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Michael_MacDonald 1964 - 2016 Washington 2034 Posts |
Gawd I wish I could afford this! I'm going to have to stop reading this thread lol.
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Mind illusionist Special user Australia 949 Posts |
I cant afford this. But Im giving up food so I can get these beauties hehe
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bole New user Watching you since 88 Posts |
Ahh, food for thought, right?
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Mind illusionist Special user Australia 949 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-10-15 12:47, bole wrote: Yep, precisely my friend haha! |
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bole New user Watching you since 88 Posts |
Yes, I can relate. Done it too. Cough. Poor us's. But if this helps: It's most likely totally worth it. As with Gh*st, I expect these books to be skillfully produced replicas of the real deal. And this really adds to the illusion. Plus you get nice books for your spooky library. Plus they are actually readable. Plus these are not fictionary works, but something people can relate to. Plus they set a mood just by mentioning the titles. Plus...
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ZoOpDoG Veteran user All the cool people have 311 Posts |
Outta my price range this close to christmas and winter months. looks cool though!
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PROF BC Inner circle 1445 Posts |
The Best Tales of Poe just arrived from the bindery (the 'trial' proof, mind you) and it is beautiful. Just as I had expected. It looks extremely well beside the trial proof of Jekyll & Hyde, too.
Have finished the preliminary aging on the first 50 Hound of the Baskervilles and posted them off to the bindery. Been working on those all day, every day since Saturday (except two days when I was at university doing my other job), and I still have the other 50 to complete. Once these 300 copies come back from the bindery, I still have to do the final aging (covers and touching up the pages), and then they will be ready for release. I understand Doppelganger seems a bit pricey, guys, but I have been working on these three books since February--devising, revising, testing, coding (months of coding!), matching stock to the originals, aging each page by hand, &c. If you know my work, I can promise that Doppelganger is at least as good as the best of it. I think it might even be my best idea and props yet. The Performance Manual alone is well over 200 single-spaced pages (and still not finished)--not because it is difficult to learn (QUITE the contrary!) but rather because there are simply so many different directions you can take these books, from one-off walk around and remote viewing (so detailed that you can actually draw the image they are looking at . . . provided you can draw--in fact, even if you CANNOT draw, I have outlined for you a dodge that allows you nevertheless to draw what they have secretly selected--free choice selection, no forces, no peeks, no stooges, as clean as if you are actually able to see what she sees) all the way to a truly full-evening seance in which you can simply participate while the books do everything for you. Additionally, you can make magic with any one of the books. Other routines are available with any two books. The 'full Doppelganger effect' requires three or more, of course, and the more titles you have out on the table, the easier (and yet more visually impressive) the performance becomes, but price consideration is precisely why I am releasing three titles this year, two next year, and two more the following year. Those who can afford only one book each year can still collect three titles over the next three years even if these first three titles sell out. I am truly trying to make this effect accessible to as many performers as want it. BC
Phasmologist
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james_unlimited Loyal user UK 223 Posts |
Where can we get them from Prof?
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Mind Guerrilla Inner circle Queens, NY 2670 Posts |
Prof,
Will there be an example of an actual performance (something more specific than the description on the Lebanon Circle site)? James, Here's where: http://lebanoncircle.co.uk/Doppleganger.html |
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Michael_MacDonald 1964 - 2016 Washington 2034 Posts |
PROF BC
no one doubts the value of your work brother. I have not seen anyone who puts more love and originality into artifact creation. you and chris gould are my favorite creators. the levels you reach for are high. the quality is second to none. I hope that I did not give the mimpression that your work is not worth the out put as it is. it is still within reach of most but it is not under valued. for me the ability to purchase them has been taken away from me due to heath issues limiting the funds I have to spend. trust me in that if I have the cash I would definitely own them all. and consider them a great deal. |
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piyuyu Veteran user 308 Posts |
Always enjoyed reading Prof's manual, always.
