talkmagic.co.uk

This looks awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NjNd9wk ... e=youtu.be

It's released on 22nd Feb (after it's release at FISM 2013) and mine is on pre-order. I shall post a review once it's arrived. Having watched the clip a few times I'm very excited. At £75.00 it's pricey, but if the effect is as clean as it looks then I'll consider it worth the money. Hopefully it won't disappoint!!

K

hmmm, I'm not all that convinced to be honest. £75 seems quite a bit for something that could be done for next to nothing, I'll wait and see what the opinions are when I comes out I think.

I'll let you know!!! I've been disappointed before, so hopefully this won't be my first major disaster of 2013!!

K

Yeah i saw this a few days ago on their email vlog. It's interesting. I've tried a few different p**k wallets & an imp pad but still never been that blown away by them having too much to go wrong ie spec doesn't press hard enough, dodgy battery or coming up with a reason to lock it away in a wallet when the easiest thing if it was real would be for the participant to sit on it or put it straight into their pocket. Might wait for reviews or at least to see it in action at Blackpool.

I've been using a pxxk wallet as my preferred close up drawing dupe. However, I like to use my wallet for other effects such as card to wallet or child's play. I really don't like going to the wallet more than once or twice, just from a magicians guilt point of view. I think this method looks very clean, hands off, and I simply can't fathom it out. My CUPS went into overdrive when I saw the video blog and I can see this fitting right into my strolling set.

I promise a review as soon I've got to grips with it. Alakazam assure me it'll be despatched on 22nd feb so I can't wait! I hope it lives up to the blurb!?!?!?!

K

Like russpie, I too have used a fair few of these types of pads and wallets before, but never really been truly satisfied with any of them.
They each have their little 'issues'.

I just wanted to express my own excitement for this pad because it really seems like it will fit my needs for a pad and I wish to discuss why.
Maybe it will help some of you guys.

Like russpie, the problem i've had with all the pads I've bought in the past has been either the means for getting the actual information, or the reasoning for the actions required to get the information.
One of the greatest mentalism purchases I made is the Stealth Assassin wallet, with its SUC.
As great and ingenius as that method may be though, there is always the awkward moment where you have to have their card they've written on placed away in YOUR wallet.
Sure, they may have no means of knowing how you got the information from being tucked away in your wallet, but there is still that thing of 'he put my card in his wallet'.
Now don't get me wrong, Stealth Assassin is still a great bit of kit, wonderful bit of kit.
But that reasoning for keeping their card created such a personal barrier that i've since stopped using it for getting information.

The problem I've had with a lot of imp. pads is the limitations they impose.
Typical things like a specific area to write on or a specific type of pen/pencil to use.

I've even actually had one spectator just outright ask if what they were writing was leaving an impression!!!
That was not a good day!

It has been said that the closest type of pad to compare The Ghost to are the expensive £1,400 ones you get from labco or such as the MindPad by Hugo Shelley because, although not electronic, the practicality and the way you get the info is practically the same.
I personally actually think the Ghost is going to be a more cleaner approach even than those pads.
Controversial claim to make which I shall happily backup.
(first, let me say this is all speculation as i don't own the Ghost yet, nor know HOW it works, but IF they can deliver on the things they're saying about it, then that's why I'm excited about this )

With those expensive pads, you hand them the pad and pen, they write their thoughts down or draw their drawings etc.
For starters, the pens can sometimes be quite odd looking things because of the electronics required.
Secondly, due to the fact that you spent over a grand on this pad you're not exactly going to let the spectator keep the thing lol so at some point you're going to ask for it back.
Now as clever as the electronics may be, and how you ACTUALLY got the information, because you now hold in your hand the very thing they were writing AGAINST, there is a valid way of getting that information even without the use of electronics which MAY go through their head as a method.
Am I saying therefore those pads are a waste of money? lol no absolutely not!! That's a very small nitpick and to be put off buying one of those pads, which WILL allow you to do great things, simply because a spectator MIGHT suspect you somehow looked at the sheet underneath the one they write on to see a faint impression would be very silly!
All I'm merely saying is...this issue, if you can call it an issue lol, is something that The Ghost doesn't suffer from which is why in my opinion its a cleaner approach.

You hand them a single business card, and a sharpie (normal pen which everyone knows, to begin with).
they can write on that business card against any surface they wish. The only surface they don't write against..is your pad!
They then seal that card away in a non-transparent envelope.
At this point, genuinely you do not know what they have drawn/written.
They can keep that card and never take it out again if you so desire.
The thing they wrote on, the thing they wrote against, neither are the places were you actually get the information from, and in my eyes, that's a VERY powerful position to be in.

So tell me, Lady of Mystery, what WOULD constitute being worth £75 if not something capable of achieving equally if not better results than a £1,000 pad?
I'm pumped! can't wait!

Let's just all hope that it really will be as good as it looks!

i eagerly await kevmundo's review!

ManchurianMan83 wrote:So tell me, Lady of Mystery, what WOULD constitute being worth £75 if not something capable of achieving equally if not better results than a £1,000 pad?
I'm pumped! can't wait!

To be totally honest with you, I don't think I'd personally spend anything on a gimmick for an effect that can be achieved gimmick free and for the price of a few index cards. But that's just me, I'm sure that other people will find is useful. I'm not saying that it's going to be worth the money or not, I'm just always a little dubious of relatively expensive gimmicks when with a little basic knowledge you could achieve the same result without the gimmick and for a fraction of the cost.

