Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Robert Domenech
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performance rights reserved.
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This book is dedicated to all of the men and women, past,
present and future, that have dedicated their lives to pushing
our beloved Art in the right direction.
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CONTENT
Introduction p. 6
Foreword p. 8
Afterthought p. 10
Brute Strength p. 17
Poolside Prediction p. 27
About Face p. 34
A Strange Feeling p. 39
Memory Lane p. 42
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Introduction
The year was approximately 265 BC and a young
mathematician and philosopher named Archimedes was
tasked with the challenge of detecting fraud in the
manufacturing of King Hiero’s golden crown. The king had
suspected the blacksmith of replacing some of the crown’s
gold with silver, but he did not know how to prove it.
Archimedes happily accepts the king’s challenge.
! &
Thank you for purchasing “The Eureka Moment”. By now,
I’m sure you are wondering what the above story has to do
with a book pertaining to the art of Mentalism, so I will now
gladly tell you.
Robert Domenech
Euless, TX - August 8, 2009
! ’
Foreword
I would love to share with you one of my favorite magical
memories. It was nearly fifteen years ago and a young
magician took four coins, sat himself on the floor and began
to delicately cover them one at a time, with his hands. Each
seemed to dissolve and reappear with a gentle beauty that
is hard to recapture in words. This was the first time I had
witnessed “Shadow Coins” and I remember being quite
taken with the moment. It was a perfect piece of magic.
What’s more, is that this elegant illusion was performed by a
gentleman too young to be employed as a part-time
demonstrator, so he “helped out” by coming to the magic
shop on as many Saturdays as he could. This young
magician was Rob Domenech.
! (
Rob’s work still is characterized by thoughtfulness and a
commitment to subtlety and nuance that is a common
thread, uniting his work. What follows for you, the anxious
reader, is a series of intriguing mental routines that are at
once powerful and simple. I love his style. You will find that
many of the techniques and methods described are familiar
(if you have been interested in Mentalism for any duration),
but what really impresses me about Rob’s work is the way
he frames, maximizes and amplifies these ubiquitous mental
methods. In my opinion, this is where the art lies. Every
nuance is essential in selling the illusion of mind-reading.
While I have my favorite routine (which may be obvious to
you later, but a secret it will remain), you will certainly have
your own. It is my sincere pleasure to introduce to you the
Mentalism of my friend, Rob Domenech.
Sean Waters
Perry, Georgia - August 8th, 2009
! )
Afterthought
An impromptu way to read minds
The Mentalist asks a spectator to think of a date. After a few
moments of concentration, he writes something down on
the backs of three different business cards and lays the
cards down in a row in front of the participant. The
participant is then asked to turn over each of the cards
where it is found that one card contains their thought of
month, another contains the day and the final card has the
occasion.
- end -
Explanation
A few years ago, I found myself obsessed with the one-
ahead principle and I wanted to come up with an effect that
was completely impromptu and had no apparent means of a
force to get one-ahead. In most effects utilizing a one-
ahead, a visible means of a controlled choice is apparent.
For example:
! *+
of this car and, again, something is written down.
• Each card is now shown and the performer has
successfully written down each fact about this
imaginary car on each of the cards.
! **
I am providing you only the important pieces of the script to
this routine and I strongly urge you to create a full script that
is suitable to you and your performing style. Here is how the
routine progresses:
! *"
red circle becoming brighter and brighter. Good.”
Act as if you are having a bit of trouble with this one. Furrow
your brow a bit and shake your head. Begin writing out the
date (ie. Ninth, Twenty-first, etc) and stop half way. You are
expected to be writing out an occasion, so writing a single
or two-digit number will be too short. After you pause, say:
“Hmmm. I’m really not too sure about this, but I’ll go
with it anyway.”
Finish writing out the number and you will now appear to
move this card to the back of the stack, but what you will
really do is move this card and the card behind it as one to
the back of the stack. This will put the cards in their proper
order just as if you legitimately were doing what you said
you were doing. Do NOT make this a move!
After you shift the two cards as one to the back of the stack,
hold the cards writing side down in dealer’s position. Deal
the cards of the top of the stack from left to right in front of
the spectator. Begin to put away your pen or pencil, then
! *#
hesitate as you say:
! *$
What if the occasion they thought of was something
unexpected like “Graduation”?
In this case, you will start with the “Occasion” card first,
“Date” second, and “Month” last. This way you end with
two hits instead of ending with a miss. You’re just going to
have to take this one on the chin, but the two hits should
help ease the pain.
Additional Information
From the time that you ask your volunteer to think of the
date up to the time for the reveal, you have a really nice time
misdirection that you can exploit. When I get to the
moment that I am about to flip the cards I say:
! *%
The above statement can be said with 100% confidence
because it is absolutely true. What you are doing is erasing
the memory of when you told them to think of a specific
date that is personal to them and replacing it with a memory
of you simply asking them to think of a random date. Don’t
pass up this opportunity to add this extra layer of deception!
