handling and the patter. thanks for taking the time to help review them. it is very much appreciated ;p I am not really good in patters i guess. pretty much because i can't really think of what to say for my tricks ;p hahaha will try to look at more vids and learn ;p once again, thanks ;p anymore advice and comments and critiques are still welcomed!!

I only watch "4 Tries" and "Double or Nothing" so here's my little comments.

For "4 Tries", you've got the effect down alright.
Perhaps just work a little on your card control to make it a little smoother. Else overall a pretty good effect.
One rather striking thing to me thou, is the delivery of the climax. While it's common practise to pretend to screw up and drag the revelation to build up anticipation, you might have over done it a little.
For example, after you showed them the 4 "not their card", you were handling them quite dedicately and preciously. You then showed them a 2nd time one by one that it's not their card, and then you do it a 3rd time but you hold back one card.
By now, the specs would have been certain that the magic is going to be happening in the 4 cards you are holding coz of the way you keep harping on them and seemingly ignoring the rest of the deck where the choosen card is. And the way you held back 1 card face down while showing all the others face up, i suspect most spec will suspect that you are going to turn that into their card, or even arrive that that IS already somehow their card.
I thought in this, the surprise was actually ruined.
I understand that you are trying to emphasis that the 4 cards are not their card, but overly emphasising on this point is a little "running when you are not chased", and probably will send the opposite signal.
And I felt, subjectively, that the drag from the build up to the revelation is a little too long. You want it long enough to build anticipation, but not so long that the peak is overshot.

Wah...this post become so long. :D

For "Double or Nothing", it is quite straight forward.
The effect doesn't make any sense. Too many logic gaps. Agree with Lapping, it's not necessarily your performance, it seems that the effect itself is really lacking. What was supposed to be magicial about it?

hrm, the timing, learnt something new again ;p ok will try to modify the trick to make it shorter so that it will reach the climax faster. oh regarding the double or nothing, it is just a normal simple trick which i think is fun for beginners like me to practice my double cut ;p i guess it must be my patter and poor handling that makes it not worthwhile ;p will do something about it ;p thanks alot for letting me know my mistakes. Any more comments? can help review my other 2 tricks too? thanks ;p

Here's mine :)

"duno the name": It was ok. I didnt quite fancy the way u do the lifts. especially with a small packet of cards (4 cards). I beleive that kinda lifts is more appropriate for thicker deck. Good thing is u kept it consistant. :P.
And yeah... use a black and red kings instead pls. No decks has 4 red kings. :P
Overall... pretty good but there's much room for improvements. Patter was interesting.

"Triumph": hehe... pretty nice patter :). Yeah, i guess the handling could be a bit better. Alos... more importantly, try to be consistent in ya riffle/zarrow shuffle. By the way.. it pronounced as "reefle" shuffle, not "rhyfle". :P
The first 2 shuffle wasnt like the third shuffle.. so one might be pick on that. Do this at the beginning as well... so that spec knows tat it is ur style to shuffle the cards that manner.

"Four Tries": This was one of the first tricks i learnt. hehe pretty good i guess.

"Double or Nothing": Cant view it so no comments.

Overall pretty ok. Good to see some patter in magic vids. Some of them pretty entertaining. Keep it up! Im sure u willl improve :).

Cheers,
Brendan

Quick comment on your Triumph routine.
Your miracle replacement was pretty good. If you can find a better way to get into the DL for the replacement, it would be even better. The riffle (zarrow shuffle?) was very nice and good.
Personally, i think your patter is a bit too long-winded and not very convincing. I feel it's ok to have a long intro patter leading into a trick, but once it's underway, it should not be so long that it interferes with the flow of the trick. I felt your patter after you shuffle the face up into face down cards is interfering with the flow of the trick a little bit.
No hard and fast rule here so it's just my opinion. :)

One suggestion, when you going to reveal the selected card faced the other way, spread out the cards FACE UP, so that the selected card is face down.
2 reasons for this.

One, it helps build up the climax just before you reveal the chosen card. They see a face down card. They suspect it might be their choosen card. But they are not sure if you have successfully found the right choosen card yet. It's very nice climax building.

Two, Tommy Wonder said this about giving out information to the specs in manageable sizes.
There are essentially 2 things happening here,
All the cards turned the right way except one.
And the card that didn't turn is the selected card.

