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Hi all,

I'm a mentalist in training with a (very) long way to go, and two things happened over the past few days which taught me valuable lessons. I just had to post...

The first was the worst failing in the history of magic, ever. I didn't know where to put myself at the time, but it was informal and no big deal, thankfully. I was on a roll and on my third effect. It's the one used by Osterlind (what a guy), where he uses the E***t K***s S***k and asks the spec to cut, then take the three top cards and look at them one by one. Osterlind goes on to tell them each card, without seeing them himself. I'm sure you're familiar with it. Anyway, there I was full of myself (or full of something anyway!). I got the spec to take the top three cards after a fair cut. So, when I looked (as per Osterlind's take on this effect) and for those in the know (everyone probably), I saw the Jack of Diamonds and off I went with my reading of the three cards held by the spec. The actual card was the Jack of Hearts! If you follow that, you'll know immediately why I crashed and burned. What a stupid noob!

The second was today and I redeemed myself. I, for the first and definitely NOT the last time, successfully performed the D H book test. It worked perfectly, with the spec choosing one of two books freely and me stood there with (thanks to Mr Osterlind again) a nice blackboard and chalk, ready to divine the word. I did it and got a great reaction. What an amazing feeling to pull it off. Yes, it's an easy one, but it's my first book test and I don't think I've enjoyed anything in magic as much before.

Does that high ever go away? I hope not because I want to do it again asap for some different people.

What have I learned? Not to be cocky or over confident. How to look confident in the face of complete failure on my part and how performing magic can be soooo addictive once you start!

Cheers,
Wishmaster

Osterlind uses his own breakthrough card stack, not any other. Also the high never go's away!

Yes you should be careful about the first effect, I almost messed up when I first performed it too !

The D H Test is simply delightful ! It fries the spectator completely !
You should try the other miracles from ETMMM too !

Harry Guinness wrote:Osterlind uses his own breakthrough card stack, not any other. Also the high never go's away!

I've just had another look. On vol 3 of Easy to Master Mental Miracles and the effect Par-Optic Vision, he does use the stack I mentioned and goes into detail why he chose that one. You had me worried there for a moment!

hardik988 wrote:Yes you should be careful about the first effect, I almost messed up when I first performed it too !

Be glad you didn't. It's that sinking feeling when you know you've completely messed up the effect and the spec is sat there with a knowing smirk hehe! I won't do that again in a hurry.

hardik988 wrote:The D H Test is simply delightful ! It fries the spectator completely !
You should try the other miracles from ETMMM too !

I've looked at a few tests now and that one was so much fun to do and got just as strong a reaction. I really enjoyed it. I'm working through ETMMM and am like a kid in a sweet shop. There are so many great effects, it's hard to pick just a few to begin with. I really love Osterlind's way of working.

There are some other things that you can take away from the effect that went wrong. You can realise how near you were to getting it 85% right, even after your mistake. And also that getting it 85% right might have been more effective than getting it 100% correct.

The mistake itself was a very easy one to make, and is even easier if you are relying on a lay person to remember a card from a quick look. So, another thing to take away: be very careful with glimpses, as it's easy to go wrong.

I won't say how you could have covered things, because it will be better for you to have a think about how the trick actually played out, and what you could have done once you realised something was amiss (because it wouldn't have been very amiss).

If you think that's the worst failing in the history of magic, you really haven't been doing this for long.

You're right Part-Timer, I've taken a lot away from the mistake and have thought about where and why it fell over. I don't know if you've seen Osterlind's performance, but that "glimpse" you mention is more like a blatant gaze, which makes it even more of a schoolboy error on my part hehe. I was rushing a little due to nerves and it all came down to lack of confidence and experience. Still, I've always been a fan of learning things the hard way, so it's not a big deal.

I bet most people here have stories of things going wrong which put my amateur efforts to shame.

But, when things work out well, as with the book test, it's an amazing feeling.

Yes, I have seen the Osterlind preformance, and have performed the effect a few times. My point is really that, even once you've made a mistake with the sighted card, in that effect you actually have plenty of chances to steer yourself back on course.

Try to think about what could go wrong, and what you might do if that happens.

Don't worry, though; there will always be plenty of things you couldn't possibly have expected that will trip you up too!

Part-Timer wrote:Yes, I have seen the Osterlind preformance, and have performed the effect a few times. My point is really that, even once you've made a mistake with the sighted card, in that effect you actually have plenty of chances to steer yourself back on course.

Try to think about what could go wrong, and what you might do if that happens.

Don't worry, though; there will always be plenty of things you couldn't possibly have expected that will trip you up too!

That's good advice and thank you for it. I'd never really considered what to do if or when something went wrong until it actually happened.

Wishmaster wrote:

Harry Guinness wrote:Osterlind uses his own breakthrough card stack, not any other. Also the high never go's away!

I've just had another look. On vol 3 of Easy to Master Mental Miracles and the effect Par-Optic Vision, he does use the stack I mentioned and goes into detail why he chose that one. You had me worried there for a moment!

Osterlind doesn't introduce the Breakthrough Card System in ETMMM. It's available now in Mind Mysteries Vol. 3 .. I think he only uses the Breakthrough Card System in his actual real life performances.