Believe

THE BLURB:
Any Card, Any Word, Prediction.

The Scene:

After completing an amazing set, one of the guests ask if
the magician can read their minds. He admits he cannot but
says he is asked that question a lot. So he has something
he's learned about psychics that he'd like to share; a
technique called cold reading. A card is selected and a word
thought of to act as a focal point during the demonstration.

Amazingly, through cold reading, the magician reveals the
name of the selected card. But stranger still, even though
he does not have psychic powers, he wants to show them
something else. A sealed envelope is produced that is signed
and dated from the day before. Inside, a card is found. It
matches the free selection. But on the back of the cad,
there is a word written. it is the freely thought of word!

Welcome to Believe!

This DVD is jammed packed with performances, explanations,
variations, and a few extra goodies including a stage
version of Believe; a Triple Threat Wallet handling and much
more. With contributions from Paul Vigil, Jason Dean,
Brandon Williams, Marty Miller, Tony Miller, Christopher
Williams, and Cody J.H. Pace.

Disc One Running Time Approximately 1hr 23min
Disc Two Running Time Approximately 1hr 39min

MY COMMENTS:
If you needed another solid definition of what mental magic
is, this is it. It's what happens when magicians decide to
do mentalism but treat it as a magic trick. That means that
sleights, cool gimmicks, props, and magic plots are
involved. In this case, there is the classic card to wallet
combined with confabulation.

Before going any further, let me just say that I have great
respect for Aaron DeLong as a talented creator. Had I come
up with this idea, though I wouldn't use it, I'd certainly
not hesitate in marketing it to magicians who like this sort
of thing.

However, there are some points to this routine that really
bother me. First, the merging of a selected playing card
with a freely thought-of word is contrived. It's the old
mental epic problem. Why have someone pick anyone they ever
knew or any place they can think of and then pick a playing
card? One goes from two impossible items to a finite
choice. Some have attempted to solve this problem, but
keeping the playing card there, when other choices could be
made, doesn't really accomplish a solution. In mentalism,
experienced performers know how to have participants think
of two random thoughts and have both of them be found inside
a sealed envelope.

My other issue is that there is nothing new for mentalists.
Many of the usual Confabulation principles apply here. The
Anything Pad that is described for use with this trick
certainly can be used for other effects, but it's very
similar in function to other devices that mentalists use and
probably already have. There's also a subtlety involving a
large paper clip. Aaron explains a problem he had with it.
I couldn't help but come up with a couple of alternatives
that would have worked better.

Personally, I don't really care for the presentation of the
routine as it appears on the video. The basic effect is
that a word is selected and a card is selected. Then, a
sealed envelope is produced. Inside is the selected card
and written on the back is the freely selected word. In
three sentences, I described the effect. On the video
performances, and there are two that are included in this
disc set, the routine lasts for ten minutes. Ten minutes!!
That's quite a long time. Most of that consists of
procedure and exposition. Much of that could have been
tightened up. Also, Aaron's presentation involves
mentioning that he doesn't believe in psychics -- he doesn't
even beleive in real magic, in fact -- and he explains cold
reading, references great psychics such as Randi and
Houdini. But, as I said, this is my personal opinion and
let me return to discussing the effect as objectively as I
can. After all, one could certainly tighten up or alter the
script. So this is somewhat of a minor point.

I know that many magicians hold this effect in high regard
and I guess that's my point. This is mental magic, magic
merged with mentalism and treated as magic. Professional
mentalists don't usually work with this material. However,
there are many who perform mentalism that appreciate and
like this type of stuff. So, if this is something that
interests you, I only caution that, though the routine is
strong, there is nothing new in the way of mentalism or
magic principles presented in this. But the routine is
strong and, if scripted and presented more tightly than on
this disc, it will be effective.