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jglumley Loyal user Kansas City 244 Posts |
I am waiting for him to code a performance manual.
The "18"
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PROF BC Inner circle 1445 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-10-17 14:35, Mind Guerrilla wrote: James: This is a really excellent question, and (professor that I am) I will have to begin by answering it with another question: How can I do the performance possibilities justice? The performance manual covers everything from one-book, one-off 'tricks' to multiple-book full-evening shows. The performer can choose to do a one-word 'hit' quickie or (in walk-around) a detailed remote viewing of any picture the spec chooses (even drawing it as the spec looks at it--even from across the room or over the telephone!) With two books, the performer can engage in a do-as-I-do routine with a strong-connection finale. With multiple books, the performer can 'hit' every spec in the hall who is looking at a book--with different hits! No fishing, no peeks, no forces, yada yada yada. Honestly. It really is a question of a spec selecting *any* book she likes and opening it to *any* page, then you start talking. That said, you *can* use forces and call-outs, &c. to drastically change the look of your routine at any time and keep the specs completely off-balance throughout your show. It is always entirely up to the performer and everything is always in your complete control. With one book, any one of the books I should say (your choice), you can perform a full routine very similar to the GH*ST performance. With two books (again, any two, your choice--or your spec's choice, it really doesn't matter who does the selecting) you can have two specs seem to gain a connection with one another even as they work their ways independently through their very-different books. With three books (and, in future, four, five, six, seven, &c.) the performance possibilities multiply even as your performance 'work' diminishes with each book brought into play. I don't have my file down here with me in the dungeons, but when I've finished aging today's group of Hounds (tonight sometime) I'll climb to the tower and do a cut-and-paste of just the first four routine descriptions I've written for the manual: mindreading, seance, paranormal, and parapsychological. These are each multiple-book routines, but there are easily as many (and more!) performance possibilities for those who want only one or two of these titles. I'll try to remember to post those routine descriptions tonight. Thanks for asking. Your interest is sincerely appreciated. Professor BC
Phasmologist
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Mind Guerrilla Inner circle Queens, NY 2670 Posts |
I hope the Prof isn't running himself ragged trying to meet a specific release date. As I've said before, I don't mind waiting until next Halloween if that's how long it takes.
I wonder how many of the people pressuring the Prof and Dan to release this yesterday actually intend on performing it? As I study this forum it;s hard not to see a pattern emerge among the "collectors." Phase I: A new effect/prop is announced or teased. The collectors' posts run along the lines of "Want it!" Phase II: The item is released. Say the collectors: "Ordered!" Phase III: The item is shipped. The collectors announce "#18 arrived today!" or something along those lines. And then we never hear from them again regarding this prop/effect... ...that is, until they post in the "Let's Make A Magic Deal!" section hawking the very same item in "like new"/"never used" condition. I hope the good Professor take whatever time he needs to do that voodoo he does so well. |
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jglumley Loyal user Kansas City 244 Posts |
Of course there is always buzz around a new product, and if you have any of the other Prof BC books you know what your getting into.
