CT 2-5 format.doc

Center Tear is brought to you by the letters C & T, and also by Arcane, Gardinski and Lesault.

THE COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING RIGHTS OF ANYTHING DESCRIBED HEREIN ARE RETAINED

BY THE CONTRIBUTOR

Center Tear

the thinking persons journal

Volume 2 Issue 5

Sept 2003

Oh, what a couple of months it's been!

Just back from another successful visit to The Netherlands, and once again I return
with a head full of new effects and ideas.

...and so to this issue. This is the first issue where I'm not to blame for its choice of
content. This one's down to Gardinski. I have to say he's chosen some very nice
contributions. I hope you think the same!

Of course I couldn't let this issue go by without mentioning our new forum. (Thanks
go to Lesault for doing the deed!) If you've found this issue of CT, then you'll have
signed up for the forum. Our hope is that it will become a very useful resource.

Thanks for the continued support.

Peter Arcane
=

Close Up Dupe by Scott Creasey

Subliminal Persuasion by Gardinski

The Finger Tells - Revisited by Nir Dahan

The Return of Dracula by Nir Dahan

Marked Mental Miscall by Christopher Taylor

Coin Etheric by Kenton Knepper

Two Techniques for the Study of Strangers by John C. Sherwood

Derren Brown live in Hastings: reviewed by Bert Coules

A second look at 'Double Vision' by John C. Sherwood

Arcane's Zodiac Key Words: reviewed by Gardinski

Doug Dyment's Sign Language: reviewed by Gardinski

Close Up Dupe by Scott Creasey

Sitting opposite a spectator, the mental marvel
proposes a test in both psychic transmission and
reception. He takes from his pocket a business
card and hands it to the volunteer asking him to
draw a simple design. It can be anything as long
as it is quick, recognisable and clean (depending
where you are working of course).

Once the drawing is completed the volunteer
slides it face down into an empty envelope which
is then signed and placed on the table in full view.

The performer explains that the volunteer will also
get the chance to test his psychic ability. He

removes another business card from his pocket and draws a design of his own which
he slides into the envelope to join the first drawing.

Two more business cards are then removed. One is handed to the volunteer with
the pencil. He is asked to concentrate and try to read the performer's mind and
recreate his drawing.

Whatever the volunteer draws is then placed face down unseen on the table. The
performer then takes up the pencil and his card, and reading the volunteer's mind,
draws something which is also placed face down unseen.

The envelope is tipped up to let the original drawings fall to the table. The
performer's original is then turned face up along with the volunteer's copy. They are
either spot on or at least a close match.

However when the volunteer's original and the performer's copy are turned face up
they are an exact match (every time). I hope this makes sense.

METHOD
This miracle was inspired by a Basil Horowitz effect. Unfortunately I can't remember
the title of the effect, but it used three cards, a flapless envelope, and about 30 cards
with new age words written on them.

I wanted to streamline the whole thing, and this is what I came up with.

You will need a handful of business cards and a pile of approximately 3 or 4 pay
envelopes. For a long time I did this effect using a flapless envelope as in the
Horowitz original but this means the performer needs to insert the volunteer's
drawing, which I have never thought very clean. However in volume one issue two
of Centre Tear you will find a creation by David Lang entitled 'The Creature with Two
Backs'. This is basically two envelopes glued address sides together (including the
flaps), making a double faced envelope with access to either side.

David's idea makes this whole effect very clean. There is of course also a force
involved but it is a Psychological force and it really doesn't matter if it misses.

So here we go. Take three or four empty pay envelopes and stack them with the
flaps open and address sides down. On a business card, draw a circle inside a
triangle and place this drawing side down into the top envelope. On top of this pile,
put the gaffed double-sided envelope. Place the stack along with some business
cards in your trouser or jacket pocket and you are ready to go.

Remove a business card from your pocket. Hand it to a volunteer along with a
pencil and ask him/her to do a simple drawing. While he does this, remove the stack
of envelopes, and holding them in dealing position with the gaff uppermost, obtain a
little finger break below the gaff and the next envelope (the one with your drawing).
When the volunteer has finished, buckle open the top (gaffed) envelope and ask him
to slide in the drawing face down. Once it is in, double turn-over the top two
envelopes (gaff and the next one) which brings the second envelope containing your
force drawing address-side up on the top, and leaves everything looking as it
should. Point to the now top envelope and, sliding it to the table, ask the volunteer
to sign his name on it. While he does this, casually count the remaining envelopes
from one hand to the other, reversing the order. The stack with the gaff on the
bottom is now put away in the same pocket as the business cards, with the gaffed
envelope furthest from the body.

You will now find because of the extra stiffness of the double envelope in your
pocket you can easily slide your thumb into the outer compartment and pull the
spectators drawing up about an inch. (Don't remove it from your pocket yet).

Turn to the volunteer and tell them you will also give them the opportunity to read
your mind. Take the pencil, reach into your pocket and remove their card from the
gaffed envelope (easy because it is sticking up). Obviously if you keep the back of
the card towards them you will be staring at their drawing.

Pretend to draw a triangle with a circle in it. If you use a long pencil they may
unconsciously pencil read, which goes a long way in your psychological force. Once
you have finished, slide your card into the tabled envelope below the one already
there.

You are now clean. All that remains is for you to psychologically force the circle in
the triangle (see Banachek's Psychological Subtleties) which they attempt to draw,
and then read their mind and recreate their drawing, which of course you have
already seen.

I leave the revelations up to you.

I find this goes down very well in an intimate group where you are trying to show that
everyone has some psychic ability.

