Marc Spelmann’s Penguin LIVE lecture lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes. I had the opportunity to be in
the audience (I am the big guy in the orange shirt during the book test), and when I revisited the
lecture for this review, I was surprised to learn that he taught six effects:
1.
Predictable: A Psychometry & Design Duplication effect.
2. PVP: Positional, Visual, Persuasion:
A Bank Nite routine.
3. In the Shadow of Shaxon: A book test with touches from the late Alan
Shaxon and Max Maven.
4. The Only Card: An unpublished effect in which he attempts to memorize a
deck of cards. The person picks a card, and the performer says where it is in the deck.
5. Out
of this World: Marc’s take in which two spectators help and shuffle the deck.
6. PK Touches
To say Marc only taught six effects is not entirely fair. In reality, he covered more as he was
explaining his effects. Marc is one who does not rush his effects, and he does not rush his
explanations. He wants to make sure everyone understands.
What I liked about his lecture is
that everyone of the pieces he performed would be good in one of my shows, though I am not a fan of
PK touches.
With Predictable, Marc got the whole audience involved. Everyone thought of an
image, drew it on a card and then sealed them in envelopes. Using psychometry, Marc got a feeling
about one of the cards, and he divined the person and drew the same image as the spectator. Very
strong.
PVP is a fun take on the Bank Nite plot using a single spectator. In this one, Marc
wanted his helper to find the envelope with the dollar bill in it, and he did. However, if he would
have picked any of the other envelopes he would have received more money, like a $5, $10 or $20. I
like the simple and straightforward method of this effect.
I really enjoyed the book test.
Marc utilizes similar methods as I employ in my three-phase book test, however, he adds a new twist
when it comes to having people choose the page numbers. Think Autome on steroids when it comes to
getting numbers from the crowd. I really liked this one because it is similar to what I do, yet his
teachings will help me to enhance my routine even more.
The Only Card is an interesting
effect that I will probably be making up soon. This is a nice effect that appears to be an effort of
memorizing the deck. However, it has a strong finish that has to be seen to be enjoyed, so I will
not say anything else. This is good. Real good. He also teaches a variation to this effect. When the
spectator names a card, it is the only one in an envelope. While this one is nice, I like the
original version because I believe it has a stronger finish.
Marc’s take on Out of this
World is nice, especially when you have the spectators shuffling the deck. This was impressive.
As for PK Touches, because I am not a fan, I will leave it to others to delve into this.
This was an incredible lecture. I am of the belief that most of us have more magic/mentalism
than we need, so it was nice that Marc spent so much time on theory, techniques, justifications and
other matters.
If your priority in purchasing lectures is the number of effects taught,
then you might want to look elsewhere. If your objective is to be a well-rounded performer with a
balance of effects and theory, then you will want to purchase this lecture.
