Run Silent Run Deep by Ben Harris

[Tom Frame]

Run Silent Run Deep (PDF or book) by Ben Harris $49.95
216 pages, 2 illustrations, 31 photos, 38 templates
Available at: http://www.wowbound.com


Ben Harriss book, Silent Running, caused quite a bit of controversy in the magic community. Purchasers responses to the book were polarized. Those who embraced it rigorously defended its wondrous applications. Those who panned it felt that the methodology was contrived or transparent. Some folks felt that they had been hoodwinked by a clever, yet disingenuous hype-meister.

While this disquieting [censored] storm might have caused some authors to lie low, lick their wounds and possibly reevaluate the merit of their work, Mr. Harris remained true to his vision and produced Run Silent Run Deep, a robust sequel to his contentious tome. I applaud his unwavering resolve.

The book is well designed and pleasing to the eye. Overall, Mr. Harris and his contributors do a very good job of teaching the material. The photos are clear and helpful. There are a number of typographical errors, but they wont prevent you from learning the material.

Since this is a sequel, the author doesnt describe the Silent Running procedure in detail. He assumes that the buyer is already familiar with the procedure.

The book begins with a Foreword and glowing endorsement from Marc Paul. He teaches an effect in which the performer writes a prediction on his business card, folds it and partially inserts it in his pocket. A participant mentally constructs a card and announces its identity, say the Seven of Hearts. The performer removes his business card from his pocket and displays that he correctly predicted the Seven of Hearts. I like it.

Next comes an Introduction by Mr. Harris, which includes several last minute effects.


Tommys SRACAAN (Tommy Guglielmi): The performer tables a deck. A participant mentally constructs a number and then a playing card. She takes the deck, counts down to her number and discovers her card.

The effect requires a prearranged deck. Mr. Guglielmis method for having a participant construct a number is a mathematical malignancy. I dont like it.


Quickie #1 (Nick Belleas & Josh Zandman): The performer tables a deck of cards and another deck which is sealed in an envelope. A participant mentally constructs a card. She counts the deck and finds only 51 cards. Her card is missing. She names her card. The performer opens the envelope and spreads through the deck. One card is reversed. It is her card.

A prearranged deck and an Ultra Mental Deck are required. Since youre using an Ultra Mental Deck anyway, let the participant think of any card and get on with it! I dont like it.


Quickie #2 (Nick Belleas & Josh Zandman): A participant shuffles a deck and inserts it into the card case, for security purposes. She mentally constructs a card and removes the deck from its case. She thinks of a word that consists of the same number of letters as the value of her card, say Door. She counts/deals through the deck and discovers that the fourth card is her selection, the Four of Spades.

The bit about sticking the deck into the case, only to remove it later for the revelation strikes me as being too transparent. I dont like it.


And now we plunge headlong into the meat of the book.


A Force in the Shadows (Steve Shufton): Mr. Shufton describes tips and verbal subtleties for making the Silent Running procedure appear to be fairer and more deceptive. I like it.


Script Stripped (Steve Shufton): Mr. Shufton shares his complete script for accomplishing the goals mentioned above. I like it.


Hands Off: Silent But Deadly (Steve Shufton): A participant is given a blue deck of cards. She mentally constructs a card, removes it from the deck and tables it face-up. She turns the deck face-down and thumbs through it, encountering all blue cards. She turns over her selection and discovers that it is the only card with a red back.

Mr. Shufton provides his complete script.

Youll need to create a special deck, which will take you about ten minutes. Due to the decks clever design, the participant will discover nothing unusual about it while shes handling it. I really like it.


Speechless: Left Unsaid (Steve Shufton): This is Mr. Shuftons addendum to Speechless from Silent Running. He describes a method for performing the effect for two participants simultaneously, while ensuring that each participant mentally selects a different card.

A prearranged deck is required. I like it.


Silent Past (Jamie Badman& Colin Miller): A participant mentally constructs a card. The performer removes an antique photograph from his wallet. The photograph depicts a man holding the participants selected card.

Templates of the antique photographs are included.

The authors include their presentational script that involves a poker game. I like it.


Silent Present (Jamie Badman & Colin Miller): Participant #1 mentally constructs a red card. Participant #2 mentally constructs a black card. The performer spreads a deck of cards face-up on the table. Participant #1 cannot see her card. Participant #2 can see her card. Participant #1 names her card and the performer removes it from his wallet. The performer spreads the deck face-down on the table, revealing participant #2s card face-up.

