Hangman The Game

So you want to win every game of "hangman" you ever play? How can you do that? Well we mentalists have a plethora of ways to know what your thinking. In almost all mentalism there are only 4 principals in play.

They are,

Force it; This means making someone choose what you want, without their knowing.

Find it out; After something has been done (like writing something down) we find out what it is . More on that in a minute.

Fake it; Act as though we know something (Like in cold reading) that we in fact don't know, but pretend that we do.

Fill it in; Where we can do double writing or use a swami gimmick. Look to future posts for those explanations.

For now lets deal with find it out. In our example we are going to play hangman with a participant, and we want to know in advance the word they are using before the game begins? Some might use what is know as "pre show work" This just means that before a performance we approach somebody before the show and ask them to help during our performance. They're not in, on what we are going to do, but are asked to think of something, which they are to recount latter on in our performance. Because we don't want them to forget, we have them write it down, like on a clip board or book cover, and to take the paper with them, (to prove what they will say latter on) This is where the dirty work happens! We as mentalists have developed special pads, clip boards, books and the like that will take impressions of what is written so that we can latter read the words or whatever has been drawn. These are called "Impression Devices" duh, and are readily available at most, if not all magic shops.

So here is how the scenario might go with the hangman game? "Excuse me sir. Latter on in my performance I'd like to use you would you mind helping out?" If he says yes we continue with "Good. I want to play a game of hangman with you and will be asking you to think of a word for the game. Do you understand?" If he says yes we continue, "Good. Now many people get nervous when helping out and I don't want you to forget the word, so just write it down so you don't forget." See how the mentalist makes it out to be for the participants benefit when in fact it's for his own. After the guy writes down his word (atop the impression device) the mentallist thanks the participant and sends him on his way.

During the performance the mentalist calls upon the "helper" and says something like " Now although I approached you before the show I have no way of knowing WHAT YOUR THINKING OF. Giving the impression (no pun intended)  that all the guy did was THINK of a word. That's it, the whole trick in a nutshell. They go on with the game but since the performer knows what the spectator wrote, it's no big deal to recount it. This technique is used quite often, and should be suspected whenever these kinds of presentations are made.

There you have it another "secret" shared with you my readers. Remember I post purely my own opinions and for entertainment only. Thanks for reading and till next time.

Iain Dunford

At this point you have to be wondering, is this guy just making these names up?  Well I can assure you  this is a real person. Well he's another so called mentalism writer, like that guy Pablo only  this guy is from England instead of Mexico or wherever Amira is from.  He recently let me know about a site that mimics this one called "the sh*t-list". I'm not really sure what the site is about except that it talks of a Jdmagic and one David Samaria. Now I don't know who these people are so I Googled the name and came up with this,

http://www.samariachurchofchrist.com/about-us/evangelist

Why in Gods name would somebody want to cast dispersions on a man of the cloth, is beyond me? So I started looking more into the Iain person and found that basically he trolls forums all day and every so often puts out an ebook he tries to sell as something worth wild, but isn't often received very well.

His books have names like, The Hateful Page Book Test, The Games People Play, and The Beautiful Lie. With names like those it's no wonder he would try hurting a man of God as he does with that blog. I'm not even going to comment on the content of books as it's just not worth my time or yours in my opinion. Anyway back to his trolling ways, on one popular forum when you pull up his most recent posts, all that comes up is his insistent complaining of others and their posts. He adds nothing to the content of discussions, and tries to
play cop or something?  You can see for yourself here:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/search_results_posts.php?search_id=7016812

He seems like a person who was ignored as a child so I'll guess he has some siblings that really out did him in life, and he is always living in their shadows. If not, it's he himself who finds his existence so loathful and spends most of his time wishing he would have done things different. I feel sorry for the guy, but not so sorry that he will escape his own actions. To undermine a religious person because your mad at somebody, seems quite reprehensible?

In my opinion Iain Dunford needs to get a life and concentrate more on himself, than others. When you have as many problems as this guy does, in my opinion it would be better if he got help, rather than fumbling around all day on his computer. I think it very sad, to not have as much a life as the rest of us, and wish him well.

