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Alain Nu V.I.P. 256 Posts |
Hi, I'm Alain Nu.
Happy July 4th! I'm registered under the name Geff Mongoose because, for mysterious reasons, I can't register myself under my own name, but there you have it. To the best of my knowledge, this may be the first message that I have ever posted here on the Café. So anyway, my schedule has been real tight. Especially after the airing of my first four part "mystery man" series on TLC, "The Mysterious World of Alain Nu." I know there are questions about my recently aired TV series on TLC--so I'm hoping that those who might have a question, or anyone else interested might find out that I've posted here. I really wanted to be a part of those conversations, but the way my life goes, time is hard to distribute properly. I would, however, like to offer you, to the best of my ability, the chance to have answered whatever questions you may have during a very short window of time: It starts NOW-- July 4th and ends July 9th (this Saturday). I apologize that it can't take longer than that (at least, for now). (close friends of mine will laugh at my being like this, because they're used to me calling them up at the last minute to tell them that I'm coming into town on the same day I'm coming into town). If Steve Brookes would contact me about arranging a more formal event here at the Café, I would be thrilled, but timing is crucial. If we can work it out with my crazy schedule-- then it was meant to be. But if, for logistical reasons, it can't work out for me later-- then at least you see I attempted some contact here. I'm open for questions and meaningful conversations re: mentalism here until Saturday-- until then, I'll answer all the questions I can (within reason) to the best of my ability. I'm looking forward to meeting whoever feels like dropping in and saying hello! Peace, Alain Nu |
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Millard123 Regular user Millard Longman 174 Posts |
Hi Alain,
Happy Holiday! Is there some secret reason that you picked geff mongoose as your name. Millard |
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Alain Nu V.I.P. 256 Posts |
Millard,
When I was a kid growing up reading 'strange-but-true pulp-non-fictions" (Vincent Gadis was my favorite, but I'd settle for Frank Edwards), one of the stories that fascinated me the most was of a fellow whose family moved into a home and was said to have met a talking mongoose spirit that sort of lived in the walls of the house and called himself Geff. I just thought of that story recently, and how much I love it (for many personal reasons). Geff is a "true story", and yet it's totally absurd. I sort of relate to that. That, and since my real user name didn't work, I just wanted something that I could remember! independently yours, alain |
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MagicbyCarlo Inner circle has squandered his time making 1062 Posts |
Is this really you, Alain?
Dipping your toes into this cauldron can be pretty frustrating. I look forward to the posts!
Carlo DeBlasio
<BR>Entertainment specialist <BR>and all around fun guy! |
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Brian Turntime Special user 671 Posts |
Hi Mr. Nu,
I have a novice-type question... I'm less worried about embarassing myself than might the experienced mentalists here... The persona you cultivated on the TLC specials reminded me of Uri Geller, but looking at your website, I was relieved to see you were not presenting yourself as a psychic, but as an entertainer. I have nothing but respect for the way you present yourself to your future clientele. Your audience clearly believes they have seen something supernatural as you worked with them, which is what the mentalist does, but anyone that hires you for a booking hears the truth, that you are not claiming supernatural paranormal abilities, but are an entertainer... Does that dynamic/ dichotomy of the illusion and the reality ever become problematic? Banachek described people insisting he heal them of terminal illnesses during the Alpha trials. Kreskin would get called on by the families who had missing loved ones asking for help finding them. Geller, unlike Banachek, deluded his experimenters from the risible Stanford Research Institute but never made reference to his thaumaturgic methods: he demanded like John Edward to be seen as "special." I'm just wondering how you personally keep it all in balance. Brian Seattle, WA
------
Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. - Steven Wright |
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Banachek V.I.P. Houston 1086 Posts |
Hi Alain,
keep in mind that from time to time, some here post under various names and like to just stir up things with silly questions or controversial ones just to get attention or see how one reacts. You can usually flesh these out pretty quick Hopefully this will not happen to you as it can get pretty frustrating. As for your name, could be that some have tried to use your real name before. I know this has happened to others of your fame and Brooks and the gang try to hold those names in reserve until the real person asks for it directly. Congrates on your new specials, quite an achivement and I for one know how much material you have to go through to do one show let alone four. Just back from my French/Spain tour so will be in touch soon.
In thoughts and Friendship
Banachek Campus Performer of the Year two years in a row Year 2000 Campus Novelty Act PEA Creativity Award Recipient http://www.banachek.com |
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MentaThought Special user 615 Posts |
Welcome to The Café Mr. Nu -- and how wonderful to have a professional mentalism performer such as yourself -- indeed, one talented enough to be given his own television series -- participate here alongside respected pros such as Banachek, Max Maven and and Marc Paul.
