study mentalism

I’ve read Corinda, now. Not from cover to cover, but in that glancing way of absorbing a trick, trying it, mulling it over. Studying. You can study Corinda, but not read him. Or, you could read him, but it would be useless. I’ve moved on a bit. I had a course. A session. A draga, more specifically. I’m on top of things now and I know what I’m doing. At this point I need practice, not study.

I healed a Pepsi can last night. My presentation was incomplete. I forgot to demonstrate that the can was empty. I wasn’t able to hide all the noises. Resealing the mouth went much easier than I had expected. In all, I stumbled through the trick, but I think it actually worked.

I learned how decisions can be forced. Ha. Not only is it a fine trick, it’s a nice metaphor to keep in mind. I used to use the story of “democratic pre-school.” It’s democratic because we all vote to decide what we want to do. This morning, we’ll vote on Horseback Riding or Beach! Which do you want? I’m sorry, get ice cream wasn’t an option…

Corinda’s third chapter seems to be where its at. I mean, it’s got two turntables and a microphone. I’m starting to bundle the material… I’m not longer seeing this as a handful of effects, but a persona to create… I’m staying AWAY from anything to do with cards – except perhaps Zener cards. I’m hoping to start with the comprehensible (e.g. Rainman) and lead to the metaphysical (e.g. John Edwards). I’m not sure of the persona yet – more Rainman or more John Edwards…

Focus on : no. 8, pg. 32—if I’m lucky, pg. 41, pg. 62, all the algorithms, the knight, chess, date algorithms.

I’m barely online now, but I recently was able to pull off a telepathy trick to great effect. In a crowd of about 12 I had one collabator and one heckler. The heckler claimed he knew what was going on, but as usual, he did not. Fortunately, there are no props to expose in mentalism.

I still lack a regular accomplice. I think I could clean up on bar bets if I had one.

Okay—I was prompted by a comment from ThePeer to make a progress report. I hadn’t updated in six months. Why? I moved to France. France can be a never-ending bureaucratic nightmare. I am so busy with goals important to “society” (helping my employer, getting work papers, etc.) that I often lose track of my personal goals.

Amazingly, I have achieved a little bit regarding mentalism. This was accomplished by chancing upon a supportive assistant. So far we have done one trick. What’s the key? It’s a fair amount of acting—the trick is minimal.

As for the books, I haven’t finished any of them, but here’s my advice. Don’t think of this as a routine. Think of it as a game. Consider yourself a con-man. The best intro is Corinna’s 13 Steps. Start with page 1. Will you use the first trick? Prolly not, but he does a nice job of showing the ground rules. Just keep reading. I suspect that at the end of the book you’ll have a good idea what you are after. Notice that he assumes certain things about audiences and assistants. You may not get to work in this environment, but hearing about it is not useless. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar studied with Bruce Lee. Did he spar on the basketball court?)

After that, I’d move on to Annemann, who’s a little easier to plunder for specifics. Plus, there’s a fair amount there you can do with minimal preparation. Remember that preparation and set up are not the same. Fulves’ Self-Working Mental Magic is useful, too, but I have developed a new interest.

I’m not so interested in telepathy tricks or spirit writing now. I’m a bit more excited about cold reading, but in terms of success and failure, this is pretty high sphincter. Then again, I’m not on stage like John Edwards or Sylvia Brown. I only have to attack a given weak spot.

All in all, I think it is probably easier to dupe rubes than conduct a show. There’s differnt dynamic which is more comprehensible to me. I’ve also found snipets of this mirrored in some esoteric-type reading I’ve been doing.

As I organize my library, I find books long misplaced. I have collected up all my mentalism books.

I don’t have two books by Annemann, just one. I do have Karl Fulves Self-Working Mental Magic. With 67 effects, I shall start reading about 3 a day on monday.

When I made this goal, I hadn’t fully internalized the limited and positivistic aspects of 43things. I only intend to catalog things which I can achieve, which I can say are definitively done, and which I can report back whether it was “worth” it. In that spirit, this goal is being redefined a bit: I will read Corinna’s 13 Steps, and both of Annemann’s books. Then, I will perform no fewer than FIVE (5) of these bad boys on the unsuspecting populace.

You with me?

I once had a girlfriend with whom I had worked out several mentalist tricks. We claimed to be psychickly linked to win drinks at bars. Now a true magician never gives away the trick, so I won’t tell you what we had devised. Years later I saw a mentalist in action. His name was Rory Raven. Besides being the best live entertainment in Providence, he has become an inspiration to develop my “mental” powers. Like locksmithing, mentalism is one of those skills that heightens your powers of observation. I wish I had time to do it or a willing assistant.