These are my opinions. They are strictly my own, and are meant to be for entertainment proposes only.

UPDATE!

Well it seems Truth About Mentalists has once again righted a wrong. That popular forum where Bob Cassidy plays psychiatrist has done the right thing, and deleted the thread discussing this blog and that poor boy Theodore Fraser. Good thing, I saved the pages on my hard drive. Should the parents ever need them as evidence. I hope it never comes to that, but such irresponsible behavior can't just be ignored. Till next time.

UPDATE!

Now we go from what might have been entertaining to downright dangerous! On a popular forum there is a person named Theodore Fraser who says he "was diagnosed a Sociopath as a child" But Bob Cassidy in his infinite knowledge and wisdom sees fit to say "Theo- You may be a bit whacky sometimes, but you are NOT a sociopath." Here is where you can find it;


http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=409458&forum=82&158&start=60

Now I'm not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that if one practices psychiatry without a license, they may have some splaning to do if God forbid, something adversely happens to that poor boy, as a result of Bob's diagnosis?  Another example of how in my opinion, the good "Dr." over steps his bounds with reckless abandon of all sense. When, oh when, will he learn?

UPDATE!

Well seems like flip flopping Pablo does it again, and has paid for those stolen books. On a popular forum he says, "I rethink this subtle missunderstanding that I have with the eBook/Book thing. Docc knows that I love his work and for that reason I pay him back the money and already download the 3 eBooks." Well of course I have no way of verifying this, but if true, then consider it the first of many wrongs this blog will try to right. Now if he, would just consider the brave men and women who gave their lives for THIS country, that would really be something. We will see?

Pablo Amira

Yeah I know another who, in this metalism thing. Well while I had never heard of him before, I'm certainly aware of him today. Seems as thought he's had a recent beef with one Docc Hilford over a deal that Docc's offers on his website http://www.docchilfordproducts.com/scarletdragon/ problem was poor Pablo didn't realize it was ebooks he was buying and instead of asking questions, asked for a refund. That wouldn't have been bad, except that he had already gotten the ebooks. So in essence he stole them from Docc since he got the books and the money back.

If that was all this punk did it would be enough to condemn him, but the guy was on a personal crusade to black ball one Jose Prager, from entering into the mentalism market by using, slanderous lies. He has since changed his tune, but the damage had already been done. This is a common theme with this flip flopping dweeb, that he just can't seem to make up his mind about anything? In one popular forum, he says paraphrase "I'm not going to participate anymore in this forum" then comes back when he has something to sell. He Says paraphrase "Jose Prager's products should be avoided because he dosn't respect creators" and then says "Ethically speaking you should do it if your feel it. If you came up with your presentation and method in an independent way, I don't find necessary to asks permissions. If you publish your idea and you know about that similar idea, is better to give references for further study." What a confused mind he has.

And finally this so called mentalist, is on some sort of mission to help Japan. Now in and of itself this isn't a bad thing, but when we consider that he isn't doing anything for the victims of Pearl Harbor I think it speaks volumes about him as a person. Sure lets help those who killed innocent men and women in Hawaii, but to those familys that greve so from the lose of there fathers and mothers lets do nothing. I think it somewhat hypocritical and counter U.S. sentiments.

On a personal note my father was killed at Pearl Harbor and I find it in extremely bad taste to care so much for those who are responsible for his death, without some acknowledgment of the brave who fought for this country. On that note, I'll leave you to consider this when thinking about Pablo, and when wanting to buy his EBOOKS. Yeah that's right the same thing he complained about buying from Docc Hilford is what this punk sells himself.

As always the opinions expressed in the blog are my own and to be taken as entertainment. Till next time.

More On The Billet Switch.

What is the billet switch? Your first question should be what's a billet? A billet is a small piece of paper. That's it. The size is about that of a small post-it note and in fact post-its are often used as billets in effects. Another thing used is 3x5 index cards such as those used by the good Dr. that are cut in half making two pieces 3 x 2 1/2. These are folded in quarters. In total you have 3 at least for the name place or remote viewing trick that Mr. master mind-reader does.