Here's a question which I sometimes ponder which you might have some views on and which, if so, I'd love to hear: How to make mentalism more popular among the public? (To me, a sure sign of the lack of popularity of mentalism among the public at large is that -- in the USA, anyway -- if you asked 100 random people "What is mentalism?" the vast majority would have little or no idea what you were referring to.)
"A good mentalist ... will teach you a miracle because he understands the subtleties ..." -- Banachek
"If this works it'll be BEAUTIFUL!" - The Amazing Kreskin on a stunning effect he performed on his 1970s television series (PS: it worked) |
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Alain Nu V.I.P. 256 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-07-05 00:32, Brian Turntime wrote: There's no easy way to answer this question, Brian. I have indeed received requests from people who ask for psychic or spiritual guidance, or also energy work to heal a chronic injury. I tend to first open them up to understanding how my art works (my demonstrations are a simulation of these powers of the mind using a powerful blend of psychology, probability and timing); the process and power of perception; how the mind then can be used as a tool to create your own destiny; that they have the power to find their own way, and that that is THE way. But IMO, the demonstrations are not that important to people who come to you in distress. I think they come to you because they see you as an 'open channel' from which they can get strength from. And if you are doing your job properly, you are indeed manifesting this "open channel" that I speak of. I don't have to define it as a spiritual or metaphysical thing, it's simply a "contact" or "communication" thing. When one meets people like these, and we do often because of what we do, it is most important to treat them with the utmost of respect and caring sensitivity. That is what they want most from you, not to be "healed" per se. They're in distress. So they're looking for attention. treat them with caring kindness. with regards to healing-- healing always takes time. physical injuries, chronic pains, the spiritual healing of a suffering soul. also, there are different ways that something can be healed. focus their mind on accomplishing their objective-- that's all you are required to do. sometimes, you just need to communicate sincerely-- but the more experience one has speaking to people about these matters, the better, since you don't ever want to be accused of passing off bad or inappropriate counsel. My show has a couple of soft disclaimerss in it and is booked as an "entertainment show". Otherwise, it is a "mystery/mentalism show" which weighs heavily on the mystery ticket. People who come to see my show are taken for a ride in which the line is blurred between magic and mind-science and the pieces are demonstrations of fringe-science concepts like "esp, tele-this, and psycho-that" and are seamlessly woven into the reality of the show. so its like theatre of the absurd-- or am I reaching? my thoughts, alain Quote:
On 2005-07-05 01:02, MentaThought wrote: Hey Ban, how 'bout that, running into you here. Hey thanks for the props and the shout out-- yeah, I hear you, like birds taking flight in the night, a'ight? Sorry, I know how you hate when I do that. Anyway, hit me back, world traveler. Mentathought- Firstly, I don't think mentalism isn't popular. Ask Ban, Carter, Karges, Jeff & Tess, Riggs, Stetson, any of them, and they'll agree, most college programming board advisors know what a mentalist is, and most corporate meeting planners have a secret roster that they keep stashed in their PDA's... ...actually I don't know if that's true. But with regards to your qualifying how most people in general don't know what it means, well, you also have to realize that most people have not been shown magic tricks (or at least decent ones) in their life either. so I guess my answer is, it shouldn't matter how popular it is so long as it's interesting when they are experiencing it. word of mouth is always the best form of advertising. Alain Hey Carlo! Almost forgot you. Yes-- I had a few extra days, so I figured, I'd check out the Café and introduce to myself to anyone who cares to talk. I'm like an open book. But only until Saturday-- then I gotta get back to work. Tanya's CD is being promoted this month onto various radio stations, so while she's working down in her sound-lab on all that, all I need to do is cook, clean and chat on the Magic Café! Just like a regular home-maker-- except for the Magic Café part. So far, so good. peace, alain |
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Craig Crossman Special user Palm Beach, Florida 523 Posts |
I would like to take this opportunity to bring Alain's attention to Richard Osterlind's recent Café frustration. In a nutshell, Osterlind posted a rather passionate message here on the Café stating how a televised production gives a mentalist the opportunity to accomplish effects that would simply not be possible to do within a live performance environment, even stating that it was a form of "cheating!" Too many times have we seen this happen on TV specials, knowing that the people on camera were either interviewed before, staff members pretending to be spectators or stooges who were asked if they would be willing to give a specific response if they went on camera.
