That's about the only solution if you're wanting to keep proprietary effects a secret. As you said, though, unless you're in a situation you really have control over the venue, it's hard to avoid. A lot of times I perform on stage I know I'm being recorded, so I have to stick to things the camera won't pick up. Some day if I ever have enough clout to rent out a theater that's the first rule I enforce.

It seems that the discussion here is sparking another thread debating whether to support online magic exposure or not.
https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......art=60#5

I agree, they are probably a bigger threat to the art than the internet every will be, as long as they aren't posting their performance on the internet.

If I may step onto the soapbox for a moment.

There is something inherently childish about those who seek attention by "telling a secret." People who are grown adults getting their thrills and adulation by revealing methods just for the sake of showing off are fools. The value of a secret is in keeping the secret.

Rant off.

I think that it being great click-bait has something to do with it as well. I miss the way YouTube was before it got monetized.

In my personal opinion nothing will ever kill The Art of Magic and concretely Mentalism.

Mentalism has something that the "normal" magic normally lacks nowadays - the beautiful element of plausibility

That's it.

There are always ways to layer methods in a way that the solution is inexplicable without some deeper knowledge of the craft. In mentalism it might be even easier as the presented abilities are widely accepted as "real", so trickery is not suspected in the first place.

I remember a Losander story about a certain th**p t** handling
A magician was talking about how transparent th**p t** tricks are. Losander then used a th**p t** with a different handling and baffled his colleague who did't even suspect a th**p t**.

Same logic can be applied to mentalism.

Hopefully it will kill sub par performance. Nobody seems to notice that magic and mentalism has always been for sale to anyone with a few bucks to waste. Always in the latest state of the art way. Once creators decided to profit from alleged secrets it was over. From then on secrets would be for sale.

In the end, who cares? If the performance given is so poorly constructed and not engaging that they are worried about method then something needs correction.

Maybe this will weed out the performers who are getting by on method alone.

Did video kill the radio star?

Absolutely .

If you think mentalism is ALL about the 'tricks' -- and your show will be nothing more than a pile of 'tricks' strung together. By depending on your tricks alone, you have also made yourself dependant on secrecy in order to do your 'show.'

If that's the case, your 'show' is about the 'tricks' you perform -- not about YOU. Know what that means? YOUR show could be performed by anyone else who purchases the same effects.

Effects don't make the performer OR the performance. They never have. They never will.

I am the first to clearly say that those who expose effects are lowlife bottom feeders. No integrity. No place in a professional community. But I made a decision decades ago not to spend my life looking over my shoulder. Why should I care what some jerk is revealing from his secret lair...in his mom's basement? I'm the one in charge of my show. Not him. Certainly not the internet.

If your presentation is professional and your manner engages the audience...if your material reveals intriguing things to the audience about people who were previously strangers...if your audience is interested enough enjoy your performance and not be lured away by the siren call of their phones....if you can leave them with even the fleeting impression they have just seen something truly special, it doesn't matter what they see on the internet because you've done your job as a performer who actually deserves to be paid for what they do.

I am tempted to say 'Suck it up and do your job, guys. Quit obsessing about things you can't control' but that would be rude. So I won't.

David

I think a show should not be about YOU as a performer, it should be about THEM, the audience IMHO. I feel it is important to point out that a show is really all about entertaining the audience, and the audience should shine in your company. That is the beauty of mentalism. You can really make the audience the stars of the show.

The Internet will kill the planet. So...yes. It will kill mentalism.

This thread is 20 years old...,I think we have our answer...NOPE, NEVER!

Bryn

I agree, but is interesting to see how many of the posters in this thread are no longer here, or perhaps in mentalism. So many. Seems mentalism and the internet out-lived many members, lol.

Registered October 9, 2003

As this thread has been revived - its interesting to look at what has changed - I think the big thing Is not public exposure but the way mentalism was very underground, even in relation to the magic community, but is now just another branch magic. look up als=most any amgiaicn on line and a fairly good number of them describe themselves as performing magic and mentalism. as if the phase mentalism has any meaning to most people.

Some of this is due to the popularity of Derren Brown - with a. lot of magicians jumping on the bandwagon. ( for the record I was always a mentalist - and got into doing magic through mentalism not the other way round and have now gone back to mentalism.)

the other factor is the increasing rise of the magic industry - ie the production of tricks and products - what has been los tis the idea of magic as a performance art rather than as a shopping experience.


I would say the smart thing to do these days is to focus directly on magic - as Luke Jermay iand others are doing. but what ever people do the job into create a sense of magic and wonder and as many said even in 2005 - that is down to the performer, that is something that cant be promoted with a video that begins with the word "imagine" or a script that over uses the phrase "do me a favour" - in short it cant be bought.

I don't think the Internet will kill mentalism, but for sure its so sad to find channels like Din Shon

My reaction to the internet "foreboding forecast" is that several years ago I switched over to 90%+ as a "bizarre" performer (don't like that term), prefering to call it "spooky, weird, mysterious storytelling majick"!
Such performance involves intimacy, relating to the "audience/observers"/participants, often with touching and handling aged, antique, authentic- appearing "props"/boxes/ephemera
(e.g. "...a pocket watch of my grandfather that he got at an auction of Titanic"items).
Also when is a credible,"hair-raising" seance experience ever likely to be accomp lished by "Zoom" or internet teen "wonder workers"...?