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MY DEscriptION:Don’t know what Dan and Dave and Kevin Ho can do with cards?Here are the three of them in one video performing together to blow your mind. http://youtube.com/watch?v=m8sTdvSF11Q&feature=rec-freshSMOOTH OPERATIONS TRAILER:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLIUsKnJFF0OFFICIAL DEscriptION (SPAM):http://www.dananddave.comIntroducing the card magic and flourishes of Kevin Ho, Smooth Operations is a 60 page book explaining an array of new material for both the curious student and seasoned pro. Over a hundred photo illustrations in full color provides an enjoyable learning experience.KEVIN HO is a rising young Singapore magician with some serious talent. As a flourisher, he’s already earned a reputation as one of the best. His style is fresh, ultra smooth, and extremely visual. And his magic is no different. Learn 5 effects, 4 sleights, 3 productions and 2 flourishes in 1 kick ass manual of card magic.PUNK’D:This version of Re-Set is simple, instant, and leaves you completely clean. Imagine two four-of-a-kinds, like the four Aces and four Jacks, instantly changing places with each other, and then back again moments later.STATIC 4:A quick and easy four Ace production that’s perfect for getting into any of your four card routines. It’s also one of Kevin’s favorites.INVERSE IMPULSE:A very magical looking one-handed color change that can be continuously repeated.LONG DIVISION:This clever routine is fun to do and gets killer reactions.A card is produced, equaling the value of two spectatorsí chosen cards. This single card is then visually ìstretchedî into a long card, which the spectators help split into their respective selections.PEGASUS:An insane production of any four-of-a-kind that will blow your audience away. (Includes an alternate version.)FLORIDA COUNT + PCP:I guess you could say it’s a rhythm count…on acid. Very flashy, very visual, very cool.This is definitely one of our favorite effects. It’s fast, visual, direct, and allows you to showcase beautiful sleight of hand.PCP:Four Jacks are counted between your hands as they seem to visually change into the four Aces. (Note: If you’re tired of the remark, “Do that again”, this is not the trick to do.)CHASER:The magician offers to demonstrate different aspects of sleight of hand. What follows is a fast-paced sequence of cards appearing, teleporting, changing, and transposing with each other in a casual, yet highly visual manner.RACCOON:Imagine a card spinning atop the deck 540 degrees to infinity. This cool little flourish is so neat and original, it has to be seen.COLLECTORS: REDUX:In the process of finding three spectators’ selections, the four Queens (or any four-of-a-kind) are found in an insanely chaotic and visual way that only Kevin would think of.VISA SWITCH:This very cool switch is open for many, many applications, of which Kevin supplies two. However, I’m sure after a little experimenting, youíll have applied it to numerous ideas of your own. All around, itís a fun little move to play with.FULLY LOADED:In this effect, Kevin explains how a deck of cards can be a deadly weapon with not only the ability to shoot single cards out of the deck, but also to produce a four-of-a-kind (Okay, it’s a really cool ace production with some fun patter.).CONSPIRACY OF FOUR:An extremely visual and fun handling of a classic plot.The magician offers to find a four-of-a-kind other than the four Aces. All goes well until the fourth and final production – it’s an Ace. However, within the blink of an eye, the other three cards instantly turn into the other three Aces, forming a complete four-of-a-kind after all.BOB CHANGE:With a light shake, a card held in the magician’s hand instantly turns into another card.A very clever and in-your-face take on the well-known Shapeshifter change.REPAINTED:A blank fan of cards is seen. With a quick wave, the faces of the cards visually appear. The method is so obvious itís hard to believe no one has ever thought of this before. An instant classic in my book.For more information and to order, visit http://www.dananddave.comSMOOTH OPERATIONS TRAILER:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLIUsKnJFF0INDEPTH REVIEW FROM THEORY11:Quote:Smooth Operations ReviewOverviewSmooth Operations was in all a great purchase, whilst I thought the flourishes contained inside it were mediocre, everything else was very good, and I will be using 4 of the 5(actually 6 if you include the Visa Exchange) effects and 2 of the productions. There is also some comedic effects in there, that you may enjoy reading. Obviously Kevin Ho’s blend of flourishing and magic won’t be for all, but if you’ve seen Kevin Ho and like his style this book is truly a great investment.Value For MoneyAt $25 I don’t think we can really complain, it’s not a hard-back book with hundreds of pages but more of a small booklet(similar to a magazine), but everything is printed on good quality glossy paper and