Utopian

Prediction

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Copyright © Alex Blade 2003

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Forward:

Everyone desires something. Whether it be the ability to fly or simply

to do better at a particular job , there is always something. However ,
is there any one person out there would not desire the ability to
foretell the future? The ability to predict what is going to happen
weeks/months/years in advance! I think not.

Unfortunately , in this day and age , predicting the future

is…impossible. No , I tell a lie. It is near impossible - because
‘Utopian Prediction’ is as close to predicting the future as anyone is
going to get. With ‘Utopian Prediction’ , you can predict the news
weeks in advance , foretell the outcomes of certain events , the
possibilities are left only to your imagination.

This is not a pipe dream , the effect plays exactly how it reads. I will
go through , step by step , all the different phases of the effect but not
only that. I am going to teach you all the little psychological
convincers that make this trick even more powerful than it already is.
I hope you enjoy it…

Alex Blade ,
London , England
2004
Effect:

A week before the show , the performer posts an envelope to a

member of the audience with a request that it is brought on the night
of the show. On the night , the audience are seated and the
performer states how , “…weeks in advance , I mailed an envelope to
a member of the audience here and asked that she bring it tonight”.
She is asked up on stage with the envelope where she confirms that
no one has touched it and it has been sealed the whole time. She is
then asked to open up the envelope and announce what is inside.

Spectator: “There is a folded up piece of paper inside”

Magician: “Would you care to take it out and read what it says”

the spectator does so and reads aloud:

“On Wednesday 15th of July , on page 9 of The Daily Mail , third word
along , the word will be...DEMANDS”

A copy of The Daily Mail is , the date is confirmed , and is turned to

page nine where – sure enough – the 3rd word along is ‘demands’

Now imagine this. The above effect uses no gimmicks , no

stooges and no switches. The magician never once touches the
envelope or the newspaper. Any newspaper can be used. That’s
‘Utopian Prediction’
History:

There are many prediction effects out there , all of which are very well
thought-out and very practical. Almost all , however , have one thing
in common…they utilise a switch of the contents of the envelope. I
am yet to come across a newspaper prediction test that does not
switch something during the course of the routine.
That’s why I wanted to invent a new type of prediction effect. One that
took two minutes to setup an was very easy to perform. That’s when I
came up with ‘Utopian Prediction’.
I set about a few rules for myself:

1. I never wanted to touch the envelope or the newspaper

2. No stooges
3. No gimmicks

Obviously these are quite hard rules to follow whilst trying to think up
a new method and , believe me , I thought long and hard about
different ways to achieve it.
My first idea was to never do the trick until I found a newspaper that
had the word I needed on the page I needed. Naturally this would not
do as it was so unreliable.
I then came at it from a different angle. I tried to rub out a word on the
page and write the force word in the gap. At first I thought I had hit
the nail on the head. The newspaper was normal and could be
handled freely. Then came the snag. When I tried to rub out the word
, it would not disappear fully. I tried every type of eraser on the
market and many other ways but simply could not get rid of the word.
Still , I persevered and tried to write the force word over the not-quite-
erased word. Alas , it did not work. Not only could you see the original
word underneath the force word , but the new word looked nothing
like the other words on the page – so I scrapped that idea.
That’s when it hit me. The principal was so simple is was funny…and
I am going to share that principal with you.
What you need:

You are going to need two newspapers in the end. You need to get
one the day before you send out the envelope and one on the day of
your show. Both newspapers have to be of the same publication (ie.
both newspaper have to be The Daily Blah). You are also going to
need a square of paper , an eraser and an envelope. Any envelope
will do as long as you can’t see through it. Now you’re ready for the
preparation.

Preparation:

We will call the newspaper you buy before you send out the
envelope , Newspaper #1 and the newspaper you buy on the day of
the show Newspaper #2.

First of all , you take Newspaper #1 and find a page that has some
very minor news on it. It has to be news that no one will remember
about because you are going to replace this page from Newspaper
#1 with the same page from Newspaper #2. For some reason I find
that usually all the pages that are multiples of 9 have minor news on
them (eg. 9 , 18 , 27…ect). This is not always the case though.
Sometimes I even pick a page that just has advertisements on them
because no one ever remembers specific adverts in the papers.

