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Feel Better - Chris Philpott The Hype: The Performer displays a deck that Therapists use to help their clients describe their negative emotions and says, “I don’t want to go into any personal trauma, but we’ve all just been through a collective trauma – the pandemic.” The Spectator takes some cards and chooses one that describes how they felt during the pandemic. The Performer then mind-reads the spectator’s emotions with uncanny detail. Then the Performer borrows a cell phone and takes a picture of the spectator holding the card while imagining a brighter future. When they look at the picture, their word has transformed into something wonderful! (Note: the pandemic scripting is only one possible presentation.)
My Take: I have had the privilege of reviewing several of Chris' effects before. On this one, I have to take issue with some of the other reviewers who gave it a 100% rating. No way. This is at least 110%. A brilliant reworking of his 100th Monkey principle. And this shows me that he has only begun to mine the depths of a rich vein. Like a lot of you, I first became aware of the 100th Monkey principle while watching Howie Mandel get destroyed by a performance of the principle by David and Leeman (the late Leeman Parker). Howie was totally befuddled as to why the audience could read his signs and he couldn't. The look on his face was worth every cent of the purchase of the effect. When it came out, it sold for $100 which was probably beyond the range of a lot of struggling magicians. The good news is that this version is only $45.00. If you do any type of mentalism, you need this. If you don't do mentalism, you need it anyway. Oh, and here is the clip of Howie Mandel and our introduction to the principle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfTW-ysPHCI You get a number of specially printed cards. When I first saw the backs, I was not overly excited about the design. Then I watched the video and saw the thinking behind it and Chris totally sold me. No memory is needed as you are given everything you might possibly need. Of course, if you are good at memorizing, it might make it easier to do. For my money, Chris is one of the more brilliant creators out in the market today. His numerous workings of his Monkey principle and even his effects that are not related to it are great. I would suggest going to his site and just take a window shopping trip around it. A couple of my favorite are French Postcards and Mind Thief. Besides the great magic on them, his graphics and printing are stunning. He really puts a stamp of class on his effects. Another thing that impressed me was with his magic buddy, Steve Valentine. I was able to see Steve perform at Magic Life 2013 where he performed his card to wallet. Everyone walked out of the room shaking their heads, There is absolutely no moves or anything sneaky at all in this routine. Now I love Shin Lim and Eric Chien and think they are both fantastic and creative performers but everyone knows watching them that something is going on behind the scenes. There is absolutely nothing to make your audience feel that your hands are faster than their eyes. This is as straight forward as a mental effect can be. Plus, it happens in your spectator's hands. And to top it off, they go home with a photograph backing up the story you know they are going to be telling their friends. We are planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand later this month and Feel Better will definitely be in my luggage. I simply cannot wait to introduce Chris' s blockbuster routine to the folks down under. Too bad I can only give this a max of four stars because, in my opinion, it is worthy of so much more. This is an absolute must buy.
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