I've been watching various Mentalists dvd's and been to several shows recently; and in many of their shows they ask someone to draw an object, or write down a name and then reveal the name. Now this is quite easy to do in several ways; a peek wallet, a center tear... but the thing is:

1. The paper never leaves the audience members hands.
2. The performers back is turned (so I think pencil reading is out).
3. It is not placed inside a wallet of any kind and much emphasis is made on "Can you see through the paper? Is it totally hidden?"
4. The paper is kept inside the spectators pocket.


Clearly these various effects are using some form of peek, but not one that I know of and not one that I can find in 13 Steps to Mentalism. Can someone please recommend a book/effect/trick/way of me learning this peek, as I believe it would be very handy.


Tom
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Actually from the way you describe it, many different ways of accomplishing this feat can be used. It is not "clearly" a peek. It can be a peek, but it can also be other things. Look into impression devices. The hornet seems to be a good one, recommended by a lot of mentalists. That one is your peek, the others are more obvious ways to I guess more educated mentalists, but I wouldn't want to reveal it here in the public section of the forums since that is somewhat exposure.

I don't think it is an impression device, atleast there appears to be none used.

If you are afraid of exposing things here, please PM me and we can talk. (if you don't believe I am a Mentalist, then I can tell you my reading list of what I know)

why would he just openly tell you the methods?
why dont you take some time to read and study mentalism and theory and stuff for a while (a long while, not a month or two) like most good magicians have. you seem to want mentalism effects that require no gimmicks, switches, funny moves, center tears, peeks, mirrors, stooges, and whatever but in truth you might have to settle for that. at least for now.
there would be absolutely nothing wrong with doing a trick that involves any of those things as long as you present it right.

but if you do happen to find a marketed effect that uses no gimmicks, switches, center tears, peeks, mirrors, stooges, or whatever let us know.

No what he seems to want to do is create the greatest mentalism show ever... however, he will be unable to do that unless he has actually studied it for years. Which we all know he hasn't. It is okay though, nobody can create the best show ever, since someone will probably top that mentalist at some point. And yeah, I'm not exposing secrets to you just for the heck of it, you have to work to get that lucky. Study up, and you may get there.

I find the fact that you tell me to "go read" without telling me WHAT to read quite silly. Am I meant to read every book ever published?


Seriously, I don't mind you telling me the name of a good book and I will buy it. I have just bought Paralies and I am waiting for it now; but don't just make a completely useless post saying I am too perfectionist. The fact is I have seen something done, which I don't think was done with an impression device, and I want to learn it. If you can help me, please do, I will be extreamely grateful

In the meantime I have added The Faboulous Cicada to my wishlist <3




Tom
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i didnt name any books because frankly ive only read a couple of things on mentalism. practical mental magic is good. some of it's a little outdated but theres a lot of gems to be found in it.
luke jermay offers very good insight in his writing (and his dvd and downloads).

but really the point was that to get good at something you have to learn, read, study, practice, etc. for years to get really good like how it sounds like that performance was that you described. the way it was done may have been a mix of different methods and good presentation, there might not be a marketed effect by itself that achieves the effect you described.

Quite obviously it's magic.

Learning a good peek will allow you to create a "similar" effect. It might not be the same - but do you really want to copy another person anyway. We watch others perform so we can find ways to do things our own way.

I'm not going to jump on you because I'm often looking for something perfect. It's impossible to find. And yet we all get sucked in.

If you really want to learn some good peeks (and pretty good center tear) pick up Peek Performances by Richard Busch. It's a good book on all sorts of peeks - mostly using index cards. If you like that book - he also wrote a sequel Peek Encores. This one is pretty good too.

Also look into Acidus Novus by Milliard Longman. He has a really good video (that is also kinda expensive) that goes over everything from different ways to do it and different effects. It has a lot of guest on it too. You can also find it on the Richard Osterlind's Mind Mysteries set too (volume 1). Two other places to find it are - Bill Cushman's Mind Index and Al Mann's Acidus Novus. (If you need help tracking any of those down - PM me).

My favorite of these ones with Acidus Novus is Bill Cushman's Mind Index. He has some great new additions to classic ways of doing some stuff. Hard to explain here without "exposure."

Thank you PG, but those are all (to my knowledge) types of center-tear.


Thats the problem; I have seen only three Mentalism stage shows in my life, and all used some form of "peek" or such, but at no point used a center-tear. They obtained the information without ever touching the paper - this makes me think of an impression device, but I am wondering if that's the only option.

The only way the performer can obtain information without touching the paper is an impression device. There are a lot of different types out there. For close up...Universal Impression is good. For stage you should look into John Riggs' Impression Devices.

But if the performer has someone make a drawing, write down information, etc and the person tears the sheet out of the pad or takes it off a clipboard then it is an Impression device.

Actually there is one other way, but it's not really obtaining the information

I have a couple of ideas... and you can figure them all out by thinking about the material in 13 steps. If it is on stage, you can have other people helping you off stage...

I know, you can force it in many ways, but I guess an impression device will do. John Riggs seems awesome


Tom
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If you're talking about Derren Brown, I have a very good idea about what technique he uses. Unless you're a well-established professional, like he is, what he uses won't be appropriate for you.

The next best thing, in my opinion, are the pads and clipboards you can get from John Riggs. These actually fulfill most of your requirements (the only one it doesn't is half of #1), and in terms of performance, it's pretty much exactly the same thing.