MindShades by Peter Loughran £32.99 from Magicmagic
http://www.magicmagic.co.uk/store/index ... ductId=300
The Effect - the sales pitch
MindShades are a specially designed and custom-fabricated pair of stylish and modern sunglasses that enable the performer to retrieve secret information undetected by the spectators.
MindShades employ a technology that was once used in the world of espionage. However, many of these earlier glasses were cheaply made, and more to the point are now out of style. After painstaking research and development, Peter was able to re-master the technology and greatly improve the quality. The result is a stealthy device manufactured into a professionally fabricated pair of quality glasses.
Do not confuse MindShades with other glasses that employ similar technology, but instead use cheap lenses and frames that are out of style. These inferior products are generally so poorly constructed that the secret technology is very easily detected. In stark contrast, MindShades are made with top-quality frames designed with today’s modern fashions in mind, and the lenses utilize a more advanced technology that renders the gimmick invisible! For this product, one manufacturer specially constructed the stylish frames, and a second company re-mastered the lens technology for MindShades. These glasses have been designed and built for professional performers living in today’s modern times, and were created for use in professional applications. The best part is that MindShades look and function like regular sunglasses! You will be able to take these with you everywhere, and perform modern, impromptu miracles on demand without any set up.
With Peter Loughran’s MindShades, you receive the special glasses and also the core of the product—the instruction manual. This handbook outlines several audience tested routines that have been well thought-out and designed. In addition the booklet contains several different techniques, styles and ideas that will help you to create and perform an unlimited number of effects. These miracles range from mind-reading effects, unbelievable card miracles without forces or gimmicked decks, seemingly dangerous acts that are completely impromptu, and incredible feats that would normally cost you thousands of dollars in gimmicks and props! All of these effects do not employ invisible ink, secret writing, etc. To be more precise, these versatile glasses let you see many other things that you are not supposed to see, all in ways that are completely undetected by the audience.
MindShades offer you a lifetime of impromptu effects that are limited only by your imagination. Using just one of the performance techniques included in the instructions will enable you to perform and create entirely different acts over and over again with just this one prop! MindShades is one item that won’t be left in your magic drawer; it’s perhaps one of the only props that you will need to leave your house with.
Here are just some of the routines and performance techniques listed below that are included with MindShades:
Mindscape
Third Eye
Cheaters
Mind Trap
In the Shade
Ninja Force
Shades Down
Mind Epic
7th Sense
MindShades also come with their very own high quality, vinyl-bound protective carrying case.
MindShades are perfect for magicians and mentalists, and are great for stage, and outdoor performance situations/venues such as fairs, amusement parks, walk-around, family BBQ’s, and street work.
MindShades were designed with flexible spring joints on the arms, so that this pair of ultra-cool shades will fit practically any sized face. They also boast synthetic arm padding that goes over the ears, and the lenses offer UV protection from the sun, so you can wear these glasses all day long in total style and comfort!
A pair of regular sunglasses of this quality can cost over $100, but MindShades are a specially gimmicked pair of top-quality glasses that won’t cost you anywhere near that amount! And best of all, MindShades are ready to go the minute you take them out of the case. There is no set up, and the trick requires virtually no mechanical skills, thereby leaving all of your practice time dedicated to performance, patter, techniques and routines.
Peter Loughran’s MindShades come complete with MindShades, instructions and routines, technique styles, and a high quality vinyl-bound protective carrying case.
The Possibilities are endless!
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)
I'd give these a 1.
As long as you have reasonable eyesight these work straight out the pack, with only a little time worth spending to check peek angles and distances.
Review
The Product:
Without going into how it is acheived, I think it's OK (Mod me if not) to say that these glasses are everyday sunglasses that offer a sneaky method of seeing what's going on behind your back.
The glasses themselves are extremely well manufactured, cool looking, grey tinted sunglasses that give UV protection. I have spent more on sunglasses of lesser quality. They have sprung arms with a comfortable padding over the ears and I find they fit very well. They come in a black protective hard case which had a Mindshades sticker on, that I immediately removed. There is also the "instruction manual", which is actually three sheets of A4 with information about Peter's evolution of the glasses and the effects listed in the sales pitch.
In Everyday Use:
I got these mostly as a replacement for my old sunglasses as I was going on holiday, with the magic peek being an added bonus. I took these down to the West Country and had glorious weather (thank you for asking) so wore them a lot.
For the first couple of days I was very aware of being able to see behind and of course did so quite a bit. There's definately schoolboy spy fun to be had there. After that though the novelty wore off and they really did become just a good, comfortable pair of shades that could be and were worn all day.
Occasionally a flash of bright colour or movement out of the corner of my eye would still briefly grab attention though, so I probably wouldn't recomend them for driving.
As A Magic Prop:
Well, they do exactly what they (almost) say on the tin. You can sneak a peek of an action whilst keeping your back turned. The peek itself being a reversed image.
There is only one proviso that's worth bearing in mind however, and that's how good your eyesight is. If you have full 20/20 vision then doubtless not a problem. My vision is good but not perfect - I have to wear prescription glasses for reading and detail work. This means for me that the peek isn't quite 100% sharply focussed. Not a problem for peeking most general actions, but I can't see well enough for details - I have found for example that I can't use them for Devin Knight's "Farsight".
It's worth noting also that the peek is indeed sneaky and seen on the peripheral left and right of vision. My girlfriend tried on the glasses and didn't even notice it.
The Routines:
I won't give much detail here as I'm sure you can figure out numerous uses of such a behind your back peek facility for yourselves. This is just a very quick description of the effects given.
Mind Trap - a smash and stab variation with the spec placing (ie) a knife in one of four brown bags.
Mindscape - a drawing duplication.
Third Eye - peeking a freely chosen card.
Cheaters - a pea under shell type idea.
In The Shade - a spec touches an object, you can then "find" it (probably a very good way of practising muscle reading too).
7th Sense - mirroring a specs body movements.
Mind Epic - an easy to do Mental Epic variation.
Shades Down - with the glasses folded and placed on a table, a way of peeking info passed over them.
Ninja Force - magically avoiding a spec's touch by "seeing" it coming.
I would add that I haven't yet tried any of the above but don't see a problem, subject to eyesight issues mentioned perhaps such as with Shades Down effect.
My own effect that I have performed was to get a friend to hold up any number of fingers to another whilst I had my back turned. By then getting them each to count out loud from one to ten, I could "tell" the number of fingers shown. Worked like a charm!
Overall
Overall I'd give these a 9/10.
A very nice pair of cool looking everyday shades. Perhaps a little pricey, but then you can pay a lot more for trendy designer shades of a lower quality. Plus of course you get the added and very easy "magic".
I like them and am a very happy owner. A problem of varying degress for those of us with imperfect eyesight, but that's a fault of nature not the glasses.
If only Summer weren't almost over...
(PS - my first review here so please be gentle
)
