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Scott Xavier Inner circle 3672 Posts |
I have talked to many magicians, Sorry mentalists too, and it seems as a society of miracle workers we're becoming lazy. The guy at my magic shop uses all gaffed props. Through out the Magic Café (T.M.C. for you cool mentalists) I see people saying why learn the pass when a double undercut works so well.
Well in MENTALISM, I want to look like a cluts with the cards. If they see me triple cutting a deck like a pro, even with distraction, they know its a cheesey card trick. The pass is a must for mentalists. Even if they see the pass, they have no clue what it is. I'm finding false shuffles and card manipulations and even sleights to be a funda-MENTAL peice of a great routine. Pulling a signed-selected card from someones shirt pocket or even yours adds a mystique and flaire that makes you look more believable than David Blaine. Just my "Thoughts", but as mentalists you allready knew this. |
Paradox Regular user 178 Posts |
Yes, a double undercut works well, but as a mentalist you don't want to PERFORM it like Jamy Ian Swiss.
One of the best disarming "moves" I've ever used is the Charlier (or "Haymow") False Shuffle. Done with the faces of the cards toward the audience, it looks like you're truly mixing the cards, as a different card keeps showing up all the time, Besides, if you do it WITHOUT LOOKING AT YOUR HANDS you look like you're just toying with the cards a bit. The cards are not the effect, they're only what you USE in the effect. Erdnase bad-mouthed this false shuffle, saying it looked clumsy. Well, guess what, that's exactly what I want. |
Thoughtreader Inner circle Calgary, Alberta, Canada 1565 Posts |
Sleight of hand is extremely useful to the mentalist. Everything from coin palms, false shuffles and cuts, palming, even some "dove" steals are useful. The key to it all is "invisible" which some people just cannot seem to fathom and as such seem to slightly tip what they are doing, almost an unconscious attempt to say "look at what I have spent the last 6 months learning).
I lecture on the basic, most useful sleights to mentalist when I am lecturing for magicians and use those sleights in my own work. Throughout ones life, one should never stop learning. New ideas, new skill development and constant study are always a good thing in ones career. You can never learn too much. PSIncerely Yours, Paul Alberstat http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft |
A l a i n B e ll o n Veteran user 302 Posts |
But if you are doing mentalism... why use cards?
Just teasing. But I do avoid cards, for many reasons. There are just a few situations where they would be justified in my work. -Alain B e ll o n |
Martin Carli Regular user Montreal, Canada 108 Posts |
We should be, as mentalists, experts in sleight of hand as well. However, we should use these manipulations like they're supposed to be used, i.e. flawlessly and especially invisibly. Techniques should serve the effect and as tools, certainly not as ego-inflaters! In that context, I see no contradiction in learning advanced sleight-of-hand for a mentalist. Quite the contrary...
Later, Martin |
A l a i n B e ll o n Veteran user 302 Posts |
Absolutely.
I assume that many mentalists shy away from billet work due to the sleight-of-hand involved. Any techniques, mental or physical, that can enhance our performance are worth studying and practicing. On the other hand, I feel that sleight-of-mind is much less underexplored and underused. Many performers think that a psych force, a "mental" subtlety or NLP is the conglomerate of sleight-of-mind. If just a few more performers took the time to think and learn about believability, belief formation, memory acquisition and distortion, we would see many more miracles. -Alain B e ll o n |
DonMarco Regular user 187 Posts |
I like to drop stuff just for fun. It makes you look like you have no sleight ability, but also facilitates the opportunity for you to do some sneaky stuff as you are coming back up...hee hee hee...they will never know if none of us tell them...
"Imagination is the Only Reality"-- Marquis de Sade
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Brash Regular user 149 Posts |
In my opinion, if you want to excel in any area you need to master the skills not just the routines/effects. Master one effect, you have... one effect. Master a particular skill, and you're only limited by the applications you can imagine.
That said, I personally think there are better skills a mentalist can focus on than card sleights. Such as "sleight of mind" mentioned by Alain. |
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