20070611

June 11, 2007

Here's what's in this edition of
Jheff's Marketplace of the Mind Newsletter

   *** DREAM LOCK by Alan Wong
   *** THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH BOOK TEST
   by Alexander Black & Troy Cherry
   *** WAR OF THE WORLDS BOOK TEST
   by Alexander Black & Troy Cherry
   *** CHRISTMAS CAROL BOOK TEST by Josh Zandman

To make a purchase of any item in the JMOM newsletter,
please go to http://www.MarketplaceoftheMind.com
and use the shopping cart. If you're unable to do
this, you may respond to this e-mail.

To make sure you've not been missing any newsletters, check
out my blog, which is accessible from the main page. All of
the recent past newsletters are archived there.

*********
Several have asked me about the Black & Cherry line of book
tests. Dracula, already recommended by me and featured on
Richard Osterlind's latest DVD set, is now available again
from me. The Man Who Knew Too Much and War of the Worlds
was discontinued from my distributor shortly after they sold
their initial run and before I had time to post my reviews.
So I held off. Now, Josh Zandman's Christmas Carol Book
Test has been made available and the other two have also
been made available again. So this issue spotlights all
three of those books. As you'll see, I think they're good,
but could have been much better.

Oh, yeah, and I snuck in Alan Wong's Dream Lock. For those
who've seen me do my Castle Act, this is not the lock that I
use. In some ways, it's better. And definitely it's a
utility prop to seriously consider.

*** CELLULAR I.D.
Cellular I.D. is now in stock. In brief, I must say that
the routine is impressive. And the thinking that went into
this is incredible. There is one major consideration in
that for one of the main features you're relying on Larry &
Lee and it may not be available past June of 2009. The
bottom line is that if you're a regular performer and plan
doing this powerful routine, then I highly recommend this.
If you're buying this out of curiousity or are a hobbyist,
this is way too expensive to sit in the drawer. More
details, and my official comments, will be forthcoming.

*** GOLD DRAGON TATTOO
I'm down to my last few before I have to wait for Fred
Darevil to send more of this wonderful, unique new close-up
mentalism effect featuring tattoo art. If you want one now,
order fast. Otherwise, you may have to wait for a few weeks
for my next shipment from France.

*** MARC OBERON STRIKES AGAIN
Marc has two new items, 37 and the Master Deck. I've not
been able to get a copy of 37 to look at, but I did get hold
of the Master Deck. Marc evidently likes to take classic
mentalism principles or effects and "magicianize" them. In
other words, he has to make it cleaner and gimmicked. For
$60, you get a poor man's, or lazy man's (however you want
to look at it), memorized deck. With this deck, you can cut
to any card quickly. A mentalist, or magician, would be
much better off learning a memorized deck system. Also,
this is a $60 gimmicked deck that's simply an ordinary deck
that has been ordered and tweaked with a modicum of work.
It's more work to make an Invisible Deck! I'll let
magicians decide if this another deck suitable for them.
But for mentalists, it's not. I will not be cataloguing,
nor recommending this.

*** SUMMER SPOTLIGHT: MENTAL ACTS
Here's a new feature that will call attention to products
that I feel shouldn't be overlooked by the working
mentalist. The following products are or can be complete
mental acts by themselves.

DOUBLE COINCIDENCE -- This three-phase book test is one of
the most powerful book test routines I've seen. Though one
book is prepared, it's the routine that is strong, not the
props. The first phase involves picking up images from a
selected passage; the second, the performer draws the
thought-of word; and the third phase involves an impossible
prediction of a freely chosen word.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/Double_Coincidence.html

CRUISE CONTROL -- This routine involves many elements of a
cruise being freely chosen and all of them being predicted
by the performer at the routine's finish. I've always gotten
great response from this routine and feel that this is one
of Larry Becker & Lee Earle's most underrated creations. If
you do a travel themed set, you certainly want to check this
out. Heck, I'd recommend it just for the special traveler's
cheques which are ingenious.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/Cruise_Control.html

QUESTA -- A professional Q & A routine that blends a trio of
principles together so that anyone "in the know" wouldn't be
able to backtrack. This is not a routine that is
recommended for mentalists with little experience, but they
can certainly purchase this and know what to work on and
towards.
http://www.marketplaceofthemind.com/Questa.html

*** MAURICE FOGEL: IN SEARCH OF THE SENSATIONAL
This book is not due out until about June 21 (according to
Hermetic Press' website), but I'm taking pre-orders now for
it. If you're a Marketplace Member, then log in to the
Marketplace Members' page and you'll find an additional
pre-order discount on this book. I haven't seen it yet, but
anything mentalism related by Hermetic Press has always been
a must-have. Why should this be any different?

