talkmagic.co.uk

[split from another thread, originally authored by Ace of Wands]

... the sort of replies I recieved really indicate what I was trying to say in my first post, a message board at last that is more interested in furthering our art and its practice, and as for my sanity it has been eroded my a recurring nightmares involving Hans Moretti strapped in this chair with a crossbow pointing at his head.
Why oh why does he always escape

'Cos he's good and he can!

A pragmatic answer,
but what attracts the majority of viewers to escapology?
Is it to see someone achieve the incredible ?
Or the possibility of a grisly spectacle?
I don't know, but I do think times have changed.
I Houdini's heyday I really believe the majority of people would have cheered him on for his incredible achievements.
Now I am not sure
Isn't it amazing where a thread can lead your thoughts

The same sort of thoughts were going through my head whilst watching the Myth of Houdini program recently. Nobody these days would get away with his style and methods of self publicity because too many people have copied him for other purposes.

The thing that sticks in mind is that, although tens of thousands of people have seen the Pendragons do 'Metamorphosis', most folks associate Houdini with it. Escaping from a strait jacket whilst hanging 50ft in the air from a rope is another but people like Shaheed Malik have done this far more often. I guess the attraction is that we sort of expect some disaster to happen but know it won't!

I was quite amused recently when watching the 'Best of Extreme Magic' repeat where the guy was strapped to an iron frame and had to escape before the steel spears dropped from above. He was handcuffed with the very same type of trick handcuffs that I have and the main problem is keeping yourself in them rather than escaping!

Why does he always escape?

I think Moretti's main appearances on the Paul Daniels Show were the governing factor. For instance, a prime time Beeb proggie such as the PDMS would NEVER allow a Tarantino-esque crossbow bolt to impale the tender lock-less brow of Maretti to the Beeb's Studio wall.

However, I'm sure if David 'He whose name is not uttered here' Bl**ne would have appeared in the 2003 remake of the very same show, at 11pm on a Sunday night on Sky's Bravo channel, the result may have been a little different.

But, saying that, does anyone remember the PDMS Halloween special many moons ago, where PD was performing with a spike Medieval-style rack??? The trick seemingly went horribly wrong, and the production team padded around franticly worrying.

The show ended, and throughout the next proggie, we all thought he'd carked it. But then, his cheeky little head popped up! All is well...

I think we have well and truly gone off the original"thread", it is the self fulfilling prophecy it has become a woolly thread!LOL
Is there any way we can transfer this tail end of this thread to a more appropriate spot as I think the other members of the forum would be sure to add their own tuppence worth, and benefit from the debate it is beginning to generate

There we go - thread moved.

So let's pick up on this: magic + danger = entertainment?

Yes, indeed it does.

Houdini, possibly the biggest influence on modern magic, performed many feats of magic involving danger. As do a lot of stage performers today. Some even go a little further with blood and gore (Blood Brothers, Simon Drake, Penn & Teller etc.)

So, let's have a look at some of Magic's most dangerous tricks and illusions:

Sawing a Woman in Half
Usually harmless, but a potentially dangerous and violent illusion: a woman is shackled inside a confined space and a large ragged saw is pulled through her torso?!?!? And we see this on family shows!!!
The effect always involves women (and magi's in the know will understand why) - perhaps this stems back many years ago when blokes thought that by sawing their woman in half, she'd be able to cook the dinner AND do the shopping at the same time???

The Zig-Zag Woman
Again, woman is shackled into a confined space. Large blades are forced through her body separating her into three, sometimes four pieces. Then, the component parts are slid away from each other - a kind of 'Vertical' sawing the woman in half trick. Again, popular on family shows...

Catching the Bullet in the Teeth
What were they thinking? A high-powered rifle is loaded with a marked bullet. The magi stands yards away and the marksman fires the bullet at his face. The magi catches the bullet between his teeth.
We've all heard the horror tales with this one - and it DOES genuinely go wrong. But come on - pointing a loaded gun at someone and pulling the trigger??? Family entertainment!

The Knife Basket
Very ancient illusion - still pretty violent. Think about it - a woman climbs into a basket which would barely contain a family of four's daily dirty laundry, and the lid is put on. The magi (quite sadistically) pushes blade after blade into the basket at seemingly random angles. There's no way she's in there, you cry! But she is - all the time! Another 'family favourite'.

The Underwater Escape
The magi is put in a straightjacket, padlocked into a vertical water tank whilst being suspended upside-down by his ankles. The whole thing is covered with a cloth.
Now, I don't know about you, but there's two things that I don't like about this one... Being upside-down with nowhere to go is bad enough... but being upside-down, shackled, confined and in WATER really is not nice. The sheer concept of this illusion is insane. But it's one of Houdini's most popular (although it's probably considered a bit run-of-the-mill these days)

And there's many more where they came from. It would seem that somewhere along the lines, the act of escaping or surviving impending death or dismemberment has been deemed 'magical' - which it certainly is. Hans Moretti took this to another level with crossbows etc. - but the principle is the same. It's the anticipation and suspense which makes the magic here - and they're two common factors in any magic effect:

'What's going to happen - and when' is something going through everyone's mind at any magic event. It's a surprise - somebody performing the impossible in an amazing and unexpected way.

Well it certainly sounds dangerous....

It's going to be on TV on October 26th... and if you go to his channel 4 website you can even enter a competition to become the person that loads the gun....

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/t ... ren_brown/

So anybody have any views on the tests?

I think the tests are a gimmick he would be able to read practically anyone once he has determined their pattern, I still filled them in and crossed my fingers
The tests seem to be very basic associative tests of concrete and abstract reasoning .
The T.A.T test at the end would indicate he is looking for someone who thinks outside the box
Then again it could all be a simple sorting process and he could be sorting people by how close they get to his own answers for the test to find someone on his wavelength
All we can do is conjecture until the man reveals his reasons

Looking a Siege's post on this matter he looks as if he has a book desperately trying to escape It really does show you can never predict where a thread (YLI woolly nylon)will lead to