I was wondering what products there are out there having to do with this trick. A magician has five people pick balls from a bag; one is black the rest are white. I heard that Oddball is not very practical, but that's the only product I have found for this trick so far. I actually thought of a nearly fool proof method that would require no gimmicks at all, but perhaps what I have thought of is inferior to a better method.
Trick from Something Wicked this way comes
- Thread starter medic91w
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Max Maven has a very nice impromptu version called Kurotsuke on his Video Mind dvd's on volume one. Marc Spelmann has a nice impromptu looking change bag which can be found on either 101108 or the Chapters of Mark Spelmann.
Personally I love Max Maven's as it is about as pure as you can get.
Personally I love Max Maven's as it is about as pure as you can get.
Thanks for all the input fellas. I will definitely check out Max Maven's method; though I am going to field test the method I thought of and if it works fine then I'll use that. I don't know if this has happened to anybody else, but I first watched Something Wicked This Way Comes and was flabbergasted. I watched it a second time months later, and I saw through every single effect of Derren's. I couldn't believe how simple everything he was doing was and how badly he fooled all of us. He's upfront with us as far as mixing showmanship with psychology and everything else, but he is quite a performer to misdirect us all so badly.
He always does that. It doesn't help that Derren has his own legion of fanboys who insist that it was his incredible abilities at NLP.
And miss something incredibly simple.
And miss something incredibly simple.
OK the I just watched it (for the first time [I know I am late]) the method is exactly the same as the Max Maven effect except for the last reveal where he has the two people. That seems to be the real work on reading tells for as far as I can tell.
From what I can pick up from what you have written, I think I must have just figured out the exact method. I was either thinking that he had to use his ability to tell who was lying or that he was using a gimmicked bag. But it was probably the former. Has anyone read Maximum Entertainment? That book has completely changed my thinking. Ken states that since we are performing for spectators and not other magicians, that we can use even the simplest method. If it fools them, it doesn't matter how simple because the only ones who care about methods are other magicians. Derren uses such simple methods but makes the audience think otherwise by revealing his effect or effects at the end of his show which is just misdirection from the real unimpressive method. That is very clever and works great. I'm planning on putting together a show based on that psychology. Not to say he doesn't have hypnosis, NLP, or muscle reading skills. I believe he does have those and that they are all part of his tool bag. But to rely on them completely would not be feasible or realisitic. He states what he does at the beginning of every show in that he mixes them all. Now I am much less impressed by his "skills" but much more impressed by his performance ability. Clever devil.
I used the version that is taught by Marc Spelmann on his dvd. I think it was called "Sweets" It is a closeup to parlor version but could be adapted to stage.