Idiosyncratic legerdemain blog.

mentalism

  • The Off by One Principle (Not That One)

    Drew
    Category:

    I was performing one of my favourite effects for my friend the other day, the swami-divined number. I understand the swami can be used in ways that are much more interesting than guessing a shitty two-digit number. I just find myself going back to it again and again because of the sheer directness, great reactions,…

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  • A Hot Rod in My Drunken Fist

    Franklin
    Category:

    Editor’s note: Switching to posting Friday instead of Sunday. Psychological research shows that small amounts of alcohol can lower inhibitions enough to improve certain kinds of creativity. But those papers frequently qualify that with “however, getting completely shit-faced has never helped anyone’s bottom line.” Or, you know, something equivalent in dry academic language. On the…

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  • Rich Man’s Which Hand

    Drew
    Category:

    For those who are fortunate enough to have a Real Die (or a Mental Die if you have the inferior Murphy’s knock off), here’s a way to perform a Which Hand routine under impossible conditions. This wouldn’t be my predominant reason to buy a Real Die, but it’s certainly a great little bonus if you…

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  • The Loaded Lightning Principle

    Drew
    Category: ,

    Introduction Hi guys! We’re back. I had to hijack control of the blog from the editor so that I could post my stuff, he’s dead for all I know. I would comment on how Anagram “Month” went, but I have no access to the statistics. The damned editor does. Now you guys are in for…

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  • Making Your Anagrams Commute

    Franklin
    Category: ,

    UPDATE: Check out the dedicated Anagram page on our site for the best anagram generator ever, among other things. Editor’s note: After introducing frontloaded progressive anagrams, which give your typical progressive anagram a couple of the perks of a perfect progressive anagram, Franklin announces the definition of a new category of branching anagram based off…

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  • Toward Better Progressive Anagrams

    Franklin
    Category: ,

    UPDATE: Check out the dedicated Anagram page on our site for the best anagram generator ever, among other things. Editor’s note: This commences Anagram August with a superior type of progressive anagram. For an introduction and anagram trainer tool, see the previous post. For some reason, at some point, someone looked at the idea of…

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  • Announcing Anagram August (And Presenting A Trainer)

    Editor-in-chief
    Category:

    I’m pretty excited about this. We’re finally getting around to publishing something that we’ve been working on for a year. I’ll admit, it’s likely not going to be limited to August at this point. But Announcing Anagram Month just wouldn’t sound as cool. I have to be candid with you, usually Franklin’s more advanced stuff…

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  • My Cheap Uncle: A Bank Night Presentation

    Drew
    Category:

    Here is my personal presentation for a close-up Bank Night effect, and some thoughts on a more widely applicable version. While my version is specific to a particular occasion, it will be made clear how something very similar can be done at any time of year. I’m hanging out with a friend at my place…

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  • Conducting Trains and Bones

    Drew
    Category: ,

    This is an idea for those of you who use bone conduction devices. I always thought it was great that you could play your own audio file (on most if not all of the devices currently available). The stock audio preloaded onto the device was always some creepy robotic sounding voice. The script would usually…

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  • Banachek’s Salad: Eggplant Is the New Broccoli

    Drew
    Category: ,

    I’ve always enjoyed the psychological force of a carrot over the other forces Banachek has written about. The carrot force in its basic form is described in his Psychological Subtleties 1. What I’ve always liked about it in particular is that a carrot does not appear to be the classic archetype of a vegetable.  What…

    Read more: Banachek’s Salad: Eggplant Is the New Broccoli

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