The Blurb
PHATHOM is a collection of six routines and concepts that
have been taken straight from Brandon’s personal working
repertoire of the last decade. Each routine has gone through
a series of evolutionary developments; the results of
countless trials, errors and discoveries made in real world
performance situations. Each of the routines presented in
this book are original creations that are still used in his
current professional performances. Until now, he’s finally
decided to release them to the public.
All of the routines in this book focus on either mind
control, or revealing some sort of personal thought,
information or idea, that exists only in someone’s head.
Almost everything expressed in this book is prop-less and
impromptu, with an organic, natural feel to it.
TELEGEUSIA – Have a person take a mental journey into a
grocery store. They buy a few food items, then cook a meal
with the ingredients and of course you reveal detail by
detail exactly what they prepared only in their mind,
including dessert.
R.A.M – A drawing duplication based around memories. A
person thinks of a memory and adds specific details only in
their mind, then thinks of an image associated with their
memory. The memory is then revealed in detail and the
performer duplicates the image they only thought of in their
head. The only props needed are something to write on, and
something to write with or can be performed propless.
LACUNA – An impromptu effect where you have someone think of
a person they wish to forget. Without anything being written
down by the spectator, you reveal in detail things about the
person you could never know, ending in revealing their name.
You then erase their entire memory of this person ever
existing… forever.
TELEGEUSIA II – An extended version of Telegeusia using
slightly different concepts and tools to reveal a thought of
location and details of that location.
TEA FOR TWO – A stage routine where the spectator becomes
the mind reader. Two participants join you on stage. One
paints a picture while the other is blindfolded & describes
the painting in detail. Both participants are genuinely
amazed.
PSYCHO DYSPHAGIA – An impromptu and prop-less demonstration
of pure mind control. Cause a participant to forget how to
swallow on command against their will.
My Comments
As the blurb points out, these are routines that require no
props - no pencils or pens, no paper, no business cards,
nothing. It's just the participant's thinking about
something and the performer revealing it. This means that
these effects can even be done over the phone, and with some
thought, even through instant messaging, etc.
A few of the routines use a principle that Joshua Quinn has
brought to the attention of the mentalism community. That
principle has been explored recently by quite a few
creators, but the work here seems quite thought-out and not
as convoluted as some. Some of the routines are more
practical than others, but definitely they have ideas and
routines worthy of study.
The content list in the blurb of this 66-page e-book is
accurate. PHATHOM is filled with refreshingly solid ideas
that will more than likely become effective workers for you.