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I know of a mentalist who's being offered increasingly large amounts of money to do a show and tell about the art.

Tomo wrote:I know of a mentalist who's being offered increasingly large amounts of money to do a show and tell about the art.

And i know he turned it down several times.

How is this any kind of good show ... they make it sound like they will reveal how a lady gets sawn in half, then in the pub you'll be able to do it and "impress your mates" ... Worst idea ever ...

Dan

Stephen Ward wrote:

Tomo wrote:I know of a mentalist who's being offered increasingly large amounts of money to do a show and tell about the art.

And i know he turned it down several times.

Let's hope it stays that way. I just don't understand programme makers' obsession with ruining magic for as many people as possible.

It's a quick and easy way to make some money.

I don't worry about these things, the people who watch them will forget about the methods within 10 minutes. It is really sad though that the TV companies are prepared to produce these nonsense programmes rather then putting together a good, high quality magic show.

Strangely enough I emailed to ask for more details and I've been sent an application form......

i intend to ask anthony owen about the show, because i am sure there will be a twist of some kind. so i am reserving judgement on this one.

Do bear in mind that this is a pilot. it might never get seen.

Sounds like "The Magicians" but done with punters instead of celebrities...

From the application form it looks as though there's an element of surprise involved as well.

Hmmm. . . wonder what they'd pay me for what I know

Better yet, how much would the community pay me to keep my big mouth shut

Truth is, as I and others have pointed out time and time again, IT DOESN'T MATTER! If you know your craft and how to do the work the casual patron will never find you out. This is especially true when you give slight twists when it comes to when and how you use certain methods; Rick Maue's treatise on "Turning the Tables" in The Book of Haunted Magick is an excellent example of this. I know of telepathy acts that use combination systems, such as an AN peek coupled with both, physical (silent) cues as well as verbal/audio cues so as to throw everyone off their path. . . at least one such team has won international acclaim -- The Evansons.

It's time for US, the people that claim to love and have a dedication to this industry, to stop our bitch'n (and thus, give a reason for these clowns to keep producing this c*** (not the best)) and start filling the shoes we claim to wear -- to literally become "Magicians" in the sense of doing work that confounds the public vs. what simply gets us by. . . and this applies to traditional magic as well as Mentalism. There is always more than a single method by which to execute the same effect and it is up to us to learn how to use these various methods in order to throw our detractors off the proverbial path. Our success being the most powerful mode of "revenge" that can possibly be made manifest. In short, we are embracing the challenge Valentino gave us years ago; we are stepping away from the basic principles and cultivating new approaches that will bring Magic & Mentalism into the 21st century.

People have embraced the challenge what Valentino said he set for them.....They HAVE come up with new ideas and methods and more deceiving props, but if this is just another exposure show then the cycle will start all over again, and at the end of the day there are only so many ways to do things

Such exposure shows are only detrimental to those performers who follow the crowd. Be unique, make your act into something that people haven't seen before. If you can do that and present your wonders in a new and different way, you audience will never make the connection between your methods and those which some gutter urchin has laid bare before them.

Dr Percival RP Pound wrote:Such exposure shows are only detrimental to those performers who follow the crowd. Be unique, make your act into something that people haven't seen before. If you can do that and present your wonders in a new and different way, you audience will never make the connection between your methods and those which some gutter urchin has laid bare before them.

EXACTLY!

Jamie Swiss did a bit with P&T some years ago. If I recall things right, Penn tipped how a particular card control worked and that was how he managed to do a certain routine. They then go to intermission during with Swiss is blowing people away doing card tricks. When the show comes to reprise Penn pointed out to everyone that knew about the method, that everything they just saw that blew their mind use that same method and absolutely no one, including the magicians in the room, believed him.

When the Masked Marvel tipped the Thin Model Sawing he exposed one of the least used version of the trick out there. Even Banachek is still looking for that nifty "down the sleeve" control system used for PK Time and I can't even begin to count the number of folk that stand totally dumbfounded when seeing a sub trunk that can be inspected or even assembled by an audience team (no stooges).

If you study the craft . . . honestly invest yourself into learning the ins & outs of the art & sciences tied to it, you will never find yourself "hurt" by all the exposing idiots out there. . . unless maybe you had someone like me that could give a full half hour talk on just about any given effect and ways of pulling it off. . . now that would be a legitimate threat in that I'd be robbing the magic lovers of their outs and alternatives. . . even my would-be nemeses wouldn't get goose-bumps over such a thought, don't you think?

The Moral of the Story Is. . . learn how to be a Magician and stop being content as someone that does tricks.