Unless you have attended Oberon’s lecture, the product description is not very informative. In
essence, it is about credibly performing some popular and high-impact effects on a low budget. The
booklet has five effects in 21 pages, and plenty of explanatory photographs.
Two of the
main themes are the deliberately innocent simplicity of the props and … lots of little magnets.
Epic Pad provides clear instructions on how to make an epic board. (This is the effect
where three predictions are concealed on a pad or board, and a one-ahead (behind?) system is used.)
Oberon sensibly argues that the prop should look natural and not store-bought. (Even so, I think
that Osterlind’s very expensive version is beautifully handcrafted and creates a high-end
professional impression without looking at all like a suspicious prop.) Oberon’s method looks
workable in its construction and reasonably practical in its application. He also provides an
intelligent routine. His solution would well suit less formal parlour-style presentations.
Off Key is about how a key appears to melts off and onto a chain. No magnets are used here
though, and Gregory Wilson has a similar, but inherently pacier, effect on his DVD, On the Spot
(Florida Keys).
Predict-event is pulling from an envelope a prediction of a year called
out.
Tom-Cat is about predicting the name of a cat and the colour of its collar. It
provides an economical and persuasive alternative to trying to get an engraved name-tag onto a
stuffed animal.
What Do You See? is a more whimsical effect that may appeal strongly to
some. There’s a hint of instant stooging, that Oberon steers towards dual reality, when a spectator
looks into a cave formed by the performer’s hands to see in a sense the very word determined in a
book test. This bare description may be enough for some readers to devise their own methods, but
Oberon’s is direct and engaging.
The book is written with Oberon’s customary generosity, clarity, dignity, and care.
By
the way, I wonder if British mentalists proofread each other’s books. Highly articulate performers
(such as Oberon, Christopher, and even Jermay) share and repeat common mistakes (e.g., it’s vs its;
who’s vs whose; ‘it’s self’ appears here, and in DC’s BHB, instead of ‘itself’). And (attn: DC, if
reading this review, which is unlikely) it’s ‘without further ado’, not the admittedly plausible ‘a
due’. Well, nobodies prefect.
Disclosures: as you may be able to guess, I am a
non-performing hobbyist, a retired academic, and a former editor of a journal.
Interesting booklet
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