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I've been "discussing" (sorry.. arguing) with a guy on another forum about Criss Angels walking on water trick. Basically, the guy said it didnt use any stooges whatsoever and used a gimmick. He said this gimmick has nothing pulling or pushing it, nothing on either sides of it, nothing above and nothing below. To quote someone else, "a floating lily pad". I made a quick MSPaint pic of how I thought it was done. I wont post it here obviously. My explanation made PERFECT sense and had no flaws whatsoever (except for my crappy paint skills). Yet this guy is sticking with this floating lily pad gimmick.. claiming he's seen it in person but has never used it.

Does anyone else ever get in these situations? Not necessarily with magic.. with anything. A situation where you KNOW FOR A FACT that the person is wrong, lying or just fudgin' STUPID. Its highly annoying and its also why I prefer to stay on nice message boards like this.

I'm not claiming my explanation was EXACTLY how it was done, but it was the most realistic and possible out of them. This guy is sticking with his damn lily pad though. I wish I could stab people through this screen.

You'd be amazed at how many magicians have told me how effects I helped develope, worked

It's an ego thing many a "little person" seems to need in order to feel a part or more so, superior to others... come to think of it, we just had a visit by someone of said ilk here... a young lad that supposedly knows more than Siege, Dale Shrimpton and myself combined...

I understand what you mean. Its like "I know how the effect is done!!!! I'm BETTER THAN YOU!!". Its quite annoying. And if this guy mentions this floating lily pad once more I'm going to hunt him down and shove one up his fudging bunghole!

(can we swear here?)

Talk Magic Rules wrote:5) No swearing, racism, sexism, pornography or bigotry of any kind will be tolerated

Let me correct the previous comment in that it's incomplete... I have people tell me how they think things are done and they're so far off track it's sad.

a young lad that supposedly knows more than Siege, Dale Shrimpton and myself combined...

I don't believe that such a person exists

I remember gomagicgo podcast discussed the walking on water illusion and if criss angel had the rights to use this illusion he did not create himself.think its episode forty something

Craig Browning wrote:we just had a visit by someone of said ilk here... a young lad that supposedly knows more than Siege, Dale Shrimpton and myself combined...

Who is this master of magic, i must bow at his feet

You get people like this all the time.

dat8962 wrote:

a young lad that supposedly knows more than Siege, Dale Shrimpton and myself combined...

I don't believe that such a person exists

eh Hem!!


er.. where's the bar?...

I personally think it's pretty funny when people start yelling out random guesses when I'm performing for them.

When that happens, I just pump up the impossibility factor and that shuts them up (more applicable to ACR than set routines).

And when people act generally stupid in person, I just let it go. It's really not worth an argument.

BizKiTRoAcH wrote:I understand what you mean. Its like "I know how the effect is done!!!! I'm BETTER THAN YOU!!" Its quite annoying.

Wouldn't this kind of comment extend to people who claim to:

a - Know how said illusion works

b - Argues that their solution is the best one

c - Vows to do it "better"

d - Promises to mail Criss Angel the video telling him "this is how it SHOULD be performed".


Is it me, or does that kind of thing qualify for the annoying "I'm better than you"? I think it's time for you to settle down, Mr. Kettle.

Go on Demitri! Nicely put I think.

There's a certain hypnosis board that has thread after thread about Derren Brown and how he does"it". People simply can't believe he doesn't work according to their pet theories. Such fun...

I had a guy on Saturday lunchtime watch every shuffle I did like a hawk. Because I said "I really must learn some sleight-of-hand" when my charlier shuffle was deliberately messy, he deduced that I must be counting cards, and throwing an exact number each time during overhand shuffles. Hmmm, but isn't that the very acme of paradoxes?

Mr Roach, have you tried, instead of arguing back, probing the details of how the guy reckons it's done with a bit of gentle questioning to make him feel important. Keep it up until he realises he's got it all wrong

Demitri wrote:

BizKiTRoAcH wrote:I understand what you mean. Its like "I know how the effect is done!!!! I'm BETTER THAN YOU!!" Its quite annoying.

Wouldn't this kind of comment extend to people who claim to:

a - Know how said illusion works

b - Argues that their solution is the best one

c - Vows to do it "better"

d - Promises to mail Criss Angel the video telling him "this is how it SHOULD be performed".


Is it me, or does that kind of thing qualify for the annoying "I'm better than you"? I think it's time for you to settle down, Mr. Kettle.

LOL, nicely said

The difference is, I'm not claiming to better than Criss Angel or anyone else, I just claimed that if I can scrape up a few pennies for the neccessary "props", I'm going to show how to do it WITHOUT camera edits and multiple takes. It might look awful.. I wont know until I do it. We'll just have to wait and see.

Tomo wrote:Mr Roach, have you tried, instead of arguing back, probing the details of how the guy reckons it's done with a bit of gentle questioning to make him feel important. Keep it up until he realises he's got it all wrong

YES! I didnt just jump into an argument and say HAHA YOU'RE WRONG AND I'm RIGHT. I asked a thousand and 1 questions trying to be as nice as possible. Then I gave up. His "gimmick" that he said Criss Angel used defies the laws of physics.. ITS IMPOSSIBLE. If he said "Criss Angel was using some kind of floating pad that was being pulled from this angle and pushed in this angle" then I'd respond with "I dont think thats how its done but its a good suggestion". However when his suggestion is actually impossible, I could help but call him an idiot