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Scott Cram Inner circle 2678 Posts |
Great post, Fon! It's all about the audience's experience! (Without them, we're just practicing at home ;-)
While mentioning a possible "challenge" aspect for Mikael's Trivial Pursuit, I noticed that's one thing you don't see in many memory feats. A challenge aspect would really get the audience to help root for you, and "feel your pain" when you got things wrong. Many of us use the "magician in trouble" idea quite often, but where do you see the "mnemonist in trouble"? This is why I think I'd like to work up a full memory act. Magic has diverse performers like Cardini, David Copperfield, and Rudy Coby, as well as a million acts inbetween. Who does memory acts have? Bernard Zufall and Harry Lorayne. And Bernard Zufall has been dead for some time now. Here's a another question to spark thought? What would the memory act updated for the 21st century look like? Sure, you might see a lot of old chestnuts (Knight's Tour, Names/Faces, etc), but what new twists could they be given for today's audiences? What new ideas could be brought in, too? |
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MichelAsselin Veteran user 20th century, 3rd dimension 326 Posts |
Fon is, of course, right on the money. Connecting with the audience is what it's all about.
Scott asks for a new twist to the old memory game. The first one that comes to mind is the instant memorisation (or recognition) of UPC bar codes. These ubuquitous little things are usually of the 10 digits + variety. Maybe a lot of different products - the spectator calls out the bar code, you call out the product name. Clustering is an important notion as well. The ways in which one "groups" or "clusters" data may make for more rapid acquisition. The Dominic system suggest Character + ACTION, A two item cluster (4 digits) but Character + Action + Character makes for an easy 3 item cluster (6 digits) If you bring in the notion of an attribute for each character Character + Quality + Action + Character + Quality = 5 cluster, a 10 digit number, with not much more effort. Clusters are key to rapid acquisition, IMO.
" , ? ; !!! "
- Marcel Marceau, Feb 30, 1945. |
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Scott Cram Inner circle 2678 Posts |
Whenever I've seen rules on how to put the DOMINIC system together, they've always mentioned that you should have a character, an action and a prop for each two-digit combination.
Using that, we have Character + Action + Prop = 3 cluster, or 6 digits. Two celebrities, with associated action and props would give you a 12 digit number easily. The cluster idea is something I've never thought about, but it does make sense for a rapid acquisition routine. |
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Brash Regular user 149 Posts |
Great discussion. Now I am firmly convinced some intensive study of mnemonics is in order.
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MichelAsselin Veteran user 20th century, 3rd dimension 326 Posts |
Quote:
On 2002-08-08 19:09, Sniper wrote, in the Andruzzi Magazine Memory thread: Fully agree with this. MA
" , ? ; !!! "
- Marcel Marceau, Feb 30, 1945. |
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Scott Cram Inner circle 2678 Posts |
Here are some questions to discuss:
Which kind of memory feats do you perform? A) Legitimate memory demonstrations? B) Hidden use of memory technique? (memorized deck, for example) C) Simulated memory demonstrations? Which kind has recieved the biggest reaction for you? Has anybody here ever done an act consisting of nothing BUT memory routines? |
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sweetcarl Regular user Brussels, Belgium 120 Posts |
Quote:
On 2002-02-16 05:58, p.b.jones wrote: Hi Phillip, I'm a member of your site, but could you tell me which effect you're referring to? |
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Q&A New user 26 Posts |
David the "zipcode man" has memorized all the zipcodes in the USA and a great deal of them throughout the world. You can see his website at http://www.zipcodeman.com
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DarkKnight Regular user 151 Posts |
Quote:
On 2002-08-08 11:48, Brash wrote: I think the danger with this is that they'd assume that you'd simply asked the waitress before she brought out the bill. |
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MichelAsselin Veteran user 20th century, 3rd dimension 326 Posts |
I finally acquired the Harry Lorayne DVD on which he performs a version of the memory act. He does names of a 300+ audience, highlights from a current issue of Time, recall of the populations of different states, and a list of Academy Awards winners. It makes for an interesting mix. The Academy Awards segment is particularly interesting, as he welcomes coumpound questions, like "how make directors with a given first name (say, John) have won an Oscar over a given three year period?"
He anticipates the questions and often antes up their request by adding a criteria. The magazine recall is well received, and so is the population thing - but what really shines is the names recall. Great show, and quite entertaining.
" , ? ; !!! "
- Marcel Marceau, Feb 30, 1945. |
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Brent Allan Elite user Chicago 415 Posts |
I know that for awhile Mark Kornhauser was doing a bit to open his show when he was in Reno where he had people from the audience call out their zip code and he would tell them what city they lived in.
He said the power of this routine was in the fact that people like to talk about themselves, and when you incorporate something about them even as trivial as where thye live, it creates rapport with them. I have seen this performed, and was very impressed.
Turn your business card into a relentless salesperson that brings you business!
http://www.TransformYourBusinesscard.com |
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adniroc New user 18 Posts |
I´ve been training my memory for more than a year now and can memorize a deck of cards in less than 80 seconds but I´ve been asking myself how to make the most of it in a routine!?