Subliminal Persuasion

(or, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Osiris B. Crippen)

by Gardinski

I have an imaginary friend who works in
the psychology department of a fictitious
local university. A few days ago, he
phoned me in a state of great excitement.
He had just been allocated a phenomenal
research grant by the R&D division of a
major motion picture company. In return
for the money, which ran close to seven
figures, they asked him to investigate the
effects of subliminal advertising on movie-
going audiences,as part of their campaign
for the latest 'goopy alien psycho-slasher'
flick. Specifically, they needed to know

why a member of the public, walking past a cinema and glancing casually at the
giant quad  displays, might be drawn to one film in preference to another. Ignoring
such banalities as 'decent acting' or 'an absorbing plot', the R&D boys had got it into
their heads that what makes a great movie is... the poster! Nothing more, nothing
less.

Think of it. 'Gone with the Wind'... 'Casablanca'... 'Pulp Fiction'... 'Space Jam'... All of
them fine movies, but what's the first image you see when you hear those titles?
Now, I'm not the sort of person to throw out predictions willy nilly (not since they
confiscated my billet knife anyway), but it's a fair bet you're thinking of the posters.

Various crackpot theories had been floated, my pretend friend told me. Some said
that posters with blazing orange logos were more attractive than posters with green
drippy logos. Others maintained that huge, menacing space monsters with their
heads tilted at 37 degrees were 8% more exciting than huge menacing space
monsters with their heads tilted at 36 degrees. It all sounded a bit far fetched to me,
but the marketing of movies is a cut-throat business, and film companies will stop at
nothing to gain an edge over their competitors. Even if it means resorting to the most
underhand of psychological manipulation techniques: inducing mass hallucinations
through graphic design!!! (The heartless fiends!)

The movie company wanted to investigate the possibility that powerful subliminal
imagery might be embedded into the design of a particular poster, which, whilst
impossible to detect consciously, would have an 'other than conscious' influence
upon the behaviour of anyone seeing the poster, triggering an irresistable desire to
see the film.

And that's where I came in. Knowing of my interest in such things as hypnosis and
subliminal persuasion, my friend thought I was the perfect person to road-test some
of his ideas.

THE EFFECT:
Following a brief introduction along these lines, you display a collection of around a
dozen postcards representing the publicity posters from various classic films (Citizen
Kane, Vertigo, Carry On Camping). Ask your participant to imagine that she is
standing outside a glorious neon-lit multiplex cinema, surrounded by such posters as
these. Have her visualise the scene as vividly as she can: see the queues of eager
cinema-goers; smell the overpriced hot dogs; chisel the bits of fusty popcorn out of
her dentures with a toothpick crudely fashioned from a rolled-up ticket-stub.

Ask her to imagine that she is looking at the various movie posters on display at the
cinema (indicating the postcards). "In a moment, you will select a film to watch
tonight, although you may not realise why you have chosen that particular movie."

Tell her you want her to mentally focus on one poster after another at random,
changing her mind a few times. After a few seconds, you will click your fingers and
have her 'Stop!' with one particular film clear in her mind. "Whichever poster you are
focussing on at this precise moment, stay with that choice."

Let's say she chooses 'Vertigo'.

Gather up the postcards and display a few of them, casually, one at a time, as you
remind everyone that she could have chosen to see any one of these ten or twelve
films, each a classic of its day, but that 'something' influenced her to see Vertigo.
What is particularly interesting is that, when you turn each of the movie poster-cards
over one by one, all the backs are completely blank, except the chosen 'Vertigo'
card, which bears the following handwritten message:

"Our preliminary research into the effects of subliminal imagery suggests that
this new poster design for the movie 'Vertigo' should do the business nicely....
signed Dr Osiris B. Crippen, Dept of Psychology, Katatonic University" (or
words to that effect).

THE METHOD:
There are, in fact, not 12 postcards, but 24, each showing a different film poster
design. You can buy film postcards from memorabilia shops, some cinemas, and
places such as the NMPFT (National Museum of Photography, Film & Television).
However, an alternative might be to mock them up yourself on a PC & Printer using
self-printable blank postcards which are readily available from stationers. I'll leave it
up to your imagination where to find the images, although the words 'online' and
'video inserts' spring to mind. Bear in mind that if you adopt the latter DIY approach,
I expect you to do the decent thing and contact all the original directors and cast
members (especially the dead ones) to arrange royalty payments, because it goes
without saying that CT does not condone copyright infringement in any form.

Each of the 12 postcards which you display has a second card attached to its 'back'
with 3M Spraymount (or a similar non-permanent adhesive which allows easy
repositioning), so that they form a pair not unlike the rough-smooth pairings in an
invisible deck. Unlike the rough-smooth deck, however, the Spraymount adhesive
means that the individual pairs can be held up one at a time (appearing to be a
single card), or subtly parted and displayed as separate items on a table top. (If we
were to use roughing fluid, then the cards would have to be 'fanned' in order to keep
the cards paired up, which is fine for playing cards, but inappropriate for our

purposes, as it would look highly suspicious, and would not allow the designs to be
seen in their entirety. Again, with playing cards there is no need to see the entire
face of a card, as you only need to see the corner indices in order to identify them).

Let's call the 'front' card of each pair 'A', and the card affixed to its back 'B'. In the
case of each pairing, the reverse of card 'A' bears the message from the
psychologist (with the name of the appropriate film inserted), whilst the rear of card
'B' is blank. Thus, when the two cards are paired up evenly (firmly affixed with
Spraymount) and displayed, they appear as a single blank-backed movie postcard.

The 'secret' should be apparent to you by now.

The unseen rear card of each pair (card B) should feature a different film, but of a
similar style and genre to the others, so that when it later becomes visible, it will not
immediately 'stand out' from the rest. (If you've got films like Psycho, Vertigo, North
By Northwest etc, don't have them backed with 'Toy Story 2' or 'Nuns in Jelly').

After scene-setting, you display the twelve movie postcards (the 'A's, with one of the
'B's invisibly secreted behind each).

