talkmagic.co.uk

They say that genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains. On that basis rather a lot of people can be termed geniuses I suppose.

I am probably over suspicious but I keep getting psychic vibes that Jerry is shimada in disguise.

What you're all talking about here is accumulated knowledge, skill and creativity applied over time to synthesize new work, not genuine "creative genius", which implies access to overwhelming leaps of creative imagination simply not open to the rest of us.

Below is an example of a "creative genius" with a history of implementing the most astonishing leaps of imagination by pushing his ability to express his creativity in ways that can take years to fully appreciate. It's not an action shot but a very carefully constructed photograph called Dali Atomicus by Phillipe Halsman. Can you spot the hidden face in this apparently random collection of cats, water, and artist? That's the level of thought you need to consider when putting the words creative and genius in the same sentence:



Merely very clever or "Why didn't I think of that" thinking is not an example of creative genius. I'm not getting at Jerry Sadowitz, who is a world class magician, extremely funny comedian and Olympic grudge-bearer. I'm just pointing out the sheer orders of magnitude between clever and creative genius.

Never mind that.... This is genius (lego-reproduction of the above photograph!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/3955415433/

Sean

Smashing stuff!

You can even check the setup shot for that lego pic... almost a much work went into it as Halsman's original! and it even counts as being 'On-Topic' for a magic thread... because they've used IT!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakovsetup/3955391803/

Well I went to see Mr Sadowitz tonight and he was indeed fantastic and some brilliant magic thrown in as well. I was surprised to see the venue half empty but he put on a great show anyway. I still don\'t know if he\'s a genius but he\'s a very funny man with a unique mind!

When i used to go to IM i always hoped that he wouldnt be serving. The most miserable bloke ive ever known . Some guys used to wear earplugs if he were around.

I remember asking him about a certain DVD i wanted which he immediately said was rubbish and that i should instead buy a book by some Scottish magician who was a sometime friend of his. Anyway IMagic got lumberd with shed loads of this book and he was foistering this on every Tom Dick and Harry that walked in.

Genius eh!.. you must be joking.

Is that the Peter Duffie book.....? I seem to remember hundreds of those in IM at one stage!

Shimada wrote:One odd thing I saw was a young attractive woman who was there to see the show by herself? Other women were in the venue but with husbands and boyfriends I cannot really believe that a young woman would pick a night out seeing Sadowitz by herself? Anyway almost asked her if she might like to come for dinner with me as I was on my own as well but I didn't want to scare her!

she didnt happen to be petite and brunette did she? if so..i think i know who that was...

By the way no offence mate if she is a friend of yours she was fantastic though, whoever she was!!

Antera wrote:When i used to go to IM i always hoped that he wouldnt be serving. The most miserable bloke ive ever known . Some guys used to wear earplugs if he were around.

He must just be moody!

I wont go into details here but the other guy that used to work on saturday , his names eludes me, at one time had to stand at the extreme opposite end of the counter due to the tantrums. There was no conversation between the two

Im surprised he never colllected a right hander...or perhaps he did

He told one guy that TA Waters had never performed anything in his popular book ( they didnt have it in stock).

What a joke

He may well be right about T.A.Waters never performing anything in his book. But then you don't have to be a genius to figure that out.

Yeah, Waters actually didn't.