there are lots of full color illustrations, it’s a wonderfully produced book and is well worth the small price tag.EFFECTSOverviewThankfully the effects are amazing, all of them are really, really nice and I can’t complain about any of them being badly taught or illogical or anything, it’s just amazing, thanks Kev!PUNK’DThe Official SpamThis version of Re-Set is simple, instant, and leaves you completely clean. Imagine two four-of-a-kinds, like the four Aces and four Jacks, instantly changing places with each other, and then back again moments later.How It Lookshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d1yD…eature=relatedWhat I thinkThis is one of my favourite versions of reset, because everything is logical, as you can see in the video it takes about 30 seconds, plus you end totally clean, all the sleights are broken down and illustrated and it’s very easy to understand, it’s a classic example of the simplest routines being the best.Difficulty: 3/10Rating: 8.5/10LONG DIVISIONThe Official SpamThis clever routine is fun to do and gets killer reactions.A card is produced, equalling the value of two spectators chosen cards. This single card is then visually stretched into a long card, which the spectators help split into their respective selections.What I think of itThis is one of the routines I won’t be using, it’s very difficult to get the ‘stretching’ smooth, the instructions are easy to follow and are well illustrated but it is a knacky thing to do well. Definitely a cool idea though.Difficulty: 8/10(to do it well)Rating: 6.5/10CHASERThe Official SpamThe magician offers to demonstrate different aspects of sleight of hand. What follows is a fast-paced sequence of cards appearing, teleporting, changing, and transposing with each other in a casual, highly visual manner.What I thinkIn my opinion the best trick in the book, it’s basically a sandwich routine with a twist, it has a motivated plot and because the spam is vague, here’s how the routine actually goes:A card is selected and outjogged, you tell them about the different type of sleight of hand, “the first is the type you can see”.As you say that you dribble the cards and 2 black kings appear.You separate the kings from the deck and you tell them that “the next is the type of sleight of hand is invisible”.And you shake the deck and the outjogged card vanishes and appears in between the 2 kings.You then put the selected card on the table and say that “the other type of sleight of hand happens before you know it”.You then reveal that the Kings have turned into aces.In the last phase you lay the Aces on the table and take the selection on top of the deck, you say that “the last type of sleight of hand you know exactly what’s going to happen, but you don’t know how.”And in an instant the selection in your hand transforms into 2 face up aces with a face down card in between, which is their selection and the kings are revealed on the table.As you can tell it’s an awesome effect and the only difficult part is the beginning production of the two kings(superflip) which can easily be substituted.Difficulty with Superflip: 7.5/10Without Superflip: 5.5/10Rating: 10/10COLLECTORS: REDUXThe Official SpamIn the process of finding three spectators’ selections, the four Queens (or any four-of-a-kind) are found in an insanely chaotic and visual way that only Kevin would think of.What it looks likehttp://youtube.com/watch?v=Jey2aU-XN4cWhat I thinkIt’s so smooth, and such a beautiful end display, it also is much easier than it looks, it takes a bit of practice to do the whole thing without pausing but most of the work is done before you do the flourishy bit, during the flourishy bit you only need to produce 4 cards as opposed to the 7 you end up with. Very nice routine.Difficulty, to do it smoothly: 6/10Rating: 9/10CONSPIRACY OF FOURThe Official SpamAn extremely visual and fun handling of a classic plot.The magician offers to find a four-of-a-kind other than the four Aces. All goes well until the fourth and final production – it’s an Ace. However, within the blink of an eye, the other three cards instantly turn into the other three Aces, forming a complete four-of-a-kind after all.What I thinkThe kicker ending gets them real good in this one, the only thing I wasn’t fond of was the switch at the end, but I’ve replaced it with something better(in my opinion), and this effect is one of my favourites.Difficulty: 6/10Rating: 9.5/10SleightsOverviewThe sleights are ok, but I can’t see me using any to be honest, the color changes are inferior to others and whilst there’s a neat switch I just can’t see me using any.INVERSE IMPULSEThe Official SpamA very magical looking one-handed color change that can be continuously repeated.What I thinkIt’s a great change and it’s well taught but It’s not really original, this is acknowledged in the book, but it seems as if this is more of a filler. If you don’t currently know this change you will love it, if you do, then you may feel as I