To prepare you put 2 of the above billets in your right pocket with 2 pencils. In you left pocket you have the 3rd billet along with a white disposable lighter. You hand out the two pieces of paper to two spectators along with the pencils and ask one person to write the name of a famous person. The other is write the name of a place. (in the remote viewing version it's place place). The papers are mixed by one of the participants and one is handed to the performer for burning. He (the performer) while removing the lighter from his pocket also
brings out the "dummy billet" finger palmed. Then in the act of transferring the lighter from one hand to the other, switches the dummy for the actual billet with the writing on it. This is called the lighter switch and was invented by Richard Osterlind who wasn't credited with it by the Bobster. (SHAMEFUL) Ok so when the perform goes into his pocket for the lighter he leaves the slip with the written information on in there with some other slips which he will bring out after burning the dummy. Now after the dummy burns the performer reaches into the pocket where he dumped the one with the writing and withdraws it with the other slips as if all he has are blank pieces of paper. The mentalist instructs the spectator holding the other billet to concentrate on what she's holding while he mimes writing on one of the blank pieces. In reality he's looking right at what one of them wrote. Here begins to tell the person about what they wrote acting as if this is whats in the participants hand but in fact is detailing what he has seen. At this point he takes the slip being held by the spectator to "verify" that he's right miscalling it and memorizing what it says for the second reveal to come. He then tosses the paper away as if it's of no importance only to then revel the second word.

This may all seem confusing but if you watch these youtube videos, it will all make sense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ke_jjAuwy8 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQpVZ9xQW-8&feature=related The point is there is no special powers at work just good  old fashioned chicanery.

That's all for now. Remember these are all just my opinions and for entertainment proposes.

Bob Cassidy

Bob Cassidy, aka Robert E. Cassidy, aka Dr. Bob, aka Dr. Crow and self proclaimed "master mindreader" is today's topic of this discussion. This is one of those big names I spoke of in my first post. He is most noted for his work in "Mental Mysteries" His most famous of videos. I really don't understand why, as it is in essence just two different billet switches that he uses. He also does some thing with a pocket calendar and some cards that is ok but old and becoming dull. We get it Bob a card at a date fine wonderful, now get some new material. So where to start with this one? Well if you Google his name you will pull up page after page of his self serving promotions. You may even get to sample his work from the various torrent sites that choose to host his work. Now while I'm against piracy, since much of his work is just knock offs of others, it may be good reason to download a ebook or two? But lets first analyze the good Dr. and his handles. First off where did he get those degrees that allows you to use Dr. in front of your name? Or where did he get this so called "master" designation? To my knowledge they are all self imposed? This is an insult to anybody who has actually worked for a degree, and something in my opinion he should immediately stop using. Although not that egregious an offense, but it seems as though the good Dr. has let his own hype go to his head. You see the man is on some kind of crusade to bring back an old form of mentalism that doesn't really work for today's modern audiences. He advocates mentalist performing as "real" even though he himself has used a disclaimer. "mentalism as we call my art is a psychological persuasive technique that comes close to looking
like real mindreading" He goes on to say on his mental miracles video that, "in fact I'm using sound scientific techniques and psychological principals to create that very illusion" But here Bob rants about how there's no more real mindreaders? The happens at 2:48 of this video http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=DWopGsFLtgQ but even on this video at 1:02 he uses a disclaimer.

So what's my beef? Well I'm tired of this guy thinking he's the ultimate authority of all that is magic and mentalism. We took no vote. Had no meeting. And never asked this guy to be our moral compass, ethical leader or our creative consultant. We don't need at least in my opinion to have a self serving egotist, stand as the beginning and end of all that is our art. More important, to beckon us to be "real", perpetuates those who would use our art to foster an irrational belief in psychic anything performed by fakes, such as we are. in other words he advises that we should perform in a manner that gives credence to our own powers as if they
came from some divine being to bilk the public out of their hard earned money. This is just unacceptable.

