talkmagic.co.uk

Emotional Intelligence [E.I.] by Luke Jermay (DVD)

The Effect

Phase 1:
The performer attempts to read a spectator's mind. The performer displays a stack of index cards / business cards / napkins. Each card has an emotionally-charged word written on it. The cards are mixed. A spectator is asked to select one of the cards and remember a time they felt that emotion. The performer begins to vicariously experience the emotion... vaguely at first... almost like a psychic reading... but the performer gets more and more specific and eventually names the emotion exactly.
Phase 2:
The performer attempts to transfer his/her psychic abilities to a spectator. One spectator selects an emotion card and thinks about a time in his/her life when he/she experienced that emotion. With the performer's help, a second spectator is able to intuit the emotion the first spectator is thinking of and name it exactly.
Phase 3: The performer attempts to name specific details from a spectator's life. The cards are mixed. A spectator removes one of the emotion cards. The performer asks the spectator to think of a specific name and a time period they associate with the emotion they have chosen. The performer removes a notepad and pen. One-by-one the performer writes down the specific details he/she is sensing from the spectator's life. The performer is specific. His/her intuitions are committed to writing so there can be no mistake. The performer is accurate to a degree that proves shocking to the spectator. This is an emotionally-CHARGED climax that can go in many directions. The performer is guaranteed three hits.

Cost
$29.95 + shipping at penguinmagic.com


Difficulty

Technique: 2
Showmanship: 4

(The method of the trick is easy, but you should be able to create some kind of “mentalistic atmosphere”. Otherwise you easily get comments like: “Oh yeahh, I know this card trick!”)

(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)



Review
The teaching is great. Luke goes into every aspect of the routine. He also talks a little bit about his understanding of basic cold reading. I am also very happy about the large performance footage.

The routine does only use very classic techniques so there is nothing revolutionary regarding the method. But it is well structured and great for training cold reading.

I bought it to get some ideas on cold reading and even though I knew all the techniques already I was still happy with my purchase.

Overall
8/10

Just to say that the basics of this effect are described in Luke Jermay's book "7 Deceptions" under the name Cold Emotion.

The description of Cold Emotion doesn't include anything like the second phase here, though, where a spectator names the emotion -- and a quick skim-through doesn't show anything exactly the same as the third phase, either. Luke's obviously done more work on the idea since 2002.

At the moment I'm glad to be flat broke, because otherwise the dreaded CUPS would have me in its vice-like grip again.

I just wanted to mention, I received this today. I paid US$25 and ordered it Friday, delivered TODAY (Thursday). Shipping was only $6 'ish. Brilliant!

Magic Pro Shop.

This is an excellent DVD.

It is true to say the methods used are very basic and well known to anyone with even a modest level of knowledge. However they are brilliantly combined and presented in a way that made me enjoy the performance despite the fact I knew how it was done the moment I saw it performed. For "most" spectators, the things you will be able to "intuit" will be inexplainable!

For those of you who have only seen the preview, a key issue is not obvious... cards or billets are EXTENSIVELY used in the actual performance to achieve the effect. You arrive at the conclusions presented in the preview with the use of cards.

Here's the preview if you have not yet seen it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6wZu_Y6YI

Don't let the use of cards (note they are not shown in much detail in the preview video but they are necessary) put you off, they are well integrated in such a way to be secondary to the "mind reading aspect" of the routine.

MOST importantly, the "cards or billets" are NOT special, NOT marked etc. They are NOT a GAFF that comes with the DVD.

This effect is 100% impromptu assuming you have a pen and something to use as a card or billet. You could use the back of your business card, napkins, small index cards, blank back bicycle cards or in fact anything you can write on.

An alternative that occured to me while watching the DVD, you could even use your OUTLAW Effects Kioku cards to do a variation of E.I. using Kioku that would absolutely amaze!

At around 2 hours & 30 minutes, this DVD definately represents value. The effect is very well taught from several different perspectives. Alternate handlings are shown in both method teaching and real world performance examples.

An additional highlight is around an hour of presentation footage showing Luke Jermay performing E.I. repeatedly in different settings to different people. I really enjoyed the fact this showed how to handle difficult specs, talkative specs, quiet specs, skeptical specs and "true believers".

Highly recommended.

oh bu**er... I've only been back for a couple of hours and already IU feel CUPS eating away at me!!

I agree that this DVD is a good buy for sure, especially the other deck Luke shows you how to make is quite good.

I found a way to streamline the whole routine into one go instead of constantly getting the spectator to keep "finding an emotion" over and over again and find it kills.

My only gripe with the DVD is Luke himself, he comes across (in this DVD) as the very thing he describes psychics to be, and if you want proof ask all the people over at the cafe that bought products from him personally in the past.

Plus any professional will tell you that the way he talks to an audience in the performance section is not recommended trust me, I found it very immature and childish. But thats just me. I'm getting off topic sorry.

Good DVD, worth the money.

I have the dvd as well. It's a nice effect especially if you're into mentalism.
I don't perform mentalism myself but I still use this trick. The story I use is just different

Since I live in belgium and we speak dutch I had to come up with alternative words for "The Scam", but my version works as well.

I must be the only person here that was disappointed with it.

For a routine that takes emotions as its narrative hook, there's very little attempt to exploit the theme, aside from divining them by name.

Kioku is a much better example of an effect that explores emotions and gives a way-in for cold reading practice (or, more accurately, hot reading).

EI just comes across as impersonal and cold. Yes, it could be dressed up into something 'deeper', but in doing so, you'd change the effect beyond recognition. And there are much more elegant ways to play this sort of narrative.

Pete

Oh, and the Leading Reading book was equally disappointing.