Two special cards are required. You can create them in less than five minutes, or you can have them professionally printed. I like it.


Silent Future (Jamie Badman & Colin Miller): The performer writes a prediction on his iPhone and tables it face-down. A participant shuffles the deck and turns it face-up revealing, say, the Two of Clubs. The performer turns his iPhone face-up, displaying the Two of Clubs on the screen.

Obviously, you need to own an iPhone. You also need to purchase a magical application for your phone.

I described the optimal scenario for this effect. In actual practice, the effect will not always play out this cleanly. Sometimes youll need to add a few procedural steps.

I dont own an iPhone, nor do I ever plan to buy one. Im not keen on the jazz handling that you occasionally need to employ to bring the effect to a successful conclusion. For these reasons, I dont like it.


Think-A-Card (Richard Busch): Mr. Busch teaches his method for forcing a playing card. He leaves it up to the reader to decide how to use this method to create an effect.

His method for causing the participant to choose the value and suit of the card is interesting and resembles the (credited) Duffie Dodge. However, his method for causing the participant to think of a number between one and thirteen is too mathematically meandering for my tastes. I dont like it.


Silent Travelers (Ben Harris): One participant mentally constructs an odd value card and another participant mentally constructs an even value card. The performer counts a deck of cards face-up onto the table. The participants verify that they see their cards in the deck. The performer counts off a packet of eight or nine cards and shows it to the participants, who acknowledge that their cards are not present in the packet. The performer snaps a rubber band around the packet and rests it across the mouth of a wine glass.

The participants look through the deck and discover that their cards have vanished. They find their cards in the isolated packet.

This is a strong, well designed effect. I really like it.


Small Packet Concepts (Ben Harris): A participant mentally constructs a card. She removes her card and three decoy cards from a deck and mixes them face-down. She carries out a sorting procedure and ends up holding her card.

I dont like the well known sorting procedure employed, so I dont like this effect.


Vanishing Thought (Ben Harris): A participant mentally constructs a card. She removes her card and three decoy cards from a deck, mixes them face-down and hands the packet to the performer. The performer turns the packet face-up and reveals that her card has vanished. With an empty hand, the performer removes her card from his pocket.

To show that her card has vanished from the packet, you are potentially required to execute a well known false count three times. Thats too much counting.

I believe that the participant will want to examine the resultant three card packet. She is not able to do so. I dont like it.


The Deck at the Other End (Ben Harris): A participant mentally constructs a card. The performer spreads a red deck face-up on the table. The participant slides her card out of the spread. She finds another copy of her card and slides it out of the deck. Upon turning it over, she discovers that it has a blue back. The deck now contains 53 cards.

You must build a special 53 card deck.

Youll need to create a presentation that assures that the participant understands that a copy of her card has been transported from another deck, resulting in a 53 card deck.

This effect feels odd and incomplete. I dont like it.


Easy Transposition (Ben Harris): A participant mentally constructs a card. The performer tables a red deck and a blue deck and the participant chooses the blue deck. She imagines removing her card from her blue deck and tossing it toward the performers red deck.

The performer counts his cards face-up onto the table while she simultaneously counts her cards face-down onto the table. The performers deck now contains 53 cards and her deck contains only 51 cards.

She looks through her cards and cant find her selection. The performer spreads his deck face-up on the table. She slides her card out of the spread. She discovers a copy of her card and slides it out of the spread. Upon turning it over, she sees that it has a blue back, proving the successfully transportation.

Clearly, this is the evolutionary offspring of the previous effect. It provides the completion or closure that the other effect lacks.

Youll need to build two special decks, but the effect is worth it. I really like it.


Rapid Eye Movement (Ben Harris): This is Mr. Harriss simulation of the Berglas Effect. The authors method requires the performer to count off the number of cards named by a participant prior to recounting the same number of cards to find the selection. This strikes me as a transparent procedure. I dont like it.


Neuro-Pathway (Ben Harris): This is the authors technical upgrade of Direct Mind Reading from Silent Running. This version eliminates a phase in which the performer had to ask the participant to name the suit of her card. This new procedure allows the performer to determine the suit is a more subtle manner. I like it.


