Reflections
Outlaw Effects (http://www.outlaw-effects.com)
From the makers of Homocide (US or UK), White Chapel (or Manhattanville) and Sinister (US or UK), comes a powerful new mental effect based around the idea of comparative behaviourism.
Reflections is a self-contained and highly portable mental effect that fits in your jacket pocket and has the potential to play very big.
It contains three effects in one: (1) an emotional projection effect, (2) an ESP symbol effect, and (3) a memory effect.
The book is about 4 inches by 5 inches and contains over five hundred entries of things that would provoke distinct emotional reactions in people (e.g. someone stole your wallet). Each page has 10 entries on the facing page, followed by a list of associated emotions. Next to each entry is an ESP symbol. The opposite page has a list of common and or generic memories of events.
The routine can use all three effects or any combination of the three effects.
Effect 1: the spectator names three digits between 1 and 5 inclusive, rearranges them in his or her head, and then flips to the page with the corresponding entry. He or she focuses on the entry and finds the associated emotion at the bottom of the page. The performer can then reveal the emotion!
Effect 2: the performer can then ask the spectator to concentrate on the associated ESP symbol and the performer can reveal it!
Effect 3: The spectator is asked to look at the opposing page and select one memory from the list of eight memories (they are randomly distributed throughout the book). He or she is then asked to look at the lists of memories on the last five pages and 'reinforce' those memories by looking the performer in the eye for every page the memory is found to appear in the list. The performer then reveals the memory!
The cover of the book reads,
Institute of Comparative Behaviorism
Parapsychology Study
Emotional and Semantic Memory Test
I.C.B
The inside title page has similar info with a copyright statement for a Dr Larry Beck, Psy D (nice touch!) published in 1984. The book is velum bound and contains over 100 pages.
Review
I actually think this is the strongest and most plausible product to be offered by Outlaw Effects. For those of you who do not like the darker themes in the Homicide series and prefer the pseudo-scientific angle, then Reflections is for you. It looks like a scientific test book and has a lovely complex look to it on the pages. There are over 500 entries, 100 memories, and 100 symbols. The method is very straightforward and easy to master in an evening of preparation.
For those of you who already have Kioku, the memory test will be familiar, for those you who do not, this book gives you Kioku as well! Doing this as a three phase routine will be really nice. My own material is very much based on the tension between scientific and esoteric metaphysics and this effect is a must have for anyone working on similar themes in their performances. It will work well with the BIP from Alakazam, for example, and any other mental effect grounded in science, memory, philosophy and the like.
The quality of production matches the other Outlaw effects, while the method I find is even simpler than Homocide and Sinister.
Overall, I can highly recommend this very cleverly conceived book!
10/10 (not a post hoc rationalisation
)
Edited by Dr Todd to remove a possible exposure.....