Another thing about this guy is he belongs to a public forum where he expounds all kinds of passive aggressive nonsense, in an attempt to sway public opinion to his causes. I'm posting this to counter his unchallenged nonsense and to shed light on his hypocritical ways. Most recently he has engaged in a witch hunt to out and crucify one James Clark. Mr. Clark is not only someone who has fought for the rights Bob enjoys but is also a humanitarian that gives to those less fortunate. He has acted during crisis helping in Haiti during there most
recent problems. Mr. Clark has decided that the the so called "old boy network" needs to be stopped. That creators and distributors don't need permission from people like Bob to do business in this country.  He (Mr. Clark) has decided to "take back" the industry from these no it all ideologues, by offering his own version of some effects in an attempt to better the industry. Another thing Mr. Clark ha done is to shed light on how supporters of some so called creators is in fact also supporting convicted substantiated pedophiles. Look here for the proof,

http://store.jameslclark.com/products/Devil%27s-Bottle-DVD.html

Scroll down to Kevin Curtan. Is this the kind of guy Cassidy is defending? What's wrong with him?

Bob likes to taught his being one of the founding members of the PEA (Psychic entertainers Association) an a past president of the same club. But who cares? Like any other club, they carry no power and are of no relevance to anyone but those who are and would be members. Personally, I don't want to be part of a club whose past president is a supporter of criminals. That's another thing abut Bob, he has admitted to cocaine use and pot smoking. He makes references To such in that same open forum, which is frequented by adolescents, talking about these activities as if there's some kind of honor in them. It disgusts me. In my opinion this guy needs to check himself before standing in judgment of others and remember that he who lives in a glass house, shouldn't throw stones.

Well I guess that's all for this installment but I'll be back to peel back the vail covering
this our performing art. Remember the views I express in this blog are my opinions and should be looked at for there entertainment values only. Thanks!

More on the Knight's Tour.

I said I would post more on the knights tour at the end of the last post, but it was getting a bit long, so I'm writing it up here. The knight tour is a standard of mentalism. In essence it's a game whereby the mentalist attempts to touch upon each square of the cheeseboard using the knight chess piece can it's unique way of moving. See the knight may only move in an L shape either by two squares and then one or one square then two. This is quite difficult and in fact chess masters can have trouble doing it impromptu. We however have help. We cn use memonics to our advantage. Mnemonics are systems used to remember. In the knights tour a grid is remembered to accomplish the feat. Once you know the grid thef eat is easy as the move follow a logical sequence from one to another to matter where you start from. Just like a card stack, it doesn't matter where in the stack you begin, you just continue in its progression to find the next card. But that's another story for a later time. For now let me give you some software and resources where you can learn the knights tour. Then I will teach you how to present it in an entertaining matter that won't put the spectators to sleep.

Here is a site that explains it better than me. http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=163  be sure to also download the app on the page to practice and display the tour if you so desire. (More on displaying it to come) You can also download or study a very good video tutorial here on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChiOwpOjH_4&feature=related I suggest you always download things to your computer as we never know when or for how long something will last online. (that goes for this blog as well) If you don't know how to download video from Youtube just Google it. There are also plenty of online trainers available but I don't recommend them for the simple fact that you have to be online and for the reason already express can't trust that it will always be there. It would be terrible to become dependent on an online resource only to have it disappear like magic someday. But I digress.

Back to the tour. So you have learned how the tour works and have practiced it's execution. You have also memorized the quadrants presented in the video in the diamond system and square system. and you feel confident that you can present this to the world. But how? I mean are you to carry around a chessboard with some kind of video cam that can project your moves to a screen? Well not exactly. You will need a little flash app of the Knights tour game. I found mine here, http://fliiby.com/file/760611/t30fv2gnuj.html this is just a .swf file and what makes it so good for displaying is that it can be placed into full screen mode. It also has a grid that allows you to call out the squares with no confusion as to which square you want. Finally there is a timer that shows how fast your able to solve the challenge. The timer feature is unique to this program as even Lior's doesn't have the timer.

