December 16, 2007
Here's what's in this edition of
Jheff's Marketplace of the Mind Newsletter
*** SPECIAL ISSUE: THE BEST OF 2007
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THE BEST OF 2007
Everyone has different tastes, but that doesn't stop folks
from picking the year's best books, movies, toys, products,
stocks, news items, etc. However, these lists do serve as a
guide. With that in mind, once again I'll jump into the
spirit of the end-of-the-year best-of lists and provide my
look back at the best of those items that I received and
reviewed during 2007. Remember, this is purely subjective
and you've been warned.
Last year, I broke everything down by categories and picked
the best item in each of those category. This year, I
decided it was easier to pick one item as the Overall Best
of the Year and just put all the others in one single group,
although I will discuss the list by categories.
I had a real hard time coming up with the one product that
I'd say was the best of the year, but when I looked over the
list with a firm definition of what I was looking for, it
became clear. I was looking for a product that had it all -
one that provided a history of mentalism, philosophies of
mentalism, and effects and routines that would appeal to
every different type of mentalist from readers, to PK
workers, to bizarrists, to mental magicians, etc.
With that in mind, one product stood out above the rest.
And that is . . .
THE OVERALL BEST MENTALISM PRODUCT OF 2007:
MAURICE FOGEL: IN SEARCH OF THE SENSATIONAL
Richard Mark & Chris Woodward
Fogel was a great showman and did it all: mentalism,
death-defying stunts (the bullet catch), seance shows, etc.
Just about everything is revealed in this incredibly
beautiful book. There's the biography of this fascinating
mentalist who was England's premiere mentalist. He was to
England what Dunninger was to the United States and
unquestionably just as talented. There's plenty of
priceless anecdotes included. There's also his routines and
his versions of classics which are explained. The book was
produced by Hermetic Press and Stephen Minch always puts out
the very best produced books. I've never been disappointed
with the books in his line. The pages, layout, and binding
are all first-rate.
This is a book that belongs right there on the shelf next to
the big Max Abrams' book on Annemann, both of which should
be in any mentalist's library.
OTHER BEST PRODUCTS OF 2007:
(in alphabetical order)
3510, Luke Jermay
*ANNEMANN 666 VOL. 1 & 2, Stuart Cumberland
*ASTROLOGIC, Alain Nu
BETWEEN THE LINES, Michael Murray
BLACK BOX CINEMA, Bob Cassidy
THE BLISTER BOOK, Jack Kent Tillar
*CELLULAR FORECAST, David Numen
THE DELPHI PORTAL, Loren Tindall
DOUBLE COINCIDENCE, Devin Knight
DUPLICITY, Joshua Quinn
*FRAME OF MIND, Michael Sibbernsen
*GODS WITH FEET OF CLAY, Vol. 1-3, John Riggs
IMAGINE, Rick Maue
*INVISIBLE READINGS, Enrique Enriquez
INFLUENCE U., Larry Becker & Lee Earle
KEY ACCESSORY, Andrew Gerard
*LOOKING AT THE MARSEILLES TAROT, Enrique Enriquez
*THE MAGICK YEARS, Gene Nielsen
NO CAMERA TRICKS, Richard Osterlind
*NU SECRETS & REALITIES, Alain Nu
THE OSTERLIND TRILOGY, Richard Osterlind
QUESTA, Docc Hilford
REAL GHOST, Christopher Taylor
REAL TIME, Andrew Gerard
SCRIPTING MAGIC, Pete McCabe
SIMPLY PSYCHIC, Ross Johnson
SPORTS CARD STING, Jack Kent Tillar
STEALTH ASSASSIN, V1.1, Peter Nardi
SYSTEM 88, Docc Hilford
*THE TAROT READER'S NOTEBOOK (Revised), Ron Martin
*TRIANGLE, Patrick Redford
TRIO, Jack Kent Tillar
ULTIMATELY UNDER, Kenton Knepper
(Items with an asterisk are available through their
creators' sites. For more details on each item, visit the
website.)
Of the other categories, the e-book (or downloadable PDF
file) had some very strong entries. Had the Fogel book not
been in the class of 2007, I would have certainly selected
Enrique Enriquez' INVISIBLE READINGS, which is a brilliant
reading technique that's easy to learn and easy to use in
many different situations for the mentalist. His LOOKING AT
THE MARSEILLES TAROT also is one of the most concise
examinations of the Tarot with a great approach that any
Tarot reading should appreciate. Gene Nielsen's THE MAGICK
YEARS is a compilation of his wonderful material. Ron
Martin re-released his THE TAROT READER'S NOTEBOOK as well
as extensively revising this classic. All of the
aforementioned e-books are available from Loren Tinall at
www.mevproshop.com
Also in this category are Stuart Cumberland's ANNEMANN 666
volumes. Revisiting and updating the classics is never a
bad idea and very important for the professional to do.
Stuart proves that Annemann's stuff is still strong today
and still quite worthy of study. David Numen's CELLULAR
FORECAST is an old idea applied to new technology (like many
new mentalism effects) and anyone who uses a cell phone
should be aware of this use.
There were a few very good hardback books this year.