In response to his rather heated posting, on one hand, some felt that since we all cheat one way or another (unless of course you are a true psychic), then "anything goes" and using large amounts of pre-show, or doing it over and over again until you get the desired results and then only showing that segment on the TV show, cutting, time-shifting, etc. are all perfectly acceptable. On the other hand, and that's the side Richard is on, the view was that you perform it on the camera as you would perform to a live audience. I'd be curious as to what Alain's feelings are on this topic. So here's my question to you: Do you believe that the camera is something which a mentalist should use to his advantage, or should you not use any time-shifting, video cuts or whatever and perform in front of the camera as you would to a first-time live audience? In other words, do you believe that you should perform your craft as the rest of us without TV specials have to perform it? By the way, here is the Café link to Richard Osterlind's posting about this very subject: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......2&93 Thanks Alain. I look forward to your reply and appreciate the opportunity you have given all of us to ask you questions here on the Café! Craig Crossman |
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SpAgHeTtI Regular user 166 Posts |
Quote:"In response to his rather heated posting, on one hand, some felt that since we all cheat one way or another (unless of course you are a true psychic), then "anything goes" and using large amounts of pre-show, or doing it over and over again until you get the desired results and then only showing that segment on the TV show, cutting, time-shifting, etc. are all perfectly acceptable. "
This is a complete false statement I'm happy that you however have posted a link ( of a loked topic) so Alain Nu can have an idea of what is going on.... However it will be more fair starting talking of Alain's ideas starting from Alain Nu's idea instead from Osterlind's frustation..... |
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Daegs Inner circle USA 4291 Posts |
2 things sspaghetti:
1. Alain can't read it because its in inner thoughts and that requires 50 post. 2. A statement that starts with "Some Felt" can never be completly false. "Some" people can feel whatever they want, and as long as we are only talking about WHAT they feel and not whether their feelings are true, then you can never say that what they are feeling is false. |
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bloodkin Special user 646 Posts |
Hey Alain!
Can't tell you how many offers I've received for my "Mind over Matter" manuscript since your specials. Needless to say I would never part with it. I picked it up quite a while ago at Hank's. At the time it was very difficult to find published works of this kind. It proved to be priceless. 2 questions. Any more shows planned? And will you be performing in the Boston area anytime soon? |
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Scott Kahn Special user Clayton, NC 786 Posts |
Alain:
Welcome to the Café. My name is Scott Kahn and I am a physician/magician/mentalist from Long Island, NY. My question for you is do you have any plans on re-releasing any of your lecture notes in the near future? Very difficult to track things down now that your shows have been aired. Let us know, as their is now a renewed interest in much of your mentalism now. --Scott
Scott Kahn, M.D.
KAHNCEPTUAL CARD MAGIC: MORE DECEPTIVE PRACTICES WITH PLAYING CARDS https://kahnjuring.com/kahnceptual-card-magic/ KAHNJURING: DECEPTIVE PRACTICES WITH PLAYING CARDS https://kahnjuring.com/kahnjuring/ SWINDLES, SCAMS & KAHNS https://kahnjuring.com/swindles-scams-kahns/ |
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SpAgHeTtI Regular user 166 Posts |
2 things Bloodkin:
1:Your first point is right . The link of Mr. Crossman is useless for Alain Nu 2:A statement that starts with 'Some Felt' CAN be completly false. Example:Read the posts of' Meet Alain Nu' , some felt he is not a good performer as I am! For other question like this that are out of topic I'll be happy to discuss by PM.... |
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bloodkin Special user 646 Posts |
Think you got the wrong guy, Spaghetti.
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SpAgHeTtI Regular user 166 Posts |
Sorry Bloodkin you are right ! I was responding to Daegs .... -_-'....
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bloodkin Special user 646 Posts |
No prob.
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JTW Special user Florida 670 Posts |
Alain (My friend Kostya speaks of you highly), Could you talk a little about the shows? One of the things that reverberated through the Café was the assumption that you had little acting experience or that you needed some training. Perhaps you can talk a little about the choices you made, your character development, why you choose to present them the way you did, difficulties you faced in bringing the show to TV and things that you might do differently the next time?
Thank you, JTW |
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Craig Crossman Special user Palm Beach, Florida 523 Posts |
Thanks to the above Café members for pointing out that Alain can't read the link I posted until he himself posts 50 messages! I was able to PM him a copy of Richard Osterlind's message so he can now read it.
:) Craig Crossman |
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mysticz Special user D.C. metro area 680 Posts |
Hi Alain:
It's nice to have the opportunity to enjoy your insights on this forum. I know that working on the TLC specials earlier this year was quite a learning experience for you despite your many years as a working professional. It would be interesting to hear how you dealt with the unique challenges that were presented in developing and shooting four specials within the time constraints of a very strict schedule. Congratulations on your specials and to Tanya on her CD release and promotion. Joe Z.
Joe Zabel
"Psychic Sorcery" There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. -- Shakespeare's Hamlet I.v. 174-175 |
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