Thoughts Sa Far
Memorv
15
Lane. mv motivation and ethos
A most vivid'memory of magic in school was the Pen through Anything, I borrowed a teacher's note, he only had a twenty sa I was shaking all over. I went on to say ''Now I only just leamt this the other day" and pushed the pen through the note. The expression on the teacher's face was priceless. His eyes were like tennis balls and his mouth looked like something Sylvester the Jester would do. Of course I proceeded to restore the note and all was weil. However, this taught me a valuable lesson tor my magic. The fact was I had only bought Pen Thru Anything two days before and was genuinely unsure how weil I would do it, being young I would think twenty minutes reading the instructions was enough rehearsal for a lifetime's achievement awardf However the tact that I had mentioned this in performance made the whole thing more shocking when it alf went apparently wrong. This just proves the point that if you invest some truth and personality into what you are doirig then it willplay 100% better. However I can not stress the importance of thorough practica before you take any piece of magic out and perform it in front of an audience. When performing or creating an effect I think of a motivation tor everything f am doing, why am I asking them to choose a card? Why think ot someone I don't know? If you know the answer to all of these questions you can excuse yourself to your audience, or at least be humbie. Another performance I will never forget as long as I live was at a magic convention. I was performing Luke Jermay's pulse stopping routine. The effect worked perfectly and I was greeted with a round of applause from a crowd standing behind me. Then I was face to face with Luke, who proceeded to shake my hand and congratulate me on my good performance of his creation. As if that wasn't enough, standing right behind him was Banachek, who said "You'/l remember this moment for the rest of your life" as I stood there in Kennedy
Thoughts So Far
Dek. After all, I had never met anyone who was anyone at all :fore then.
Vonnorf\l
19
Thoughts So Far
Subliminal Summer .>:,><;<.,y,.x~.,
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This is a fun, light hearted little idea which Icame up with one July afternoon, as I sat doing paperwork wishing I was on holiday with my friends. This led me to thinking that I could do something with postcards. The whole intention of the effect, as with most mentalism, is in the presentation. Depending on how you present this will define the difference between mentalism and mentat magie.
Effect: The mentarist tells of how subliminaf messaging is used to make us purchase things in supermarkets, through their music that plays over their loudspeakers. To further iUustratethis he offers to teil a story in which some ofthis persuasive language is used, just as a kind of experiment and «" it doesn't work then that$s fine". He tells the story of a young family trom his tocal area - they saved for years to afford a decent holiday and the story goes on. He then takes an envelope trom his desk and empties out the contents - six postcards, aach depicting a different international
tocation, (Greece, The Caribbean, Egypt, Majorca, Jtaty and finaUy Butlins Holidays) and a hotel key. The particlpant is asked if they feel influenced by the story. They respond in the negative. "That's correct, you were not influenced on a conscious level, but that story contained some very strong persuasive language to get you to place that key on a certain post card. Do that now. " They comply with your request. "Now you still deny any influence?"
Kennedy
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a.er the otherrNepostcards, they are blank,
,', ""en t.,f-}ey turn over the chosen postcard it has a message from ~,;e Bruce Family saying they are having a great time in Greece.
The postcards are handed out for inspection, as you would expect. Required: seven (7) postcards Greece (on the back is written, "Having a lovely time, the best holiday for 2000, signed Mrs J. Bruce) Butlins Holidays 2 x The Caribbean (on the back of one is written, "It would have been nice in the Caribbean, but Butlins is just as great this year! Signed Mrs J. Bruce"this is placed in an envelope). Egypt Majorca Italy A hotel key, on the back of which is written "The Pyramid Hotel" The envelope (which contains the Caribbean duplicate) written on the back is "Bruce Summer Family Holiday 2000, Mark Aged 10, Majorca." Method and subtieties: As you can see there are multiple 'outs' at work here. However I wanted to create 'outs' which were logical to the situation. I feit that postcards fitted perfectly and were plausibly things one might have had, thus do not look overly 'proppy'. You wil! notice that one of the possible selections has not been covered by 'outs' and we rely on a few psychological angles for this. First of all, it is the first in the line of postcards (that is first on the left of the spectator) and they wil! want to steer away from this. If Kennedy
Thoughts So Far
21
;~... want to bury this further then you may employ a great :ed;nique trom Luke Jermay in his effect "A Darker Die", (which can ~e !ound in his first book 7 Deceptions). For our purpose, you request the participant to hold their hand over the first card (Italy) a~d then begin to move and then to stop when they feel and affiliation with the card, but only to stop when they are certain. This eliminates their choice of stopping over the first card. In addition to this, we are talking about a family holiday, and very few of us associate Italy with a family holiday, when compared to the other choices available. I know it has certainly not been flooded with children in my travels.
So... If they stop on Greece, you simply ask them to turn over the remaining cards and they are blank postcards, and Greece has the letter on it. As for the Caribbean, there is a duplicate in the envelope.
If ButUns is chosen (torreaders unfamiliar withthisorganisationit is a family holiday destination looked down upon bya lot of people in the UK) you bring out the Caribbean postcard trom the envelope and look down as you turn it over for a very comical revelation. In the case of Egypt, I say uAbsolutelycOffect, thank you" and pack everything else away. After the initiallaugh there is usually a dead silence as they look at you, I then continue ulfyou did go to Egypt, there really is only one place you would like to stay and that would be..." turn over the key "...the Pyramid hotel, would ft not?" Finally if Majorca is to be the destination of the Bruce family then you, once again, put everything back into the envelope and turn it over, where it shows that they went to Majorca that year.
Kennedy
22
Thoughts So Far
I think the importance of this, as with all of the routines is presentation. If you buy into this then so shall your audience. Credits: Ideas for this routine came from Luke Jermay. A similar effect is available by Andy Nyman entitled "Killer Elite". have to say I have not seen this; however it may weil be worth checking out along with everything else that Andy produces . Although the method is very similar I think the application of the holiday theme gives a good rationale for using postcards. The routine is also very appealing to children and is a very light hearted piece of mentalism
Kennedy
