Price$80.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedMar 14, 2015
Babel
Philpott, Chris
(Based on 2 reviews)
Babel: you give a spectator the ability to read a foreign language! One Monkey Ahead: a diabolical twist on a classic method! Person, Place and Thing. And Monkey: Astral projection and incredibly clean mind-reading!
"I love this! I've used the 100th Monkey on TV to great success. There's so much that can be done with it! I look forward to using these effects in my repertoire in the future."
- Cyril
"Fantastic! The one ahead envelope ploy is very, very, very, very (did I say very?) ingenious. Lovely. Your work stands on itself and when that happens, rare..."
- Banachek
This 2-DVD set contains instructional video, gimmicked post cards, gimmicked envelopes, a pdf of written instructions and over 400 jpegs of gimmicked artworks that you can print at home in a variety of sizes.
You DON'T need the original 100th Monkey to perform these effects.
Babel: your spectators can read words in one or several of these languages: Spanish, French, Greek, German, Italian, Russian, Danish, Filipino, Finnish and Swahili! The performer can ask someone to pull up Google translate on their phone to verify the results, use a translation dictionary, or ask people in the audience who speak that language. Xenoglossia (the ability to suddenly speak or read foreign languages) is an ancient miracle that even today is considered by the Catholic Church a proof of sainthood or demonic possession.
One Monkey Ahead: a potentially game-changing take on the one-ahead principle that allows the performer to put their impressions in a clearly-labeled envelope, put it aside and never touch it again! There is a wide-array of variations including Mental Epic and 4th Dimensional Telepathy-style routines, two and three-word variations and envelope-less versions where the words are written on the back of labeled cards. Super clean and powerful mentalism!
Person, Place and Thing. And Monkey. The performer shows a set of labeled pictures, each with different place on them (Germany, Suburbs, Forest, College...). The spectator secretly chooses one and is asked to imagine that they are in that location and some object is in front of them. The performer not only describes the place but actually names the object the spectator is merely thinking of! (No fishing, nothing written down and no pre-show).
PLUS there's a bonus effect for people who register for updates: The Murderous Monkey! The performer lays out ten cards with the words "Pick your poison" on the back. A spectator chooses one of the cards. The others are turned over to reveal each has the name of a different lethal poison. The spectator's card is turned over to reveal it has the word "Cupcake" printed on it!
"Chris Philpott has done something rather remarkable, first with Hundredth Monkey and now with Babel: he has created a new methodological principle! These effects are astoundingly good, and the method allows you complete freedom and flexibility to focus on presentation."
- Joshua Jay
"I was lucky to test these wonderful tools before release and they are absolutely ingenious! Working on a cruise ship I tried Babel with people from different countries - they were so entertained that the passengers kept on talking about it all week! But my favorite is One Monkey Ahead: it opens so many possibilities that it makes you crazy! This is something that will change the way you perform this classic method forever! If you want to add strong routines that pack incredibly flat and plays huge, this is the way to go!"
- Luca Volpe
"The 100th Monkey Principle as a method is so unique. It feels like gateway to a whole new world of mental effects. It's been a while since I felt this excited about a method for mentalism."
- Ran Pink
"The 100th Monkey is not just a method; it's an adventure! You're going to want to run with these simian secrets."
- Max Maven
Note: these are English-language effects - they are not designed to give non-English speakers the ability to read English. While you can print any of the 400-plus cards in this set at home or at a print shop, this set does not include the ability to customize your own cards.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
Babel is the second release in the 100th Monkey Series which takes advantage of a unique optical effect in which two people or groups of people can look at a printed word and see two different messages. For example, one group will see the word spices and the second group will see the word sports. This illusion can now open up so many presentational doors that cannot be explained or reengineered. If you want to perform something very unique then I highly recommend Babel.Effect
A mono-linguistic spectator is brought up on stage. They are shown a card on which there is a word printed and asked to remember the word. The audience is shown the same card and asked to look that word up in Google translator and they do. When the participant on stage is asked what word they saw, they respond. The audience reacts with gasps because they all had seen a different word which sounds nothing like the word the participant saw. When asked what word the audience saw they all say in unison the foreign word. Strangely, the word the participant said, was actually the translation of the foreign word even though they don’t speak that language.This is just one presentation you can do with Babel.
Method
The method is self-working, the most difficult part is audience management, distance control and lighting. The method is based on a combination of two visual illusions called Hybrid Images and Typoglycemia. Because of the two different visual frequencies these are seen at, an illusion is created where depending on the distance one stands from the printed word, different words can be seen. A truly phenomenal discover and cleverly applied to a magic effect.Product Quality
Chris Philpott spent a tremendous amount of time compiling and designing compatible images to create the effect. In addition, a suitable background was needed to be designed to support the images so they don’t look so different. You will receive several cards and a few envelopes to perform the three effects right out of the box. The cards and envelopes are printed on very high quality stock. The instructional video is a discussion between Philpott and a fellow magician about the effect, the handling and all the necessary bits that go into performing this routine. There is some video footage of Philpott performing this to a live audience as well. In addition, you will get a PDF instructional DVD as well as a couple of hundred additional images you can print out.Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is accurate and this can be a really nice performance piece with one caveat. There is no warning that this effect is highly dependent on distance and lighting. If one was considering to use this in a show, it would be prudent to have a replacement routine in case conditions were not perfect. You would need to test out the environment first before proceeding.Final Thoughts
This is an extremely unique and underperformed effect which you should consider adding to your show. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was its extreme dependence on conditions. I would definitely try to add this to y act if possible.(Top ▲)
This is a great new effect that uses the breakout classic 100th Monkey principle.
With this product, you will apparently give a spectator the ability to read a foreign language. The DVD includes cards and envelopes allowing you to perform this effect, as well as a few other variants of the "one ahead" routine that makes it much cleaner. There is also a second disc that includes pdf files to make your own props.
The DVD is no frills, but all the teaching is clear and to the point.
Some people may not like the extra step of having a second spectator looking up translations of the words you are showing the spectator, but I think the extra step is worth it to be able to apparently give a random spectator the ability to read any language.
If you watch the performance demo, and prefer this to the original 100th Monkey effect, you will be very happy.
With this product, you will apparently give a spectator the ability to read a foreign language. The DVD includes cards and envelopes allowing you to perform this effect, as well as a few other variants of the "one ahead" routine that makes it much cleaner. There is also a second disc that includes pdf files to make your own props.
The DVD is no frills, but all the teaching is clear and to the point.
Some people may not like the extra step of having a second spectator looking up translations of the words you are showing the spectator, but I think the extra step is worth it to be able to apparently give a random spectator the ability to read any language.
If you watch the performance demo, and prefer this to the original 100th Monkey effect, you will be very happy.