Note to the negativity crew. I saw another thread about this, a very long one, with mostly coments like "yes, it must be in the US and Canada" over and over again. I didn't want the review to get lost in the mix but if anyone has any real heartburn because this is here feel free to move it. Thank you.

Title: Influence by Larry Becker and Lee Earle
Medium: Routine
Arena: Mentalism close up
Available: Any shop, distributed by Murphys Magic Supplies, http://www.MentalismUnlimited.com

Larry Becker and Lee Earle do a great job in making me look good! This is the third release of theirs I’ve gotten my hands on and it is a winner, just like their other material. Larry and Earle are two of the best minds in mentalism and they put out solid, working, routines that are not difficult and play well…very well. In the case of Influence, unlike the other routines that are stand up, they have a great routine done for a small group or just one individual which comes off as impromptu, in the way I consider impromptu. When I first read the description of the routine I was thinking, smug in my knowledge, “PATEO force”…I was wrong. Let’s take a look at Influence.

You are at lunch with some business associates and you relate to them that you have been studying the way companies market products. You confess that you have, in fact, been using certain phrases and words in an attempt to influence the thoughts of the people at the table and you would like to see if it had indeed worked and the deciding factor would be a friend of yours who also is interested in marketing, you tell them the name and phone number of this gentleman. A person is picked to help you and you place a number of items in the center of the table and, one way or another, one item is selected. You can do this by removing one item at a time or just have them name an item out right. There is no magicians choice used, there is no forcing. Really.

After the item is selected you hand your cell phone to the spectator who dials the number and they are forwarded to a voice mail greeting. At the end of the greeting the friend, whose name you had given out earlier, tells the assistant the item you and he had agreed on….it is the selected item. Now for the fun part, you do it the next day and a different item is picked, same result, third time another item, same result, you run into someone on the street and have them imagine they are at a table in a diner and pick an item, again you and your associate are correct. This is no BS and no exaggeration. Wait! You are in the middle of the presentation and start to get confused, you forget a part of this pretty easy routine and you look down in shame, the pen in your hand reminds you of something and you look up in triumph and again you show you are able to control their thoughts by just using phrases and words! There are a number of ways you can present this but the above are just a couple.

I love this routine and it has played strong the times I’ve done it. Lee and Larry have brought the old idea of a phone trick into the modern day. The routine is easy to do and they have provided a neat method to use as a reminder should you go a bit astray and no one is going to notice you using the tip sheet! What you get are the instructions, which are just one page because it isn’t hard, the tip item, and access to a special number that makes the whole thing work. You have to register your cell number to have access but I don’t have any problem with that. The use of the service provided by Larry and Lee should be restricted to those who purchased the routine because if a control didn’t exist then there would be thousands more doing the routine than paid for it and that isn’t fair to those who bought it. They are only using the registry for this routine, your name and info isn’t being sold. If registering is a deal breaker then don’t buy it. Also, as a special treat, if you buy it from the mentalism unlimited website you get a money back guarantee, and that is sweet.

Who won’t like this routine? The younger folks out there. Here is my reasoning and you can, of course, disagree. If you are the average street assassin trying to impress your school mates I think calling a number where an older adult male answers in a business type environment wouldn’t play well. I guess your patter could be “Want to see something that transcends the mind? I attended an honor society brunch with my mother and the speaker discussed how marketing trends can be effected without the public being fully aware of the impact simple words and phrases have upon then…here, allow me to take you to the Caféteria and give you an example of this….”. Not exactly gonna impress the ladies if you know what I mean. It is perfect for anyone who has business lunches or encounters with others where the topics that could be used to introduce the routine takes place. If that is where you are at, this one is for you. Do remember you are paying for the idea and also access for the next couple years to the phone service, could be longer if it works out well, and I think this one is worth it.

Warning: The phone number will only work for those in the US or Canada.

I've been working on a review for this and here you went and did it. Nice work on an accurate review. Becker and Earl KNOW what works in the real world!

The folks over at the Astonishment Project have this:
http://www.theastonishmentproject.com/sh......_id=8631

Would love to hear from both you guys how the reactions have been. Does it plays as a quirky puzzler or something deeper?

First couple times I sold it too well as a form of subtle marketing and they believed that was it because it is feasible. I changed over to it being more of a 'using subtle ways of controling a persons thoughts' to try to make it more of a mental thing. It plays stronger if you make it more mental because people buy into the marketing ploy too much (for those I deal with).

Great review Magicsanta,

THIS IS OUTSTANDING!

This is one of the best impromptu effects to be offered in years. Get it. It is easy as pie and disturbingly powerful. That is all I am going to say. It does play very well, but I would not recommend this for a more formal show. This is perfect for one on one or for a small group. It's easily worth the price.

I guess it`s just useable in english language!
kiki

Warning: The phone number will only work for those in the US or Canada.

[/quote]

ok, I didn`t see that!

I have a small set of speakers and I use a Palm Trio phone. I took the effect to the magic club meeting last Thursday night. I wrote all the objects on a dry erase board along with the phone prior to the meeting. I totally at random had a person selected to help. After all I know how magicians are so skeptical and I also know most of the members would not have seen the effect yet. This totally blew them away. My point is that if your phone has an earphone jack it is possible to present this in a way that you could perform this for a small audience of 10-20. I presented this similar to the suggested routine but just mentioned that the items shown would probably be at the average table in a restaurant. I had one object named after I described them all. I dis add a few comical points when I described some of the items like the coffee cup was made of fine china unless you are (fill in the blank of a persons name) then his coffee cup was paper since he was at McDonalds.

Ron

Yikes. Save the speakers for the magic club meeting. If the audience is too big to hear the speaker on your cell phone, I think it's generally not the ideal size audience for this effect.

I just realized the name is Influence U not just Influence should anyone do a web hunt for it. Sorry about that.

Just got an email that an international version will be out in about a month. The deal is, seemingly, it will be an international call for the person and they have to pay for that and the response will be in English. At least it will be available to those in Europe and Asia etc..

HELLO MAGICSANTA

But one international version of INFLUENCE U like you just said ( the respense will be in English ) will be a week point because not everyone speak and understand the language above; our audience will suspect that the final answer is not true!

FALCONER

Contact the manufacturer. I have nothing to do with the product other than I purchased and reviewed it. They told me they were making an international line available and the response would be in English, I guess the cost of doing it in multiple languages would be a bit much. There is a way around it though that I thought of last night but I don't want to post it publicly.

Hi !

Magicsanta

The sellers of INFLUENCE U himiself said in this forum they will create in fact one international version.

Perhaps, your inspiration idea can help Mr. larry Becker and Lee Earle create one international version in multiple language, and I understand that you not want to post it publicly.

I wish you all inspiration in this spectacular effect.

FALCONER

No, I have a method that many could use if they want a special message on a machine. In the case of what I am thinking magicians choice does come into play. I think your only other choice is to move to the US. New Bedford Mass has a large population that speaks Portugese.

Sincerely, I should like to live in U.S.A., at least I should can perform the INFLUENCE U. In fact, There are many portuguese that work in your Great country, we are a pacific people and love to work.

I think in the next year do a trip at Las Vegas and see Magic, not to move to the " New Bedford Mass ", however I liked your help idea !

Best