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Mister Meech's Merged Mail-Outs
by Oliver Meech
Reviewed by Ian Keable
Oliver Meech has got plenty of chutzpah.
Over the course of a year he produced a bi-monthly newsletter which anybody
could get for nothing by subscribing from his website. He has now reproduced all
26 issues as an e-book which he is selling for £10.
Admittedly he has made a few changes - he’s produced a thorough index and thrown
in a bonus trick; but possibly not quite enough to justify the transition from
free to fee. For instance littered throughout are constant references to his
well-received book The Plot Thickens: fair enough in a giveaway but it’s a
little annoying, when you’ve paid good money for what you are reading, to be
constantly told (and taking up valuable pages in so doing) how brilliant another
of the author’s publications is.
Having got my gripe out of the way, Oliver Meech has clearly a very clever mind
that is constantly on the lookout for original plots and effects: and 13 of
these are sprinkled throughout this e-book. Many of them involve cards but cards
certainly used in unusual ways: razor blades inserted inside them, concealing
them inside a party blower, changing real flowers into flowers imprinted on
them. Other tricks involve surprising your friends with a predicted pizza
delivery, bad passport photographs transforming into good ones and an impromptu
Malini inspired street stunt. The descriptions are minimalistic - so they assume
a certain level of magical knowledge and skill. But, as they say, find one trick
that you will use and your investment has paid off.
The rest of the newsletters involve ideas to improve your magic, links to
unusual web sites that will get your creative juices flowing (an advantage of
e-books means you can click straight through to them) and an insight into
Oliver’s own thoughts on performing as he makes the transition from amateur to
professional (including plugs to see him perform in past gigs, something else
you might have thought would have been prudently edited out). One of his steps
on this journey was to purchase Stand-Up, A Professional Guide to Comedy Magic
which I’m delighted to say he enjoyed (annoying, isn’t it, for the reviewer to
use up space to plug his own book!).
In summary, if an e-book of quirky close-up tricks and inspirational ideas to
springboard off are your thing, then this could well be for you: just be aware
that you are buying with it some of yesterday’s news.
Mister Meech's Merged Mail-Outs by Oliver Meech costs £9.99
© Ian Keable, January 2010
Available from: http://stores.lulu.com/olivermeech