So now you have the program you need but how do you present this to an audience. Well first it's suggested that you do it blindfolded. Not necessary. The demonstration is so good, just doing it looks good. You will however need to project the program onto a screen. Here is one way to do it. http://www.ehow.com/how_2179166_turn-laptop-big-screen-projector.html Here is another, http://www.ehow.com/how_5847760_project-computer-screen-overhead-projector.html If neither of these will work for you just Google it to learn how. In lior's pdf he says and I'm paraphrasing Just let the hotel your working for provide you with it. Really? Better call and find out first. But at least you have the program and hopefully the laptop then maybe your can get the projector from in Lior's words "a local shop" or something.

Anyway there you have it, just about all you need to present the knights tour. If I've missed something I'll be back to let you know in subsequent posts.

Lior Manor

We will begin our investigation with a guy named Lior Manor? Yeah I know, I'd never heard of him either. Seems as though the guy work mostly trade shows? (Although it's debatable how much the guy is working these days at all.) In my opinion, the guy looks like some kind of Muppet with his flat face and big ears. More important is his act, which I have on good authority, is "one of the most boring things a person tries staying awake for." Now I don't have personal experience with that, as the review keeps my money in my pocket, and saves my time from being wasted by actually seeing this cure for insomnia. Hey but don't take my word for it, here he is using an Iphone app available to anybody with 5euros to prove his entertainment value. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws-rBKr2lxI Notice how the robot says "why should I tell you what I'm thinking of if your the mind reader?" or something to that effect? WHY INDEED? No self respecting mentalist in my opinion, would ever use such an obvious trick in public. But when you consider Lior's products, you'll understand why he does.

Lior basically markets 3 items, Mobile Opener, A knights tour thing, and something he calls Invisible Touches. Starting with the latter first, invisible touches is nothing more than a repackaging of something that had been done for hundreads of years using horse hair. In the version Lior tries to take credit for, he uses something called "invisible thread loops" developed by one Yigal Mesika. All that Lior did, is to use the same hook up to "touch" the participants. Again nothing at all new in the field of mentalism, but hailed as some kind of Einstein like discovery. Please! This guy in my opinion, couldn't create his way out of a
paper bag let alone invent something truly stellar. He goes on to expose others work, such as, Banacheck, Patrick Kuff, Richard Osterlind and others as if he was responsible for their success somehow. Boy is this guy full of himself.

If that was all there was to show this guy for who he is It would be enough but examining his other products exposes more of this guys true intentions. Next is the the knights tour. This for those who don't know, is a demonstration of a so called "higher intelligence" that we mentalists are suppose to possess. Fact of the matter is it's a trick. I can't go into how it's done, as it is involved, but I will post some training and presentation material on it at the end of this post.

Finally and perhaps worst of all, is the mobile opener. This is basically just a flash program of the first effect I showed you. That's right a stage size, one out of five "prediction" that one must know the answer to, before reveling the chosen symbol. What a joke! Nothing in my opinion, could be further from psychic phenomenon than this. It would be laughable if not so tragic, that a so called "professional" would stoop to such obvious ridiculousness is without question in my opinion, the epitome of amateurism. If this guy stays performing he needs to get into comedy or something. Mentalism in my opinion is not his forte.

That concludes this first installment to the blog, but keep your eyes open for more, as some of the big names are next. Remember that all of what I post are my opinions. This entire blog is posted for entertainment proposes.

What is a mentalist?

A mentalist is a magician, that specializes in tricks, that look like psychic phenomenon. They have no special powers or abilities, except maybe those associated with the performing arts? They are a lie. If you think they are really psychic, then you need this blog.

Here I will name, names, expose their lies, and show you how they use trickery, to get your money.  I will also point you to those "performers" who are honest about their deceptions, and  to those who lie for personal gain.


Some of them you will know, others are as obscure as Bigfoot, but still pose a threat to your wallet. The point is to uncover not only to the public, but to others in the know, how their colleagues,  in my opinion, are hurting us all. You see I too am a mentalist, and as such can shed light on these issues, like no one else can, or will.

So check back here soon, for the 911 that will blow the lid off these guys.

Till we meet again?