"
Even
when our eyes are closed,
there is a whole world that lives outside outside ourselves and our dreams."
-Edward Elric, FMA
Go dSp ee d veal someone som eone's 's tho ught s . Effect: Reveal This is my preferred way to peek information that is written on a business card. It's bold as hell but damned sexy. This technique has served me well for many years and I hope it will do the same for you. Please refer to the accompaniment video for GodSpeed for a visual understanding as well. Needed: Business cards, Sharpie and Balls
of stee s teel! l! Have a spectator think about a friend from her 3rd grade class or it could be any other thing or person. Then, you will reach into your pocket and remove a business card with a blank back and a sharpie marker. marker. Give her the card and the marker, but be careful to retain retain the marker cap cap in you r left hand. This i s very impor tant! You will then ask her to write down her friend ’s name on the back of the card and turn it face down when she is done. At this point, you should be facing away so you can't peek at what she wrote. And when she is done, you can turn back around.
Next, you will now make a show of revealing info about her friend before you even touch the card. This is cold- reading, so it won’t matter if you are spot on or wrong, because eventually you will be 100% correct. Doing this is important in all peek work, because if you begin a cold read before the "dirty work" is done you will take attention off the business card and make it appear secondary and less significant. Therefore, I would say something along the lines of: 1- "I am getting a very strong connection with you and this person. I want to say that you still keep in contact with them, but I am not sure." 2- "I'm getting an image of a guy, but don't tell me if they are male or female. Just continue to focus on imagining their face." 3- "This is a person you always hung out with. You would often be excited to see them. Did you guys get into a lot of mischief together?" So, it doesn't matter what you say, because you'll be surprised how accurate you can be with just educated guessing. This is a great chance to practice your cold-reading skills. Now here comes the work. As you are talking, you will reach for the business card. But as you take hold of the card, turn to face away from it to show that you are not peeking. Grip the business card in the same way as shown in the image below, and leave the marker with her for the time being.
You will now place the card in the right pocket of your pants. Once the card is in your pocket, you will swivel it into a palmed position by curling your index finger inwards, and using the pinky as a pivot point. This is shown below.
Don't worry about crushing the card; in fact, I encourage it! They will never see the card again anyway, so try to conform the card to the natural shape of your hand. This goes for all peeks; the audience should never see or care about the card after. No need to verify. Unless the audience themselves lied!!
Next, you will remove your hand from your pocket, palmed card and all. And here is where your balls come into play. You will now reach for the marker held by your spectator using the same hand that the card is palmed in. Sweating yet? Once I'm close to the marker I usually say, "Thanks, I'll take that." just to let them know that I am taking it back. Grip the marker as shown below once it is in your possession.
This should look like a very natural position. Do not worry; they will not see the card. Everything is done in a rhythm. The description may seem like a long time but at real-time speed it is only 5 to 10 seconds. Please refer to the video for a full real-time action of this. Now, remember the cap you are holding onto from before? This cap will aid in your peek. You will now cap the marker and at the same time get a full peek of the card palmed in your hand. To cap a sharpie, it's natural to look at the cap while inserting. And remember, you are talking throughout this whole process. Though ballzy, this peek is done casually under the camouflage of talking and recapping your marker. Refer to the image below for the peek position.
Once the information from the peek is retained, you will replace the marker into the right pocket of your pants while secretly ditching the palmed card. From the audiences’ point of view, it should look like you just took back the marker, recapped it and placed it back in your pocket. You are now squeaky clean to reveal the info to your spectator! Notes:
1. Practice the all the movements using a mirror. You can see how your hand looks naturally without the card, and then try to mimic the same appearance when the card is palmed. Casual and natural are the keys! 2. The great Banachek has something similar on his DVDs. Even though the method and rhythm are different, he still gets a peek from a palm. So, I would like to give him credit as well. 3. I have done this surrounded, so once you become comfortable with the palmed card, you will know how to conceal it from any angle by
applying more pressure and conforming it to the natural shape of your hand. Again, don't be afraid to crush it and conform it to you hand! 4. A lot of the time I will give a spectator a stack of business cards, tell them to flip the top one over, write their thoughts on it, and then flip it face down again. Then, I would take the stack back and openly place the top card into my right pocket, executing Godspeed and continue on to the peek as I retrieve the marker. So, using a stack or a single card is totally up to you!