do.Difficulty: 3.5/10Rating: 7.5/10VISA SWITCHThe Official SpamThis very cool switch is open for many, many applications, of which Kevin supplies two. However, I’m sure after a little experimenting, you’ll have applied it to numerous ideas of your own. All around, it’s a fun little move to play with.What I thinkThis is a cool little switch, but from my experience I’ve haven’t been in a situation where I can use this, there’s a little routine called the Visa Exchange which is a cool transposition, and there is a way of splitting a 2 into 2 aces using exactly the same technique, which is called the Visa Split.Difficulty:Visa Switch: 4/10Visa Exchange: 4.5/10Visa Split: 4/10Rating: 7/10BOB CHANGEThe Official SpamWith a light shake, a card held in the magician’s hand instantly turns into an other card.A very clever and in-your-face take on the well-known Shapeshifter change.What I thinkNice, visual change, but inferior to the shapeshifter in my opinion. Maybe that’s me being an ass, but I just think that if you want to learn a change like this, just get the shapeshifter, it doesn’t require you to lift the cards up in the air or anything, this is nice, but there’s much better out there.Difficulty: 5/10Rating: 6.5/10FLORIDA COUNT + PCPThe Official SpamI guess you could say it’s a rhythm count…on acid. Very flashy, very visual, very cool.This is definitely one of our favorite effects. It’s fast, visual, direct, and allows you to showcase beautiful sleight of hand.PCPFour Jacks are counted between your hands as they seem to visually change into the four Aces. (Note: If you’re tired of the remark, “Do that again”, this is not the trick to do.)What I thinkFlorida CountIt looks nice when done well, but I like the rhythm count to actually confirm in the spectators mind that ALL the cards are 4, it’s too flourishy for the key moment of the trick where they just want to be shown the cards straight.PCPI think the flourishy-ness(new word) suits this effect, it’s a beautiful quick effect to throw in between the long drawn pick a card tricks.Difficulty:Florida Count: 6.5/10PCP: 7.5/10ProductionsOverviewThe book contains three wonderful productions, I will use them all, just elegance at it’s finest.STATIC 4The Official SpamA quick and easy four Ace production that’s perfect for getting into any of your four card routines. It’s also one of Kevin’s favorites.What I thinkThis is perfect for the times you don’t want to just remove the aces nor do you want to do a long winded ace production, you touch the deck and an ace snaps up, and before they have time to gasp four aces appear in a diagonal line display that looks amazing.Difficulty: 3/10Rating: 8.5/10PEGASUSThe Official SpamAn insane production of any four-of-a-kind that will blow your audience away. (Includes an alternate version).What I thinkAnother elegant production, you shake the deck and an ace appears, and then in a second, four aces appear from nowhere and slowly shift into a square display, it looks really good.Difficulty(if you can already one hand top palm): 4/10(if you can’t): 7.5/10Rating: 8.5/10FULLY LOADEDThe Official SpamIn this effect, Kevin explains how a deck of cards can be a deadly weapon with not only the ability to shoot single cards out of the deck, but also to produce a four-of-a-kind (Okay, it’s a really cool ace production with some fun patter.).What I thinkI love this production, the others are great but this is my favorite, it’s one of the rare productions where all the aces appear at the same time, in less than a second, put that together with a beautiful plus sign style, symmetrical display and you have a lovely production.Difficulty: 6/10Rating: 9.5/10FlourishesOverviewSorry Kev, but I was disappointed with the flourishes, I was looking for some multipacket cuts because in my opinion you are the best flourisher around, but what I got was a card spin and a fan, sorry, maybe their not my style but I didn’t really like them.RACCOONThe Official SpamImagine a card spinning atop the deck 540 degrees to infinity. This cool little flourish is so neat and original, it has to be seen.What I thinkI have to be honest, I just don’t get it, it seems to be illogical, maybe as a magical gesture? Meh.Difficulty: 6.5/10Rating: 3.5/10REPAINTEDThe Official SpamA blank fan of cards is seen. With a quick wave, the faces of the cards visually appear. The method is so obvious itís hard to believe no one has ever thought of this before. An instant classic in my book.What I thinkIt looks OK, just not my style, sorry.Difficulty: 7.5/10ConclusionAs you guys can see, I am critical if I don’t like things, I don’t like the flourishes, but I have to say, this book is phenomenal. Buy it, now! It’s awesome it has some great magic, it’s beautifully produced, it has full color illustrations, great material mashed in with some comedy and it’s very well written, put that together with a price(if you can call it that) of $25 and you’ve got yourself a steal, all I can say is thank you Kevin Ho!