*** IMPORTANT NEW POSTAGE INFORMATION
In Mid-May, the United States Postal Service raised their
rates and changed policies. The major change, though,
occurs with non-U.S., Mexico or Canada orders. The small
Global Priority Mail envelopes are no longer being used by
USPS. And Global Priority mail prices have gone way up.
The price for shipping in a larger envelope by me is now $13
(I use to charge $11). It can be cheaper through regular
airmail, and if the weight isn't much (under 2 lbs, I
think), I will use that. If it doesn't fit in the large
Priority Mail envelope, or it's pretty heavy, it could get
rather costly. I'm still trying to figure it all out,
because, as usual, the USPS doesn't have a user friendly
quick-start rate manual. For now, though, disregard the
postal information on the site. I'll try to have it updated
by this week.

***** TRIO AND THE MEMORY PILL ACT
The creator of the classic Blister effect, Jack Kent Tillar,
has a new book destined to be a mentalism classic. TRIO is
a book comprised of three complete knock-out mentalism acts.
And THE MEMORY PILL ACT, one of Bascom Jones' favorites, is
a complete act, as well. Getting paid to do any one of
these acts will more than cover the cost of both. Step on
over to the Marketplace of the Mind and check them out, if
you haven't already. And, if you have and have not ordered
them, do so. I know that you'll be glad you did.

Incidentally, the second volume of The Private Files of
Jack Kent Tillar will be out at the beginning of July.
Those
who purchase TMPA will be receiving an e-mail about how to
obtain the next e-book before anyone else and at a special
sale price.

***** MARKETPACE MEMBERSHIP CLUB
The next issue of Jheff's Journal of the Mind spotlights
Maurice Fogel, the subject of the new book by Christopher
Woodward and Richard Mark entitled Maurice Fogel: In Search
of the Sensational. That issue should be out next week as
I'm a little behind. To get it, you need to buy a membership
in the Marketplace of the Mind. For the $37 cost you get a
subscription to the 2007 issues of Jheff's Journal of the
Mind, an all-new e-zine for mentalists, and an additional
5% discount off merchandise from the Marketplace of the
Mind. There will also be specials and other stuff
throughout the year. Check out the preview edition
of the Bonus #0 issue featuring Jack Kent Tillar. Go to
the website and click on the banner at the top. Or use
the link below.

Check it out here:
www.marketplaceofthemind.com/jmmc.html

***** THE FRIENDS OF THE MARKETPLACE
Don't forget to check out the new Friends of the Marketplace
section. This is for those creators who are producing
wonderful products that I don't carry. This is because, to
save overhead, I order as needed from my distributor, and
these creators aren't mass distributing it. If you'd like
me to review your product and help you sell it, then you'll
find details about the Friends of the Marketplace program on
the website. There's a button on the left hand side for you
to click on.

Brand new to the section are Ron Martin's THE TAROT READER'S
NOTEBOOK, a must-have for Tarot readers; Alan Strydom's
PALMISTRY QUICKIES, a must-have for palm readers; Loren
Tindall's beautiful new THE DELPHI PORTAL, which is a
must-have prop for anyone who is a reader; and Gene
Nielsen's THE MAGICK YEARS, a jam-packed e-book filled with
over 70 professional and varied routines.

Remember, I don't make a dime on this stuff. I do this
because I think the stuff is very good and worth it.

http://www.jheff.com/friendsofthemarketplace.html

Until next time. -- Jheff

*********
ALEXANDER BLACK & TROY CHERRY
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH BOOK TEST
JMOM Price: $54
Suggested Retail Price: $59.99

THE EFFECT:
The Man Who Knew Too Much collection of mysteries was
written by Chesterton in 1922. The eight adventures feature
the activities of British sleuth Horne Fisher, the man who
knew too much, and his best and most trusted friend Harold
March.

