Here's a utility force I came up with a long time ago that allows you to force one of four different-coloured sharpie markers. In effect, you remove a small bag (like a crown royal bag) from your case or inside jacket pocket - or wherever. You remove 4 different coloured sharpies from the bag, which are displayed. If you like, you can hand the small bag to a participant to check out; there's nothing in and it's 100% ungimmicked. (I simply scrunch the bag up with the other hand so that it's clear there's no other markers in it instead.) The markers are dropped back in the bag, which you then "squiggle" between your hands to mix them up. You now walk over to a participant and extend the bag, asking to reach inside and remove any marker they wish. There is no force; they may actually remove any one...

It will always be your force colour.

Please note: This is the first video shoot I ever appeared in and it is nearly ten years old. I'm extremely camera shy and get very nervous when I have a camera pointed at me - especially in a quiet room. It's a very different thing than actually performing. It may not be evident to you, but when I watch this now I cringe because I can see the nervousness and there's a few places where I get ahead of myself when speaking. This is especially evident when I first display the markers because, in addition to the camera shyness, I had Tony sitting in extremely close proximity to me (which you'd never have in a real performance) and as he hadn't yet seen what I was about to do, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able pull it off without him catching it. Good news was - he didn't spot it. Anyways, please don't judge me too harshly for it, ok?

Finally, this snippet of video was in a bonus section of a dvd we had shot that night for Tony's "Stealth Change Bag" - which is a very unique type of change bag that is designed purely with the Mentalist/Bizarrist in mind. In reality, no change bag is actually required. I simply threw this in there as a "bonus". While I don't mind sharing this here (as it's my darn thing and I can do as I please with it), the video is actually unlisted on youtube so it's not accessible by the public masses. Enjoy!

Sudo, this is very nice indeed. Ingenious, as always. I thought you came across great (and not nervous at all). It was kind of you to share!

Hello Sudo,

Man, oh man, thank you for sharing this. The part about "not smiling" nails it. Most methods of mentalism or mental magic are pretty ugly under the surface; it's rare when something is so beautiful on both sides of the curtain. Congratulations on an excellent invention. And again, thanks for your generosity.

Thomas Henry

Thanks a lot for sharing.

Hi Sudo,

Elegant... thanks for sharing it

Regards, Steve

You're all very welcome - glad you enjoyed it. As for the "smiling" part - yeah, there's nothing better than have the participant unknowingly doing all the dirty work for you.

Many, many years ago - in the late 90's sometime, I'd read the routine "You Hue" in one of Michael Close's "Worker" volumes. The effect is absolutely magnificent and an absolute powerhouse. What happens is this:

You walk up to a table and introduce yourself. As you do so, you quietly place a packet of business cards down on the table. After performing a few effects - and just as you're about to leave, you suddenly remember the biz cards on the table. You ask for the name of one of the people sat at the table and then ask same to remove a coloured marker from a transparent case of about 24 different coloured markers. When they do, you take the marker they chose and openly write down the person's name on the top card of the stack of cards in that chosen colour. But then it goes crazy...

All of a sudden, THEIR name starts multiplying - one at a time - onto the back of each and every one of the rest of the business cards! And in the exact colour they selected too! At the end, you can actually hand out the cards as souvenirs and walk away. Remember, you'd never met these people prior to walking over to them, no double-writing is involved, and the stack of cards was on the table from the very start. That is POWERFUL stuff indeed.

Well, I know a good thing when I see it, and knew straight away that I absolutely had to add this to my repertoire immediately. Problem was, part of the method requires a force of the marker (obviously), but...the method for doing so was severely problematic. First, it required a good amount of work to make up. Second, it used a fairly large pack of markers that would never ever fit into your pocket comfortably. And lastly, the markers were not of a specific brand - but of a specific nature - and you required like 8 packs of the dang things. I looked high and low for nearly two years solid and could not find any markers possessing the proper qualities. In desperation, I created a new way to force a marker - and this was the result.

A number of years later, Mike Close came into town to lecture. Naturally, he performed "You Hue" and then explained it afterwards. However...during the explanation, he mentioned that, he too, could no longer find any markers possessing the right attributes and was getting worried because his markers were beginning to dry up and run out. He asked those attending to drop him a line to tell him where to find them if any of us ever came across any. He even offered money if we'd send them to him.

During the intermission, I went over and said "Hey Mike, how would you like to be able to do this with Sharpies? I have the perfect solution and have been using it with your routine for a good while now; it works beautifully." He said "Sharpies? But how many colours?"

"Four", I replied. "You could use maybe 5 or 6, but I wouldn't advise it."