Silent Dice (Claude Imperiale): The performer divines two cards mentally selected by two participants.

Prior to divining their cards, Mr. Imperiales method requires the performer to ask the participants up to five questions about the identities of their cards. What is this, an interrogation? I dont like it.


Silent Faro (Claude Imperiale): A participant mentally constructs a card. The performer shows her several fans of cards and asks her if her card is among them. He eventually divines her card.

A specially arranged deck is required. It can be arranged ahead of time, or created on the fly via several incomplete faro shuffles. The performer may need to show the participant up to seven fans of cards. What is this, the Inquisition? I dont like it.


Silence of the Lambs (Isaac Louie): The performer asks everyone in the audience with a cell phone to stand up. They mentally construct a card and text themselves the identity of their card. A participant without a cell phone is invited on stage. The performer springs a deck of cards into the air. They flutter back to the stage in a face-up, face-down mess. The performer asks the on stage participant to call out the names of all of the face-up cards. He asks the audience participants to sit down if they hear their card. Everyone in the audience sits down.

A special deck of cards is required.

This is a clever effect that involves numerous members of the audience. It packs small and plays huge. I really like it.


Waking Dreams (Jason Messina): The performer displays his dream diary, consisting of a years worth of his lucid dreams. A participant mentally constructs a date. She takes his dream diary across the room and studies the entry on her selected date. The performer correctly describes his dream from that date.

Youll need to devote several hours to the creation of a dream diary. This is a one time preparation. Youll also need twelve index cards, each bearing the name of a different month.

Mr. Messinas effect is an appealing non-card application of the Silent Running procedure. I like it.


The White Room (Ran Pink): The performer successfully divines a participants mentally constructed card.

Mr. Pinks method is a variation of the Silent Running procedure. Youll need keen observation skills and you must be a proficient angler. I like it.


Icainu (Ran Pink): This version of the above-cited effect eliminates the angling and increases the selection range. This is a well designed, powerful effect that can even be performed over the phone. I really like it.


Silent Solstice #1 (Christopher Taylor): A participant thinks of a number between one and ten. The performer gives her a wallet that contains an index card bearing a list of Cartomancy Associations. The participant freely circles her chosen number and a suit, creating her mentally selected card. She closes the wallet and sets it aside. The performer correctly divines her card.

To perform this clean, powerful effect, youll need to buy Mr. Taylors Solstice Wallet, which will cost you $275.00. The advantages of using the wallet are that the participant has a completely free choice of her cards suit, and the performer can divine her card from across the room.

The disadvantage of using the wallet is that, uh, you have to use a wallet. A participant may understandably wonder why she needs to use an index card in a wallet to create a mentally selected card.

I fear that using a wallet makes the effect Too Perfect. The wallet is the only item used, so all of the heat will be on it. Even if the participant cant unravel exactly how the wallet works, she must conclude it is responsible for the magic, not the performer. I dont like it.


Silent Solstice #2 (Bill Fritz): Mr. Fritzs version of this effect is even cleaner and more powerful than the previous effect. Unfortunately, that state of affairs brings even more heat on the wallet. I dont like it for the aforementioned reason.


Numb-Blur (Bernardo Rodriguez): The performer writes a prediction and tables it. He displays a deck of cards with the numbers 1-52 written on the backs. A participant mentally constructs a card and looks through the deck to note the number on the cards back. The performer correctly divines the card and shows that he predicted the number on its back.

This is Direct Mind Reading from Silent Running, with the addition of the number prediction. Youll need to prepare a special deck of cards. I dont feel that the number prediction justifies creating a separate deck just for this effect. I dont like it.


Notes on Silent Running (Hiro Sakai): A participant mentally constructs a card and the performer either correctly divines it, or he correctly divines the card and then allows the participant to remove it from his pocket.

A prearranged deck is required.

There are two advantages to Mr. Sakais method. It allows the participant to select a number from one through ten, inclusive. His application of ideas from Jerry Sadowitz and T.A. Waters eliminates the angling and creates the perception that the performer never makes a mistake in his divination. I really like it.


Screaming Walking (Matthew Shepherd): A participant mentally constructs a card and the performer correctly divines it.

Mr. Shepherds method doesnt require the participant to name the suit or the color of her card aloud. His use of ideas from T.A. Waters, Bob Cassidy and Richard Osterlind make the divination procedure seem more fair, and ensure that the performer will never receive more than one no response from the participant. I like it.