Imagine this: you pick up The Man Who Knew Too Much and hand
it out to be examined. You have an audience member thumb
through the pages, tell you how many are in the book, and
perhaps even hand it out to others to look out too as you
explain that one of the moral dilemmas of having the ability
to read minds is that you simply "know too much" about
people. But rather than reading her mind directly, you've
found it is safer to just have her read a book and then
project it to you.

She freely chooses a page; she is not a stooge or
confederate of any kind. As she begins to read the first
paragraph, you begin to receive what she is sending you. You
break out a piece of paper and start to draw something. Then
you reveal a few letters, then a word, then a few words,
then a paragraph. As she continues to read you continue to
"see" what she sees and reveal it to her and an astonished
crowd. You can use this book without any setup and it
instantly resets. While magicians have been told for years
and years to never repeat a "trick" you can do so with The
Man Who Knew Too Much right away without any fear of being
discovered.

What's more, there are no cribs; no complicated anagrams; no
mirrors; and no electronics. If you have one of our other
book tests then you do not need to be convinced of the
quality of our work; The Man Who Knew Too Much is no
exception to this rule. If you already own Dracula, you will
immediately be familiar with part of the gaff: make no
mistake about it, this is EASY to learn and easy to perform!
You'll love this book test.

Pages 327, Softbound

MY COMMENTS:
This is another classic book in Black & Cherry's series of
comparatively inexpensive, easy-to-use booktests for the
professional. It uses the same easy principle as Dracula
and War of the Worlds, though the set of words is different.
And like the aforementioned book tests (and other similar
ones), a consideration to having only a limited selection of
words is that the test can't be repeated, nor can the book
be openly examined for a lengthy period of time. However,
this really isn't a drawback because you wouldn't want to do
those things, anyway. But, if repeatability and
examinability is what you require in a booktest's
presentation, you'll need to use something different. In
any case, like the rest of Black & Cherry's line, this is a
very functional, effective prop.

Admittedly, the word and passage choice bother me. Now, if
you're objective is simply to name a word, then this 327
page book accomplishes that very nicely. But the 16-page,
5.5" by 8.5" instruction booklet describes being able to
visualize the theme of the page and make drawings to
represent them. And I have a problem with that. Themes are
usually abstract. When people read a book, images come to
mind. It certainly is incredibly logical to pick up and
draw the images that participants see as they read. But the
instructions ask you to free associate images with the
themes on the page and draw them. I just can't help thinking
that if there wasn't a lot of concrete imagery, why couldn't
one use or create a different book that does? The answer is
because the creators wanted a book that used abstractions
and it does accomplish this. This is bothersome to me, but
others may not agree. The choices were made because this
book is a very intelligent, highbrow work. And, as I said,
if you use it to get a word, it will certainly be useful.
I'm just not crazy about the whole additional concept behind
this particular product.

One other matter concerns the layout. And I've had
discussions about this with Mr. Black. The interior pages
do not look like ones found in a conventional trade
paperback. The indentations are double the width of most
books and the author and title headings are now footers, for
example. With the Dracula book, the cover proclaims it to
be a facsimile of an older edition. Since most have never
seen that, most would assume that the layout choices,
however strange, were made to match the original. This book
makes no such claims. Now, when a participant handles a
book briefly, they usually won't have the time to notice.
Also, most aren't aware of layouts because we are not a
nation of readers anymore. So this drawback may well be
minor, but doesn't it make sense that if one goes through
the effort of creating a special book that one should put
extra effort into making it look as close to a real book as
possible? Despite this, it is still a practical and useful
booktest.

*********
ALEXANDER BLACK & TROY CHERRY
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS BOOK TEST
JMOM Price: $54
Suggested Retail Price: $59.99

THE BLURB:
This professionally made book test is designed to surpass
all of the book tests we have made thus far in terms of
functionality and utility. It is another recognizable
classic book that can adore your book shelves and sit
innocently in plain sight to be used to create a magical
mind reading effect that will leave people gasping in
disbelief.

Imagine this: you pick up The War of the Worlds and hand it
out to be examined. You have an audience member thumb
through the pages, tell you how many are in the book, and
perhaps even hand it out to others to look out too as you
explain that one of the moral dilemmas of having the ability
to read minds is that you simply "know too much" about
people. But rather than reading her mind directly, you've
found it is safer to just have her read a book and then
project it to you.