Well it's probably to late to add the effect to any of this Halloween season's material. The nice thing about these books are I can see them as a year around effect. It is true that some props don't always make it into the show for one reason or another. We all have our boxes full of effects that don't make it. Sometimes you need more money to buy something else you think will work better. Who knows. I would not call it "pressure" so much as momentum at this point. =)
The "18"
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minty Elite user Rugby, Warwickshire 423 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-10-18 14:01, Mind Guerrilla wrote: I'm unaware of anyone pressuring either Prof BC or Dan to release this yesterday. Who cares how many purchasers will be performing this regularly? |
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Mind Guerrilla Inner circle Queens, NY 2670 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-10-18 15:35, minty wrote: Obviously I'm exaggerating but one need only start reading this thread from the beginning to see what I mean. Quote:
Who cares how many purchasers will be performing this regularly? Not so much "regularly" as "at all." Performers saving their pennies to invest in this effect wouldn't want to miss the boat because some collectors have caused it to sell out. And I'm sure Prof BC has designed Doppelganger for people to perform, not to buy and re-sell. Then again, I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. |
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RandyScott Loyal user 258 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-10-18 16:05, Mind Guerrilla wrote: Start reading the thread from the beginning? That must be me! I don't think I was pressuring the Professor at all. I also believe the Professor would see it the same way. The thread was started to get more information about the Professor's upcoming release and for a place to discuss Doppelganger. As a proud owner of Gh*st, naturally I was/am excited for the new release. There is no pressure. As with almost all quality accessories in bizarre magic, you get what you pay for and it takes TIME. Any time table for the release of this effect would only be one the Professor has placed on himself. The Professor has already mentioned that delays in the release of the effect are out of his hands (printers, etc.) To suggest the Professor, to satisfy enthusiastic customers, would cut-corners or compromise on the quality of his creation is absurd. Quote:
Maybe Dan and the Professor should run the list of potential customers by you; so you can deem who is worthy to purchase this effect? Maybe we should send a video clip/audition to you to get the right to purchase? Can I please purchase a set? Is there a problem with purchasing and re-selling? That's the society in which we live. If it is sold (for a profit) at a later date, the seller has what they want (profit), but the new owner will have the treasure. The sad truth is, there is a price for "missing the boat." (BTW-I have only seen one copy of Gh*st come up for sale. It was taken off the on-line auction site rather quickly and the owner said it was posted in error by his wife. I bet my wife would like to cash in and post some of my magic inventory. I do own Gh*st and will NEVER sell it.) Shirley (Airplane), the Professor wants his work to spread amazement and produce shivers down the spine of innumerable spectators across the world. If collectors snatch up half of the Doppelgangers released, then you will have an even more valuable and limited release. Take it upon yourself to work this effect even harder and produce shivers for the editions collecting dust on the collector's bookshelf. Rant over |
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Mind Guerrilla Inner circle Queens, NY 2670 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-10-18 19:20, RandyScott wrote: Works for me Quote:
Can I please purchase a set? No soup for you! |
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PROF BC Inner circle 1445 Posts |
Well, that's a lively little debate.
Some people are collectors, some are performers, some (like myself) are a healthy dose of both. There is room enough for all. Occasionally (sadly) it is true that someone has to resell a piece (for any number of reasons), and my response is always the same: see it into good hands, someone that will appreciate it, and I will do my part by supporting that new buyer just as enthusiastically as I do the original buyers. As I say, room enough for all. Pressure? You bet I feel it, all internal. I gave this project plenty of time so it would be out and selling by the fifteenth (three days ago), but I discovered that releasing three books at once isn't merely three times the work, it opens itself to perhaps nine times the delays--paper, printers, cover materials, the matching of book fonts took me almost three weeks alone in research and then finding the one I needed for J&H, and so it went. So now I'm working 15- to 18-hour days to get the last book (Hound) ready to go to the bindery--as much because of *their* schedule as anything (trying to avoid more delays in missing their window for giving this their full attention because *they* have Christmas boxes soon to begin producing--so I'm struggling to be considerate of their workload, too). That said, you can bet your jars of formaldehyde that I would never cut corners on any of my releases. I'm going to miss releasing this in time for Hallowe'en (even were it ready today, it's too late to get it rehearsed in time--and