Mailbag #171
/Maybe I’m in the minority, but I love this whole Unnamed Magician (Pete!) situation. It reminds me of your old site when you had idiots regularly trying to engage with you. Viva MCJ!—CN
Well, sadly for you, I think that storyline is wrapping up. Tomorrow I’ll solve the problem once and for all.
I just have to know your thoughts on this:
https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/mentalism/rolex-system/
This AI-image-splattered, $1000 pdf has just dropped on Vanishing Inc, and I've never seen pricing so absurd in my life. Pretty sure this guy was charging for a DEMO at Blackpool, too - I'd love to hear what you have to say—AT
It's telling that within hours of this being uploaded on Vanishing Inc's site, one of the written endorsements was removed and then the video was edited to remove another seeming endorsement. I've never heard of such a thing in magic before.
And now it looks like the product has been removed completely from VI. Although you can still read about it here.
Here is how the effect was described to me by someone who witnessed it:
"He had me think of my star sign. He closed his eyes and said 'if there's an S, hold your right hand out in front of you. If there's not an S, hold your left hand out in front of you. If there's an A in your star sign, turn your hand palm down. If not, leave it how it is. If there's an O in your star sign, leave your hand the direction it's facing and close your hand in a fist. If there's not an O, do nothing.'"
This is done while the performer is seemingly not looking. He then reveals the star sign.
Now, I'd like to assume this is the stupid version he came up with on the way to the good version. But this is what he was showing someone he hoped would buy it or endorse it, which makes me think this is pretty much the primary idea behind the whole thing.
This is what's described at the link above as:
A once-in-a-generation idea.
A hot McDonald's apple pie with Colgate toothpaste in the middle instead of apples is also once in a generation, technically. I'm not sure that makes it good.
The full ad stated:
"Anagrams are a tool that mentalists have used for years, but they've always been slightly awkward in the way you get the information from your participant. If not performed correctly, it can come off as fishing for information. The Rolex System completely changes that because everything is done without any words being spoken."
So… just to be clear, asking if there is an A in the word might come off as fishing for information, but saying: "If there's an A in your star sign, turn your hand palm down. If not, leave it how it is," is a perfectly natural method of gaining information?
In my opinion, saying "do this with your fist" makes the anagram procedure more convoluted and "awkward" than acting like you're picking up on letters. And far more conspicuous than having someone read their horoscope online (Xeno) or write their star sign down (peek wallet) in order to determine their sign.
To be fair, I've only heard about this second hand. He may have some absolutely brilliant rationale for the hand thing that makes it feel fully justified and not just an obvious way of signaling information to the performer.
And I'm judging it against methods that work best one-on-one, where this is designed to be done for a crowd primarily (I believe).
So maybe there's some genuine gold in that $1000 pdf. I'd be shocked, as the infrastructure it's based on feels incredibly weak to me. But don't let me talk you out of it.
By the way, I'm going to extract what I wrote about pricing in magic from a post a few weeks ago so I can link to it directly in the future—as it seems like this may become more of an issue going forward.
I do love this final line from the original VI ad:
Because of its nature, Shay has intentionally priced The Rolex System to ensure it ends up in the hands of performers who are committed to learning and using it long term.
Ah, okay. Why is this trick so expensive? It's because of its nature. Got it. That makes perfect sense. 👌
Also, you must apparently be "committed to learning and using it long term" before you buy it and learn the method and determine if you even like it. Does this seem rational? Is this a good direction for magic pricing to move towards? By this logic, shouldn't you get a refund if you determine the method is not good enough to learn and use long term? Considering that was factored into the price and all?
What's next?
Because of its nature, Rocco has intentionally priced the D'lite at $899 to ensure it ends up in the hands of performers who are committed to learning it and flashing it at least 14,000 times in performance.
I'd imagine the ultimate zero carry would be cutlery bending, a routine like Liquid Metal. Sadly I can't do this because of my weak girly hands, but forks and spoons are everywhere: restaurants, other people's houses... That's it really.—SS
"They're everywhere." Two examples. "That's it really." I laughed. Thank you.
Here's the deal with spoon bending. You'd think it would fit great into my Zero Carry philosophy, but honestly I've never had much luck with it.
I'd put it in the same category as cold reading.
Huh?
(Here I'm specifically talking about cold reading when it's used in a direct way—"reading someone's mind." Not when it's filtered through some other oracle.)
Cold reading and spoon bending routines are both effects that need to be presented with confidence. And I don't mean you have to be confident in the technique you're using. I mean your attitude needs to be: Here's something I can *definitely* do. And here's me doing it.
The reason you have to be confident is that the methods are blatantly idiotic.
Cold reading = guessing.
Spoon bending = bending the spoon (with your hands).
If you take a chill, casual approach to either of these, it will just look like you're doing exactly what you're doing (you could maybe get away with one phase of a spoon bend).
It's the confidence that makes it feel like something else is going on.
When you're performing professionally, that confidence makes sense. You're The Mindreader. You're The Spoonbender.
That's harder to pull off when you're someone's buddy. You're not The Mindreader or Spoonbender. You're Dave. You work at the car wash. Your favorite show is Tulsa King. You chipped your tooth trying to make your friends laugh by fellating a Perrier bottle like Madonna did in Truth or Dare. Oh, and YOU CAN BEND METAL WITH THE POWER OF YOUR MIND!!!
It's just too cartoonish to be particularly interesting for people who know you. It becomes less of, "How is he bending the spoon with his mind?" And more of, "When is he bending the spoon with his hands?"
For the casual style, I think spoon bending is a tough fit. Which is why I don't bother with it despite the fact that spoons are—as established—everywhere: Other people's houses, restaurants, restaurant supply stores, other stores that aren't specifically restaurant supply stores yet still have things you'd find in a restaurant, heroin dens, Willie Mackay concerts.