Should I keep it a secret that I can memorize so well and try to make a "trick" using it or would it be better to show it as a memory-act? I must say that the few people I have shown memorizing 200 digits in front of them and reciting them forward and backwards are much more impressed than any trick I have shown them (but I should say that I´m not the greatest magician or mentalist yet, so that is maybe why ) Any thoughts from you will be appreciated! |
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drwilson Inner circle Bar Harbor, ME 2191 Posts |
adniroc,
Thanks for reviving this old thread with such great discussion. As for what direction to take your great card memory, it depends on what sort of audiences you'd like to play to and what sort of persona you'd like to adopt. Because there are way too many overeducated people in the audiences on our island, they are not going to believe psychics (there are a lot of scientists), and many people here think magic is for kids. Since moving here, I have used a medicine show framework for presenting memory effects. Please see: http://www.memoryelixir.com I started with mnemonics as a psychic technique. Basically, if you are able to remember an amount of information that people think is impossible, then you must be "getting it" from somewhere, like a crystal ball or the spirits. It turned out that many of the audiences that I encountered were more interested in mnemonics per se. If you want to try this, here are some of the problems that you will have to solve. 1. You aren't "better" than your audience. Some people seem to take powerful demonstrations of your abilities as a criticism of their shortcomings. Don't let this happen. If you are playing it straight, you can explain that memory isn't intelligence or understanding. In my case, I am a snake-oil salesman, so people can feel morally superior. If they really can't handle it, they decide that I am a clever fake. 2. Vary the material in your memory act. Show that you can swiftly memorize a deck of cards, then show that you have an incredible memory of something else (memorize a dictionary or almanac, memorize all the zip codes, learn pi to thousands of digits). That way, you are demonstrating speed with a reasonable amount of information, and demonstrating capacity with an unreasonable amount of information. 3. Make the whole act fun using the right framework, persona, and a good script. I am really glad that I dropped the self-improvement angle, pitched while wearing a business suit. People want to have fun, if they wanted lectures they'd go back to college. Use some showmanship. If you try this and don't like doing a memory act, your card memory will let you use memorized stacks to great effect. Search the Café for good ideas. Don't overlook the trick described in Michael Ammar's Aspen Bar magic, where the bartender has ten or fifteen people take cards and return them. He goes back down the line with ten or fifteen different card revelations, but also using each person's name! No one cares about the **** cards, you remembered their names! In short, try it both ways, as a memory act and as a secret weapon in good, entertaining magic. Follow your heart. Good luck. Yours, Paul |
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adniroc New user 18 Posts |
Hi drwilson,
Are you working with O´Brien's system and how long time did it take for you to memorize 5000 digits? |
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drwilson Inner circle Bar Harbor, ME 2191 Posts |
adniroc,
I am working with the alphanumeric translation system described in Corinda's 13 Steps. Please see: http://www.memoryelixir.com/mnemonics.html The letter-number grid has 260 pegs (A1-Z10). Each cell has ten digits. To get more than 2600 digits, I add a second "bank" using the same pegs. See the grid at: http://www.memoryelixir.com/pi_table.html The bulk of the work is the creation of literal images in Photoshop. These are written into a collection of hundreds of HTML pages that I run locally to drill. Once everything is all set up, the memorization is not that bad. I am trying to set my first officially recorded pi record on 3/14/2003 (Pi Day). Since they can only give me two hours, I don't think that I will be able to do more than about 2000 digits. I plan to get to four banks (10,400 digits) by next year. Most of the time is constructing images and writing HTML. I have other things going on. If I had a MacArthur grant or something and did nothing else, I could do 5,000 digits in about a month. This is not as crazy as it sounds. Look at what the world memory champs memorize in an hour. The problem with pi record attempts is that if you make one mistake, it's over. Yours, Paul |
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Harry Lorayne 1926 - 2023 New York City 8558 Posts |
I just LOVE some of the statements made here AS FACT, when the people really have no idea what they're talking about. Ian Rowland particularly. O'Brien knows much more about memory than I do? What? How in the world do you know that? And, I've answered this before, you keep talking about me not entering memory contests - I've told you ignore those things like the plague, I have nothing to prove, certainly not to you. But I wish you would prove your statements that make no sense.
And Lee Earle makes this statement that there is no audience participation. What? My performance, when I was doing two or three a day - is ALL audience participation. Please, no whereof you speak. Someone else says that memory acts are a bore. Have you ever seen me work? Please don't make statements about things you know nothing about. I wouldn't be getting $15,000 plus first-class airfares and accomodations if what I did was a bore. That's right, I said $15,000.00. I just love these silly statements. HARRY LORAYNE.
[email]harrylorayne@earthlink.net[/email]
http://www.harrylorayne.com http://www.harryloraynemagic.com |
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entity Inner circle Canada 5060 Posts |
Quote:
On 2001-12-30 17:52, Ian Rowland wrote: Lee and Ian: I believe that it was Franz Polgar who first performed the combination of Magic Square and Marvellous Memory. He was certainly doing it in the early 1940's. After seeing him do it, others such as Craig Snader, Orville Meyer and Bev Bergeron published their versions. Polgar never did publish his. - entity
email: tomebaxter@icloud.com
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Garrad Elite user 446 Posts |
Mr Brown did a map book mem thing in "The Gathering", it culminated in him predicting the route a cabby would take.
You might say reality is the result of complex negotiations between the observer and the observed. But that is simply a point of view.
Many Thanks Garrad |
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