At the appropriate moment, when your volunteer has settled on her chosen image,
you gather up all of the poster-cards, and in the process of displaying a few of them,
subtly separate the relevant card (A) from its backing (B). It will take a little
experimentation to get the hang of this, and the key is partly in the amount of
Spraymount adhesive you have used to join the two cards. You need enough to hold
the cards together securely, but not so much that they stick too  firmly or make a
'sucking' noise as you part them. (But that's obvious).

Try not to draw attention to the 'spare' card which you have separated from the back
of the target card, but don't go out of your way to hide it either. The fact that it is of a
similar style and genre to the others means that it should not stand out if it is partly
glimpsed by the audience, so long as you don't wave it under their noses, and no-
one will notice that there are now 13 cards in play rather than 12. This is one reason
we're not using just 5 or 6 cards. With smaller quantities, people will spot an extra
one, but once you get over 9 or 10, it should go unnoticed.

It's now just a matter of displaying a few of the non-target cards face down so the
onlookers can see they are all blank, with the exception of the target card, which can
now be shown to have the message from Dr Osiris B. Crippen on the back.

The Finger Tells – revisited by Nir Dahan

This is a great one-on-one
mentalism/muscle reading effect based on
Al Baker’s wonderful effect, “The Finger
Knows - and Tells”. This is my work on it
to make it even more impossible. I use it
regularly in close up situations.

Effect: A spectator is asked to draw 5
simple objects, any objects. And using a
process of elimination he selects one of
them. Amazingly you have predicted that
very drawing in advance. He now

continues to mentally select one of the objects, and by touching his fingers you
reveal the thought of object.

At no time are any questions asked!

Method: Before the presentation, prepare a few folded billets and place them in
strategic places which differ significantly from one another!

The most common objects that people tend to draw are: a stick figure, a flower, a
tree and a house. Here are some good places to place those predictions in: under
the chair, in a microwave, in a box of cards, as a recording in audio/video, in a
wallet, on a window behind a curtain and many more. A bad place would be for
instance, under the TV or in a book on a shelf, then the spec might suspect that you
hid it all over the house. The place has to be grasped as unique by the spec.

You will now equivoque the spec to pick one of the predictions. Given that he has
really drawn one of them. If he has drawn more than one, the equivoque just
becomes easier, if he hasn’t drawn any of your predictions, you continue directly to
the second phase.

Phase two: You now proceed with the original Al Baker routine but with the 5
drawings instead of cards. Briefly, you tell the spec to mentally THINK of any of the
simple symbols. He is then instructed to lift up his hand and leave it flat in midair.

You explain that each of his fingers corresponds to 1 of the symbols he drew before.
The fingers correspond in order - given the raised hand is the left one, then the pinky
corresponds to the left most symbol, up to the thumb which will represent the right
most symbol.

You request that he concentrates on the finger that corresponds to the symbol he
selected.

You start touching lightly the tip of his fingers, and you will notice that one of the
fingers is a bit stiffer. If the spec really thinks of a finger, it will become a bit stiffer,
that is a NOTICEABLE change, therefore it is of outmost importance that the spec
will really think of the specific finger, so make it clear as you can.

Afterthoughts: I sometimes found that doing the muscle reading before the
prediction revelation is even stronger.

The Return of Dracula by Nir Dahan

This routine is based  on the Bob Ostin’s routine from the great magazine Pabular
(vol 1 no. 4 page 39). It uses what Larry Becker calls the visible invisible gimmick
principle.

This is my attempt to take it a step further and to take the heat off the gimmick even
more. The name of the effect has nothing to do with the routine except for the fact
that the original routine was named “Vampire”.

Effect: A few bills are borrowed or supplied, plus a set of business cards (can be
also borrowed). A name of a dead person is then written on one of the business
cards (cards can be mixed before - performer doesn’t see which card is taken) while
the performer is out of the room or while his back is turned.

The business card is then placed on top of one of the bills (again any bill - performer
has no idea which bill was taken). And everything is then folded - so the business
card is buried inside the bill. The entire thing is then stapled together to prevent
peeking.

And the same is done with the other business cards but this time a name of a living
person is written.

Performer comes back in the room and puts each bill to his head, he then finds the
bill with the dead person’s name inside and opens the bill to verify it.

Performer can be blindfolded.

Method: The basic idea as mentioned before is not mine. It is a visible non-visible
gimmick. The first staple is marked! There you have it - what a clever idea.

There are a few ways to make the marks. The first is using a special pen to make a
dot on the staple. I would recommend making the dot near one of the corners of the
staple. On the other hand if you wish to make the entire routine blindfolded, use a
groove made by a carpet knife, again don’t put the mark on the dead center.

The rest of the revelation is very straightforward; you just look for the mark, either by
sense of touch or by looking. A nice tip from Ostin was that if you happen to do the
routine not blindfolded, when looking for the mark, don’t look for it in each bill you
take, but while you pick a bill up and concentrate on it, look on all the other bills on
the table, if none has a mark - you are holding the right one!

You now remove the staple, thus getting rid of the evidence and “verify” your
declaration.

Afterthoughts: in the original version there was no use of bills, and the word vampire
was written on one of the cards, the card which you must locate. The card was then
stapled. The performer now called attention to the staple and said that he can listen
to the scream of the vampire while the staple penetrated his heart (a good story and
great presentational idea that will sure be remembered) but it does two things, the
first, it turns the effect into a more comic type (which might suit your style and there
is nothing bad about it) but the second and more important, it actually calls attention
to the staple! It is most unlikely that the specs will not find the markings but they will
sure later remember the fact that a staple was used.
By using bills to cover the business cards you provide better cover (to prevent a
peek) and you channel the attention away from the staple.