Pulse (Robert Smith): A participant mentally constructs a card and the performer correctly divines it.

Mr. Smiths clever application of a sneaky digital technique may enable the performer to correctly divine the participants card without saying a word. Im intrigued by the psychomotor basis of this procedure. The method is not foolproof, but its certainly worth a try. If youre not 100% confident in your read, you can resort to the other tactics described in the book. I like it.


Voodoo Finger (Robert Smith): A participant concentrates on one of the performers fingers. The performer displays a piece of paper bearing a tracing of his hand. He stabs one of the fingers on the tracing with a knife and his corresponding real finger begins to bleed.

This is a creepy, cool effect that nicely complements Pulse. I like it.


Edgework (Robert Smith): Mr. Smith briefly describes how the use of edgework allows the performer to locate or force the target cards from a face-down, shuffled deck. I like it.


Impromptu Invisible Deck (Robert Smith): After a participant mentally constructs a red card, the performer reveals that it is the only card reversed in the deck.

A prearranged deck is required and it will not bear inspection. Since thats the case, Id forget about this method and perform an Invisible Deck presentation using a traditional Ultra Mental deck. I dont like it.


The Sharpie Theory (Robert Smith): A participant mentally constructs a card. The performer asks her to write the cards value and its suit on an index card. He correctly divines her card.

Requiring the participant to write anything violates the intent of the Silent Running procedure. I dont like it.

Mr. Smith also describes using cards from Aaron DeLongs Hummer Deck to reveal the mentally constructed card. The Hummer Deck allows the performer to reveal that any freely selected card is the only printed card in an otherwise blank deck. That is a much stronger effect than restricting the participants choice using the Silent Running procedure. I dont like it.


Silent Running on Stage (Francesco Tesei): During a formal stage performance, five audience participants stand and simultaneously mentally construct cards. The performer asks them to sit down if they hear him name their card. He names five cards and all five participants sit down.

This is a very strong, well designed effect. Mr. Teseis application of a David Hoy strategy is terrific. I really like it.


Thought of Card to Wallet (Mario Unger): A participant mentally constructs a card and the performer removes it from his wallet. There is only one card in his wallet and no outs are employed.

Youll need a wallet that accepts a palmed card. A prearranged deck with one modified card is required.

The performer never needs to see the faces of the cards. By cutting the deck a maximum of two times, the selected card is in position to be palmed or Mercury folded and then loaded into the wallet. I like it.


Silent Frixion (Mario Unger): A participant mentally constructs a card. The performer writes his impression on a piece of paper, crumbles it and hands it to the participant. She opens the paper and announces yes or no regarding the accuracy of the performers impression. If she says no, the performer lights a lighter beneath the paper and she sees the incorrect card transform into her card.

Fifty percent of the time, the transformation will occur. On those occasions, the crowd will experience a magic trick, not mind-reading. This is something to consider if you dont want a magic trick to contaminate your pure mind-reading show.

Im troubled by the fact that, half of the time, youll be tipping the special properties of Frixion pens and informing the crowd that these pens have magical applications. I believe that this information should remain a secret. I dont like it.


Starman (Ben Harris): The performer displays a Star Deck that depicts star-field images, celestial maps, a plan of the solar system and Dr. Elmer Bishops 90 event predictions. The performer tables a card which bears Dr. Bishops prediction of a humanity-changing event that will occur during this century.

A participant mentally selects a number from one to ten. She associates this number with information from the Star Deck and establishes the following information: Fifth decade, May, Mars, Birth event. The performer turns over the prediction card which reads, First Contact: This amazing event (May, 2051) will occur on Mars and will become known as the Birth event.

This is a novel non-card application of the Silent Running procedure. Mr. Harris provides the templates that youll print out to construct a Star Deck. I like it.

If you own and enjoy Silent Running, your life will not feel complete until you buy Run Silent Run Deep. If you dont like Silent Running, you should avoid this book like the creeping death. In the unlikely event that youre on the fence, Mr. Harris magnanimously offers a seven day money back guarantee if you buy the PDF version. What a guy!


Highly Recommended

[mrgoat]

This is astounding. You say it DOESN'T cover the method in any detail?

