Ollie Mealing's Membership Review: Creative Card Magic!
Hi my name is David I’m a magician and this is
a review of Ollie Mealling’s membership service
where you can learn such tricks
and productions like the following
I’ll just stop right there show you that card
oh it’s an ace if I wanted to find the other
three aces I can do so in just one second
Now I’m going to go through an overview,
pros and cons, whether this is for you or
not and finish off with my final thoughts
and the review starts now!
So who is Ollie Mealing and why should you care?
Good question Ollie is a magician who specializes
in hard-hitting brain-fooling card magic and he’s
also worked with the best modern mentalists
on tv today Derren Brown on his touring show
I first heard of Ollie Mealing through a magic
DVD titled The Session 2007 named after a magic
convention in the UK called the session which
so happened to be based in the year 2007.
On that DVD he taught a couple of things including
a boomerang flourish which I failed to learn
and also a switch card trick which I was able to
learn and subsequently used in my walk around I
also used that in my unofficial audition into a
magic hangout group where we
go to a bar and then jam magic tricks into
the late hours of the night on a weekly basis
Ahhh to be young and without responsibility again
But I digress…what are the details of
this membership you might be wondering?
Well wonder no more for 10 pounds a month you
get access to a buffet of Ollie’s card material
which there are over 65 items currently and
counting because each month a new item is added
they’re also broken down into helpful
categories such as tricks controls
key cards crimps peeks forces color changes
productions miscellaneous and social media magic
Is any of this stuff good you might be thinking?
Well no need to think if you go to the link in my
description you’ll be able to see videos of some
tricks that Ollie performs and then you’ll get an
idea of whether this is material for you or not if
you sign up and learn how it works you’ll have a
whole new appreciation of the mind and creativity
of Ollie and how he comes up with these tricks
So what are the pros and cons of this
membership? Well we’ll start with the pros first
there’s a whole bunch of material for all types
of performing situations such as social magic
with your friends cocktail and walk around magic
for your gigs or social media magic for the gram!
The fact that everything is categorized is
super helpful when you’re trying to look for
something specific to add to your repertoire, for
example in a previous video where I performed card
magic to a teenage mutant ninja turtles theme
(link in the description below) I wanted a new
ending that would fit in my particular routine
so I went through to the color changes section
and then found one that fit my routine and my
style, learnt it and then added it in. Easy!
Each item is covered in detail to make sure
that everything is covered For example at
the top of the video where I performed that four
ace production, which pretty much took one second
The explanation video for that was 22
minutes Now other magic tutorials would
probably spend like five minutes on that.
Here’s the setup, here’s the production
Now go see a Star War
But here Ollie goes through not just the setup
and the production but also how to get into it
from the shuffle deck in use and how to get into
it in a most natural way when you’re around people
and he also goes through his script and why he
says what he says when it comes to the production
how to get the most impact out of your audience
and also thoughts on how to use it for walk around
Other items have this same level
of detail and thought put into it
Now you’re probably not going to use each
and every magic trick and sleight in this
membership but that’s okay because you should
still watch the explanations because within
those explanations Ollie also goes through some
theory and thoughts on magic and performing
which are really helpful when it comes to
applying to your own magic performances
Now for the cons. What’s
bad about this membership?
If you’re here for magic that’s non-card based
like coins, rubber bands, rabbits, canes,
hats or whatever you’re not gonna find that here
Mealing’s Membership is purely card based.
Is there a chance that there could be
non-card based material in the future?
Well I asked Ollie and he said no. His
focus is purely on creative card magic
so whatever he puts on this membership
you know it’s going to be good
There’s no stand-up card material which
you can perform for a large group of people
such as the stage or a club.
Granted there’s not much stand
up card material out in the world anyway
however with a bit of creativity and
mind thinking you could probably take some
of these tricks and repurpose them full stage
However I guess it would have been nice to
have some material that’s stage ready already
steady
This isn’t strictly a con but most of the material
here in the membership require a table to perform
So some people might complain that
they can’t find a table to perform on
So if you’re a worker that does cocktail
and walkaround magic and there’s little
to no table space where you perform
some of these tricks are probably
not going to work unless you do some
creative compromises to make it work
Which you should be able to do if you’re a worker
However there are some tricks here that are
perfect for walk around like the switch card
trick I mentioned that I learned many years
ago that’s also taught here but with more
detail and he’s got a new ending which i’m
looking forward to add to my own repertoire
So is this for you?
Well it depends on who you are!
Let’s get philosophical for a moment
Who are you?
Are you a muggle that knows
absolutely nothing about magic?
Well this is probably not for you, this
membership requires you to know some basics
of magic including card handling, sleights
and the jargon that comes along with it
However Ollie does explain everything in
detail like I mentioned before so you should
be able to follow along and perform each item
And there’s also super easy stuff as well,
the section on keycards for example is easy for
any muggle to follow along so that you can learn
it and then use it to fool your mates at your next
poker night, board game night or pool room fight!
Are you a beginner in magic? Well this
membership is a perfect companion piece
as you study the foundations of magic
I know that when I first started magic I
liked to learn pretty much any and everything
whether I could do it or not I’d give it a go
I was often attracted to the flashy
fancy falling stuff and you’ve got
plenty of that in this membership
If you tried learning an item a week,
after a year you’d have 12 additional
items (at least) to keep you going
Are you a seasoned practitioner
of prestidigitation?
Well this is perfect for you! In this
membership you’re sure to learn something new
Ollie takes old and familiar principles and
looks at them in new and different ways that
will make your mind just go *explosion*
and get your creative card juices flowing
For example check out sign, square and
elephant in the room for examples of this
So how about me? Have I gotten
anything out of this membership
Well at the top of this video I already performed
one item and in a previous video I applied another
one and I’ve got plans to use another one in
a future video and I’ve got routines in the
back of my mind which need to be reworked and I’m
sure some of the sleights here in the membership
are going to be perfect for it plus the tricks
that ollie teaches here I really want to learn so
I can share them with people and make them go wow
If you’re on the fence about whether to join
or not, if you jump down and use the
affiliate link in my description below
and the coupon code DAVID20 D-A-V-I-D 20
You’ll get 20% off your first month
That’s 8 pounds a month, 14 Aussie
dollars, 11 US dollars or 9 Euros
I know I sound like an infomercial right
now but if you’ve listened to me for this
long you’ve probably got a good idea in
your mind whether this is for you or not
If I didn’t like this membership I wouldn’t
be a member and I wouldn’t use the material
But as a magician I find that I
get good value out of it and I’m
sure you would too if you were to join
Until next time, try staying Powerful
Practitioner of Digital Prestidigitation
five times fast and have a magical day!