Marked Mental Miscall by Christopher Taylor

Effect: “Is there a difference between the mind and the
imagination?” Without waiting for an answer, the mage
removes a deck of playing cards from his pocket and
addresses a spectator on his left. “Susan, here is a
deck of cards for you.” He turns to a spectator on his
right, “John, this is not a magic trick, so we are not
going to have you pretend that you are using an
‘invisible deck’. But, we will need you to creatively
visualize a deck of cards. It is helpful if you use your

imaginary cards realistically. You will have Susan’s actions as a model to duplicate.
"

“Susan, please remove your cards from the box and fan them in front of you so that
only you can see the faces. Look them over, select one that catches your interest
and place it face down on the table. John, will you now mime the same actions,
seeing the card you are imagining as clearly as you can in your mind’s eye.”

The mage now gives each of his participants a folded slip of paper and a pen.
“Please record the value of your selected cards on the inside of these slips; Susan,
your actual card and John, your virtual card.” The participants are then directed to
refold their papers, making sure that the writing can not be read through the paper,
and then to initial them on the outside. The folded slips are put together in the
middle of the table and the cards, virtual and real, are put away.

“Susan, to  discern the value of your card, we will invoke that power of the MIND
known as telepathy. Please, THINK of your card. Say its name in your mind several
times. I am getting the sense of a black card. Is my impression correct? Good, I will
write down what I am getting.” The mage writes his perception on a slip of paper
and gives it to a spectator, asking her not to read it yet. The mage picks up the
folded slips and checks the initials. He keeps Susan’s and re-tables John’s. He
opens the slip and reads out, “Queen of Hearts.” The spectator reads out what the
mage has written for a perfect match.

Before the audience has fully recovered from the effect, the mage turns to John. “I
am not about to perceive a thought from your mind as I did with Susan.  Instead, we

will continue to invoke the pure creative power of your IMAGINATION. You will now
visualize an event and that exact event will come to pass. Close your eyes please.
Visualize me saying the name of your imaginary card. Imagine the words coming out
of my mouth. We have this slip of paper to confirm what is about to happen. Can
you picture it happening?. Good, look at me!” The instant John opens his eyes, the
mage pronounces, “Jack of Spades”. John smiles, the mage opens the tabled slip
for final confirmation.

Method: The title gives away the working of this effect. Susan is given a marked
deck. The deck I use is hand marked by Kirk Charles. Get your telepathic
impression and write down Susan’s selected card’s value on a piece of paper to
confirm the telepathy. You can easily read the back of the marked card while giving
out the paper and pens. When you pick up the two slips, simply find and re-table
Susan’s slip with the initialed side down. You open John’s, read it, remember it and
then miscall it as Susan’s.

At the finale, no one is much interested in actually seeing what is written on “John’s
slip” as his reaction is really all the confirmation you need. He knows what he wrote
so just casually flash the opened slip. In any case, it is a simple matter to switch the
two slips if needed.

Coin Etheric by Kenton Knepper

The performer claims there was a time in his life (or a relative’s)
which was very important. The event made such an impression, that
the performer commissioned a special coin, a reminder of that year.

“It is not a real coin, just as my memory of that event while quite clear,
is not completely real either. Memories are pictures, with a little
something more added in” says the performer as he displays an
entirely clear plastic half-dollar coin.

“As you can see, obviously this clear coin shows the tails side only. It’s half of a
picture, a half-truth, perhaps that is why they made it out of a half-dollar. Like our
memories, it is crystal clear, and seems to be whole, yet one side only can be seen.
It represents my own point of view of that moment in time”.

“I complained to the maker that while this coin piece was intriguing and unique, it did
not have the year on it as I had commissioned. But he insisted the year was
showing on the heads side of the coin. I pointed out there was no heads side to the
coin at all. I held it up to the light, so he could see straight through it - TAILS. I
turned it around - TAILS. It was clearly tails, as even an idiot could see, and I was
suspecting that this man might indeed be one. But he insisted. ‘It’s a memory. The
coin represents only a magical piece. The heads side, and that year for you, that is
a memory. You will find the heads side - the year - on the etheric side of the coin”.

“I knew this man had lost it, or was trying to pull a fast one on me to excuse his
mistake. But the man said that memory related to silver, and if I were to fold a silver
foil around the coin, I would see both sides. The foil, he claimed, would show the

mundane and the etheric planes on the coin. This, I took as a challenge, and asked
for some silver foil”.

The performer has a participant examine a piece of foil. The foil and coin is pinched
between their thumb and pointer (1st) finger. The participant smoothes the foil
tightly against the sides of the coin. The tails side shows as an impression of a coin
tails side up on the foil. But when the foil and the coin are turned over, the other
side of the foil shows the coins as HEADS side up - complete with the year. The foil
may be opened by the spectator halfway to check, and while the coin is clearly tails
on both sides, the foil shows heads on this side.

“The etheric and the physical, two sides of the same coin” exclaims the performer, as
he removes the coin from the helper’s hand. The performer holds the coin up to the
light again to show the coin clearly tails through and through.

“Keep the silver foil you hold to impress upon you what made an impression on me:
There are always at least two sides to any memory or event - and often more than
meets the eye”.

The explanation is incredibly simple, though it is more than a little devious. The
coin, is a trick coin. This trick coin is sold, but not at all for this purpose. You can
get these clear half-dollar coins as part of the trick known as “Silver Extraction”. At
the time of this writing, Vernet of Argentina is making these again. Silver Extraction
has been an oft-forgotten commercial gem of close-up magic. We think that
because the method is simple, it won’t impress spectators. Not at all the case, but
this is the prejudice that caused Silver Extraction to fall off most magicians’ radar.
Now you have a new reason to get this effect, and perhaps you will find that both
routines are of value in different situations.

