theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
Powerful, Easy, Direct Mental Magic
- Thread starter alex2011
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Would you care to develop that thought at all? Are you asking us to tell you what to buy because you need a fix? Do you want recommendations on where to start learning? What? Give me something to work with here. If you ask a question like that and make no attempt to qualify it, you're not going to get any good answers. Just a bunch of yo-yos listing their favorite effects.
And what the hell is direct? What does that even mean?
And what the hell is direct? What does that even mean?
A good easy place to start is with Karl Fulves Self Working Mental Magic. It is a book printed by Dover and runs about $7.00.
Alex I gave you a very good starting point that has some strong material. It is a small book that has many effects that you only have to read a small paragraph at best. Most of the effects that you are purchasing today came from these very books. Most of what is out on the market today can be found in Tarbell and other resources. I don't understand why you want someone just to spoon feed you.
And where do you think they got their material? From the classics and tweaked it to make it their own and put their own spin on it.
Though at lot what he said really is a reflection of our young generation.
A lot of them have poor reading skills and think that reading is a waste of time.
I see this in alot of young magicians who want to get the DVD version of everything.
I've heard the excuse " I don't have time to read". wait, but you have time to watch a 3 hour DVD?
Would be good if Theory11 began to sell their downloads in PDF format. So they HAVE to read because too many kids are lazy little ****s
A lot of them have poor reading skills and think that reading is a waste of time.
I see this in alot of young magicians who want to get the DVD version of everything.
I've heard the excuse " I don't have time to read". wait, but you have time to watch a 3 hour DVD?
Would be good if Theory11 began to sell their downloads in PDF format. So they HAVE to read because too many kids are lazy little ****s
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Visual, my thoughts exactly, however that is not why he was banned. I would never BAN someone for disagreeing with me. He had numerous other threads and / or posts that were purposefully causing arguments for his own enjoyment. He was constantly popping into good threads and just stirring the pot by throwing little "one liners" and profanity to get a reaction. But yes, a lot of today's young generation want immediate gratification, do not want to read, and want to be spoon fed. I see it every day in my class room of 4th grade students. They think everything should be given to them on a silver platter and right when they demand it as well.
Which is exactly why you'll never be more than a mediocre "performer".
Pardon my rudeness but hey, that's what old curmudgeons do. . .
If you refuse to read and study why should anyone help you? We're talking about the epitome of laziness here and when that's how you view things in life, chances are quite high that you will never really achieve much, especially within magic; a craft that is based 100% on one's willingness to learn and grow.
How often have you seen images of the old Wizards in their den and not surrounded by stacks of books, scrolls and scientific looking devices? The very word "Wizard" evolved out of the idea of "Wise" applied to a person... a Wise-ard as it were. Wise because they understood physics, chemistry, psychology, mathematics, language and so much more. So when it comes to simple and direct Mentalism I'd have to say your best bet would be to not over-step your self-made limitations and stick with things like the 21 Card Trick and using Key Cards. . . maybe a Thumb Tip . . . hell, just stick with that Criss Angel Magick Kit and you'll do fine. . .just have your mom read the instructions to you.
OMG!
Ok, enough with the beating. Hopefully you and others have gotten the point; to be a magician/mentalist you MUST compel yourself to study and do research vs. watching a DVD or having someone teach you one-on-one, etc. I will admit that it's a pain in the hind-side, especially when you have learning problem such as I had when I was younger. Ironically, the more you apply yourself to learn by way of books, the easier it will become, so toss your excuses in the trash.
In Mentalism there are but a handful of things one really needs to know in order to slay the laity;
- A Solid Understanding of Ideomotor Reflex (pendulums, dowsing, table tipping, muscle reading, tells, etc.)
- How to Give a Solid Character Analysis/Reading
- Proficient Recollection Skills/Mnemonics
- Billet Work
- Swami/Secret Writing
YOU DO NOT NEED ANYTHING ELSE!
Well, a bit of hutzpah and imagination perhaps, but other than that you have all you really need for being a Mentalist, the rest boils down to studying and cultivating the act & image.
I didn't read through the thread prior to stealing out the quote above, but I'm leaving things as stated in hope they'll "inspire" others.
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I always get a kick out of those who say they don't like learning from reading books. Those same people will spend hours and hours on forums and facebook, surfing the internet for their information, perhaps reading the equivalent of a hundred pages of information.
Then they type "but I can't learn by reading".
How do these people survive the internet? And what are they doing trying to learn from others on a forum?
Then they type "but I can't learn by reading".
How do these people survive the internet? And what are they doing trying to learn from others on a forum?
lets see if this cant become a helpful thread instead of being a catastrophic failure/waste of time. Im relatively new to mentalism but i have been a slight of hand magician for about 7 years. could you please explain where to learn some of the bellow skills. I have read a few books on cold reading and im ok at it. i have read all of Banacheks work on muscle reading and again im learning very happily but i havent come across anything about 'Proficient Recollection Skills/Mnemonics' where would i go to learn about that aspect of mentalism? i also know very little about billiet work but im saving up for acidus novus.
thanks for your time
Seawood
thanks for your time
Seawood
For cold reading, Richard Webster is my favorite. Bob Cassidy also has a good book on the subject, as does Craig Browning.
As for memory systems, I'm actually a user of Dave Farrow's memory systems, though he learned a few techniques from Harry Lorrayne. Dave is the Guinness world record holder for most decks of cards memorized at once, which is 54.