believe me I am very unhappy about that) . . . but I am hoping those with a solid set of winter holiday engagements will remember that ghosts have long been part of those celebrations as well ("There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago" as the song says) . . . and these books will actually work in spring and summer months, too. With that in mind, here are those four descriptions I promised (lifted directly from early pages of the Performance manual)--NOTE: *none* of these describe the pinnacle 'full Doppelganger effect' performance or the 'automatic writing' performance (mentioned earlier in this thread), or any of the one- or two-book routines available. This is only a (rather small) taste of what can be achieved with Dopps: SOME OF THE EFFECTS POSSIBLE WITH DOPPELGANGER The Mentalist (simple version) The performer invites a number of people to take any book they like from a small library of rare volumes. They return to stand at their seats and are asked to open their various books to any page they desire and read the first two or three lines of their silently selected page. Soon the mind-reader begins to get impressions: he sees a well with no water in it, a sense of fear (perhaps it is a comment about some fear or something frightening), an animal (he thinks a dog) struck along the roadside, a seahorse (or perhaps these are two elements—the sea and a horse). Water, violent death, an image of fear—if he has touched upon the selected page, he asks that person to sit. Most of the participants close their books, impressed, and sit. But one remains standing. The performer concentrates on this one. This is an unusual one. He still has an image of water in his mind that he cannot quite clear. No. That does not apply. It was one of the other participants who retains a strong connection still. The performer hesitates—this is unusual. Yes, unusual. There is something in this page’s opening moments that refers to something unique—peculiar, curious, even strange. Is that right? The last participant, astonished, admits that is exactly correct and sits. [The mentalist then asks that the books be handed to another audience member for yet another demonstration, using perhaps the pictures this time, and is again able to see the salient images. For a finale, he draws an exact replica of an image the last spec has chosen.] The Medium (simple version) The books are laid out, one at each place, around the séance table as the sitters choose their seats. The medium lights candles as soft music fills the sitting room. He places a newspaper clipping in the center of the table and announces that they will attempt to contact the spirit of one long deceased. Tonight will be a ‘book reading’ séance rather than a Ouija, Tarot, or Table Turning communication. The sitters are asked to meditate quietly before opening their various books to any page they feel themselves drawn to. The medium opens a book, too. They are all old books, rare editions of famous titles, that once resided in the library of a famous clairvoyant who used them in his sittings precisely as they are being used now. After the sitters have had time to read the pages they have chosen and quietly contemplated those feelings and visualized the images they contain, the medium begins to read from his book aloud. He stops after only a few moments. Was that a sound in the room? Perhaps it was a signal. He reads the passage he stopped upon again. Perhaps this word or phrase is important. It is an unusual word. Does anyone else have a similar word or phrase on the page before her? One sitter says she has indeed. The medium replies that may be significant. He reads on, and this time there is a definite disturbance in the room. Almost everyone is aware of it. The medium reads the word he has stopped on, and this time several sitters see that they have also turned to a page with this word upon it. The medium thinks perhaps they have made contact. He may stay on that page or go to another, he says, and asks the sitters if they feel a sense of what would be right. They reply and, depending upon their feeling, he remains on the same page or else turns to another place in the book. He reads aloud again. Nothing seems to happen, but the medium stops nevertheless. He happens to know that a phrase on this page is indeed significant to the spirit they are attempting to reach. He wonders if they have failed to recognize a sign. Indeed, several sitters (always a different number and mix of people) do have this word on the page they have freely selected. Now the medium asks one of the sitters to read aloud from her page. As she is reading, there comes an unmistakable sign in the room, and the word she has just read not only coincides with other sitters’ pages (though not the medium’s), it also matches a key point in the newspaper clipping that has been in plain view at the center of the table throughout the sitting. One of the sitters is asked to read that clipping, and the sitters realize that every one of the words adduced have been directly related to the spirit’s history. What’s more, the central fact of the deceased (up to this moment left undisclosed) is also to be found on the page of the last reader (and no other sitter!) The Parapsychologist (simple version) To test the existence of thought transference, the scientist has brought along a collection of rare, old books. Venerable titles instill both confidence and calmness of mind, essential elements of a successful experiment. The first test subject comes forward and takes up any book, turns to any page, and reads it