Obviously, the MAURICE FOGEL book was one. Luke Jermay's
3510 and Pete McCabe's SCRIPTING MAGIC were the other two
great hardback books to come out this year. And they were
released just at the tail end of this year. Luke's book has
his performing philosophies and a collection of some of his
best material. And the SCRIPTING MAGIC book is a much
needed discussion on writing and editing what the mentalist
says, which is nothing short of crucially important.
There were a few paperback books that were incredibly worthy
of a mentalists' attention. Two of them were written by
Jack Kent Tillar. TRIO consists of three complete and solid
acts for the mentalist. THE BLISTER BOOK is an anthology
featuring the best minds in mentalism and magic and focusing
on Jack's famous effect in which a blister mysteriously
appears. Richard Osterlind's THE OSTERLIND TRILOGY compiled
three highly recommended e-books that deftly delve into the
realms of the whys and wherefores of mentalism and magic.
With pamphlets or booklets, the most important new release
was Rick Maue's IMAGINE, which presented a brand new
technique for mentalists to use in their arsenal that's just
as important as contact mind reading. Alain Nu's ASTROLOGIC
is a thorough and important study of the zodiacal branching
anagram. Kenton Knepper's ULTIMATELY UNDER reveals how to
do hypnotic shows without really using hypnosis, but pure
suggestion. Patrick Redford's TRIANGLE, using the unusual
format of a comic book, presented three very clever effects.
Docc Hilford's SYSTEM 88 drew quite a bit of controversy as
Docc's stuff usually does. It's a clever, easy to do
reading system and many misunderstood that it was the tick
sheet that is what's important.
There were a few limited editions that some very lucky
people were able to get. Michael Sibbernsen's FRAME OF MIND
and Alain Nu's NU SECRETS & REALITIES were both delightful
compilations of those gentlemen's material. Both are,
unfortunately, sold out at the time of this writing.
However, Joshua Quinn's DUPLICITY is available and this
manuscript provides a cunning technique for taking your
drawing duplication to the next level.
On DVDs, Richard Osterlind's NO CAMERA TRICKS presented
another group of very good routines. It certainly wasn't as
excellent as his earlier DVDs, which set the bar for
mentalism DVDs. This one was just very good, which is a lot
more than quite a few other DVDs out there. John Riggs
began releasing an ambitious series of DVDs entitled GODS
WITH FEET OF CLAY. Of course, how can anyone go wrong with
anything by the incomparable John Riggs. This series is
both a hoot and a, um, godsend. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Bob Cassidy's BLACK BOX CINEMA, though previously available
on a limited basis, has now become available to the general
marketplace. It's an in-depth look at many of the billet
techniques that Bob favors. Finally, Ross Johnson's SIMPLY
PSYCHIC may be a beginner's DVD, but it has a really cool
discussion of mentalism (and Ross Johnson's background) and
he also presents some basic effects that you don't often see
in a basic mentalism set.
There were a few utility props that are worth noting.
Christopher Taylor's REAL GHOST is an electronic version of
the Invisible Touch, but there's so much more you can do
with this utility item. It sold out at Mindvention 2007 and
there's a good reason why. Loren Tindalls' THE DELPHI
PORTAL is a cigar-sized box that can carry many of your
props for readings (Tarot cards, I Ching, etc.) but also has
some elegant built-in features. It's like a Gucci
suitcase/Swiss army knife for psychics. And Peter Nardi
improved last year's STEALTH ASSASSIN. To me, it was worth
shelling out the extra money for the new version too.
Intimate mentalism had some great additions. Of the best of
the year, my favorite is Larry Becker and Lee Earle's
INFLUENCE U. With just your cellphone, you can do an
incredible miracle anytime and anyplace. And it's soooo
easy to do. Andrew Gerard's KEY ACCESSORY added a subtlety
to the standard key bending routine that makes this type of
routine much more effective. Michael Murray's BETWEEN THE
LINES is a bold, yet incredible new idea in which the
participant describes the text of a page they are holding
before the page is even looked at.
Finally, stage mentalism had some really incredible
contributions. Devin Knight's DOUBLE COINCIDENCE is one of
the most well-constructed book test routines I've seen. The
books are ordinary (though somewhat prepared) and the three
phases go together beautifully. The few times I performed
it the audience's jaws just dropped to the floor. Andrew
Gerard's REAL TIME is a great bit of business for the
mentalist. A participant yells "now" whenever they want and
reveals the performer's broken watch that they held from the
start and that is set to that exact time. Docc Hilford's
QUESTA is a smart blend of three different Q&A techniques
that will fool anyone wise to any of the techniques, let
alone laymen unfamiliar with any of it. And Jack Kent
Tillar's SPORTS CARD STING is a very nice, non-gimmicked
piece of mentalism theater using sports cards, though it can
easily be adapted to other types of cards.
I know that I'll be getting lots of mail about something
pretty obvious that I just plain forgot to add to my list.
If so, I apologize in advance. And, as I said, this is
subjective, so you're more than welcome to agree to disagree
about items that are in the list, and I'm sure you probably
will. That's the nature of these types of lists.
But there you have it. Another year has come and gone. And
I'm looking forward to the great stuff that I know will be
coming out in 2008.
Thanks for all of your support. Have a magically great
holiday season and New Year.
Until next time. -- Jheff
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