Here is the oddity I discovered which makes the routine possible. For decades, it
has been a problem seeing the “heads” side of the clear plastic coin in Silver
Extraction. The tails side shows through clearly, due to its detail. But the heads
side is mostly a silhouette, and this outline is not easily distinguished. Instead of
fighting this, one year I decided to take advantage of the problem.

Get the clear coin from Silver Extraction and look at is closely. On the heads side,
you must catch the light at a perfect angle for the heads side to be clearly visible. All
you need to do is avoid that minute angle. One way to do this is to flip the coin
around between your fingers. This way, even a flash will not register consciously to
the audience. Your words of course constantly label the coin as tails only. This
seems to match up with what the spectators see. Another help is to let the
spectators see the heads side only briefly as you speak, turning the coin around so
the tails side faces them for most of your talk.

Finally, the convincer is holding the coin up to any light source at all. A light bulb, a
candle, a ceiling light, light from a window - any light source - and the tails side
obliterates the outline of the heads side. Remember to try and keep the actual tails
side to the spectators for longer periods. You may know that the heads side is there,
and you might even see it faintly, but the audience will not. They have not seen
such a coin before, and being able to see through it suggests that whatever
spectators see clearly is all that must be on the coin. As usual, psychology and
suggestion plays its part in my work.

Having conditioned the spectators that the coin is clearly tails the rest is easy. A
piece of aluminum foil is folded in half, and the coin is placed into it. The participant
holding the foil and coin can see the coin from above inside the foil. Allow them to
press the foil around the coin. Have the helper rub their fingers and thumb over the
foil as they press against the coin. The impression of the tails side will become clear
through the foil. Endeavor to keep the tails side towards the helper, and the heads
side away from them. This allows the participant to have a moment of real shock
when they turn the foil over. The heads side will show, and with more rubbing will
become ever more defined.

It is a weerd feeling to the helper to see the heads side as a foil impression, then
open the foil a  little ways and peek inside. They will see the coin is tails as they
peek inside the foil, yet it is heads as they rub the foil against this side. It is a very
strange moment.

Take the coin out and hold it tails side towards the audience, and up to the  light.
The audience sees the coin is tails still  - clearly. Pocket the coin as you tell the
helper to keep the foil, as you make your final remarks.

No doubt you will realize that the words I use are also metaphors and suggestions
meant to link the effect to the spectator’s beliefs and/or daily life experiences. Nest
time they have an argument, question a motive, wonder if life is fair - they may recall
the “two sides”, that things are “not just what is seen”, and that even “clear events
may be different”.

I began doing this effect not with foil, but as a rubbing with a pencil and paper. The
coin was placed under the paper and rubbed ala gravestone rubbings. In time, I
changed this to a quicker and surer impression of the foil.

Two Techniques for the Study of Strangers

by John C. Sherwood

Since my late teens one of my hobbies has provided hours
of education and, eventually, a bit of money. About a
decade ago, I augmented my hobby with a technique that
made it more intriguing and lucrative. In short, I watch
people and figure out their lives from their dress, grooming,
habits and items they carried.

My hobby began in my youth when I started to read the
stories about Sherlock Holmes, and I decided I would try to
practice the observation of strangers with the goal of
deducing information about them through logical reasoning.
As my wife says, "That's what some people go to the airport

for," although I'm not sure those people have the same goal in mind. I found at times
to my cost that, when I became somewhat focused on my target, my attention came
noticeably to the attention of the observed, who was not always pleased. Some of
us Holmes-wannabe's don't have the advantage, like Conan Doyle's teacher and

inspiration Joseph Bell, of having our targets come to us to be observed. We've had
to do our field research "on the street."

To avoid that fate - or being hauled away as a stalker - I began to confine my studies
to people from a distance, then discovered to my delight that I actually could do it
from afar simply by observing people's automobiles. Once you try it, it's amazing
how much can be inferred from looking at the vehicle in front of you while you're
waiting at a stoplight.

Bumper stickers, window decorations and insurance tags (or lack of them), the
month and date of the license renewal, items strewn on the back ledge (or lack of
them), the physical condition of the vehicle and how it is being driven, its cost range,
model, age, etc., all help to create a picture of its owner/occupant. When I've had the
opportunity to look at an unoccupied vehicle, I peer through the windows to see
what's inside, and get an even better image of the person.

This method can turn to gold at private, intimate events. Before the program, a
glance at the vehicles parked outside - dutifully noted on paper for diligent scrutiny -
can yield a huge amount of information that later can be matched up with specific
individuals. Let's say one automobile sports a license plate with a Masonic insignia
and a renewal sticker announcing the owner's birthday is in August; this car is filled
with golf equipment. At the event inside, you locate a person wearing a Masonic ring
and tieclasp; divining (that is, narrowing) this person's zodiac sign as Leo, most
likely born within a week or so of Aug. 11, you tell him that he enjoys being outdoors,
walking, good conversation with like-minded people and, heavens, something to do
with flags and green fields ? "Ah, I see that you're a golfer." Amazement insues.

Throughout the history of miracle-making, a lot of wonder-working performers have
been fascinated by Holmes's psychic-like prowess. (Watson once told him that, had
he lived in an earlier century, he probably would have been burned). The number of
widely known entertainers who've read Holmes dutifully (Houdini being the standout)
is impressive, and of course many continue to read about Holmes today just to glean
"how he does it."

Beyond the circles of entertainers, psychologists and criminologists have adopted
Holmes's technique. Such experts among the crime-busting set are called "profilers"
today. One noted psychoanalyst, Rollo May, has written a handbook, "The Art of
Counseling," about the application of observation-and-deduction for other
professionals. I got in on the act myself by penning a brief treatise called "Sherlock
Holmes's Seven Vital Lessons," which since has been presented as a live speech on
many occasions, has been published as far off as Australia and which now may be
read on the Web.

