talkmagic.co.uk

Dear friends and colleagues,

No matter how we as mentalists interpret and present our skills, we all are gifted with a more or less healthy mind. And for this we have the freedom to indulge our art and passion – the art of mentalism.

We should be thankful for this gift and realize just how lucky we are from time to time. Usually, we don’t even notice our good fortune in our daily life. We forget about it and take it for granted.

But there are children out there who don’t have the chance to live their dreams like we do. Youngsters who have to carry a mental burden and who, without help, will never be able to live something even approaching a normal life.

Obviously we cannot change the world. But we can help to take the edge off a few problems for some people. We can help to lighten a few children’s burdens - at least for a while.

So we initiated a project to do so and invited several creative minds of the mental community to participate.
The idea for the book's contents was a suggestion from our friend Paolo Cavalli – we will come back to this aspect later.

As for the good cause we followed a suggestion of another friend of ours, Les Cross:

Those gifted with 'special' mental abilities
helping children with 'special' mental needs

So all profits from the book will be donated to International Mental Health Charities to help children with mental disabilities or mental imbalances.
_____________________________

As the title of this work suggests, the book itself is about routines and ideas concerning impression devices – to be more specific: mostly impression pads.

The more we thought about what kind of content we wanted for the book we thought that an ‘anthology’ of ideas on impression pads shouldn’t and couldn’t be related to a particular type of pad exclusively. The reason for this is that routines or ideas that would work with one particular pad can usually easily be adapted to a different type of device anyway. So we wanted to keep the publication open and independent of any one tool you feel comfortable using. So you will notice that some of the authors use the Beautiful Butterfly as the device of choice, others work with the Tommy Pad or the Fist Impression Pad and a few contributors prefer our ParaPad.

Since we announced this project to a few friends of our, several authors and other creative thinkers have offered wonderful contributions to support this project. It is truly amazing how many great minds in the mentalism community have shared their time and ideas to create this special book.
Within these covers you will find contributions from Pablo Amirá, Dr. Bill, Thom Bleasdale, Elliott Bresler, Paul Brook, Scott Creasey, Iain Dunford, Simon Edwards, Jerome Finley, Jan Forster, Group of European Mentalists (GEM), Thomas Heine (ParaLabs), Nico Heinrich, Dr. Todd Landman, Looch, Rainer Mees (ParaLabs), Bill Montana, Joshua Quinn, Derek & Andrew Renfro, John Riggs, Marc Salem, Marc Spelmann, Paul Stockman and Sean Waters.

The contributions in this book are a wonderful mixture of different ideas and approaches. There are routines that are pretty straightforward and others that use an impression pad as one subtle step with a combination of other principles and techniques. There are presentational ideas and twists that can be used as upgrades to other routines and there are theoretical deliberations, for example, concerning the psychology of a peek and even the philosophical aspects of using devices like these. There are design duplications and word revelations, plots based on ‘influence’ or ‘suggestion’, and much more. Some contributions have some similar basic or technical ideas – but it is absolutely astonishing to realize the different approaches utilizing similar ideas anyway.

Thank you to all our friends who took time to sponsor this project. Thank you so much for offering your time, creative ideas and parts of your working material to support the Mentalism Charity Project 2010. We firmly believe that every purchaser of this book will be very happy with their good deed in supporting this project as well as with the gift, you – as the authors – offered them.

______________________________________________

How you are helping and what you get

The book:
Mentalism Charity Project 2010 – Secret Impressions (various authors)
216 pages, soft cover binding, high quality printed

Price: $ 50.00 plus shipping
We cover just the expenses for printing and binding, the complete remainder goes directly to the charities.

If you would like to order one or more copies of the book you can do so at the following website:
http://www.paralabs.org/charity

… or by emailing us at the following address:
charity@paralabs.org

The printing will be completed between Christmas and New Year.
Shipping will start in early January.
There are no plans for a reprint.

Thanks for reading this elaborate announcement to the end, and we sincerely hope you enjoy the ideas presented in here. Thank you for buying the book in advance – you are helping people more than you know.

Best
R. & Th.
ParaLabs

If this was not a charity title I'd beg the mods to move this thread to the restricted Mentalism area. The book contains top secret stuff - really, really good top secret stuff.

T.

