Proximity Effects - By Dee Christopher - INSTANT DOWNLOAD

Dee Christopher presents 'Proximity Effects'  a collection of effects and routines straight from the underground.

Dee Christopher has made a name for himself in the magic 'underground' with his brand of mental and visual magic. Proximity Effects is a collection of powerful card routines that range from visual card magic like Deviance - a visual pip through window whereby a pip from a signed card penetrates a glass window; to the more dark and eery side of mental magic with effects like Cold - the telethesia cards. In Cold you divine a card that the spectator has merely looked at from a shuffled deck. Dee also teaches you his method for his impromptu book test - Words that go unspoken, and a clever idea for when you just can't make the spoon bend (anyone who has indulged in a bit of spoon bending will know what we mean!) None of the routines are 'technically' hard so you can concentrate on your presentation which is important when performing magic or mentalism of this calibre.


TECHNIQUES:

Action = Reaction
The Barnum Effect - Reaction enhancement with reading technique

EFFECTS

Cold - The telesthesia cards

The deck is shuffled, 5 cards are dealt off into a pile on the table or into the spectator's hands. The spectator merely THINKS of one of these. The card is never touched, selected physically, written down or spoken to anyone. The magician eerily reveals the spectators THOUGHT OF card, the first time the card's value is spoken is from the magician's lips

Words that go unspoken - Impromptu book test

A book is selected from the shelf of a store or from the spectator's own possession, The magician proceeds to flick through the pages to show that they are all different and contain different words.

He explains to the spectator that a page number will be chosen at random and that he (the magician) will then divine the first substantial word on that page, he goes through a few examples of this to demonstrate how the experiment is to be carried out. 

The page is chosen, either by mathematical sum or simply by flicking through the pages and asking the spectator to call stop at any point. The magician then slowly and methodically reveals the first substantial word on that page with the utmost accuracy - If the page contains a picture, he could also reveal what this illustrates or the caption.

The Synthetic arc technique (Impromptu spoon bend)

This is a metal bending routine geared towards the performer who is caught off guard; if you can use a routine where the spoon actually bends I highly recommend doing so. When this is not possible, this is the only routine of its kind.

Solitary Confederate (Invisible deck routine)

A strong commercial routine which will breath new life into your work with an invisible deck.!

Deviance - Visual pip thru window

A spectator selects a card and signs the face - the card they select is fully examinable and has no gaffs.

Taking the spectator's signed card, the magician draws attention to a glass door/window/pane of glass and asks the audience to watch carefully.

The card is slapped against the window and one of the pips flies visually straight through the glass into the magician's waiting hand.

Shift - Signed card transportation

This effect is a really nice card transportation. It's a simple method, simple effect and with the correct patter and theatrics it can be made in to a miracle. There are many creative ways the concept of this effect could be used, it's such a versatile move. The good news is there's absolutely no palming involved!

The spectator selects and signs the back of a card, which is lost in the middle of the deck. The Card is then IMMEDIATELY, with empty hands and no funny moves, removed from your top pocket or your wallet or practically anywhere else.

The spectator verifies the value of their card, the card is flipped and the spectator's signature revealed proving it is in fact the very same card.

Technical Information

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REVIEWS

If you're like me and appreciate prose well written, this work immediately stands out. I know we're supposed to be interested in the message not the medium, but recently I've come across some poorly proofed books and ebooks, which despite being technically very good were a pain to plough through.

The manuscript is part effects, part essays and thoughts from the performer. The first effect is "Cold - The Telesthesia Cards", in which the deck is shuffled, and five cards are dealt off into a pile on the table or into the spectator's hands. The spectator merely thinks of one of these. The card is never touched, selected physically, written down or spoken to anyone. The magician eerily reveals the spectators thought of card, the first time the card's value is spoken is from the magician's lips.

This effect is presented with its own basic script, and makes use of some principles from cold reading, but in a very subtle way. There's an impromptu version included, along with performance notes.

Next is a short essay entitled"The Barnum Effect - How To Enhance Reactions Through Cold Reading Technique". This covers how to use what Christopher calls the Barnum Effect (I think he means the Forer Effect, in fact) to enhance your effects by supplying reasons why the spec chose a particular thought. This is good stuff, and something mental performers will benefit from.

"Words That Go Unspoken - Impromptu Book Test" is the next effect. This is an interesting test in which you describe a "substantial" word on the chosen page. The problem I find with this is that for the reader, he or she is left with a force to incorporate. I'd have liked to see Christopher's full working for this rather than a list of suggestions, because I was left with the feeling that, which this is perfectly useable if the reader develops it in his own style, this is very much an idea presented in sketch from rather than seeming to be part of his repertoire.