! *&
Brute Strength
A demonstration of mind over matter
The Mentalist asks his audience to remove some change
from their pockets and hold it on display in their open
hands. He walks around to each spectator looking at the
change in his or her hands and then finally reaches into one
person’s hand and removes a single quarter. He asks this
person to help him with the next demonstration.
- end -
Explanation
I’ve always enjoyed watching a PK effect when it was done
in the right hands without any funny looking moves. My
friend Banachek is a perfect example of this. His silverware
bending is so polished and each move is motivated. No
! *’
jerky hand movements. No strange gestures. He never fails
to drop the jaws of his audience with his artistic metal
bending.
! *(
(Please note that the instructions below are supplemented
with a video demonstration that comes with this book that
shows you what the moves should look like. Nothing is
exposed in the video in an attempt to keep it from being an
instructional video to pirates. Between the video and these
instructions, you should be able to get a grasp of what’s
going on here.)
You will now ask for everyone to hold out their change in
their open hands as you walk up to each person examining
the coins. What you are doing is looking for a quarter that
closely resembles your bent one. This is important because
you don’t want to choose a dull coin for the effect only to
have it miraculously become shiny after it bends. That’s a
trick in itself, but not quite what we’re looking for.
Once you have found the perfect coin, you will openly pick it
up with your left-hand fingertips and ask the owner of the
coin to help you. Allow the coin to fall onto your open left-
hand near the tips of your fingers in full display. You are
now ready to make the switch right under their noses. This
is my favorite part!
! *)
The switch we will utilize here is the Larry Jennings’ Bill
Switch. In one smooth motion, your right hand (concealing
the coin) is going to come up with the back of the hand
facing the audience.
! "+
From this position, your left middle finger will lever its coin
up and press it against the ring finger of the left hand. You
need to be very careful that the coins do not “clink” together
during this motion.
! "*
With the coin pressed against the left ring finger, your left
thumb will now go below the bent coin (clipped between the
first and second finger) and secure the unbent coin against
the fingers.
! ""
Once the coin is secured, the left thumb will now move
upwards and under the bent coin pushing it up and into
view. At the same time this is happening, the left ring and
pinky finger will curl over the unbent coin and putting it in a
finger palm position.
! "#
After the switch takes place, you will now be holding the
bent coin at your right-hand fingertips concealing the bent
edge. As a nice subtlety, briefly gesture towards the person
with your open left hand as you ask the participant for his or
her initials. Don’t make a big deal about it or even try to
draw attention to it because, after all, it is a subtlety!
Once you know their initials, retrieve the marker from your
pocket with your left hand and remove the cap with your
right hand and replace it on the back of the marker (see the
video!). Neatly write their initials on the coin then blow on
the ink to help dry it. Recap the marker with your right hand
(again, watch the video!) and hold onto the marker with the
same hand. You will now transfer the coin from your right
fingertips to your left fingertips. As the transfer takes place,
you will turn the coin initials towards the participant. Hold
the coin at eye level to the volunteer and say the initials out
loud. This is a simple way for the participant to confirm
what you have written and as this takes place, your right
hand ditches the marker and coin in the right pants’ pocket.
The marker has served its purpose, so it is not suspicious to
get rid of it.
At this point you will ask the participant to open their hand
where you will drop the coin in and “assist” them closing it.
You don’t have to do this in a hurried manner because the
coin is only slightly bent and no one knows what is about to
happen. Take your time.
Turn their hand over and use whatever suggestion you want
to enhance the effect. I personally tell them to close their
eyes and imagine that the coin is getting soft like rubber or
putty. After a few beats of silence, I then say, “Hold the
! "$
coin tightly. In a moment you will feel something
strange. I can’t tell you exactly what it is because it’s
different for everyone, but it might feel like the coin has
a pulse or expanding and contracting. Do you feel
that?” At this point, I have never had someone say that
they could not feel this. Really all they are feeling is their
own pulse from squeezing the quarter. This gets a great
facial reaction from the participant and is the only
suggestion that I use in this routine. If you want to use
others, feel free, but don’t overdo it. A little goes a long
way.
! "%
This routine has been very good to me over the years and I
hope that you get even more out of it than I have.
Additional Information
A few years after I came up with the idea for this routine, I
read a similar routine called “PKoin” (p. 21) in Paolo
Cavalli’s excellent Omicron e-book. Paolo’s handling is very
clean and the coin is signed on both sides. I really like his
thinking and I urge you to seek out anything and everything
he has to offer. The man is a real life mystery machine!
! "&
Poolside Prediction
A pool hall favorite
! "’
At this, the performer hands the envelope to the onlooker
and instructs her to open it and remove the contents.