Those who employ the techniques wisely and well (as, of course, Holmes did) can
use the insights for self-education, as well as helping other people immeasurably.
But so much for the use of logic. Let's put the emotions to work for the same purpose
- entertainment and enlightenment - in a way that the unemotional Holmes could
never understand.

Nearly a dozen years ago I attended a series of sessions involving emotional
therapy, and gained insights that I've applied to the presentation of my own
readings. These sessions were conducted by a team of psychologists who presented

the human emotions in six basic groups – which could be classified (by those who
dare to classify the emotions at all) as "Pleasant" and "Unpleasant," as follows:

UNPLEASANT

---

PLEASANT

Sadness

---

Happiness

Anger

---

Excitement

Scare

---

Tenderness

These are obviously sweeping terms that can only apply to a spectrum of feelings
ranging in intensity and labeled with corresponding words. "Scare," for example, can
encompass emotions such as suspicion and simple puzzlement all the way to
outright, abject fear. "Tenderness" can apply to fondness all the way through and
including passionate love. "Anger" can run the gamut from mild irritation through
uncontrollable rage.

There there are the  "blends" of one of more emotions, which lead to "cycles" of
feelings. For example, Sadness over one issue and Anger over the same issue can
lead to an "internal dialogue" that often is referred to as "guilt." Excitement over an
issue that also produces Happiness or Tenderness can produce a state a lot of us
would call "joy." In this way, we can break down the basic emotional states that make
up other states.

Because these emotions constitute a theory of all the known human emotions, my
psychological team  had created a nice acronym for remembering them. This was
SASCHET. There were times, though, when I've used my own not-so-nice acronym,
THE ASS.

One of the points taught was that each of these six groupings  - as well as the
intensity with which they are being felt - can be identified in an individual by the way
the person carries and expresses herself. This is nothing new to the cold reader, but
at the same time one psychological "trick" was relatively new to me. Our overseers
taught us to mimic another's carriage and facial expression, then ask ourselves how
we must be feeling to achieve that carriage and expression. In this way, they taught
us how to gain insight into how others are feeling, and to develop empathy.

I was already good at empathy but had never used this technique. For me, the result
was enlightenment concerning a practical intuitive application for readings.

First, doing this exercise with a client - without of course informing the client of what I
was doing  - provided me with a way to get almost instant rapport; the client would
recognize a "like mind" right away. Second, I "felt" the client's current emotional state
*internally,* and at times could even sense where, in my own body, I was "carrying
the load" or "showing the love," etc. This of course is a major psychological tool for
understanding the source of the Unpleasant or Pleasant stimulus. Third, I could
describe my own acquired "feelings" as though they were the client's current
emotional state. Almost invariably, these interpretations were correct.

What's most important, of course, is that the client was entirely UNAWARE that he
or she was doing all of this expression him- or herself, and in the process showing
me his or her state quite visibly. Again, this is ancient technique. What struck me as
new (or, at least, little discussed) was the use of six basic emotive states as a

framework, and the adoption of manner as a means of identifying which state the
client was experiencing.

I always begin my readings now with this internal method, whether externally I'm
using cards, runes, or the palm. It is an immediate "hook" for grabbing interest,
showing insight and piquing curiosity about (1) what is causing the emotional state
and (2) what the outcome of the emotion may be.

What's most inspiring is that this method goes far above the practice of "stock
readings" or mere logic-and-deduction (although logic certainly provides a great deal
of information). This internal emotive method, consciously applied, actually
approaches the level of "the psychic" in a rather real and honest way. Yes, there's a
"trick" to it, but it is also an acquired skill and a subjective art.

Used wisely, it is as true a psychic talent as anything I've ever encountered.

Derren Brown, Hastings, 9th May 2003

Reviewed by Bert Coules

Returning recently to the world of magic and more particularly mentalism after a
lengthy absence in the realms of relative sanity, I was mildly taken aback to find that
Derren Brown, whose TV programmes were one of the prime causes of my renewed
interest, had divided magical opinion so radically. Of course I shouldn't have been
in the least surprised: success is always viewed with suspicion, envy and even
downright hatred, and when has the much-touted magical "fraternity" ever managed
to agree on anything anyway?

For myself, I admired Brown's understated,
unconfrontational style and his ability to embrace both a
light-hearted and a serious approach; and I liked the total
absence of the standard magic-show atmosphere and
trappings.

I was particularly impressed with the way the programmes
used the medium; Brown was a long way from being a
variety turn with a camera pointed at him. I've seen
detractors comment that too much was left unseen: the
obviously lengthy setups, the failures and the presumed
off-screen writing-of-things-down; but I can't say that this
bothered me unduly. The shows were atmospheric, fast-
moving, stylish and - above all - talked about; and in my

innocence I assumed that mentalists everywhere would welcome the prominence
that Brown and his production company had brought to the genre. Ah well...

Since the Channel 4 programmes were my only experience of Brown I was pleased
by the news that he was embarking on a national stage tour. How would the man
and his material stand up away from all the selective editing, the post-production
tweaking and the rest of the artifice?

The short answer is "very well".

The performance I went to, at the thousand-seater White Rock Theatre in Hastings,
was, like the rest of the tour, sold out; and the audience was predominantly young,
say in the twenty to forty age range. My feeling was that most of them weren't
habitual theatre-goers, let alone devotees of magic shows.

There was little in the way of visual flourish, with the tabs open from the start and the
stage in basic blacks. A table, an easel, a couple of skeletal display stands and a
microphone were the sole dressing. There weren't even any programmes, so we
were spared the possibility of the usual embarrassing pre-show reading.

The show was in two fifty-odd minute halves, of quite different character.
Paradoxically the first half, which was closer in style and content to the TV shows,
struck me  - and, I think, the spectators  - as more successful than the second.
Perhaps like all audiences the good folk of Hastings simply reacted better to the
familiar than to the new.

