talkmagic.co.uk

Yeh, I sort of agree. He is, we must remember, acting most of the time.

Reading back the posts added so far, I think this marks the tipping point where the thread becomes coloured by what we all think he was playing at, which is also part of the overall effect. (He's a very naughty boy! )

That being the case, does anyone else think his model of performance owes a massive debt to Psychological Subtleties, especially Teller's introduction?

Part of the joy of watching is working out a way to do what you're seeing, especially when you can build something so essentially simple like the newspaper trick into such a big climax. Even if you don't get the method totally right (and in the case of this show there's very little chance you'll get any method 100% correct, what with all the subtleties and outs woven in there) it's fun to think 'hey, you could do that this way too, I'll try that'.

Oddly enough, I was actually thinking of Teller's opening in the Banachek book too, especially the one thing which always sticks in my mind, which reads along the lines of
"This is a dangerous book... in the wrong hands the methods herein could allow a performer to convince their spectators that they ar not a performing artist but a supernatural being"

I think what Derren does is 'hints' on being very clever, but at no point does he ever admit to being anything more than a performing artist.

Even the 'cerebral inoxia' reference to some caused amazement, but as many of us already know this ruse, by weaving a credible story around it and combining the tiny effect we all know with the glass walk, he created a very moody and memorable effect.

This is the crossover—this is the part which Teller references as the 'tiny part which MIGHT be real'. Things that perhaps seem so SURREAL that they are ABNORMAL—perhaps SUPERNATURAL.

However, sadly, on magicians a lot of this subtelty is lost, as we actually know how to accomplish such ruses. It also detracts slightly from the magic itself—which appears nothing more than a parlor trick.

I watched the show with Mrs Seige and her brother & his wife, and after the show I demonstrated my own 'cerebral inoxia' with a carrier bag.
Naughty—I shouldn't have 'shown off' so blatantly, and in my own state of pulselessness, I proceeded to use Liam Montier's 'Henry Sugar' effect. The whole thing seemed so much more 'weird' by combining the two—the meditation state required for the Henry effect PLUS the cerebral inoxia trick worked somehow fluidly.

Although—I don't recommend ANYONE putting a carrier bag over their head—this was a Tesco one, and was pre-perforated—ergo, I was quite safe.

A fascinating little show, full of performance, full of simple magic... not a great deal more was needed. Gorgeous re-workings of old effects.

And just re-capping—Derren mentioned the 'cerebral inoxia' (why do I keep saying that?!?!?!) was addictive and pleasant, and from that point onwards he became hyperactive. Perhaps this was intentional?

Personally I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, but I so wish I was a magic virgin, as I would have been DOUBLY mystified had I been a layperson.

bronz wrote:Even if you don't get the method totally right (and in the case of this show there's very little chance you'll get any method 100% correct, what with all the subtleties and outs woven in there) it's fun to think 'hey, you could do that this way too, I'll try that'.

I can imagine pub geniuses everywhere trying to drop in random words in the hope that it'll work because "that Derren Brown does it. It's NLP"

Beware the dreaded confirmation bias young Wombles!

Tomo wrote:

bronz wrote:Even if you don't get the method totally right (and in the case of this show there's very little chance you'll get any method 100% correct, what with all the subtleties and outs woven in there) it's fun to think 'hey, you could do that this way too, I'll try that'.

I can imagine pub geniuses everywhere trying to drop in random words in the hope that it'll work because "that Derren Brown does it. It's NLP"

Beware the dreaded confirmation bias young Wombles!

Goldstein writes in his 'little' coloured books of mentalism:
"The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line".

Oh how I love to hear convoluted tales which have such wobbly zig-zag lines it's almost entertainment in itself to hear them.

In two words:

BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!!!

He really seems to enjoy wipping up a mystic frenzy in the audience.

it certainly was very clever, and entertaining.

Sadly, I forgot all about it and missed it. Drat!
Is this show on DVD at all?

Lord Freddie wrote:Sadly, I forgot all about it and missed it. Drat!
Is this show on DVD at all?

I think its repeated on E4 tonight. Check their website/newspaper etc , as I am not certain if it is on.

(9:00 E4 31st Dec, if I'm right)

derren was brilliant . I would really want to see it live . To be honest I didn't really like the nail through nose and the walking on the glass ... I am talking about the mood...

I saw it like 5 times over and over again to get a glitch of how he does the newspaper thing and I think it is a brilliant trick , although there are some points that I don't get . I don't want to spoil the trick but I don't get how he gets the lady to choose the woman with the daily mail . He gives two daily mail papers in the front but how is he so sure that she will pick one from the front and when the girl with the daily mail is supposed to give the half to the girl either on the left or the right side how is he so sure she will select the half paper ( page 13-14 and not 71-72 or something like that ) . And how he manages the girl to say stop at the page 14 ( although I think I know that ) . These are the two things I don't get ... All the other are really obvious ( at least to me ) . Genius

E4 at 9 tonight (on now!!!) and again on E4+1 at 10pm.

Watched it last night and tonight pure brilliance, that man is a great entertainer. I would like to retract my previous statement regarding how he was to quick, eccentric etc i am now begining to think maybe it was scripted as he was going normal timing before the glass effect and if it was scripted it was a stroke of genius on the part of whoever added that sublety.

lindz wrote:Watched it last night and tonight pure brilliance, that man is a great entertainer. I would like to retract my previous statement regarding how he was to quick, eccentric etc i am now begining to think maybe it was scripted as he was going normal timing before the glass effect and if it was scripted it was a stroke of genius on the part of whoever added that sublety.

It just stinks of Nyman!

Awesone show of course, it was seeing this 2 years ago that got me into all this in the first place.
Re the quickness, i think it made more sense originally, when the tour first started the glasswalking came much later on, just before the final revelation, so the euphoria allowed him to act particularly manic while performing the final piece and build up and up to the revelations at the end.
As the show progressed the running order changed, quite rightly i feel as the show flowed better the second time i saw it, but from watching the recording it seems as if he's trying to keep the euphoria on a slow boil now from the glasswalk so that he can still use it that way.
That said i don't feel it was rushed at all myself, a slick presentationally beautiful show, his kurotsuke / name revelation opening is so slickly tighly scripted it's a thing of beauty.