talkmagic.co.uk

phillipnorthfield wrote:

bmat wrote:

mark lewis wrote:I think the most important skill a mentalist can possess is to find some way of doing it without boring everyone to death. Especially me.

Ah men! Although, when I'm forced to watch a mentalist more often then not I get a good nap.

Why is that though, i am yet to see a boring Mentalist, is it because of Dead time, bad communication skills, no jokes etc?

A lot of it simply has to do with what you like. I have only seen one 'magic/mentalist' show where at half time very few people came back to watch the end of the show. It was a performance by Max Maven.

Burn!, I think it is fair to say that Maven is a creator pure and simple. I think that eccentric, excited people make good mentalists, but thats just my opinion.

I am slightly confused by bmat's statement about Max Maven. Is he saying that he liked Max Maven or is he saying he didn't? In other words is he saying that Max Maven had them coming back after the interval or is he saying that he didn't?
Just curious. I have not seen his full evening show. Just him doing a 20 minute spot at a convention decades ago.

mark lewis wrote:I am slightly confused by bmat's statement about Max Maven. Is he saying that he liked Max Maven or is he saying he didn't? In other words is he saying that Max Maven had them coming back after the interval or is he saying that he didn't?
Just curious. I have not seen his full evening show. Just him doing a 20 minute spot at a convention decades ago.

I think he was saying it was a bad performance, and that people didn't bother coming back for the second half.

When he came to Toronto for a performance I didn't see the show but I heard very mixed reviews from people who had. Some of them thought it was marvellous and some thought it was awful. I have no opinion since I didn't see it. I did find the divergence in opinion fascinating though.

mark lewis wrote:When he came to Toronto for a performance I didn't see the show but I heard very mixed reviews from people who had. Some of them thought it was marvellous and some thought it was awful. I have no opinion since I didn't see it. I did find the divergence in opinion fascinating though.

I haven't seen him live, but personally i find him quite good, its strange in the UK as we only really have Derren Brown who has a weird, excited persona and that does wear a little thin at times.

I've only seen Max Maven perform on his 'Nothing' DVD and confess that I found his presentation a little offputting. Nothing I can really put my finger on but he didn't seem to have the polish that I would expect.

I can imagine his approach being very much an aquired taste - in fact he seemed much more at ease on the second disc, surrounded by Eugene Burger and some others whilst explaining the methods of each effect.

Maybe as someone said earlier on the thread - he's more of a creator than a performer

He has certainly done a lot of performing as well as creating. All I remember is him performing at a magician's convention years ago and he seemed quite good. His voice in particular was impressive and I often think that is half the battle.

At the same convention I saw him doing a long winded card trick close up and thought it was awful. I ended up arguing with him and David Berglas that you can over-present a trick as well as under present it. I think Maven has a tendency to over present from the little I have seen. Once you get too long winded I turn off very fast indeed.

At the same convention I remember crossing the street and passing the other way was Murray the famous escapologist. I met Murray halfway and with cars whizzing by I asked him "What did you think of the mentalist, Murray?" He amused me greatly by snorting "Not very much!"

Mind you Maven did very well on a TV Ontario thing but he wasn't doing magic or mentalism on there. It was a children's show of all things and he was acting the part of a strange character and it suited him very well.

The jury is out until I see him work. He seems to get a mixed response. You either like him or you don't. A bit like Paul Daniels actually.

I think it's also fair to say that he is a little bit old fashioned nowadays and could do with a little change in presentation. As a side note I also like Paul Daniels but that's just my humble opinion.

the way we create a rapport is also important i think...
IMHO if we can create a great rapport, we already finished 50% of our job

phillipnorthfield wrote:I think it's also fair to say that he is a little bit old fashioned nowadays and could do with a little change in presentation. As a side note I also like Paul Daniels but that's just my humble opinion.

I don't think 'old fashioned' is necessarily a bad thing. I think there's room for a mix of all sorts of presentation styles. (having said that, I can't stand the 'Dynamo/Street/Hip-Hop style!).

I think it's very much a question of personal taste, I'm sure there are many people who have no problem at all with Maven's style!


Sean

Klangster1971 wrote: (having said that, I can't stand the 'Dynamo/Street/Hip-Hop style!).

Yo yo man, just like pick a card from the deck man but don't like let me spy it or nuffin coz this is like real sick, you gonna really wonder bout this coz its like totally wicked, right, right, you picked a card there my man? Yo yo, so put dat card in da pack right there, okay now concentrate coz like this is gonna be whack, it's da bomb, totally random, coz like, get this, your card, was it like, the 7 of Clubs? No. Oh. Man.

themagicwand wrote:Yo yo man, just like pick a card from the deck man but don't like let me spy it or nuffin coz this is like real sick, you gonna really wonder bout this coz its like totally wicked, right, right, you picked a card there my man? Yo yo, so put dat card in da pack right there, okay now concentrate coz like this is gonna be whack, it's da bomb, totally random, coz like, get this, your card, was it like, the 7 of Clubs? No. Oh. Man.

You've done that before and quite often, haven't you...?

themagicwand wrote:the 7 of Clubs? No. Oh. Man.

That's the bit I've done plenty of times before!

themagicwand wrote:

themagicwand wrote:the 7 of Clubs? No. Oh. Man.

That's the bit I've done plenty of times before!

ROTFL!!! You and me both, Paul!!!