KUDOS to you and all involved. This is an awesome project from what you've described and while my own situation isn't exactly "optimistic" presently (in regards to mental functioning and "issues", for lack of a better term) my heart and well wishes go with you all. Please don't hesitate to ask if you believe that there is anything I may be able to add to this well meaning project.

25 effects, thats two dollars per routine...

for a very good cause...

you know you want to buy it...go on...

Sounds really tempting and for a good cause too, well done everyone who put it together

IAIN wrote:you know you want to buy it...go on...

I already did but thanks for the reassurance! I sincerely hope this project raises plenty of funds for the cause.

Thank you for your appreciation!

You know - apart from the good cause ...
the content is amazing!

I guess that each and every mentalist who uses an imp pad should be inspired by those ideas.
The mixture in there is simply brilliant!

Joshua Quinn compared this concept with giving the same ingredients to a dozen chefs, saying "Here, see what you can make with this," and then getting to taste ... and enjoy all the results.
Cause all results are haute cuisine!

Cheers
Th.

Here is an update of the Mentalism Charity Project:

So far we've sold exactly 100 copies of the 'Secret Impressions' charity book (55 in the German speaking area; 45 customers from other countries).

That means we have raised € 4,019.32 / $ 5,398.75 / £ 3,399.93 for these good causes.

This is fantastic. . . but I think we can do even better.

I thought it is important however to let anyone thinking of getting this book to know the following:
The book is only available for pre-order - we will only be printing the quantity of books which have been ordered.
There will be some slight rounding (just to make it easier on the printer, but if you don't order, you are unlikely to get a book.

Orders will be taken until Christmas. The book will be printed between Christmas and new year and then immediatedly dispatched. There are no plans for a reprint.
This is not marketing hype. It is based on solid economics. This is a charity project, not a commercial project.

Now, this isn't the usual way of printing a book, but there's a reason it's being done this way.
We can't risk too many unsold copies. If 1000 books were printed and only 500 were sold then we would still have to pay the cost of printing all the 1000 copies.
That's money that could have gone to the charities. It is much better if we know how many books to print in order to keep the printing costs down (it's already at 50% of the normal cost, thanks to the generosity of the printer).
That's why supply has to match demand as closely as possible.

So that's it - if you want a copy, put in your order within the next nine days or risk missing out!

Everyone involved in the project is giving of their time, knowledge and expertise for free - and some of the biggest names in the business are sharing very devious routines and ideas within it's glossy pages.
This is a very worthy project and we want to raise as much money as possible for children with mental disabilities.

Those who have already pre-ordered, THANK YOU!
(If you feel that you want to buy one for someone else you will not have to twist our arms very far!)

And for everybody else: You know that aunt who always gives you money instead of a present so that 'you can get yourself something?' or your nearest and dearest who never knows what to get you for Christmas?
Well now can get a rock solid present for you - you'll enjoy it, and it will be a present with the global impact to change lives.

In addition I want you to know that if we don't at least double the orders and get to $ 10,000 then unfortunately my buddy Rainer of ParaLabs will have to carry the can for this.
I intend to devise some cruel and unusual punishment for him - probably something extremely embarrassing!

So even if you don't want the book for yourself, buy it anyway . . . do it for Rainer!

Cheers
Th.

NB This is very highly recommended in Elliott Bresler's Switchraft Supplement 18 currently out for delivery. If that doesn't convince you to order this book, nothing will !

Thanks a lot for your appreciation, Mandrake!

Apart from this, dear friends,

Here is an update on the progress of the Mentalism Charity Project 2010.

First of all, many, many thanks to all who supported us so far!

We finally verified the charities that will get your donations: BasicNeeds and Terre des Hommes.

• BasicNeeds
  
  
  
  BasicNeeds works to bring about a lasting change in the lives of mentally ill people around the world. Mental illness is a problem that is often ignored and this is especially the case in the poorest countries in the world. With an often complete lack of locally available, free mental health care, desperately poor mentally ill people stand little hope of recovery.
  
  http://www.basicneeds.org
  
  We support a particular project of BasicNeeds that supports especially children who suffer with mental illness.

