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To be a dark man of mystery you need a few scars, a few bags under your eyes, and a few sleepless nights spent with the whores of hell. Spend a weekend in Sheffield and you'll be good to go.

I was born is Sheffield, you seen my pics...

I'm sure there's a Clive Barker short story about a private eye who gets hired to protect the body of a magician who died on stage. He sold his soul to the devil but then regretted it etc., and the private detective had to keep the body safe til daybreak.

I may of course have dreamt all this. Psychics like me often have very vivid dreams.

Mr Deck wrote:
I was born is Sheffield

Me too. Born and bred in Fulwood, Crosspool, Lodge Moor, and Walkley.

This situation is identical to what I had thrown at me a few years ago. Now, I'm doing great and my spectator's love my entertainment.

The answer to your problem?

Add COMEDY to your performances! People never take a person who claims they can read minds seriously because they know that it isn't true.

With comedy added to it, you now let your audience loosen up a bit, while still half believing in the mind-reading going on.

It works for me and I think that if you give it a good chance, it will highly improve your mentalism entertainment.

.:Ham:.

I believe the technical term in theatrical circles for the "back story" as magic wand puts it is the "subtext".

There. He can sound terribly intellectual when discussing the idea from now on.

Me too. Born and bred in Fulwood, Crosspool, Lodge Moor, and Walkley.

I lived in Walkley in the 80,s (The land of hills) I miss the Water in Sheffield, also running short on Hendersons relish...

Oh Home sweet home, but i don't regret moving to Cardiff with my Girl..

TC All

I feel like I am lying to when I do "mind reading" tricks. Thats why I say that I can read their muscle movement to get a "sense" of what they are thinking of. Or whatever bs I feel like saying.

Here are 2 tips that will really help your mentalism presentation.

#1: Be Vague.

The key to strong mindreading is to make it real. And the best way to do this is to hold your abilities just barely outside of their reality.

If you just come out and say "Think of a number between 1 and a million. Is it 549594?", you're just presenting a puzzle. They may not know how you did it... but they'll know you did "something"

The better approach would be "Think of a country. This is a warm country. I see a lot of activity. Lots of people. It's a very spiritual place. I'm feeling very crowded. I'm seeing lots of textiles... they make lots of clothing here. Very spicy foods... is it India?"

You get the idea.

#2. Study hypnosis and NLP.

Hypnotic languaging is will really help you shut off your spectator's minds, and get them completely lost in the experience.

It's also a great way to influence attitudes, beliefs and behaviors during your presentation.

"Serious" mentalism isn't a dare or a puzzle. It's an intimate shared experience. You need to present it with a completely different mindset from other magic styles.[/list]

I get the impression that you're probably quite young too? Another problem. To be a dark man of mystery you need a few scars, a few bags under your eyes, and a few sleepless nights spent with the whores of hell. Spend a weekend in Sheffield and you'll be good to go.

Yes, I'm still a total novice at mind reading, I'll just have to get more experienced over time! But thanks for the tips all, I'll try--no, I WILL improve my performance. By the way, even though "13 steps to mentalism" isn't a good book for beginners(I've been told it is not), is it a good mentalist book at all? A good investment?

Raybot wrote:But I didn't mention that I'm still a a novice at mind reading, I'll just have to get more experienced and advise! But thanks for the tips all, I'll try--no, I WILL improve my performance. By the way, even though "13 steps to mentalism" isn't a good book for beginners(I've been told it is not), is it a good mentalist book at all? A good investment?

Yes. It's a very complete volume of mechanical mentalism techniques. I just wish they'd put a proper table of contents in it. The index is fine, but a ToC would be even better.

EDIT: Sorry, I meant no. It's a good book for beginners. I need more coffee...

Raybot wrote:By the way, even though "13 steps to mentalism" isn't a good book for beginners(I've been told it is not), is it a good mentalist book at all? A good investment?

You've had some strange advice. You weren't speaking to Bob Cassidy, were you?

Maybe the person who made that suggestion thinks that you'll get bored, and want something with more immediate gratification. '13 Steps to Mentalism' is, however, a great resource for different techniques.

Tdugas makes an interesting point about the drawing out of the revelation of a number. He advocates not coming straight out and revealing it and stating it in one big go.

Yet that is precisely what Dunninger used to do. No hemming and hawing. Straight out with it and no messing about. I heard him on a radio excerpt and was quite struck with this. He didn't say something like, " I see a 6--no, wait perhaps it is a 9-it was upside down. Now I think I see a 5, and now a 4 -but wait! No it isn't 4-it is actually a 7."

None of that stuff at all. Straight out with it. Joe wasn't one for vagueness at all. If you thought "India" he would just say India and be done with it.

I was stunned with this because it was against standard wisdom. Then last year I met a man who worked for Dunninger in his youth. I asked him about this and he told me, "Joe believed that you should come straight out with the revelation. He said that if you could really read minds it would come in a flash and not gradually. He did not believe in drawing it out"

I am making no comment either way. I just thought it would be interesting to ponder the take on this from probably the greatest mentalist of all time.

One thing I have noticed that seems to go against standard wisdom is the "near miss" principle, ie it is commonly held that getting a near miss like the 6 of hearts instead of the 9 of hearts is as good as getting a direct hit in the mind of the spec. I'm very sad to report that I don't find this at all. Perhaps it's my presentation or patter, but I've had people look really disappointed when their chosen card is the 7 of spdes (or whatever) and I've blurted out 8 of spades. They've just looked at me and said "No. Close, but no."

I personally see the wisdom of the near miss principle, but every time I've tried it, both intentionally and unintentionally, it's flopped to a lesser or greater degree. But when I get a direct hit it's always joysville. Note to self - no more near misses thank you.

NB This near miss thing only appears to flop with the cards. Other areas of revelation seem to be immune - thankfully.

Interesting there magicwand, I've found a similar thing. Although the odd near miss amonst a number of spot on hits can work really nicely.

Lady of Mystery wrote:Interesting there magicwand, I've found a similar thing. Although the odd near miss amonst a number of spot on hits can work really nicely.

Glad I'm not the only one!