Does anyone know anything about this new trick by Oz? It looks very interesting. Extremely creative and fresh. I am wondering how convenient this routine actually is. Anyone know anything about it? -DP

Unfortunately, I don't. I haven't seen any reviews, or even heard of anyone buying it yet. The big downside for me, though, is that you will probably have to either make your own celebrity faces through stenciling, buy a ton of refills, or have your business cards specially printed... all options suck for me.

Does this trick class as mentalism?

Yes. It involves the spectator picking a card with a name on it, and you predicting that name by cutting out the picture, or mind reading that name, and then cutting out the picture to show you knew who it was. So I'd definitely classify it as mentalism.

A prediction is something that happens before they pick a card or whatever. Mentalism is creating the illusion of mind reading, psychokinesis, precognition, clairvoyance or mind control. I'm not really sure if this is mentalism...I might be wrong.

Well, the effect that this is a rip... er... adaptation of can be found in Anneman's Practical Mental Magic, so that should be a clue.

TheCaffeinator, I was absolutely POSITIVE I'd read this somewhere before, but I didn't have 13 Steps or Practical Mental Magic handy to check. Sure enough, there it is, right where I'd read it the last time.

There's a review on this in the Review section.

I saw two angles I could take with this, but before I go into those: Prediction IMO is mentalism. If I predict a card, you'll pick it means I had, precognition, of the fact, I knew it through my mind powers.

Mostly though Mentalism, is more how you present, then actual tricks. I think MOST, and I know not all, any trick could be presented in a mentalist type fashion if need be.

Two Angles, One you cut the picture to create a prediction, then have them select the card and show them your prediction. Second, you have them select then cut out the picture, showing you read their mind to find out what their selection was. Either way I'd say it could be classified as a mentalist effect.

The whole cutout thing strikes me more a a novelty than anything else, though I do agree that with the right presentation it could make for an interesting moment for a spectator.

I can't help but think, though, that simply writing it down is a lot more direct and will save you a lot of money on business cards.

Also, IMHO, doing this as a prediction isn't a very good idea. I wouldn't want to waste my spectator's time by having them watch me fiddle around with a pair of scissors and a business card before I've even "done" anything. I don't think many Penguinites have the presentation skills to hold a spectator's attention like that. As a revelation, though, there are more possibilities to drawing them into what you are doing, since they have already selected a card and become emotionally invested in the moment.

Note, too, that in it's original version this was not a close-up piece (see Anneman's Practical Mental Magic); it was designed more for parlor or stage, the end result having a strong visual impact on an audience even at some distance. IMHO, Oz's version shrinks the effect in more ways than one.

I have read throught practical mental magic and I never saw something similar, maybe I skipped it or I haven't paid much attention, what is the effect name in PMM?

"The Phantom Artist" ... in fact, without knowing the origins, the name of Oz's trick will make no sense whatsoever.

You'd be surprised at how many contemporary magic creators/marketers rely on that fact that far too many people merely skim through the older, crucial texts of our art, or read each effect and fail to see the potential beyond exactly what is written on the page.

Made me head to my storage area and get out my Practical Mental Effects.

It's not there; my copy of Practical Mental Magic has only the routine "Phantom Hand" in there and it has nothing to do with 21st century phantom. Do you have an exact page number or anything like that?

Practical mental magic and practical mental effects are different books.