You want to feed this information to the spec one by one. That way, you are getting 2 climax for the effect, and it is also information in dosage that is manageable by the specs even when they are reacting to the effect.

Overall, good job with that. I feel this is better than "4 Tries" and "Double or Nothing".

My 2 cents. Hope some of that makes sense to you. B)

thanks guys for the constructive comments and advice ;p totally appreciate it ;p wow din noe about the 2 climax stuff ;p thats great advice ;p hrm, how should i handle the small pack of cards den? i mean i don't really know how to handle cards in the proper manner coz it is all self learnt..... hahaha yeah, the 2 red kings eh? will try to remember ;p hahaha coz i wasn't really thinking when i doing the trick, i just took the cards needed and just did the trick without thinking much ;p

My turn to comment ba. Its juz my thoughts.

Jumping Gemini - The patter was smooth, the flow was smooth. In general, its a good handling of the effects. Things to take note, is what lapping have mentioned, the choices of the cards. So 1 red and 1 black king will solve the cards problem. Second thing that i notice is when u handle doubles or triples. Hmm, it seems when u handle more than 1 card, u display very swifty. What i mean is that, you are too fast in displaying those cards, of the same value to the audiences that even me, have hard time dissolving that all cards are 2 of hearts. The ten of spades are pretty direct, but slow down the pace, u getting faster and faster as the routine goes on.

Triumph - Standard routine. Nothing much to comments. One thing that i normally do, is actually turn the whole deck face up, and go through the cards slowly. Telling the audience that all the cards have turned faced up, except for one card, one card that was faced down and miss, can u pls name your card? And this time, taking out the card, revealing the card as the chosen card. In that way, u building up the suspension that its impossible to repair the deck back and somemore finding the chosen card.

4 Tries - I pretty lost when i saw the last part of the reveal. Anyway, the handling was really good, u hesitate alot, i think it happens, cause it happens to me also. So have to practise the routine more. Second, u have to make the display of the cards slower, "is this ur card?" show them the card longer, make them retain the image that, that is not their card. Same for the rest of the cards. Your second display of cards are also not well maintain, once you hesitate, ppl will know that there is something wrong with the cards. think that those 4 cards are wrong and handle them like nothing important. As for the last display, i will prefer to use another patter. [edited] ask her to name her card, then peek the card, acting like it seems wrong, but then u reveal that thats her chosen card. In any case, remove the last card and place those cards onto the deck.

Double - Truth, it doesnt make sense to me. The undercut is not good, have to practise more, its pretty obvious that u cut back the same stack, cause of the displays of the different cards. And for the third and the last phase, if i am the audience, i will ans the 4th card from the top, cause you din do anything to the deck other than putting the 4 cards back on top, then it wont make sense that u say that the ace is in the middle of the pack, which is obviously in the 4th place on top.

Generally, good try and good effort, some good effects also. :) Any problem, feel free to PM me, esp those side track that i mentioned on top

Thanks very much Larry DK!!! I learn alot form all of you. hahaha this makes me want to upload more performances to get everyone's review and advice ;p thanks for the new input on the 4 tries. I will use your way of revealing as i find it more 'magical' than mine ;p Guess it is all in experience!! Hrm, yeah, my double cut is not that good. even some of my friends notice the akwardness ;p guess i need to practice more on it. i think the reason for the wierd handling is that i am afraid of dropping the few deck of cards so i tend to be more 'careful'...... btw i notice that your pic is of a fanned deck of cards. i have some q. my cards, when i fan it out, i notice is not as big and rounded as yours. mine do fan out but it does not reveal all the numbers (if u understand wat i mean) and sometimes it is not as rounded as it should be.... any advice on it?

Haha, oh, that fan is not mine, its Devo's fan, juz use a pic from his DVD. Anyway, the fanning need to practise, second, if your deck is sticky, ur fanning wont work, use a fanning powder then.

I not really that experience with cards, if you notice, i din comment much on ur packet effect, but on deck effects, i much more familiar, cause i always try new effects to see how they goes abt presentation. Anyway, its good to know that we are of help, cause thats the purpose of having this forum, no point keeping all ur ideas and let it rot, (If you good, u dun need to hide things to prove that u are good)

ah, ic ic ;p anyways, still a very nice fan ;p yeah, guess thats wat this forum is all about ;p thanks lots everyone btw!!!