From Wayne Kawamoto,
Your Guide to Magic & Illusion.
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“Between 2 Minds” is a three-disc DVD set that offers 15 powerful mentalism routines for stand up, stage and close up. Haim Goldenberg is a Toronto-based mentalist and Guy Bavli is the better known entertainer who has toured more than 50 countries and appeared on hundreds of TV shows.

Insightful Discussions

The 15 effects here are mostly methods that you can apply to your routines. While 15 effects may sound like a paltry amount given that this pricey set consists of three discs and costs $120, they’re strong ones. Another plus, Bavli and Goldenberg take lots of time to discuss each method and routine, perhaps the most insightful treatment that I’ve seen on any instructional magic DVD.

Goldenberg presents each effect in front of a live audience and later explains the method and discusses it with Bavli. What’s interesting here is that Bavli not only offers observations and suggestions that can strengthen the routine or method, he outright criticizes Goldenberg’s staging and other aspects and discusses ways to resolve weaknesses that he has found. It’s a frank discussion that is a refreshing and educational.

Interestingly, and to negative effect, there’s no attribution on this DVD. Goldenberg apologizes for not remembering the influences on his effects. But with the internet these days, at least he and Bavli could try.

No Guessing

“Transparent Thoughts” is as much of a routine as it is a method that can be applied to any number of prediction effects with almost any parameter: names, numbers, relatives, celebrities, objects and more. The method relies on a clear, ungimmicked plastic bag that holds folded sheets of paper that have been submitted by audience members and later holds a single sheet that has been freely selected by a volunteer. The selected billet matches the performer’s prediction that was written earlier and openly placed into view.

“Index Picture Duplication” offers a strong method to determine a picture that has been freely drawn by a spectator onto a normal index card. Bavli and Goldenberg conclude that this is best for close-up in their discussion. This one fried me although I was on the right track.

“Video rental” is based on a method that I’ve seen published elsewhere. The magician asks a spectator to freely name any movie and to call a DVD rental store. When the clerk at the store answers, he names the movie. This method was published on Tim Ellis’ “Ellis in Wonderland” DVD in a routine called “Cellular Thinking (click here to read our review). The strong method uses no forces, stooges or gimmicks and there’s no fishing.

More Than 50/50

Guessing a 50/50 proposition, but doing so correctly for five consecutive times, “Informa-tech” allows a magician to determine which hand a spectator is holding an object. This low cost and strong method relies on an impromptu tool that enables the performer to secretly transfer information and codes between two people (numbers, letters etc).

A card trick, “Expert deck – impromptu version” has a spectator choose a card and then shuffle it back into the deck. The magician names a number and then counts down to that number in the deck and finds the selected card. This does not require complicated sleight of hand but will take practice.

An offbeat effect, “Stop Smoking” causes a smoker in the audience to become repulsed by smoking his or her own cigarette as if influenced through hypnosis or some psychological ploy. This one is easy to perform, but I would be uncomfortable altering a spectator’s smokes.

My Precious

A gem, perhaps the best on this DVD set, in “Envelope Prediction,” the magician brings out a prediction that’s held in a large file envelope. Several spectators are asked to name numbers, which are written down by a volunteer and added together. The envelope is opened to reveal the correct number. This one is brilliant.

In “My Precious,” the magician looks away and four borrowed finger rings are placed into coin purses and mixed. The magician removes each ring from its coin purse and identifies its owner. With the last person and ring, the magician describes the ring in detail. This one has lots of strong audience interaction and uses rings, objects with lots of emotional connections.

This one could be done with complicated electronics, which is what I suspected, but Color Detector relies on a diabolical method that is simple, inexpensive and direct. As the magician looks away, the spectator freely chooses and picks up one of three pens and draws an object. A prediction that has been held in plain view correctly predicts the objects and colors that the spectator drew. This one is great.