talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect
Very long - please follow the link here to read Alakazam's product description.

Cost
£29.99 from Alakazam

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
2-5 - The majority of effects are easy to perform, but require very good presentational skills in order to perform correctly or effectively.

Review
This is a wonderful book - the first of Jermay's that I have had the pleasure to read. I'm working my way through Building Blocks at the moment.

I think for this book, I would actually like to go through each individual effect:

Touching on Hoy
Simply ingenious. After recently reading Hoy's The Bold and Subtle Miracles of Dr. Faust, I can see where Luke got the inspiration for this effect, and it is wonderful.

The effect involves the naming of the thoughts of three spectators by the performer, each one 100% correct. The very few times that I have performed this, so far, have appeared exactly as described. However, Luke also offers several variations and "outs" if the effect doesn't go exactly as planned which, in my opinion, only enhance the effect.

The Dangerous Opener
This is another wonderful effect. From the blurb:

"The performer influences a spectator to select the safe bag for him to crush. He slams his hand down on the selected bag revealing under the bag left, an upturned razor sharp knife."

When performed, I can see the effect having a huge impact on the audience. Jermay's presentation, both of the build up to and of the actual effect, is incredible and can result in leaving the audience in a state of awe. It is an incredibly powerful, yet devilishly simple effect that can be used in a variety of settings.

Essays
The book includes two essays, one on pre-show scripting and another on "The Psychic VS Psychological Performance", both of which are very thought-inspiring. I don't wish to go into much detail about either of these, except to say that both make for a very interesting read and provide useful tips for later performances.

Blowing Bubbles
This isn't necessarily a stand-alone effect, but more a very effective presentational device. Similar to Sean Fields' The Tesla Experiment, this is a visual thought transferrence. As with most of Luke's effects, the methodology behind this is incredibly simple, but the effect looks wonderful. When this particular effect is performed, the audience will see the participant react the moment the selected thought leaves their mind. I personally love the presentation and currently use it for one effect, but plan to try to weave it into a couple of others as I think it would make a lovely little addition.

Phone Prediction
An excellent effect (I feel that I'm repeating this quite a lot recently ). This starts in much the same way as many other phone prediction effects, but has a couple of twists in the end that really, in my opinion, add to the effect. I don't really wish to develop this much at the moment, as I'm still playing with the method and presentation, but can see this becoming a major part of future performances.

PK Lip Stick
I'm pretty sure that a lot of you (mainly you American magicians) have seen this effect revealed on Criss Angel's Mindfreak. Fortunately for us over here in the UK, a lot of people haven't even heard of Criss Angel

Anyway, I think that this is one of the strongest effects in the whole book. It could be described as a twist on Banachek's PK Touches, but done in a way that leaves evidence behind of the psychic phenomenon. Again, it is a very simple effect, but the presentation really sells it (as with, I suppose, most mental effects) and makes it the small miracle it appears to be. An excellent effect.

Blindfold Sequence
Last, but by no means least, is the blindfold sequence. This, as I believe I have said about all of the effects in this book, is brilliant. Much like the others, the method is very simple, but the effect is very strong. This is a personal favourite of mine. It is simple, visual and incredibly memorable.

Overall
In case you hadn't gathered this from the main body of the review, I love this book. Luke's thinking is very clever and I think that all of the effects in the book are brilliant. Most are incredibly simple and will leave you wondering how you didn't figure them out before, but thanks to Luke's presentational ideas and small subtleties, appear impossible and leave lasting impressions on your audiences.

An excellent book, very highly recommended.

Shhhh... you're not supposed to tell anyone about this! It's a secret!

Nice review. Thanks a lot!

Is Touching on Hoy the human version of the tossed out deck?

copyright wrote:Is Touching on Hoy the human version of the tossed out deck?

Not even close...

TOH is pure genius... I've used it and the Dangerous Opener frequently over the past couple of years and the reactions are killers.

TOH gets its name from the fact that like TOD you have 3 volunteers that will sit down at the end of a dissertation in which you name a date, image, and location (for example) that each will think of... of course, you tell them to sit if you are right, just like the TOD and voila!

Luke has exploited two principles in this in a most phenomenal manner.

Not even close...