Anyway, onwards to the "Synthetic Arc Bend - The Non Bending Spoon Bend". This is a spoon bend based on a move taught in Erick Gallerian's DVD, with Christopher's own subtleties. He employs linguistic techniques to suggest to the spectator that she can see the cutlery beginning to deform.

The next effect is the Solitary Confederate. In this effect, the spectator selects the only card from a deck, spread face down on the table, that isn't blank. The effect uses a well-known gaffed deck and is a good, short baffler.

Deviance, the next effect, is a break from the usual card-through-window convention in that only one pip makes the journey. I think the description of the effect says it all: "A spectator selects a card and signs the face - the card they select is fully examinable and has no gaffs. Taking the spectator's signed card, the magician draws attention to a glass door/window/pane of glass and asks the audience to watch carefully. The card is slapped against the window and one of the pips flies visually straight through the glass into the magician's waiting hand."

As you may expect, there is a small amount of preparation required. There's also a sleight to be learned, but Christopher this time describes several possibilities that are all quite easy to master. There's also a bonus presentation to this effect in the form of "Sauvignon Deviance", which revolves around the pip penetrating a wine glass.

An impossible transposition called Shift follows next. Basically, the spectator selects and signs the back of a card and loses it in the deck. The performer immediately removes the card using empty hands from his top pocket or wherever gets the biggest reaction. The effect and the moves involved are all explained fully.

Overall, I like this work. Mentalism purists will turn away in disgust that it's a collection of card effects, but fro the rest of us, there's plenty to get our teeth into, and the important visual parts are illustrated with colour photographs

Material: 9
While a couple of effects are less worked through than the others, but the overall quality of the material doesn't suffer because of it. Though all use cards, the effects are varied and have a distinctly mental feel to them. You will need to learn several sleights and card forces to get the best out of this material, but who says you're limited to performing it as is?

Quality: 8
I was pleased with the overall quality of the work, but that book test, which looks so promising from the description, left me wishing the author had taken the time to produce a complete work through of his method, including the "hidden" work.

Illustrations: 10 
There are plenty of colour photographs illustrating relevant points rather than involving wordy descriptions, which is really nice to see and makes the manuscript a lot clearer.

Presentation: 8 
As I said in the introduction, it's nice to see a magic manuscript upon which time has been spent on the English. The descriptions are clear and the language is to the point. - Jon Thompson. Online Visions

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"You certainly have some thought provoking theories, the overall concepts of which I found fascinating, whilst most of these concepts have been covered in depth by the likes of Banachek, Kenton Knepper and the like in the past it was refreshing to see that you had taken these theories and expanded on them adding further dimensions of your own." - Adrian Sullivan (Creator of Eliminator)

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It was a good read, and I must admit, I enjoyed it particularly due to the sheer amount of DVDs I usually get to review. Therefore, reading something made a refreshing change.

The material included in the booklet is evenly divided between card magic and mentalism (some of which using playing cards), and there is some pretty interesting stuff.

Cold is a variation of the Vernon Five Card Mental Force, with an interesting twist similar to a Gregg Webb idea from one of his E-books that updates the classic routine for modern day performers.
Words that go Unspoken is a book test. While the method is pretty generic, I think it is included here as an example for some of the theory that is scattered throughout the booklet, and as such, its inclusion has some merit.
The Synthetic Arc Bend is the most interesting idea in the booklet. Now, I've never done metal bending, but I'm sure that mentalists must often come across cutlery that just refuses to bend (or indeed, too expensive to bend!). In those situations, this routine could well be worth its proverbial weight. I think some photos of finger positions would have been beneficial, but you can follow the description fine.
Solitary Confederate is a nice routine for an Invisible Deck, that has a great kicker - Derren Brown fans will get a lot from this.

Deviance is a twist on the card through window, and is off the beaten path. Dee goes into great detail here, and includes a couple of nice variations.
Shift concludes the book, a clever card routine that reminded me of Paul Harris's Backlash a little. I think it has a very involved method, but the effect is simple and direct, and card workers will enjoy tinkering.
Aside from the routines, there is also a fair amount of theory and the use of suggestion and other such techniques will appeal to a wide audience of readers.
Overall then, an interesting booklet of ideas that I think a lot of magicians will find something interesting within the pages. - Liam Montier