She freely chooses a page; she is not a stooge or
confederate of any kind. As she begins to read the first
paragraph, you begin to receive what she is sending you. You
break out a piece of paper and start to draw something. Then
you reveal a few letters, then a word, then a few words,
then a paragraph. As she continues to read you continue to
"see" what she sees and reveal it to her and an astonished
crowd. You can use this book without any setup and it
instantly resets. While magicians have been told for years
and years to never repeat a "trick" you can do so with The
War of the Worlds right away without any fear of being
discovered.

What's more, there are no cribs; no complicated anagrams; no
mirrors; and no electronics. If you have one of our other
book tests then you do not need to be convinced of the
quality of our work; The War of the Worlds is no exception
to this rule. This is EASY to learn and easy to perform!
You'll love this book test.

Unlike The Man Who Knew Too Much book test, the words are
very visual and there are lots of concrete images in the
pages that the participant will read. You can certainly
draw or name several images. Black & Cherry did an
admirable job in choosing material that a professional could
easily and powerfully work with. The 16-page, 5.5" by 8.5"
instruction booklet nicely explains and explores the
possibilities for the book's use. The book itself is a slim
135 page book, but that still provides a participant an
apparent choice of hundreds of thousands of words.

Like their The Man Who Knew Too Much booktest though, I have
concerns regarding the layout. And I've had discussions
about this with Mr. Black. The interior pages do not look
like ones found in a conventional trade paperback. The
indentations are double the width of most books, the line
spacing is excessive, and the author and title headings are
now footers, for example. With the Dracula book, the cover
proclaims it to be a facsimile of an older edition. Since
most have never seen that, most would assume that the layout
choices, however strange, were made to match the original.
This book makes no such claims. Now, when a participant
handles a book briefly, they usually won't have the time to
notice. Also, most aren't aware of layouts because we are
not a nation of readers anymore. So this drawback may well
be minor, but still may be one that concerns some
performers. Despite this, it is still an extremely
practical, useful, and recommended booktest.

*********
JOSH ZANDMAN
CHRISTMAS CAROL BOOK TEST
JMOM PRICE: $45
Suggested Retail Price: $50

THE BLURB:
It is that time of the year again!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is one of the all-time
best selling classic books about the holiday season ever
written and now, for the first time ever, it is also a
professionally designed book test! Here's the best part...
it is TOTALLY readable from front to back; you'll NEVER find
the gaff. Yet, there it is, right in the text, on ever
single page; powerful, simple, and immediately useable by
novice and expert alike.

A spectator freely selects any page and you know the first
word on the page. It’s that simple and direct. No questions
asked and nothing is written down. There are no page forces
and you never know the page number.

This is the perfect book test for walk around performances
because there are only two steps; the spectator chooses the
page and you divine the first word without hesitation. There
is nothing to memorize and you don’t need any information
from the spectator! There is no pumping, no forces, nothing.

A Christmas Carol is completely examinable before and after
the performance and anyone can read the book from the
beginning to end without ever finding the gaff. There are no
duplicate prediction words and no gimmicks whatsoever; it is
TOTALLY self-contained.

This is a complete mind reading effect that is ready to go
with no set up and nothing to memorize right out of the
package. You can repeat it as many times as you want!

Created by Josh Zandman and fleshed out and published by
Black’s Magic. You will love carrying this little miracle
around with you!

Pull it out of the package, take 30 seconds to skim over the
instructions, and BANG… you can perform it to anyone,
anywhere, anytime. It is one of the simplest but most
powerful book tests ever invented.

MY COMMENTS:
This book uses the Flashback principle (as it's known) that
was famously used in the Flashback book by Larry Becker and
created by Dan Tong. What makes this different is that, to
my knowledge, the cue words have a creative relationship to
the key words that has not used before. It doesn't require
memorization, but it does require a knowledge of the English
language to use effectively. It's certainly easy to use.
The consideration here is that it's not a hands-off book
test. The performer must handle the book while a word is
looked at.