It is quite close though. And it's an extremely old principle, certainly not original to Jermay although to give him credit, it seems he must be the first mentalist to publish the idea. One of my A Level teachers used to perform almost the exact same effect to demonstrate dual reality. Luke Jermay wouldn't have even started primary school then.

The success of mentalist books and materials, I have come to realise lies in the fact that the people buying them seem to be so poorly read. Sorry if that offends anyone. Seriously though, go to a bookshop or library and educate yourself.

You might want to point this out to Kenton and Banachek then, they seem to think contrarily to your assumption.

There are a host of mentalists who have seen the void between a magic audience and well known psychologist techniques. Although, I don't begrudge them a sale, I do groan inwardly that an audience for their work exists. As I mentioned in another post 'popular' science is pet hate of mine. Like instant coffee is to a real coffee enthusiast and machine-rolled cigars are to a cigar enthusiast.

I'd just like to add my praise for this book - the ideas inside are wonderful and show that a great deal of thought was put into the book, unlike many others I've read recently.

I think that The Dangerous Opener is probably the best (as in the one I use most often) effect in the book, if you wish to compare the effects. The technique is ingenious and the response incredible. It sets you up perfectly for the rest of your performance.

Blowing Bubbles is a nice little "move" as well. Similarly, the rest of the material in this book is well worth a read if you wish to add to your psychic act.

Got the book a while ago, and I am FASCINATED by the "Touching on Hoy" effect.

I love how this effect perfectly emulates what a real mind reader would do in the same situation. Nothing written down, no asking for the info before revealing the prediction. Can be performed "real time" with no pre-show, no secret helpers, and no where for the spectators mind to hide!

Although I love this effect, I have only been able to perform it a grand total of twice. You see, most of my "test subjects" know each other very well and are VERY analytical, and I am concerned that they may discuss the effect with each other after the fact. I seldom get to work with a large enough group of laypeople to adequately stage and perform the effect without the risk of "discussion" after the fact.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to choosing a proper audience for the effect, or ways to manage and reduce the amount of volunteer interaction after the fact?

-Ike

magical_ike wrote:Got the book a while ago, and I am FASCINATED by the "Touching on Hoy" effect.

I love how this effect perfectly emulates what a real mind reader would do in the same situation. Nothing written down, no asking for the info before revealing the prediction. Can be performed "real time" with no pre-show, no secret helpers, and no where for the spectators mind to hide!

Although I love this effect, I have only been able to perform it a grand total of twice. You see, most of my "test subjects" know each other very well and are VERY analytical, and I am concerned that they may discuss the effect with each other after the fact. I seldom get to work with a large enough group of laypeople to adequately stage and perform the effect without the risk of "discussion" after the fact.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to choosing a proper audience for the effect, or ways to manage and reduce the amount of volunteer interaction after the fact?

-Ike

For starters, don't use your "test subjects" but rather take a deep breath and use it in shows.

I've used it for some time, it goes over like dynamite and in a true "club" type setting, you're not likely to have any post show interaction and too, I believe you are being overly concerned on such things... if you do the job right, you won't have the "challenge" you seem to be dreading... but I'll bet you are doing magic tricks right beside your mentalism... aren't you?

You are already known as a "Magician" rather than a "Psychic" or "Expert" in influence or whatever...

I know the majority of magic hounds hate hearing this, but YOU CAN'T MIX THE TWO IF YOU WANT THE FULL ADVANTAGES... it's that simple! The minute folks know you are a magician you loose a ton of psychological "edge" that "the real mentalists" strive to keep in tact. For us it's all or nothing 90% of the time.

Does that mean we can't or don't do magic?

Not at all! Only that we keep the tricks to a minimum and rarely if ever, feature them in our shows or claim the title of being a "Magician"... even Kreskin, one of the single most successful Psychic Entertainers in history, states that magic is a hobby and "here's a cute little something I picked up the other day..." This allows him to live in both worlds without hurting the one that brings in the bread & butter.

What I find interesting about mixing the two is the change in audiences' perception. Apparently Joseph Dunninger used to perform pre-show magic tricks, and then go onstage an appear to possess incredible psychic abilities. I presume that audiences, back when Dunninger was performing, weren't used to seeing such psychic abilities demonstrated and so did not consider them simple tricks, allowing Dunninger to perform as he did.

Sorry to go off-topic, but it's a little something I thought I'd share.

