The Coming of the David Blaine Product Blitz!

Yesterday was the Kentucky Derby. So, in between getting
this newsletter ready and the web site updated, I was busy
handicapping the day's race card at Churchill Downs. As
usual, I made far more money on the other races than I did
on the Derby, but that famous race was definitely fun.
Especially because it's not often one gets to win a major
race with a horse that was a 6-1 morning line favorite!
(Morning line favorites usually have smaller odds) So,
congratulations to Barbaro and his owner Michael Matz, a
hero in his own right who saved three children from a plane
crash and was an Olympics equestrian champion.

Anyhow, getting back to mentalism, it's going to get really
crazy with a lot of stuff coming out. I'm not sure just how
much of it I'll be cataloging, but I certainly will be
checking much of it. See below for some details.

***** THE DAVID BLAINE BLITZ
If David Blaine's ABC special Monday at 8 p.m., "Drowned
Alive," doesn't make you feel drowned yourself, you'll
definitely feel drowned by the planned marketing blitz.
Yep, just after the special airs on the East Coast (about
10pm EST), you can go to Murphy's Magic Supplies
(www.MurphysMagic.com), click on the David Blaine button,
and check out a wide range of effects that Blaine will
feature in his special and that you'll be order to order
from your favorite dealer.

I've been assured that several of these effects fall into
the mentalism category. Murphy's is not saying just what
they are yet (so I really don't know exactly what they are),
but I will be checking out those that are appropriate for
JMOM. I am planning on sending out a special newsletter
about those products later Monday night. If there are any,
of course.

***** ELECTRIC TOUCH SPECIAL
Although you can read my comments below, its methodology
just doesn't suit my style. If you check out my note at the
bottom of my comments, after the initial pre-order batch was
sold out, the price was raised, which explains why my price
is higher than some other retailers.

However, I did get one for review that's practically brand
new. I could return it for credit, but I'll offer it for a
ridiculously cheap price of $135 (shipping not included),
which is nearly at my cost and just under what many
retailers were initially selling it for. It will be first
come first serve for this item. I'll send the first person
to e-mail me a Paypal invoice with shipping included. If
there are no takers by Monday, it gets shipped back to the
distributor.

***** PRODUCT NEWS
Kenton Knepper has a couple of new books out. If you're a
Kenton Knepper fan, you'll probably want these. I just
finished perusing them and will have my comments up soon.

Richard Osterlind has released his second volume in the Mind
Mysteries Guide Book series. It is available from his web
site as downloadable PDF, which I do have. So my comments
on that will be up soon, too.

Products that I'll be getting this week to check out include
Andrew Normansell's Jinx (a card prediction) and Jason
Polter's Third Degree Burn (a borderline mentalism effect in
which the suit and value of a chosen card is burned into the
performer's fingertips).

Chris Mitchell was appearing at the Magic Castle last week.
I asked him about his wonderful Psychic Crayons. He told me
that the second version (which is mentioned in the
instructions) will be produced soon and that he's also
working on a book of routines to use with it.

Don't forget about David Blaine's special on Monday and
Keith Barry's Extraordinary on Friday.

Until next time. -- Jheff

NEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS:
ELECTRIC TOUCH
MIND MYSTERIES GUIDE BOOK VOL. 2
SECRET SCENT-SATIONS
TWISTS AND TRANCES