One other matter concerns the layout. And I've had
discussions about this with Mr. Black. The interior pages
do not look like ones found in a conventional trade
paperback. The text is in block paragraphs. With the
Dracula book, the cover proclaims it to be a facsimile of an
older edition. Since most have never seen that, most would
assume that the layout choices, however strange, were made
to match the original. This book makes no such claims.
Now, when a participant handles a book briefly, they usually
won't have the time to notice. Also, most aren't aware of
layouts because we are not a nation of readers anymore. So
this drawback may well be minor, but doesn't it make sense
that if one goes through the effort of creating a special
book that one should put extra effort into making it look as
close to a real book as possible? Despite this, it is still
a practical and useful booktest.

*********
ALAN WONG
DREAM LOCK
JMOM Price: $88
Suggested Retail Price: $97.50

THE BLURB:
A borrowed ring is locked on a 4 digit combination brass
lock, the dials are mixed by the magician and the spectator
can hold on to the lock while the dials are mixed and
spectator can test a few times that the lock cannot be
opened. Spectator thought of any 4 digit number and put the
numbers on the lock by herself. This proves to be the secret
code that opens the lock! Spectator retrieves her ring from
the lock in the end. There is no need to force any
pre-conditioned numbers such as someone’s year of birth,
anniversary or birthday.

You can do either of the following:
1. Ask spectator to name ANY 4 digit number
2. Tell the spectator you are going to project the secret 4
digit number to her mind and have the spectator name it.
3. Have 4 different people name a single number each to form
a 4 digit number. (This plays big on stage) Whatever numbers
the spectators have chosen, they put the numbers and open
the lock with their own hands!

Alan Wong:
"I remembered my fascination when I saw the effect of a
combination lock that opened on my year of birth. Later I
came to notice an enhanced version that opens only on the
month and day of your birthday. This further enhanced my
interest and become a dream to develop a stronger effect
with the combination lock possibilities where you are not
limited to dates and years but open with any numbers named
without any force and presetting work. After more than a
year’s work, I am pleased to present you here my idea
realized of such desired effect, the Dream Lock."

Important points:

Work is pure mechanical, nothing will break
Nothing to add or taken away
No electronics parts, no remote control
No magnets, no PK rings
No threads, no wires
No buttons, no switches
No gravity switch, no directional limit
No timers
No years, no birthdays (not limit to these although you can
use these numbers)
Lock can be in spectator’s hand from the beginning to end of
performance
Reset in 2 seconds and right under the nose of a spectator
Any 4 digit number can be named. Absolutely no force.
Remember this: Spectators set the chosen numbers on the
lock. They open it themselves!

MY COMMENTS:
This is truly an incredible utility prop which is almost
exactly what the ad describes. The "almost exactly" is that
it says that "Any 4 digit number can be named." This is not
true. Out of the 10,000 possibilities for combinations,
there are 1,000 possibilities that can't be used. And, with
just a little bit of easily done verbal direction, the
numbers that can't be used will not be named, nor will they
be noticed or missed. It's not a serious drawback at all,
but a statement that is certainly incorrect and misleading.

Also, I don't particularly like that laundry list of
"important points," although it is important to know that
there are no magnets or stooges or anything extra involved.
It does require some careful spectator management as it is
quite likely that the lock will open prematurely. Most
professionals shouldn't have any problem with this. There
are a few other considerations with this prop. The lock is
made of brass. That means that you're going to have to
polish it and continuously maintain it. For most, this is
probably not a big deal, but definitely something to note.
Of more importance is that the numbers on the lock are small
and are hard to see, especially in low lighting situations.

The lock comes in plastic bubble packaging complete with a
one page instruction sheet (8.5" x 5.5", double-sided) which
is all you need to learn how to operate this prop. There
are also handling tips and brief outlines of routines. If
it weren't for the small numbers and the lock's design, I'd
give it a much stronger recommendation. As it is, it's not
a "dream" lock, but a very, very good one that I recommend
if you don't have a device like this.

*********

To make a purchase of any item in the JMOM newsletter,
please go to http://www.MarketplaceoftheMind.com
and use the shopping cart. If you're unable to do
this, you may respond to this e-mail.

This e-mail is copyrighted by Jheff Poncher. No part of
this newsletter may be reprinted or distributed without
the express permission of the author.

You received this e-mail because you have subscribed. If
you wish to unsubscribe, then send me an e-mail at
Jheffsmind@aol.com and it will be done.