Practical Pass Review :D

[Kieran Oloughlin]

I recently purchased Mystery Mark’s Practical Pass DVD, and got the privilege like all customers of being shown and taught it over Skype. I was not disappointed with the purchase or the lesson and look forward to getting the move down solidly.

(Before I go further, Mark I apologize if I forget/miss anything )

Firstly, the Practical Pass (or PP as I will call it for the rest of this review) is a version of the pass. Surprising right? It is essentially an easier, more angle proof, and from what I saw, a more versatile way of doing the pass. It also has many more options in which you can cover the technique as opposed to other passes. When Mark first showed me the move in its entirety I was surprised at first. It was quite far from what I was expecting and I thought it appeared like to larger movement to be ‘practical’ (no offense Mark ). HOWEVER, as he showed it to me more and more, showed me the various covers and actually performed it for me so that I saw what it would look like in live situations I saw that I was wrong . I saw how invisible the move is, especially with its various covers. Even though I knew what to look for in the move I still struggled to see him do it. So, despite my first thoughts, it is quite practical. In fact it is so practical that using it instead of the traditional passes is a pretty smart idea .

The move can be adapted to the three different types of passes that are commonly used, the turnover, the Herman, and the classic . The practical pass fixes multiple issues in each version. For example, when doing the turnover pass no matter how well you do it there is a flash from the side, when doing the practical pass version this flash no longer exists. For another example, when doing the classic pass there isn't much options of how to cover it due to the way it works, and the hand positioning can be seen to be unnatural to the critical spectator. Again these issues are addressed in the practical pass. As I mentioned before you have multiple cover options based on how you want to cover the move (you could even have Parkinson's ) and the hand positioning is so much more natural.

One of the biggest benefits of the move is how easy it is compared to the regular pass. I remember when learning the classic pass it took me weeks before I could do it fully, then a few more months before it was perform able. While I wouldn’t rush out and perform the PP right away it is much easier, and you will be able to do it very quickly, and it will take much less time to become perform able than the regular passes. I should also say that while the move feels much less ‘knacky’ then regular passes; it also feels more intricate and relies heavily on subtle finger movements. This isn’t a problem for me personally (as I’m a very legato focused guitarist). If you’re not the sort of person who likes intricate moves…the PP probably STILL IS for you due to all its other benefits.

Also, when Mark explained the moves history to me I gained some real insight into problem solving in magic. I am already trying to apply this problem solving thinking to some of the sleights I do (the elmsley count at the moment). The DVD, will also have this insight, and it certainly is quite a great stream of thinking to have accessible to you. Especially when learning the practical pass, it allows you to understand why you should do X and not Y.

Finally I should mention my favourite applications. With the practical pass you can do everything an original pass can do, literally everything, and you can also do some incredibly easy and convincing false cuts, shuffles (complete deck retentions too) and some incredibly visual colour changes – even one that looks like smooth (then again everything can look like Smooth, ey Mark ). There was even an odd Deju Vu effect you could do with it. I don’t know if that’s on the DVD though :P While some of these apps can be fulfilled with the old passes, the PP makes the applications much easier to perform (once the move is learnt of course) and makes them so much more natural and convincing .

All in all I think the Practical Pass is an incredibly good buy for anyone who wants to improve their pass. The move itself is highly practical, is very angle proof, is fairly easy and can achieve SO MUCH . It is also highly suitable for those who don’t know how to do a pass, I think, as although it may help to already know how to do a pass, you don’t really need to know how to do one to learn the PP. Seeing as the DVD is possibly limited, I’m not sure what Mark is doing anymore, I would highly recommend buying the DVD to any magician, whether they are card oriented or not before it’s too late, even though I don’t have it yet, I know it will be more than worth the money .

If your too lazy to read that all, the practical pass is incredibly good, BUY IT!!!