Inside, she finds a piece of card that reads: The game will
stop at 36
- end -
Explanation
The stylus that I use is self-made. It’s not pretty, but it does
the job. I’ve taken a thumbtip and cut it into a bandwriter,
then made a small hole in it and glued in a dried out roller-
ball pen tip.
! "(
I also make up my own envelopes using some small, black
envelopes with one entire inside wall made up of graphite
transfer paper. I chose this type of paper because it looks
exactly like pencil.
! ")
On a piece of paper (Osterlind’s Center Tear Paper is
perfect in size and weight for this envelope), you will need to
pre-write, in pencil, the following message leaving space at
the bottom for the number:
! #+
This is inserted into the gimmicked envelope with the writing
side facing the transfer paper. Make sure you know the
orientation of the card so that you do not accidentally do
your secret writing over the pre-written message. Seal the
card in the envelope and you now have the physical tools
ready to go. Let’s move on to the brainwork.
! #*
If you add all of the colored balls together, you get the sum
of 120. As the game progresses, you simply just pay
attention to each ball that is pocketed and subtract that
ball’s number from 120. For instance, if the 10, 2 and 15
balls are pocketed, you will subtract these numbers from
120 giving you the new total of 93. If the game stopped
here, you will simply write 93 on the outside of the envelope
with your stylus before handing the envelope over to be
opened.
As you are re-capping what just took place, you have more
than enough time to secretly write the number on the
envelope before handing it over. If you’re envelopes are
made correctly, you should have no worries about placing it
in their hands. Just be sure to casually take back the
envelope after they remove the card. Most importantly,
don’t be the one to point out that the numbers on the table
match your prediction. Let them discover this on their own!
! #"
Alternative Handling
If you don’t feel comfortable with the math, you can also
just write the number of balls left on the table. When your
assigned spectator calls stop and there are five balls left on
the table, simply nail-write the number five on the envelope.
! ##
About Face
A unique plot with an old method
A random spectator is asked to assist with a demonstration
in intuition and identity. The Mentalist writes something
down on a piece of blank card and seals it in an envelope.
The spectator is asked to visualize a person in their mind
and then give that person a name. After the spectator says
the name, the Mentalist hands the envelope to the volunteer
instructing her to remove the card. The card is removed and
the name written across the card is the same as the
imagined person’s name.
- end -
Explanation
This effect utilizes the same graphite paper-lined envelope
as described in the previous effect “Poolside Prediction”
and a stylus nail writer also previously described. At the
moment when the spectator says the name, you quickly
recap what just took place. This misdirection allows you
plenty of time to nail write the name through the envelope
and onto the card. Let’s talk about the details of this
process.
! #$
In your opposite hand you hold the envelope and a blank
piece of card stock paper cut to size resting on top of it.
The card should be resting on the smooth side of the
envelope.
Mandy: “Sure.”
Mandy: “Mandy.”
Mandy: “I guess.”
You: “Well let me ask you this: Have you ever met
someone for the very first time and upon finding out
that person’s name, you kind of notice how perfectly
their name matches their character? It’s almost as if no
other name would suit them at all. For instance, now
that I know your name is Mandy, I could not imagine you
being called Stephanie or Diane.”
Mandy: “Yeah.”
! #%
lines. I’m going to write down the name of a friend of
mine and I will describe this person’s characteristics to
you. Upon doing so, you are going to imagine what this
person looks like and, based on that mental image,
you’re going to use your intuition to put a name to this
person’s face. Does that make sense?”
Mandy: “Yes.”
Gesture to your eyes as you say this and lock eyes with the
participant as you act to write on the paper, but leave it
blank. This justifies your not-so-neat handwriting because
you were not looking as you wrote it. I also like to look down
at the paper and say this line with a slight smirk on my face:
Now you will put the card in the envelope, lick it and seal it
closed. Reach down and pocket or table the pencil as you
slip on your stylus writer. This action should be quick and
smooth as the hand comes up to retrieve the envelope from
the other hand.
! #&
characteristics, but not their appearance. Of course, you
could make this all up, but I find that using someone that I
know makes it much easier to describe then trying to come
up with something on the fly.
Mandy: “Uh…William?”
You: “William. (Pause for a beat and smile) That just feels
right to you?”
Reach into your pocket using the hand not holding the
envelope and remove a letter opener. I use a small key-
chain size opener found in most office supply stores. I cut
open the envelope and hand the envelope to the volunteer
“hot-side” down and I ask them to reach in and remove the
card and leave it writing-side down for the time being.
! #’
Since they are now holding the opened envelope and the
slip of paper, you now graciously take the opened envelope
off their hands and you discard the envelope into one of
your pockets along with the opener. The gimmick is now
gone under the guise of you helping out the spectator by
discarding the “trash”!