So if you want to do this trick, you need to buy the first book for the method and THEN buy this one too so you can be have the Explanation For The Idiots That Didn't Get It First Time?

Mr Harris is a marketing genius. I salute him. That is ballsy beyond belief. Brilliant.

[Manuel García]

Hi everyone!

I've just finished reading "Run Silent, Run Deep" from Ben Harris.

Im not going to do a detailed review as Tom did, but I would like to focus on some ideas we can find in the book.

The first thing, do you need to have "Silent Running" to perfom this trick (or any variation of it)?

Yes. I think you need to have "Silent Running" to understand the method behind this trick. Of course you could deduce the method from reading this sequel but I believe not everyone could do such a thing.

The second thing I want to talk about is the contribution from Steve Shufton who tries to explain in detail how to perfom succesfully Silent Running. He tries to compare the method behind SR with Equivoque. I think its understandable what he tries to say but, in my opinion, there is a big mistake to compare Equivoque with SR, as SR uses equivoque (at least in the explanations made by Shufton).

The imporatant question is, does the sequel solve the problems that many found in its predecesor SR?

Its true that we can find more ideas from Shufton to perfom SR. Equivoque plays big in this sequel. More or less, each possible out is covered by Steve. I think the problem is this:

- To perfom the trick as Steve suggests you need a lot of time.
- It wont be a direct mind-reading any more (and if you perform Francesco Tesei's stage version you will need even more time to perfom the trick).

I have the next problem when performing SR as it is tought in SR:
If my audience is smart and tries to find the secret I use to perform SR they usually find that picture cards are not possible to be chosen (there is a good tip from F. Tesei to solve this problem). More intelligent audiences can deduce that they were force to select a particular suit. I think that if you use Steve tips this is not going to be a problem any more, but as I said before the trick wont be as direct as it was supossed to be.

In conclusion the sequel tries to solve the problems of SR and somehow it does solve them, but not fully.

Its turn to talk about some of the contributions from top performers that we can find in this sequel.

Steve contribution are good but not impressive. If you like Invisible Deck variations he teaches one. I personally don't like it very much as the audience can note something weir with the cards.

The foreword is written by Marc Paul who also teaches the way he uses to perform SR. I persanlly think this should not be count as a contribution, there is nothing new or interesting.

Tommy tries to use SR to perform one of his famous ACAAN. But, as all of his ACAAN attemps, this one has big mistakes. The spectator firstly selects a number but he doesn't select a card as he is forced to end up with one particular card. The good thing is that its very easy to perform, but of course it is not a genuine ACAAN.

There are several interesting thoughts from Ben Harris, including R.E.M. which is used to simulate the Berglas Effect, and DATOE. I love this last one, the idea is simple, the thought of card is the only one which has a dupplicate in the deck of 53 cards.

There are other interesting ideas in the book.

If you dont have really big expectations for this sequel it can give you some interesting ideas that you will use.

If you didn't like SR, and you haven't succed yet performing the trick, and you are looking for some better explanations of the method, RSRD can give you what you are looking for, but I guess some of you will never perform SR or will find SR it's just not for you.

If you are looking for some good applications of the SR effect you will find them in the sequel.

If you are looking for the perfect "thought of card" trick, is not here, but SR is a reasonable approach.

Recommended

[000]

Manuel, you say that intelligent audiences can deduce that they were forced to select a particular suit, and that smart audiences realize that no picture cards can be choosen.

Is it possible to explain what Steve Shufton has added that is useful? More Equivoce? Anyone remember Nagler's lawsuit after it was alleged his equivoce was faulty? Ha.

[Brad Henderson]

Anyone remember Nagler's lawsuit after it was alleged his equivoce was faulty? Ha.

I do.

[Manuel García]

Steve Shufton contributions do not talk just about equivoque. If you have the problem I had (I've explained it in my last review) Shufotn's ideas can help you to perform succesfully SR.

Steve explains with detail how he performs SR, and I believe there are really good ideas in his explanations than can be use not only wiht SR but with all of your magic.

Steve talks about the tempo of the trick, the selection process, and the way you should reveal the thought of card. He mixes different ideas: equivoque, the SR method (as he feels it), the tempos of the trick, the strategy of the magician, ...

I think this is really good stuff. But, again, there are many different performers who contribute in this sequel and you are not going to like all of their work, but you will find some of it will be really usefull for your magic show.