After a lengthy and rather daring opener, conducted with the performer off-stage
throughout, Brown rocketed through a series of familiar bits and pieces with a series
of enlisted, not-quite-volunteers from the audience. He came over well as charming
and polite but at the same time completely in command, and he knows exactly how
far he can take his mildly risqué asides and personal comments: in a more
aggressive performer, his outrageous line to a woman helper (delivered almost but
not quite deadpan in the context of a chat about parrots as pets) "I bet you've had a
cockatoo?" would be wholly unacceptable; Brown managed to make it chummy and
positively endearing.

The second half of the show, preceded by a warning from Brown that some might
find the contents disturbing, was built around a semi-seance setting involving a ouija
board and a relay of audience members, eventually whittled down to two, and then
finally one.

This long sequence seemed slow and static compared to the pace and impact of the
opening-half stuff. At Hastings the ouija board was very nearly a dead flop, with no
action at all from the glass for a long time, then only very slow and tentative
movements. Once or twice Brown was reduced to saying something on the lines of
"Well, it's obviously heading for  this letter" which produced some audible and
unsatisfied muttering from around me.

Brown finishes this long  segment with a plea from the stage not to discuss the
second half in detail, "because it's so much more fun that way". I've no idea if the
lay audience picked up the obvious conclusion that the basic results vary little from
performance to performance, but it was interesting that Brown went on to specifically
ask "magicians on the internet" not to spread the word.

I'm happy to go along with his wishes, but perhaps I can get away with mentioning a
couple of specific thoughts: firstly, the seance sequence included a couple of prop-
dependent stage-magic staples which for me sat rather uneasily in the context of the
whole; and secondly, though I thought this half weaker than the first, it did contain
the most talked-about effect of the evening: a pre-written letter from a "dead friend"

of the performer which neatly included a raft of information supplied by audience
members: name, description, father's occupation, the lot.

Ironically, I at least thought that this was achieved by the most transparently obvious
method of the whole night, but I suppose that just proves that I wasn't thinking like a
layman.

I don't know if Brown's embargo extends to his encore, but I'm going to mention it
anyway: the fastest, best-sold and most entertaining presentation of the boring old
magic square routine I've ever seen.

Apparently, Brown is reprising a lot of the material in a West End run next year. If
you like him, you'll probably be there; if you don't, well, swallow your dislike and go
anyway. You never know, you might learn something - if you can get a ticket.

A second look at "Double Vision"

A review by John C. Sherwood

DOUBLE VISION. $149.50. Mentalism Unlimited, P.O. Box 6023,
Carefree, AZ 85377 USA, 480.488.0980,

www.MentalismUnlimited.com

It's easy to be enthusiastic about "Double Vision," an ingenious
book test released by Lee Earle and Larry Becker in the summer
of 2003. The methodologies it incorporates are familiar yet still
ingenious and can be adapted to a number of practical
performance situations. It's a creative and useful alternative in
the professional arsenal.

In effect, a subject reads over a randomly chosen page, usually the left-hand page
(which indeed is not forced), and the performer is able to describe the general
situation described, as well as give several precise details, including numbers that
appear in photos. Very little memorization is required and the performer need follow
only a few basic rules in order to convey the information.

The book is selling through many dealers for between $135 and $150, including the
Earle-Becker partnership Mentalism Unlimited. What's provided is a gaffed "travel
guide" to four countries in Europe. That's what the ads show, and that's what you
get. In addition to the specially prepared book, what you pay to find out are the
various ways in which the volume is constructed to provide information to the
performer, and every page is different, permitting the effect to be repeated.

The book is 5.25 by 8 inches, 235 pages long, and has more than 100 different
photographs, walking-tour maps, lodging drawings and poster replicas - any of which
can be described in some details once one is aware of how they appear in general.
No two pages are alike. The accompanying instructions detail how the user can infer
additional data from the brief peeks that are necessary during performance. Those
familiar with Becker's "Flashback" will be familiar with the primary method.

The essential advantage is that no crib is required, as the information is conveyed to
the performer very quickly and rather easily, and yet the performer is able to talk at
some length about what's in the subject's mind, and seemingly hone in on precise
details. It will be difficult for an audience to believe that the performer was able to
obtain such a large amount of information with only a
glimpse of a page. On the other hand, a suspicious audience that believes the
performer has memorized the book must be convinced that the performer had no
idea which page was chosen.

The instructions are printed at the back of the book, toward the end on pages without
photographs. So the book will pass a casual examination, but not a rigid one. If a
subject spends more than three or four minutes with it, it's possible that he will spot
some suspicious wordings, as well as several pages of performance instructions at
the back of the book. In fact, during performance, it's wise for the performer to insist
that the subject choose only a set of pages that contain an illustration, and only a
page from the middle section forward. So the selection of a page isn't unlimited.

What's more, "Double Vision" doesn't replace "The Mother of All Book Tests," which
allows the performer to keep his hands off the book. However, like MOABT, more
than one test can be performed using DV.

As with "Flashback," the performer must handle the book in order to obtain the
information, and isn't able to leave it entirely in the subject's hands. Those of us who
are of a certain age also may find that the peek must be done at a rather close
proximity -- and at a reasonable eye level -- so all the information can be gathered in
a quick sweep. If that's a challenge for you, "Double Vision" may not be practical. It
might be possible for some weak-eyed but steely brained performers to memorize
the material on each page using "peg words" associated to page number, but this
would be cumbersome, as you'd still have to learn the page number during
performance.

The instructions provide a number of suggestions for routining, which generally rely
on the performer introducing the book, having a spectator examine it briefly, and
then the performer riffling through the pages until a page is chosen. A number of
ways of obtaining the peek are described.