All that’s left now is to have the spectator turn over of the
card to reveal the name. Even though they said “William”,
they will still be amazed that the name “Bill” (short for
William) is written on the card. To me, this also adds a bit of
realism to the overall routine.
Additional Information
Why the letter opener? On the “hot-side” of the envelope
you just secretly wrote on, there will be a light impression of
your writing. The opener also helps to camouflage the
gimmick in the envelope by roughing up the top edge where
it is opened. This really makes the gimmick virtually
invisible.
Also, the use of the envelope is not necessary, but I feel that
it adds a nice layer of deception. You could easily do this
routine with a bit of card or paper and your trusty nail-writer
and I’m sure you’ll get really good reactions. It’s not the
materials that makes this routine different, it’s the plot.
! #(
A Strange Feeling
If you never take a chance, you’ll never have a
chance
I am going to simply describe what the routine looks like
without going into a detailed section describing the method.
Why? Well, if you cannot understand how to use this
routine after reading just the description, then you should
not be reading this book yet. This is not a bad thing.
! #)
"What number do you feel was written?"
"Fifteen."
"Good. Now let's try this again, only this time, you must
not look. By not allowing you to see what I am writing,
this will enhance your sense of touch. Please close your
eyes and turn your head. Now to help you out a little, I
will tell you that the number I will write is a two-digit
number from 1 - 50 and both digits are even. Keep in
mind that it is best to go with the first thought that
comes to you and not to second-guess yourself."
The performer then asks the spectator to close her eyes and
turn her head while he "writes" the number "48" on her
palm. The performer repeats the process of having the
spectator announce the number she felt written on her
palm.
! $+
is another two-digit number between 1 & 50. Both digits
are odd, but this time both digits are different from each
other."
"Thirty-seven."
! $*
Memory Lane
Making a lot from a little
The Mentalist invites a young lady (Let’s call her Amber) to
join him on the stage and they both sit facing each other in
separate chairs.
Amber: “Amber.”
Amber: “Yes.”
The Mentalist sits back in his chair and closes his eyes for a
few seconds then quickly picks up a large pad and a marker
as he continues.
! $"
Mentalist: “Ahhh…this is a very happy memory for you.
In fact, this is a celebration, isn’t it?”
Amber: “Yes.”
Amber: “Yes.”
Amber: “Yes.”
Amber: “Nine.”
! $#
Mentalist: “Excellent! You’re doing great! I see
someone close to you giving you something. Is this your
father?”
Amber: “Alice.”
! $$
Amber is ushered back to her seat to the sound of
applause.
- end -
Explanation
The above description has been deliberately shortened
because this routine allows for a lot of creativity and
improvisation without fear. This is a flexible routine that can
be a quick five minutes in length, or a full twenty-minute
performance. I feel that you, dear reader, need to use your
own skills as a showman to make this routine a unique
experience for both you and your audience. So, let’s get
into it.
! $%
Occasion:
Age:
Who’s there?
Relation:
What’s important?
! $&
something for you. Write that persons name down and
how they are related to you. Finally, in just one
sentence, write down what it is that’s important to you
about this memory. You might say something like ‘Got
my first dog’ or ‘My little brother was born’. All done?
Go ahead and tear out the piece of paper, fold it up and
put it in your pocket. Do not show this to anyone. Later
on tonight, I might try something with this memory, so
keep this information to yourself. Okay?”
Occasion: Birthday
Age: 9
Who’s there? Alice
Relation: Mom
What’s important? Mom gave me nana’s necklace
! $’
Amber’s. A child’s birthday is usually a big deal to most
parents so we might assume that, in this memory, there is a
celebration. A celebration like this might happen indoors or
outdoors. There might even be music playing or even some
form of live entertainment at this party. People may be
playing games and she probably has some of her school
friends there. We can also assume that the overall emotion
of this memory is happiness and joy.
I won’t go over each line, but you can see that with just
knowing that her memory is about her birthday, we can
paint quite the mental image. Of course, some of the
assumptions we make could be completely wrong, but
that’s okay because we always have the accurate
information to fall back on. By using some deceptive
language, you can always appear to be correct on some
details that might even be wrong. For example:
Because of the security you have with the sure-fire hits, you
have the freedom to take some risks. It’s okay to throw in
some guesswork because if you’re wrong, it’s no big deal!
What we do is not an exact science and making a few
mistakes can actually enhance the believability of your act.
! $(
But you already knew that. The bottom line is simply this:
If you don’t take a chance, you never have a chance.
! $)
experience the details of it, the participant’s face will display
their attempt to visualize every detail, which looks an awful
lot like they are trying to come up with the memory on the
spot. This is obviously a very good thing! Only after I get
this reaction from the participant do I ask them to close their
eyes.
! %+