October 6, 2012

  • Mind Magic & Mentalism

    The book I read to research this post was Mind Magic & Mentalism for Dummies by James L Clark which is a very good book which I borrowed from the library. This book is about mind magic and mentalism so is about things like hypnotism, card tricks, communicating with the dead and mind reading as opposed to conjuring which is things like sawing people in half or pulling rabbits out of hats. If a magician asks someone to choose a card as they put their hand out to choose a card he will move a particular card towards their outstretched finger which takes practise so as not make it too obvious. Another trick which was famously performed by Derren Brown the famous british magician was to be submerged into ice cold water and survive the cold temperature. One way this trick could be done is to wear a neoprene wetsuit under your clothes. If you are ever asked to choose heads or tails as someone tosses a coin, most coins land showing tales 80% of the time. This book is intended for would be magicians and the author says he wishes there had been a book like this when he started out. I think this author thinks spiritualism is a lot of nonsense, I keep an open mind although I think a lot of so called fortune tellers are frauds. Some of the tricks they use are like if someone bends a spoon and then straightens it a couple of times they can make it bend with moderate pressure. If a magician is led out of a room, something is hidden and then he is blindfolded and led back in and has to find it he can have someone in the audience can give him an idea where it is via a thumper, a vibrating device that the person activates when he is close to it. A lot of magicians change to their stage name by depoll and certainly you should play a part and be convincing, this involves acting and some extent living the part. Many magicians wear similiar clothes to what they wear on stage as normal wear. Certainly you should study acting techniques.

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