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Conversation as Mentalism Volume 2

Elsdon, Mark

(Based on 1 review)
The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit."
- Sir William Temple

"Three out of four ain't bad!" - Mark Elsdon

Would you like to have in your repertoire some killer mentalism effects that you can perform anytime, any place and without any props?

Well, good news! Mark Elsdon's new Conversation As Mentalism Volume 2 contains more of the tried and tested* material that made the original volume so popular.

The participant's experience of what occurs during these casual performance pieces is this: During the course of an interesting conversation, things take an odd turn and something strange and completely inexplicable happens.

You will learn a fantastic impromptu prediction using any three borrowed objects, an incredible mind-game using just your fingers, the worlds best linguistic bar bet, how to travel a few minutes into the future, the secret of the invisible red envelope and much more!

All of the effects have been designed with one outcome in mind - To amaze whoever you are talking to without the aid of any Gadgets, Gizmos or Gimmicks.

Conversation As Mentalism 2 once again teaches pure, prop less mentalism at its most organic.

*No 'suggestion' techniques are used in these effects. They all actually work all the time

Contents:
Introduction Shmagnetless Tri-mpromptu Bet On L.A. Animal Magnetism Wanted: Ad Pre-fingered (Back) To The Future Bookless Booktest Know-How The Red Envelope
Praise for Conversation As Mentalism :

"It is my firm belief that the title of this book should be changed to The Essential Handbook of Impromptu Mentalism. The routines taught are all very simple, direct and deeply fooling. This material should be in the arsenal of every modern mentalist! I give it my highest recommendation."
- Michael Murray

"This is Mark's other great release up there with the Meridian Technique. As well as the clever effects and probably more importantly, you're going to learn an attitude which can be used to approach performing in all real world situations."
- Colin McLeod

"Conversations as Mentalism is a collection of impromptu gems that can be used at the drop of a hat. Just the piece with the invisible dice alone is worth the cost of the entire booklet! With just what you carry in your pockets and the knowledge in this booklet, you will be able to perform a whole host of practical material anywhere."
- John Carey

Reviews

Josh Burch

Dec 07, 2014

Mark Elsdon is a clever guy that doesn’t get a lot of credit. I am always surprised by his cleverness and this booklet is no exception. It is 36 pages long, but each trick packs a punch and this book has the unique distinction that everything that is taught is almost completely impromptu.

Shmagnetless: Wow this is clever! You will have the ability to move the needle on a borrowed cell phone compass with the power of your mind. The method is outstandingly clever for this. In application it might not work as expected but it does work. You will need to be seated, the movement will be small and subtle but it does work. I don’t think you will be able to use this to make the compass point in a certain direction. The type of table you sit at may help or hinder the effect as well.

Tri-mpromptu: A prediction is made. Three objects are placed on the table the spectator takes one, one is taken by the magician and the last is left in the middle. The prediction is revealed and it clearly states who has which object. This is very similar in effect to the recent Paul Harris release Fair Play. the difference here is that there are no gimmicks involved. I have changed the method just a bit to facilitate my performance style, the method lends itself easily to alteration of that nature.

Bet On L.A: An advanced word puzzle is introduced and an unsuspecting participant correctly guesses the answer. This is a beautiful piece that combines a few well known principles into a new piece of magic. I have performed this for an audience of 1-30 with great results. This like the magic square only is limited by the size of your writing surface and could easily be converted to a projected image without ruining the effect. This could easily become an effect for an arena of people.

Animal Magnetism: A strong young man is called up from the audience and his strength is taken away from him. He tries to perform several simple tasks and is unable to do so because of his lack of strength. This is a combination of classic strength tests with a new simple presentation. This could play big as well.

Wanted: Ad.: This is a fun powerful piece that you can do with most magazines or newspapers. A page is ripped up and the spectator removes a random piece selecting a word or image and the magician divines what it is. This is a powerful piece, the method seems complex but once you get a page in your hands and test the tearing process you will get the hang out of it. Don’t be afraid of the his use of math, the method can be intuited fairly easily without math. This is an old method that Mark has breathed new life into.

Pre-fingered: A spectator selects a finger and the magician has predicted which they would choose. I have performed this one as well and for the right audience you can get great reactions with very little work. This is also not completely original but it completely fits the minimalist prop idea of the book.

(Back) To the Future: This is a high concept piece involving time travel. The magician seemingly makes a single spectator travel forward in time with them, their watches have changed and their drinks are no longer hot. This is one of my least favorite effects in the book. You will need to be familiar with PK Time by Banachek and will need to have a fairly specific performing condition. This is a Malini type trick where you orchestrate all of the conditions and wait for the right time to do it. You really can’t do this for more than one person.

Bookless Book Test Know-How; This is a continuation of an idea from his first book conversation. The idea here is that you can ask a spectator to think of a character from a popular movie or book and the magician is able to name the thought of character. He gives a few tools here to create your own routines. The tools aren’t extremely user friendly but the idea is very interesting and if you are committed you can figure out how to apply this to any performance style.

The Red Envelope: A spectator freely selects an imaginary envelope and an imaginary letter opener. The magician has predicted this outcome from the beginning. This is a fairly straightforward piece. If you like this effect you won't be too surprised by the method.

Overall this is a great collection of magic. For the most part where the method is not unique it is clear that it is in the public domain. There isn’t a whole lot of new material here but the goal of a book with minimum props has been achieved.
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