I'm in full agreement with Lady of Mystery on this one.
Also, high tech can look just as 'dirty' as low tech options if the presentation is lacking.
So speaks a SAW owner who gets away with it every time. I know someone who bought a similar wallet and gave the game away immediately due to guilt and inexperience.
T.

I do agree with the sentiments that there are relatively inexpensive methods for drawing dupes. My preferred method is with the stealth wallet but as I said, I use it in other effects so I don't want it to come out of my pocket for a third or fourth time as then it ceases to be an innocent item and people start to look at is as a 'magic prop.' Most imp devicess are unreliable or extremely expensive or require perfect misdirection for the peek. Judging by the video alone this would solve my problems.

I do know that editing can create a different impression of acproduct and I'm hoping that this isn't the case here. There are other methods that I know but won't use for various reasons - mainly practicality/simplicity. The Ghost looks to me like it would fit nicely into my strolling set, and appears to offer a 'relatively' hands off method. I just hope it's worth it! I suppose if I use it and it isn't sat in my drawer in a years time like countless other effects then it'll be money well spent!

K

In response to Lady of Mystery:
I can fully understand where you're coming from. Usually I'm the same.
I think, for me though, when it comes to mind reading, I absolutely want to feel confident in the method that I am employing to gather their information, and that that method in no way compromises on innocent handling.
While you may very well be able to achieve the 'same effect' for little to no cost, it's usually at the expense of having to be more direct, or more hands on as a means to gather that information.
Theres great peeks out there: center tear, advicus Novus etc but theres always a drawback wether that be you have to hold the thing to get what they've written or, as with Center tear, some rigid spec management of where they write.
if you're happy using those limitations to acheive the same result thats fine.
But i wouldn't say that for free you can create EXACTLY the same effect as the Ghost Pad, because you can't do what the ghost Pad allows you to do with a normal peek or imp. pad.
Let me clarify, you can create the same effect (get the info, read their minds) but you can't do it by never seeing what they actually write and having them lock it away and get it from something COMPLETELY seperate.

In response to ted,
Ghost pad isn't high tech! Thats part of its beauty imo. It is low tech but can do what high tech more expensive pads can do,arguably better!

In response to kevmundo:
One of the exciting things about the Ghost Pad is the fact that the demo for it IS unedited. While there ARE close-up shots thrown in to show the drawings more clearly, the ACTUAL moment of the girl sealing her drawing away and Paul getting the information is all in one long master shot.
It IS that clean! if it wasn't, at some point before he draws it, there would be another cut.
There isn't!
the greatest thing about the Ghost Pad is the pad isnt even what they actually write on! So the thought will NEVER cross their mind that what they have written/drawn is in it!

MM - nice to welcome you to TM (perhaps you could pop across to our 'Introductions' thread, and let us know a little about you?)

You seem to infer, from your last post, that you know the workings of the Ghost? Do you already own one, as I thought it was pre-release only? I'm confused (not for the first time )

I only know what Peter Nardi from Alakazam has been saying about it, and from studying the performance demo..a lot! lol

I don't own one and I don't know HOW it works [though I get the gist of it's workings], but from what little information i have gathered from Peter and some of the comments this has got from other working magicians, along with studying (scrutinizing lol) paul's filmed performance and taking stock of what I see occur, tells me that this will be something exciting.

of course I could be wrong! but knowing Alakazam's reputation, they rarely if ever, LIE. So, if Peter says this is blowing everyone away that's seen it, and that its as good a method as the expensive electro pads but for a fraction of the cost, im inclined personally to take his word.
you guys may feel different however.
I personally have never been disappoited with any Alakazam purchases.

I'm not posting facts here guys so please!!!, don't take what I say as fact. i don't mean nor wish to mislead anyone! Not at all!
i am in no affiliated with paul or Alakazam or have any personal interest in selling or advertising this.
I'm just an excited individual waiting for march to come around as quickly as it can so I get my hands on one.
In the meantime, i just wanted to see what other people are saying about it.

But I HAVE used a lot of imp. pads and methods and just wanted to talk about why I feel the Ghost Pad, if it delivers, will be my dream utility!
We will however still have to wait for the final verdict on that when it is released, or when kevmundo gets his hands on one!

I'm just always interested when these things come out with all the big claims attached to them. Just for information my drawing dup uses a stack of index cards and that's all, no imp pads, no wallets or envelopes and no tears. The spec just draws on a card, in a different room if they really wanted to and they'll swear to you I've never touched their card. They're perfectly free to keep the card if they want. I'm not saying that my method is perfect but just trying to say that there are many clean and reliable ways to do this same thing. Sometimes these sorts of releases just seem to be a case of trying to reinvent the wheel.

ManchurianMan83 wrote:(...)
But i wouldn't say that for free you can create EXACTLY the same effect as the Ghost Pad, because you can't do what the ghost Pad allows you to do with a normal peek or imp. pad.(...)

Hello,

Peter Nardi has already said on another website that the method behind it is exactly the same as Ali Nouira's Steam.

But there is difference between the two products; Steam was released in 2009 and can be found for approx 25 pounds and The Ghost is getting released in 2013 for 75 pounds.

Regards.

Do you have a name of the website where he said that? Or a link to it?

Ta

K