[000]

Thank you. Sorry to hear you have problems with 'smart audiences'

Run silent, run deep thru the pocket.

[Manuel García]

Probably I haven't been too accurate when refering to "smart audiences".

If you try to perform SR to magicians, that's an smart audience.

If you are trying to perform SR to an analytical person, thats an smart audience.

The Duffie Dodge finger thing its just something that will work with most audiences but may not work with what I call "smart audiences".

[Bob Farmer]

How about a smart consumer? I can't believe the discussion continues about some very expensive booklets that use an 8-card force that uses "pick a number between one and ten" and counting on your fingers. It's so lame, it's embarrassing.

[James Cotton]

Bump.

[000]

I see the author in his blurb for RSRD refers to the 'best seller' Silent Running.
Hence the quiz question, what in Magicland constitutes a 'best seller' for a book/ e book

a. 500 to 1000.
b. 1000 to 2000.
c. 2000 or more.
d. whatever you want it to be.

[Don Hendrix]

d.

[Jim Maloney]

500-1000 is about a typical run for a magic book. If you're selling more than that, you're doing fantastic.

-Jim

[Richard Kaufman]

I don't think the ebook market is sufficiently established to enable anyone to make any judgments about good or bad sales yet.

[James Cotton]

Mr.Harris' statements about his ebook sales are as solid as the paper his ebooks are written on.

[000]

E Books from a personal perspective induces impulse buying, as it's instantly available. My worst impulse buy was 'Head of shoulders illusion' at 50 quid.
But that would be good value compared to the $75 plus required for 'a lame 8-card force' (BF) on offer by Mr Harris.

[James Cotton]

Eh. While we whine about it, Harris is bouncing off his diving board into the sea of greenbacks swishing around in his mansion-size money vault. There's no limit to the impulse-buy mania of the hobbyist sucker magician. Harris is making money while he sleeps, ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

[Ben Harris]

Hello Guys.

Just a note to bring additional cheer to your hearts. The printed version of Run Silent, Run Deep will be available from all fine dealers as of Friday the 27th of August. Yep, due to the huge cost of printing/binding 216 pages, it was only ever intended to be an ebook. But, you demanded it... (well not you guys)... and we've responded, to the market demand.

This is the first time I've ever printed a book offshore. This edition is printed by the same printer I used for the book I designed for Joshua Jay -- "SESSION: The Magic of Joel Givens". Many will remember how good that book looked, and how lovely it felt in the hands. We've specified the same deluxe gloss paper, laminated gloss color cover, perfect bound. At over 200 pages, (full 8.5 X 11 inches in size) it's a lovely handful of paper. Something for your free hand.

Please ask your favorite dealer for this. Dealers worldwide will be stocked by our international distributer during the first week of September.
By ordering from your LOCAL dealer you will save on P/H.

Cheers

Benny

[James Cotton]

Thanks, Benny. Good to know.

[Alan Innes]

OK, here's where I'm at:

On my usual UK dealer's site I read about a new PDF called "Star Man" which mentioned "This effect DOES NOT require the use of SILENT RUNNING (although it can be enhanced with it). So, you do not need SR, or RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP. This is completely self-contained. The clever deck does ALL the work for you." Cost 6.00

I wondered about SR and RSRD (see I even know the abbreviations LOL ) and decided to download RSRD for 30 as it included "Star Man" anyway.

So here are my thoughts:

Star Man might be OK if I can be bothered making up all the cards from the templates and cutting them Svengali style !

"Waking Dreams" however has been made, tried and tested and is great. I have a diary full of different things such as people, places, food, drink etc and I can have 2 or 3 people "think of a date" and tell them what happens on that date. I can control what item(s) they pick and who gets what.

They can freely pick any day of the month and then use that number to select the month. No fingers needed! After they look at the event on their chosen date I can tell them what it is. You never need to ask what date they have chosen! NO FISHING AT ALL :-)

I have even included deliberate mistakes such as if someone selects the 31st of September, I have written on the 1st of October "I was so drunk last night I thought today was the 31st September !"

This effect has taken the whole concept away from an eight card fishing trip and is worth getting. Jason's original routine just uses dreams but as he says "..use each and every diary entry as a possible force.."

With a small pocket diary and a packet of 12 business cards, you can perform predictions, mind reading, book test, tossed out diary, etc, etc.....