silently (but with attention) while the other test subjects look on and try to pick up on her thoughts. The other test subjects now step forward and each select a book. They are asked to work through several pages, skimming lightly but not actually reading, and to stop when they feel a page is particularly significant. They are to mark that page and close the book for the moment. When they have done this, the scientist looks at the original test subject’s chosen page. He will apply the Möhr scale of word significance to the page she has selected: some words are so common (a, the, up, down, and the like) that they will coincide too often by a predictable ratio. Other words are so uncommon or arcane that (even if transferred telepathically) there is little chance of finding those words in another book to prove the match. The Möhr scale rates words by sound, length, and frequency to determine which words on a given page have the best chance of a) being received telepathically, and b) being found in another ‘orthographic event’ (written document) such as a book. After this Möhr evaluation, the scientist announces five likely words on the ‘control’ page. He asks the other test subjects to open to their pages and asks how many have the first word on their pages (none do). The second word? One or two actually have this word (a remarkable percentage). The third? A different mix of one-to-three have this word (even more remarkable). The fourth? none have this word (much more expected—in fact, having a single match is considered within the standard variation for coincidence, two or more matches in the course of a full experiment is considered evidence of telepathy). The fifth word? This time, a new mix of two-to-as-many-as-all find that they have this word on their pages. The scientist concludes that the reader has strong ‘sending’ telepathy, and the one with the most hits has a strong ‘receiving’ ability; this ‘receiver’ is then selected for the next experiment using the pictures in the books, but this time they will test her ability to send rather than receive a telepathic message (for sending and receiving, researchers have discovered, are two different skills). She looks at an image (of her free choosing) for a full minute, and when the others take up books and settle on their own images it is found that significant similarities exist between the picture she chose and those ‘received’ by most (and possibly all) of the others. The Paranormal Investigator (simple version): A collection of rare, old and famous books are shown through a series of tests (using, for example, EMF detectors) to possess a strong and unusual force. The books were the property of an occultist who died one hundred years ago with these books gathered about him on his desk. One member of the party is asked to take any of the books into another room, shut the door and (selecting any page at random) quietly read the words of that page into the empty room. She is then to mark her page and close her book before rejoining the group. When she returns, the next person is asked to take a different book and go into that room. She is to attempt to feel which page she is to turn to, allowing the spirit to move her to her selection. Again, she is to read that page quietly to the room and close the book around some type of bookmark, so she can find the page again. This is then repeated with all the other members of the party, each using a different book. When finished, they share stories of how reading in the empty room made them feel and then open their books again as a group and share which page numbers they turned to. These page numbers do not coincide, but the investigator now tells the tale of the occultist, and the significant elements of his life (and death) are eerily found to coincide with the significant words unaccountably shared between the pages each person independently selected (but that are not revealed until after the tale has been told). Commentary As you can readily see, Doppelgänger offers the performer a wide range of effects depending upon how s/he wishes to present them. Additionally, these ‘simple’ versions all feature completely free selection of book and page by every participant. Absolutely no control occurs at any time. The performer never peeks a page, never forces a selection, does not fish, nor does s/he control the spectators in any manner. What you have read is precisely what happens in performance. The only element added is the performer’s ability to know what is on those pages and thereby stage-manage the effects and revelations. Stage managing revelations is always in your control (so if, for example, you are doing the Parapsychologist routine above, and want someone to get a hit every time (instead of having a word or two that receive no hits), you can arrange that with no trouble at all). It all depends upon the effect you wish to achieve. Of course, with Doppelgänger you also have the option to use call-outs, forces, or have the spec invisibly (and unknowingly) signal her page to you. These techniques put you in the driver’s seat earlier in the routine; they also allow you (if you wish) to shape the routine to a specific, pre-ordained conclusion. The watchword for Doppelgänger is flexibility. (NOTE: don't look for the Möhr scale of word significance anywhere--it is pseudo-scientific jargon in the midst of a pseudo-scientific performance.) I'm for sleep, perchance to dream. I have an early morning date with more Hounds of the Baskervilles. Best, Professor BC
Phasmologist
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