To take the heat off the book, I introduce the European travel guide among a number
of similar but normal books describing travel on other continents, permit close
examination of any of the ungaffed books, perform an introductory effect using the
ungaffed books -- the Hoy Book Test is ideal for this purpose -- and then force the
"Double Vision" book (Equivoque or Pateo are sufficient). No follow-up to DV is
necessary, as the effect is extremely strong.

Double Vision is available from: www.MentalismUnlimited.com

'Zodiac Key Words' by Arcane & 'Sign Language' by Doug Dyment

reviewed by Gardinski

I've long been tempted by the glowing testimonials I've read concerning Doug
Dyment's 'Sign Language', but have previously avoided picking up a copy precisely
because I know NOTHING whatsoever about astrology, and so I never felt I could
pull it off convincingly. I didn't fancy fielding all the awkward questions that would
inevitably follow the revelation of a participant's sign (like "What does it all mean?"),
so it seemed there was little hope of me doing it justice. How frustrating...
Obviously, I could put in endless hours and 'learn' all the necessary details about
Taureans' favourite colours and what Leos like for breakfast, but there's only so
much time in the day, and I'm exceptionally lazy.
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, along comes the trusty Mr McCombie (aka
Professor Arcane) with the very solution for which I had been pining.

Arcane's 'Zodiac Key Words' is the missing link!!! It utilises a fiendishly clever
mnemonic system to feed you all the info you need to pass yourself off as an
astrological adept, in a fraction of the time it would take to learn a 'genuine' system.
Handled properly, this can make all the difference between  performing a sign-
divination routine as a two-minute throwaway (followed by a hasty escape pursued
by an angry mob), and the realisation of its true potential as a searing piece of
mentalism in which you probe the very soul of your participant.

It's an astonishingly user-friendly system: there's nothing complex to study, and it all
flows very logically. As often happens with the best mnemonic systems, you find that
you've learnt a great deal of it without expending any real effort. Without giving too
much  away about Arcane's method, I found I could recall substantial chunks of the
'keywords' and their meanings having just scanned through the relevant passages a
couple of times.

Although I always intended to use the Zodiac Key Words system in combination with
a purpose-built sign-divination routine, I was itching to try it out without further delay,
so I gave it a dry-run with some casual acquaintances whom I happened to bump
into in a dodgy club. Nothing very elaborate: just a variation on the one-ahead billet
switching thing from the beginning of Annemann (the Bert Reese bit), with my three
victims writing their zodiac signs and their initials inside the folded slips. Rather than
going through the standard billet-fondling-&-sniffing schtick, padded out with
meaningless waffle before revealing the contents of the peeked slips, I now had a
whole bunch of seemingly accurate cold-reading material to play with.

So rather than simply revealing that person X is "an Aquarian, obviously", I was able
to sense which slip she had written (by picking up her 'vibes'), and then (apparently)
give an accurate reading of her character & personality, and from that I DEDUCED
that she was "almost certainly an Aquarian", confirming it by reading the slip (and
thus getting my one-ahead peek at the next billet). Far more intimate than most
'guess the word' billet routines, and as always, the more personally-involving you
can make the effect for the spectator, the more powerfully it plays. ZKW's great
strength is that it gives you  the courage to put on a convincing act as a 'zodiac
expert', without fear of having to hedge and side-step the inevitable questions from
the curious.

It went down a storm with that tiny audience of 3 participants, who spent the rest of
the night looking at me in a funny way (moreso than usual, even). Actually, I'm
rather embarrassed about how strongly it went, because I now have to make a point
of pretending there's something to this astrology lark after all whenever I meet that
particular group of people. Oh god, I'm going to have to buy two completely different
wardrobes, one for cool-skeptic me, and the other for new-age-shut-eye me.

Now, admittedly a billet-test isn't an ideal means of extracting the maximum punch
from the material, but it's interesting to note the difference that ZKW made in
'beefing up' what would otherwise have been a very standard bit of business.
However the beauty of using ZKW in combination with a well-designed sign
divination routine is that there is NOTHING written down.

Thus it was that, immediately after my initial experiment with ZKW, I ordered a copy
of 'Sign Language' from Doug Dyment. Sign Language enables you to determine
anyone's zodiac sign swiftly and effectively with no pre-show, no peeks, and no
clumsy fishing.

The manuscript reached me from the US within just a few days, and I'm delighted to
say it is an exceptional piece of work. Doug's attention to detail is unsurpassed, and
the method of divining the spectator's sign is wonderfully clean and straightforward.
It is absolutely prop-free, cunningly deceptive, and has the potential to be very, very
powerful in the right hands.

Clearly designed with practicality in mind, Sign Language is a solid and dependable
solution to the age-old problem of what to do when called upon to demonstrate your
skills completely impromptu. How many other effects do you know which fulfill these
criteria? You could even do it naked if you had to, although I've seen some of you,
and it's probably not a good idea.

Even if you are familiar with the principle upon which 'Sign Language' is based, I
urge you to read Mr Dyment's thoughts on it. His manuscript offers far more than
simply a strong routine (as if that weren't enough): it teaches you how to take a well-
known tool from the mentalist's arsenal and apply it in such a way that its power is
enhanced considerably. Of course there are other effects which utilise the same
kind of method, but few that I've seen play as smoothly as this, and the wrinkles that
exist in a number of  similar routines are successfully ironed out thanks to Doug's
diligence and attention to detail. I came away from it feeling that I'd learned
something of real importance, and for the price Doug is charging, it's an absolute
gift.

The bottom-line is that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either of these items as a
stand-alone resource in its own right. ZKW is of immeasurable value for adding
spice (and credibility) to any zodiac-themed routine. But used in conjunction with
Sign Language, you have a killer combination. You owe it to yourself to check out
both of these items before they are snapped up.

Zodiac Key Words is available from: www.lesault.net/mage/

Sign Language is available from: www.deceptionary.com