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phronesis · Advanced Member Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 1764

Mitox: The Falsely Spoken Word by Phill Smith

This is a new collection released by mentalist Phill Smith, who has just joined this forum. Phill pitched the book before its release as real, simple, and direct mentalism that you can do with a minimum amount of preparation.

He delivers on that promise. You do need a working knowledge of the history, theory, and methods of mentalism, so this is not a beginner's manual. He makes a lot of feints in the direction of the classics and provides a contemporary set of effects that are (mostly) impromptu, edgy, and powerful. He adds some essays on performance, how to think like a mentalist, and how to design effects that fit your own personal style. He also has fascinating quotes about the functioning of the brain, which start each chapter.

His thinking, in many cases is very innovative and lateral in ways that present daring solutions to perennial puzzles in mentalism. The 164 pages mix the description of the effects with the various essays, all of which are dotted with quirky humour and the usual British irony/sarcasm (and I mean that in a good way).

My favourite effects thus far are 'Left Brain/Write Brain', which is a fabulous colour and number prediction; 'Custard Booktest', which uses multiple phone books; 'Gagging Order', which presents a new twist on an old gag; his trio of graphology effects, and 'Surveyor's Matrix', which is a fantastic idea to close a show.

All in all, this gets the big thumbs up from me!

Piers · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:53 am Post subject: MITOX - My thoughts also ...

MITOX - Review

http://mitox.phillsmiff.com/index.html

Price : £25

Difficulty : Various. Some of the effects are almost self working. Others need practise and patter, but are not beyond the abilities of me, so anyone, with effort, should be able to do them. They will be as good as your presentation.

They say :
20 Powerful Effects
I like things to be simple and easy. I hate gimmicks and gaffs. I like backups in case things go wrong. I like strong effects, which give me the chance to shine through. I love impromptu. Above all I like the audience, for a moment at the very least, to believe.

I hate dealer hype, and I hate the disappointment of buying a text full of clever but unworkable effects. For this reason I have been through Mitox and stripped out anything that wasn’t 110% great. Anything I wasn’t happy with: out. Anything which was difficult to do: out. Anything which audiences didn’t respond to with real feeling: out.

So what’s left?

20 industrial strength effects that will knock your audiences for six.

I Say :

What you get is an A5 size, beautifully presented approximately 166 page, soft cover, book – professionally printed.

Inside are twenty mentalism effects, each presented as effect, method and often followed by additional ‘thoughts’. The book is appropriately complimented by superbly clear, black and white line drawings, that really do help the explanations.

Of additional, and real value, are the mini essays that intersperse the book. These let the book flow really nicely, but also provide real food for thought. So much so that I am rewriting much of my own scripting, which will certainly be more powerful and salient.

This is a great book. Small, concise and real world. I won’t be selling my copy!

Overall :

I salute Phill for taking the time to produce this. No padding, just 20 excellent effects of different types, interweaved with some excellent mini-essays that will get the self reflective juices flowing, and can only improve ones performance and content.

Rating : 9/10. Well, nothings perfect, is it ?