Well, I no longer perform magic seriously, but unfortunately, ALL of my friends, family, friend of friends, and everyone that meets them already see me as a "Magician" from my developmental stages(lots of cards, coins, etc.). And I find it hard to get away from that because I am not yet performing professionally.

Whenever I do have the pleasure of performing for people that have never met me before, I usually end up having at least one friend nearby, telling people about the other "Awesome Tricks" I do.

You are right though, on the rare occasions I do get an audience all to myself, and I am able to rid myself of the "challenge" of magic and frame it all as a demonstration of ability, it's like black and white. These are the only times I have performed TOH, and some other stuff I keep locked safely away from my friends.

I guess I just really need to find a better source of good audiences to practice with, because I am really looking forward to getting MUCH deeper into this.


-Ike

ok! is the stuff in this anything like the skull duggery stuff cause i found that bloody hard i mean he explains how its doneand i just can't do it what am i doing wrong. i have brought the building blocks book and understood some of it but guess i need another read as was puzzled by a bit of it. is there any other books that can help in this mentalism area. i have corindas book. lovley!!!

Harry Truman wrote:What I find interesting about mixing the two is the change in audiences' perception. Apparently Joseph Dunninger used to perform pre-show magic tricks, and then go onstage an appear to possess incredible psychic abilities. I presume that audiences, back when Dunninger was performing, weren't used to seeing such psychic abilities demonstrated and so did not consider them simple tricks, allowing Dunninger to perform as he did.

Sorry to go off-topic, but it's a little something I thought I'd share.

Joe Dunninger was known as a "Magician" long before he was known for his work in Mentalism. I've actually owned some of the grand illusions the man used in his shows. I also know that Dunninger, Larsen and a handful of others deliberately designed their "Full Evening" programs so that an early "family" show was presented from say 6-8 in the evening (as part of a dinner floor show) followed by a 45-minute intermission (generally) and then came the "grown up" show, which was generally something Psychic-like, be it a mind reading or telepathy type act, the spirit cabinet/spiritualism expose show or even the more analytical themed shows like the mega memory and hypnosis.

"Magicians" love to push the point that Dunninger did card tricks and Dunninger did magic shows, etc. because "they" want to justify the mixing and melding they do, which does not take into account those subtle degrees of separation noted in the above examples that most of the old timers had in place. Too, few in today's world stop to consider why, by tradition, the more successful Mentalists of the past were frequently men that had been doing traditional magic for several decades and upon stepping into the more "esoteric" realms, they were metaphorically claiming a mantel of "superiority"... they'd graduated from the elementary levels of slight-of-hand and mechanical illusion and "mastered" their mental prowess.

There are many, many reasons this was a matter of tradition, the biggest being that the typical 20-25 year old hasn't the life experience or perspectives (maturation) for dealing with many of the circumstances and base psychology involved with Mentalism. This month's issue of MAGIC touches upon that very point in the article about Jon Stetson, who is probably one of the hottest and busiest psychic entertainers in the industry. I highly recommend you all read the article, it will open your eyes to some interesting points, including a living demonstration of what it means to be a PROFESSIONAL SHOWMAN.

The fact is, we have a trend going right now that (fortunately) is on the wane, primarily due to the fact that so many of the johnnycomelately types are realizing that Mentalism isn't as "easy" as magic can be, nor is it as "commercial" if you are presenting genuine Mentalism vs. Mental Magic, which in truth, is the more commercial form of the craft and something I've written a great deal about, even to the point of deliberately designing and performing "Major Illusion" type effects, that "fit" the Psi/Paranormal or Metaphysical theme. In fact, I have a Vanishing Lady effect called AURA that, as the name implies, reveals the Aura of a young lady from the audience (not a plant!)... we slowly remove each of the 6 outer "bodies" and finally cause her physical body to vanish... after all, if you loose your "soul" (aura) you don't exist... right?

Those that RESPECT the two fields and who take their time in planning things out can, at a very limited basis, blend elements of traditional magic in with a Psychic styled show. Kreskin has done it for years and most of the more high profile "commercial" performers have and do; it is a means of gaining "production value" which is something agents and bookers want.

Well... I've gone so far off topic it ain't funny... I think we need to do a sticky on this topic... give me a day or two...