• Terre des homes
  
  
  
  The mission of the Terre des Hommes organisations is to provide active support to children, without racial, religious, political, cultural or gender-based discrimination. To this end the organisations develop and implement projects designed to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged children in their own environment (including families and communities).
  
  http://www.tdh.de/content/foreign/englisch.htm
  http://www.tdh-stiftung.de/traumahilfe/stiftungsfonds.htm
  http://www.terredeshommes.org
  
  There projects care for traumatised children who have lost their families during a war or a natural disaster. In addition, we are able to select which of the particular projects will get our donation in order to ensure that there is an appropriate ‘mental’ theme for the donation.

As for the remainder we are happy to confirm our previous announcements. Our printing company will produce the ‘Secret Impressions’ on December the 28th. The shipping will be as promised at the beginning of January.

So until the 28th you can order your copy, do a good deed and even give yourself a present with a wonderful book with brilliant contributions by Pablo Amirá, Dr. Bill, Thom Bleasdale, Elliott Bresler, Paul Brook, Scott Creasey, Iain Dunford, Simon Edwards, Jerome Finley, Jan Forster, Group of European Mentalists (GEM), Thomas Heine, Nico Heinrich, Dr. Todd Landman, Looch, Rainer Mees, Bill Montana, Joshua Quinn, Derek & Andrew Renfro, John Riggs, Marc Salem, Marc Spelmann, Paul Stockman and Sean Waters.

The wonderful feeling of supporting children with mental disabilities or mental imbalances AND getting a fantastic book on impression devices is just one click away:

http://www.paralabs.org/charity

Thanks you so much for your support in advance.

Meanwhile have a wonderful pre-Christmas season!

Cheers,
Th.

Ok, - today is the last day before the Charity book on imp pad ideas will be printed.

Those of you who decide not to sign in today may miss this good deed as well as the wonderful book!
We will print just the number of ordered books with just a minor rounding up to the next corresponding ten-spot.
Because of this chances are that there will be just a few books remaining after the print starts tomorrow.

So you should order your copy, do a good deed and give yourself a present with a wonderful book on imp pad routines with brilliant contributions by Pablo Amirá, Dr. Bill, Thom Bleasdale, Elliott Bresler, Paul Brook, Scott Creasey, Iain Dunford, Simon Edwards, Jerome Finley, Jan Forster, Group of European Mentalists (GEM), Thomas Heine, Nico Heinrich, Dr. Todd Landman, Looch, Rainer Mees, Bill Montana, Joshua Quinn, Derek & Andrew Renfro, John Riggs, Marc Salem, Marc Spelmann, Paul Stockman and Sean Waters.

As I said before:
The wonderful feeling of supporting children with mental disabilities or mental imbalances AND getting a fantastic book on impression devices is just one click away:

www.paralabs.org/charity

Cheers
Th.

Happy New Year - and thanks a lot to all our friends who supported this project so far!

Just as an update the the Mentalism Charity Project 2010:
as promised the books were printed between the 28th and 30th of December.
At the beginning of next week the binding will be finished.
So the way things are going we can meet the announced shipping deadline:
end of the first week of January (or beginning of the second week at latest).

But we get an additional surprise from our printing company:
They printed more books than we ordered as a gift to support the project!
This is remarkable because they even charge just 50% of the usual printing costs!

So if we calculate the result of the Mentalism Charity Project 2010 right now we have about $ 7,650 as final donations to the charities. Print and shipping costs are already subtracted from the receipts; so about $ 7,650 is what we could transfer to the charities right now!

But as I said, we can do better.
This is just because of the printing companies gift: there are still about 40 books in stock (at the moment)!

If you want to check whether you can still sign in or if you are too late, simply click here and see the number of books remaining.

Thank you all so much for supporting this project;
have a wonderful year 2011!

Cheers
Th.

There were 38, but now 37 ....
I can't wait. It's the first time I've used Paypal since 2007 so I'm very excited! But the fact your customer services director says it's all done with psychology and non-verbal communications was the clincher.

Thanks a lot for supporting this project!

Have a wonderful year!

Cheers
Th.

Dear friends,

all books were shipped today.
Delivering time Germany -> UK ist about 5-8 business days by experience; so hopefully you'll get the 'Secret Impressions' end of next week.

Right now there are 24 books remaining;
but we will calculate the result for the charities anyway at the end of this month.
We will keep you informed.

Thanks you all for supporting this project!

Cheers
Th.