Haha that made me chuckle Phil.

Mark

Haha I'm gonna put a library stamp and docket on mine

I'm decorating mine with glitter and sequins for that magical look.

I have #1 of Mike Kemper's Brain Bracking http://www.lybrary.com/brain-bracking-p-526435.html

Oh goodness... Hahaha

Imitation is the sincerest form of battery.

Ahahah you need some steel balls to put out this

Yes, you need certainly... putting out something with this title. Method wise it is just a quite bold approach, but not really bad... You can work on it There are some great mentalists (I just think of my friend Colin McLeod) who created wonderful routines around this ploy ... Jan

Just downloaded it out of curiosity - another few dollars I should have kept :-$

Mentalism truly has become the domain of snake oil salesmen in the last fifteen years or so. I blame Luke Jermay. He was the first to have the nerve to charge money for a straight IS effect, "sexed up" in the ad as an ultra clean breakthrough in method. Thank goodness we still have people like Atlas who put years of thought, trial and error and testing into their creations.

I don't know if LJ was the first to overcharge for IS, but he certainly wasnt the first mentalist or magician to overcharge. Rip offs have happened in magic for decades, before Luke and some on here were even born. I've found that the more I know, the less I get ripped off.

Roylan, I didn't mention overcharging. I think "creators" have got a nerve to charge anything at all for a single, blatant IS effect.

Then we disagree. I think creators can charge for a single, blatant (insert the technique/method) effect IF the effect is good enough.

I agree that Atlas is professional in his products and contacts. For example I was more than happy with his Crusade. However, this uses a standard, well known, in the public domain method. One single, blatant (not mentioned here) method. I was certain I knew what the method was BUT I wanted the presentation. Which is why I'm happy with the effect and purchase. IS is a method like any other and its the full routine, developed in the real world, with all its nuances, that makes something a rip off or not. Not the use of a singe method.

I didn't mention charging for blatant effects, I mentioned charging for blatant IS effects. You cannot compare the method in The Crusade to IS. The Crusade is a carefully scripted performance piece which uses an existing method to create a moment of wonder for the participants and spectators. Br*** B******g is a straightforward, blatant IS effect which produces no moment of wonder for the participant at all. Same as The *th M*******e. Neither even attempts to create a minor effect for the participant to balance the major effect for the audience. When the method for such "creations" is IS, not only do you have a nerve to charge for the "effect", in my opinion you haven't actually created an effect at all.

Or are you seriously suggesting that if you had paid $200 for Train Tracking and discovered that the participant had to be an IS, you would have been happy? After all, the "effect" is just as strong to any spectators, no?

Im not comparing The Crusade to IS. The point I'm making is that charging for an IS, in and of itself, does not automatically make it a rip off. You think it does. I think it doesn't. We know each others opinions and both are valid.

Please it's that I'm not defending B@@@@ B@@@@@@@. It's the principle, not the specific, that I'm referring to.

It is not that I am defending BB, but there is more than IS... While I agree that BB the way it is presented is rather weak I would try to see its construction on an abstract level. Then I feel differently. If you see what Colin McLeod has done with an ID in combination with a very well executed D... Ploy you might see some IS applications with different eyes. What I really dislike about BB is the missing discussion about a proper use of time tested methods. Jan

Last sentence should have read...

Please Note: it's not that I'm defending....etc.

This thread has certainly wandered a bit. Anyone mind if I contribute a hyperactive bunny?

.....let the price gouging begin !!
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=78

I wouldn't sell my copy at any price.

Mark