"Not enough colour choice", he answered. "I use 20" (or however many it was - I can't remember the exact number) and walked away before even listening to the rest.

I wonder if he ever found what he was looking for. My bet is that he didn't and a fantastic routine eventually died.

Typical magician's answer thinking he needed a shed load of choice to make it look more convincing!*sigh*

Great thinking as always, Sudo. Very practicable. Thanks for sharing.

Robert.

I'd have just used a flustration count..

Thank you for sharing this Sudo. I once mentioned on another thread of yours, I wish I could have seen you perform live. I believe it would have been one entertaining and memorable show.

Thanks Wravyn.

I'm a pretty lively entertainer - especially when sober. (3 years sobriety now) We'll see.

Unlike this clip where I'm casually passing on a method (I still find the clip to be embarrasingly bad), my stuff is all scripted. It certainly doesn't appear to be though; you'd swear it was all spontaneous. That's because I know the audience's typical responses at various points in each routine. When that happens, I abandon the script briefly to respond accordingly (as each situation dictates) and when the moment passes, I pick the script back up where I left off. I'm one of those guys who absolutely has to use a script to stay on track, or I'll suddenly turn into Robin Williams if I don't. One needs only to observe how often I suddenly take a sharp left-hand turn into the twilight zone in my posts here at the Café to see this.

As for the Mike Close story, it wasn't shared as a malicious jab at him; it's simply a part of the backstory to this marker force. I'm sure he was probably just having a bad night. After all, he was all the way up here in Canada in the middle of a lecture tour... so he could have just been tired out from the road. It happens to the best of us; we're not always at our best.

Hello Sudo,

thanks for sharing it.
The force is very nice.
Great thinking!

Slick! Great utility idea. Thanks for sharing.

Excellent idea Sudo... Thank you so much for sharing it. Loved it.

I have Mark Strivings' "Technicolor Miracle" (which uses an entirely different principle), but I'll remember (and use) this method, when I'm traveling and need to put together something "impromptu" to create a similar effect.

Nice thinking as always!

Thanks Philemon - and everyone else. You're welcome.


BTW, I made a comment the other day about steampunk and those goggles in a post, and then later realized "Oh no's......I may have put my foot in my mouth there, 'cause I'm pretty sure Philemon's gonna read this and think I'm talking about him." It wasn't aimed at anyone - and especially not you. I often expressed the same sort of sentiments about the punk movement and how almost everyone had to have the obligatory "mohawk" , with ripped jeans and the chain around their neck that had a lock hanging off it. My first experience with a steampunk event...I kid you not... about 7 or 8 out of every 10 people that walked by had those dang goggles on their hat and it drove me absolutely mental.

If roughly 7 or 8 out of every 10 cars that went past me were red one day... I'd also start going absolutely bonkers every time I saw a red car thereafter because something's clearly not right... that can't be normal.

The video is now showing as "unavailable". What happened please?

Brilliant Sudo!

Your ingenious mind is only a proof of your kind heart.

Thanks Pablo. Glad you enjoyed it.

I try. I really do. My heart's in the right place, but my mind is an uncontrollable monster sometimes. It always wildly fluctuates between the desire to reflect the evil and pain I've personally experienced in my life and reckless optimistic idealism. If I could only keep the two in sync with each other...I have my moments, but they are fleeting. There's a little kid inside of me who was never allowed to experience the wonder of happy, normal childhood and he never goes away. Perhaps that's where my best work comes from; to truly know Magic is to possess a child-like sense of wonder and imagination. I still don't know how to actually make and keep friends or what that even really means. I've had to fake it and hide not being "ok" my whole life. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's absolutely true in my case. I was so busy just trying to cope and survive that I didn't get a chance to heal. I don't care if people make fun of me for admitting it, because it's the truth. It doesn't bother me in the slightest; most folks are too simple-minded to be able to actually understand and couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors or the long-term effects these sorts of things have on a person. I've dealt with it my entire life - being ridiculed and picked on because I was "different" by those who were blessed to not have to endure what I did. These people should just be very thankful that they've grown up in loving, normal homes, and never had to experience what I went through. My life has been anything but normal from the very moment I came into this world. I have no family, nothing. So all my love goes to this art - my only true friend and constant companion throughout this life. I have a deep relationship with it that I doubt anyone could ever understand.

Sorry for rambling. I'm not looking for sympathy, just feeling emotional because even though I have a gift, I will never be able to succeed with it. It's the worst curse imaginable.

You're a success in my eyes.

Wish I would have found this thread in time to see the force. I know if it’s Sudo, it’s a piece of brilliance.

Madison