The Bold and the Beautiful Routines of Docc H.

Richard Osterlind's Mind Mysteries Too (vol.5-8) have
arrived and they are a beautiful resource of the material of
one of mentalism's most creative thinkers. Those who got
the first half already know they want this set. I can't say
this set is better, because it's just different material. I
can say that the format of this is quite intriguing. Each
DVD is broken up into performing sets -- ten in all. So
that's like ten powerful acts already created for you. I
haven't watched all the DVDs yet, but I'll put up my
comments sometime next week.

That means that the pre-order sale is over, of course. But
if you look on the webpage you'll see the set is priced at
ten percent off, which is still a very good price.

MESSING WITH MINDS EXTREMELY MENTAL
EDITION UPDATE

Apparently, I was misinformed that my distributor would be
getting some more. So I didn't hustle quickly enough to
grab up the last remaining copies. The book is now sold out
and I cannot get any more. However, James Biss may
re-release the book at a later time, but I suspect there
won't be an accompanying DVD and it won't be in hardcover.

MESSING WITH MINDS TOOLKIT

A few have e-mailed me about the Toolkit that James has been
selling that contains some materials mentioned in the book.
I managed to get one copy for review only by sheer luck.
The distributor got in less than two dozen. I hesitated to
buy more because of the price, which is nearly as much as
the limited edition itself. The attraction of this set is
some bonus routines and Biss' special version of the Super
Sharpie that he made from a marker pen. I thought the bonus
routines are fun, but nothing groundbreakingly original. If
any more become available, I'll put up an "official" set of
comments and offer it.

NEW TENYO MENTAL EFFECT

The November issue of Genii just arrived on my desk and
Richard Kaufman reviewed the latest offerings. Normally, I
get a good chuckle from reading about the stuff, but Tenyo
has been known to slip by a few really nice mentalism
effects. I really liked Grand Derby Prediction in which a
very cool set of cards with racehorses printed on them were
mixed up and the performer predicted the entire outcome of
the "race." Sadly, and maybe because it was mentalism and
there were no nifty gimmicks involved, it was discontinued.

For 2006, Tenyo has a new effect entitled "Fortune Sticks."
Evidently, while the performer's back is turned, the
participant lines up one symbol out of eight on three
different colored sticks. Then the sticks are mixed. The
performer then turns around and reveals the chosen symbol.
This might actually be a pretty decent prop. The effect
certainly reads well. So we'll see.

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL ROUTINES OF DOCC H.

Docc Hilford has been releasing some beautiful routines that
require some pretty bold techniques. And that is what has
been making these quite controversial. His two latest
releases definitely have these characteristics. As many of
my longtime subscribers/friends/readers know, I've never
been disappointed by the quality of any mentalism routine
that Docc has released. Sure, the routine may turn out to
be a bit different than I expected (Docc is a slick ad
creator) and it may not be a routine that I'll end up using,
but the thinking and creativity is always topnotch.

Anyhow, you can read about his two newest by clicking on
the links below.

NOSTRUM NECROMANCY

NUMBER 6

Until next time. -- Jheff