Once you have chosen your page and removed it from the
newspaper , you will notice that in the top right/left hand corner , there
is the name of the newspaper and – underneath – there is the date it
was printed on. All you have to do now is erase the date. Don’t rub
too hard or else you will wear away the paper and draw more
attention to it. As you’ll see , you cannot get rid of the date entirely but
you can rub enough of it away so that the spectator will not notice it.
Now you’ll need to choose a word on that page (you can probably
see where this is going). It can be the first word on the page or the
eighth word on the page , you can choose. I would advise that you
don’t choose a word further along than the tenth simply for the fact
that it take too long for the spectator to count through all the words
and the audience may lose interest. You are now done with
Newspaper #1.

* * *

Lets say , for instance , that the date you chose to perform this effect
on was the 4th of November (Friday) , the newspaper was The Daily
Mail , the page you chose was p. 18 , you chose the second word
along , and the word was “people”. You would then take the piece of
square paper and write on it:

“On Friday 4th of November , on page 18 of The Daily Mail , 2nd word
along , the word will be...PEOPLE”

Always write the last word in block capitals so it is very readable and
it there can be no doubt that it can only be read as one word. I say
this because , as cynical spectators go , they will look to see how
legible the word is.

Fold up the paper and place it in the envelope. I often like to seal
down the envelope with sellotape just to reinforce the idea that it is
completely sealed down , which – of course – it is. I then mail it off to
the spectator. I also phone ahead and tell the spectator that she must
let no one else touch the envelope , she must not open the envelope
and she must bring the it on the night of the performance. Of course ,
you can avoid all the hassle of telephoning and mailing by personally
handing over the envelope with the specific instructions spoken one-
on-one.

That is all there is too it. The next bit you have to do is on only the
day of the performance so you can relax until then…
On the day:

So it’s the day you are going to perform this remarkable effect. All
your preparation is done and all you need to do now is to go out and
buy a copy of that days paper (the same publication as before –
Newspaper #2). Take it home and remove the page 18 or whichever
and put , in its place , the original “tampered with” page 18 (if you can
call it that).

Along with the Newspaper #2 , I often buy a few other newspapers as

well. This way , if you are performing this in your own house , then
you can leave a pile of newspapers on your coffee table and no one
will suspect a thing.

If you are performing this on stage then , again , you could just leave
a pile of newspapers lying around and none will suspect a thing
because – think about it…who doesn’t read the news?

The best situation to perform this effect is at a friends house. Say , at

a dinner party of some sort. All you have to do then is bring your
‘special’ newspaper around a dump it among the other newspapers in
the house. This is ideal because , supposedly , you would not go
snooping around through others magazines and newspapers. And
atop of all this , the method is so devious that no one ever suspects a
“treated” newspaper. Most people actually have a magazine rack so
all you have to do is slip it in there.
Presentation:

Introduce yourself and explain how you mailed ahead/handed over a

sealed envelope to a member of the audience , with a request that
they bring it along today. You then confirm with them that no one has
been near the envelope and that it has been sealed the whole time.
Once this is agreed get THEM to open up the envelope , announce
the contents and read out loud what the paper says…
You can now say one of three things depending on the situation:

If in your own house: “Now , I don’t even want to go near the

newspapers , but if you can just find that particular paper and
confirm the date , turn to the page an check the second word
along”

If on stage: Exactly the same as above. You could have the

newspapers on the stage or on a table behind the audience.

If at a dinner party: “Do you have any newspapers here? Good ,

do you happen to have the newspaper that I predicted? Would
you please fetch it and confirm everything. The date , the page ,
the word…”

That is all there is to it. You have just demonstrated that you have the
power to foretell the future in front of many eye witnesses , and
doubtless , they will always remember you.
Comments:

I use this effect all the time and it is part of my repertoire but the
effect will not play half as strong if it is presented in an ‘oh-yeah-I-
can-predict-the-future’ sort of fashion. Don’t present it in a sloppy way
that’s all casual. Really make it dramatic and build up the tension.

There are a few pieces of advice when using this trick. If you are
performing at a paid dinner party , where you don’t know the people
you are performing for , bring several different “treated” newspapers. I
often bring a two tabloids and two broadsheets. If you are worried
about the spectators not having the certain newspapers , then bring a
newspaper of every kind (newspapers are hardly expensive , quit
complaining).

Finally , enjoy the effect and I hope you get as much success from it
as I do…