I recently had an opportunity to read about a very powerful routine created by John Linden. It is called The Rain Man Glimpse. To say that this will blow your spectator's mind is a big understatement. If you are looking for reactions that are loud, this may not be your kind of effect. In fact, your spectator will sit (or stand) in stunned silence. The reason is that you will have demonstrated amazing memory. Anything that he or she is asked to write, draw, or scribble (any kind of information!) will be able to be remembered and replicated by the performer. A photographic memory is not something common, but with John's routine, you will be able to demonstrate exactly this, and your spectator will have no idea how you did it.

Although I will not talk about methodology in any way, shape, or form, I will say that the way to execute this effect is devastatingly simple. Sure, it will take preparation. Sure, it will take some work. But, the payoff for your preparation is huge! The instructions are very clearly laidforth by John, and there are even pictures to help you visualize everything! Something that I also enjoyed was the fact that John provided a script to use. This helps to mentally process the performance, and it helps everything to make sense.

I tried The Rain Man Glimpse on my wife. She wrote down a 35 digit number. I was able to get 33 out of the 35 numbers right (yes, I missed two on purpose). She was flabbergasted. I told her I had been practicing my memory skills, and she actually believed that I had a photographic memory. She wanted to KNOW exactly how I had been practicing my memory skills so that she too could improve her memory. Folks, this is as real as it gets. With The Rain Man Glimpse, your spectator won't think it's a trick. Instead, it will be a powerful experience that elevates their thinking about the wonders of the mind.

I know John is working on a book that will contain this routine, among others. I sure am looking forward to its release, and I'm also sure that John will chime in and provide further details, as appropriate. Can't wait.

Regards,
Mike

This sounds interesting.

That sounds right up my street. Look forward to hearing more. Any idea on a possible release date insight?

If you ever forget her Birthday, Anniversary etc. in the future...watch out!

I'm good friends with John and can testify that the "Rain man glimpse" is trully awesome, they can write/draw anything and you can replicate it after looking at that for no more than 1 second.

Thank you Mike and Michael for the kind words! I am glad that you liked it Insight and that you now may have a 'photographic memory'! Heh, although as Anthony mentioned make sure to remember the important dates.

I am currently working on the book/ebook whatever it ends up to be. It currently has no name and no release date but it will be filled with techniques, routines and principles.

Is there any questions regarding The Rain Man Glimpse or any other of the routines such as a list along with info - what they are - please ask here and reply with such suggestions.

Kind Regards,

John.

Is the book going to follow a rainman theme or is this a stand alone which is included?

No, the book has a variety of different mentalism routines that doesn't follow the same category. At the moment, The Rain Man Glimpse is the only 'memory' effect.

Also, the book will contain forces, peeks, principles and techniques i.e. not only routines.

Kind Regards,

John.

PS: I don't know if The Rain Man Glimpse will be sold as a stand-alone effect.

Ideas of price? release date? Downloadable form?

Thanks for the reply. I'm not suggesting that it should be a stand alone item that would be at your discretion of course. It sounds like a worth while investment.

Not at the moment but it will be a reasonable price. I will get back with more info about that.

Release date is also not decided yet, I am still working on it.

I don't know if it will be a download, PDF or if it will be an actual book. If I decide to sell The Rain Man Glimpse as a stand-alone it will be a PDF most likely.

Kind Regards,

John.

I thought I could write a bit about two other routines that will be in the book.

ROMEO & JULIET

This routine is a spectator as mind reader and drawing duplication type of effect.

An experiment about love, could be friends as well or two strangers.

Two people stand about ten meters away from each other(they can stand further away, doesn't matter) and both of them hold a pad, business card, slate - whatever they can write on - let's call them Romeo and Juliet. Juliet draws something, it's a completely free choice, she can draw whatever she wants i.e. no preshow, no stooging or anything. She draws e.g. a unicorn. No-one but Juliet knows the drawing. Then Romeo is asked to pick up on her thoughts telepathically or her body language, depending on your style of mentalism. He manages to do this and draws a unicorn, they turn the pads around at the same time and they match. They both go bananas.

I love performing this routine and it is completely impromptu. Both participants are completely clueless and the beauty is that it will strengthen their relationship since all the focus are on them and not the mentalist.

GO FISH FOR ESP

This is a card routine.

Basically, the mentalist speaks about the old game of Go Fish. The participant spreads all the cards out on the table(face down) and then the mentalist ask the participant to name one card out of the fifty two. She names e.g. the King of Spades. She is then asked to point at one card that she think is The King of Spades, she does. Then another participant is asked to choose a card as well, he says e.g. The Queen of Hearts. He is also asked to point at any card that he believes is the Queen of Hearts. He does. Both cards are turned face up and it is indeed The Queen of Hearts and The King of Spades. All the other cards are different.

This promises to be an important book. I particularly like the Romeo and Juliet routine - effects where the spectator is the mindreader can be delightfully strong.

I'm glad to hear! Yes, spectator as mind reader can play out really strong. The good part about the Romeo & Juliet routine is that both of them are clueless. It is also free choices, they can literally draw anything, no forces, no written messages.

Wow, you definitely got me intrigued! Romeo and Juliet sounds really strong as a spectator! They might even believe its real mindreading if you didn't tell them you're a magician!

I once walked up to two strangers in a park and said: "I have a theory about couples and good friendships." I performed Romeo and Juliet and it wasn't in the magician or mentalist way, it was just a beautiful theory about a link between two persons who turned out to be right.

Wow... hearing all of this makes me want to actually perform a mentalism piece. This sounds too good. I don't even know how this would be possible!

I'm glad you feel that way! The good part is that it's possible.

So yesterday I went out with John to test "Romeo & Juliet" on some people.
The effect is trully great in premise and fulls everybody ( they really believe it's the connection/psychology at play here)
Though it still needs quite a bit of redefining to make it as close to sure-fire as possible.
We tested it on 3 couples yesterday ( well... 2 real couples and a pair of friends) and what was really weird is that the 2 couples guessed eachother drawings without us having to even use the method The third time though we did use the method and it worked really well.
So in conclusion what I should say that even after redefining the effects to make them as great as they can be, there will still be a quite a bit of work till the book can be released. ( unless John decides to release some of the effects as stand-alones)

It was fun yesterday Michael.

Yep, I have had a lot of success with Romeo & Juliet but as you said, all scenarios have to be tested firmly to have the whole routine covered with explanations and additional details.

All in all. This was the very first time Michael actually saw me perform Romeo & Juliet, which was great fun. Good reactions, nice weather.

PS: I am currently working on writing everything down regarding Romeo & Juliet, I would need reviewers in the near future. Send me a PM if you're interested, I can't promise anything since I only want a few reviewers.

Kind Regards,

John