| Archive for The Magicanada Project A Place For the In-Depth Discussion of Magic By Magicians Worldwide! |
| Michael Kras |
Strongest Form Of MentalismThere are many different fascinating areas of mentalism... which do you think is strongest?To me, telekinetic powers are one of the strongest mind power demonstrations... moving objects with the mind and the like. One of my favourite demonstrations is an effect I created over two years ago in which a can of pop was vigorously shaken simply using the mind. What is the strongest fom of mentalism to you? How about the weakest? |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
Predictions are my personal favorite area of mentalism. Man has wished to know the future for as long as he's been alive, and so I believe that predictions play to a very primal instinct. Second strongest would have to be the new age psychological effects during which the performer demonstrates the ability to control the actions of others. Power is another very primal instinct to human nature.
Personally I feel that blindfold effects are boring. |
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| Michael Kras |
I feel the same way about memorization effects... just not impressive. | ||||||
| Michael Kras |
By the way, one of my favourite prediction effects is predicting a freely played game of Tic-Tac-Toe... first learned that in the Mark Wilson course, such a gem.
Another genre in mentalism that I am rather partial to is suggestion... so much you can do with this powerful mind technique and such creative possibilities are available. Mentalism using Anagrams is another genre I dislike.. but that's just me... I can't get it to look casual enough. |
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| Spellbinder |
To me, the strongest form of mentalism is what people fear most... that you can really influence their minds. I used to do a bit where I would hand a person a deck of cards and tell the person first to just think of a card, any card. Then I would ask the person to spread out the deck and find the card he or she was thinking of. They can't find the card; it's just not in the deck. Then I ask what card they are looking for, reach into my pocket and produce the card (on the back is written - this is the card you thought of). I always got a STRONG reaction from everyone who saw it. Most of my mental effects are of that same type, where I seem to force a person to think a certain way, etc. | ||||||
| teddy |
It sounds pretty much like Derren Brown's Smoke, although the ending is different. |
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| Spellbinder |
Derren was born in 1971, about the same time I had been performing it for about ten years, by my calculations. | ||||||
| BrianMillerMagic |
What Spellbinder has described has certainly been around for longer than Derren has even been born, however, Derren's ending to Smoke is what makes it such a brilliant effect and gives it its own place in history. If you've never seen the effect performed, watch this video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AewhMHhCmNQ There are few magic effects I've ever seen that are quite simply this beautiful and this artistic. |
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| teddy |
Oh, I wasn't implying that that effect was copied from Smoke; I was just noting the similarities. And Brian, you're right, and that's why I'm glad I got Derren Brown's Pure Effect, although I'm disappointed that it didn't have Lift in it. |
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| Gary Dickson |
In my experience that's not true. I close my set with a memorised list/magic sqaure combo. For very little effort they can be very strong indeed. I like predictions, although I play them as psychological influence thing, rather than a spooky power thing. I also have a great fondness for 4th Dimensional Telepathy routines. I'm less interested in book tests, although I quite like the idea behind Iain Dunford's The Hateful Page (and I quite like the method, too!) All the best Gary |
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| Liam |
i really like the routine where the magician has three paper cups, and one has a nail under it. a spectator scrabbles them and then the magician crushes the other two.
i dont really know what type of effect that is though... I also think really dirrect mind reading where the spectator seems to think of anything, but then on a peice of paper in your wallet you have it predicted. Or similar thing but with a swami gimmick, to make it more dirrect. Its just kind of that if you could really read minds, would you use this power to memorize lists, or get them to think of a number that corrosponds to an adjective, that corrosponds to a thing that you predicted |
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| Gary Dickson |
It's called a smash and stab.
Memorisation effects aren't meant to be demonstrations of psychic abilities but of, well, enhanced memory. Given the fact that many people can't even remember their mobile number this can be very impressive. |
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| LIVR |
The plot is called "Russian Roulette". It's based on a real game of the same name where you take a revolver, load a single bullet - leaving five empty chambers, spin the barrel and, without looking, bring the gun up to your temple and pull the trigger. To win is to continue to live. |
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| Liam |
then i feel the need to ask what are these effects doing in a magic show? |
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| BrianMillerMagic |
They aren't - they're in a mentalism show. Memorization presentations fit perfectly within the typical constraints of a mentalism show. In fact, it's Step Three in Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism. |
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| Spellbinder |
The idea of separating mentalism from magic is a relatively new one (1980's or so). The old time magicians usually had either a separate mentalism section in their regular magic shows, or were just as likely to alternate magic tricks with mental effects. In that context, a memory trick was just that, and it was viewed as just something else the magician could do that ordinary people couldn't.
If you look in Tarbell, for example, you'll see mentalism dispersed among card tricks, coin effects, silk tricks... as well as whole sections on just mentalism mixed in with sections on just magic. Magicians were expected to be knowledgable in many fields that have now become specialized, and overly specialized in my opinion. |
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| LIVR |
Why put yourself in a box?
Houdini swallowed needles, Ricky Jay throws playing cards at large pieces of fruit, Ben Train tapdances. Variety is the spice of life. |
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| Michael Kras |
Very true... my mom has always had a certain dislike for mentalism... she just doesn't seem to find it impressive as though it's an everyday occurance! I've been trying my hardest to get her to appreciate it. So far, she's actually starting to get impressed by straight mind reading. No predictions, no memory work, no muslce reading, just flat out mind reading ala cold reading, anagrams, psychological forces, etc.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't use a memory-based effect in my shows. I use the Joel Given's More Memory Man quite often, actually. However, as much as the spectators love it, it always feels slightly dissatisfying to me. But oh well, the audience comes first. |
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| Liam |
well, i've goten into mentalism alot more and my opinions have changed.
In my opinion, there are lots of memory tricks that i dont find that impressive, but i've recently learned a trick were the mentalist memorizes a shuffled deck within about 10 seconds. That kind of thing would take some serious mental power. I kind of like mind stunts. Things like having the spectator name their birthday and saying the day of the week. Cubing large numbers. And the magic square (4x4 version). Something about these effects make them seem like raw mental power. |
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| Michael Kras |
My mom loves magic, but hates mentalism... she finds it "boring and unimpressive", and I'm talking about her saying this after watching people like Max Maven. Regardless, I still continue work on it because I love it. | ||||||
| teddy |
I do like number mentalism a lot.
Luke Jermay's Magic Square was one of my best purchases. |
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