As for the finger fishing in the rest of the booklet, sorry there are better ways of doing all of it!

Alan

[Jonathan Townsend]

How well does the finger fishing action go with the countdown sequence from Jackson's lead in to Rhythm Nation?

[Alan Innes]

How well does the finger fishing action go with the countdown sequence from Jackson's lead in to Rhythm Nation?

Very well methinks, you can just see her saying "Think of a number....." ;-)

Jackson shows how to do the Silent Running

Alan

[000]

ITS NOT BINARY, says the ad from RSRD.
An 8 card 'fishing trip', why would it not be?

[mrgoat]

Oh well if Benny put it in ad copy then it MUST be true!

[000]

Fishing can work, but IMHO only so silent and so deep
Take BWave for example.
Red or black queens?
Red, ok we remove the red queens.
Black, Ok. Spades or Clubs?(Free selection, and you can of course reveal either)

My point is that were you only able to reveal only a single selection (at the end ) you would have to 'fish' another time, which would not only be not believable, but may also make the modus of the first 'free' selection apparent.

[Jonathan Townsend]

It's a cute strategy for one round of a setup where you use the process to setup a grab for the right object - say repeat of bwave where the next time they ask for the ten of spades and that's the only non blank card.

IMHO Hofzinser got it right way back when with the mats (and blank cards).

[000]

Nice idea JT.
I like to combo Bwave with Off with his head ( one 'fishing' round required) by David Regal and finishing the routine with Parade of the Kings (offering a complete free choice)

By the time they get to the free choice previous bits of fishing have been forgotten.

This is where SR falls short.....repeated fishing making it all obvious to a spectator with a modicum of intelligence.

[James Cotton]

You're thinking like a magician and focusing on the fact that RSRD has weak methodology. A mentalist, on the other hand would use that to his advantage and as a result achieve amazement beyond your wildest dreams. For a mentalist a weak methodology is actually a brilliant methodology, because a mentalist doesn't need ANY methodology. He knows how to derive true amazement. And that's the difference between you guys who think like magicians and the great performers like Benny who think like mentalists.

[Matthew Field]

James Cotton's statement above is just wonderful. If it's bad, it's good, for mentalists.

Don't underestimate your sudience's intelligence was a lesson Tommy Wonder taught.

Matt Field

[mrgoat]

Back to the old "if you don't like it, you're just really stupid".

Awesome.

[El Mystico]

I think James' tongue was deeply in his cheek there.

[mrgoat]

Yes it was. I hadn't had enough coffee. Apologies for missing the snark.

[James Cotton]

This competition between mentalists and magicians is of course a misdirection. Benny is neither. He is a copywriter and a damn good one, even though working in the regional market of Brisbane.

[Manuel García]

I believe the only thing that matters is what your audience think it happened.

If you perform succesfully a trick where you happen to force to your audience one particular card, but in the end they think they could have selected any card it could turn into a miracle.

The problem I had with SR is that I found it difficult to turn it into a miracle. The Duffie Dodge thing its still for me the worst part of the method.

But with a bit of thinkin you could still force the 8 CR cards without using the DD.

The best part of SR is the audience point of view. Imagine you use Shufton tips in the first e-book, this is what your audience will remember:

-One deck was given to one spectator before the trick even started.
-One card was thought of, free choice of card
-Without fishing, nor asking silly questions the performer names the card the spectator thought of
-That card is the only one missing in the deck of 51 cards

Maybe the book its too expensive, but the goals Ben Harris had in mind for this book are really interesting. Of course this cant be real magic but if performed the right way, this could be really amazing.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Zero History, Manuel. Much better to be reading IMHO.

A better writer suggested that it's not about what should be or what could be but what is.

[Manuel García]

This its a different discussion, cuz I wasn't talkin abut Ben's writtin' skills. I was talkin' about magic.

I haven't read Zero History but I can tell you without a doubt that magic is about what your audience think it happened. If they think you levitated, you did it.

[Jonathan Townsend]

Manuel Garca wrote: ...I haven't read Zero History but I can tell you without a doubt...

that you are writing when you might do better after having done some reading.

Not sure I can recommend either the movie or the book "Run Silent, Run Deep" though the issues of jealousy, reliability and long term strategy as it affects the larger efforts (magic in our case) are likely resonant if not consonant. ;)