talkmagic.co.uk

RobLaughter wrote:Who was dealing?

Dunno, some stereotype sexy dealer. I dont think she was in on thr trick. I could be wrong, but Derren seems to want to think of harder methods than that. And if that was the case, she would have come in 1st.

I think it was Marina whats-her-face.

EDIT: Marina Rado from channel 4's Late Night Poker.

Marvell wrote:I caught the second episode last night. I'm not actually going to watch any more, I don't find it entertaining and the one extra trick he did was dull and badly presented. I find you can reduce the content of the entire program down to about 5-10 minutes. It appears to be no longer targetted at people's intelligence, more that it's just something that he fancied doing. It's a bit of a third album.

i know it's just a difference of opinion, but i find that a little surprising...badly presented?

hmmm...i dont think the shows were ever targeted "mainly" at people's intelligence...i think its targeted at people's enjoyment and wonderment...

if only i could present something as badly or as dull as derren brown does! i wouldnt be on a forum thats for sure...

does anyone think that we lose out if we choose to judge a show like this just because we've read a few books or theories on what we believe is involved? or is it an "adapting to change" kinda thing?

definitely the best so far, still not close to the first series of TOTM.
Like the Criss Angel shows the format of this show leaves us with one big time consuming piece each week invariably less interesting than everything else and if we are lucky the smaller pieces will be stuff as good as the colorblind section.
Do the volunteers reactions not jar with anyone else? personally i would assume that if a bus went off course parked up went dark and everyone silently got off the reaction would be either, at best you assume somethings up and get off with everyone else or at worst you freak out totally and panic, sitting very still and saying "oh dear" seems a little fake to me.

It was very nice to see a 'sweet little old lady' kick butt at Poker against the professionals! Apparently this week's show involves a Treat rather than a Trick so perhaps the feelgood factor will continue?

Any information about what is happening next week?

According to Channel 4 listings:

This week Yshani, a young Sri-Lankan woman, selects a 'Treat' card and is taught to play the piano to concert standard and performs a recital at Wigmore Hall after only two weeks of lessons with Derren.

CutToTheAce wrote:Do the volunteers reactions not jar with anyone else? personally i would assume that if a bus went off course parked up went dark and everyone silently got off the reaction would be either, at best you assume somethings up and get off with everyone else or at worst you freak out totally and panic, sitting very still and saying "oh dear" seems a little fake to me.

I think it's quite British

Actually if you look for Derren Treat on Youtube you'll see a clip where a chap does REALLY freak out and calls the police!

ian69 wrote:

CutToTheAce wrote:Do the volunteers reactions not jar with anyone else? personally i would assume that if a bus went off course parked up went dark and everyone silently got off the reaction would be either, at best you assume somethings up and get off with everyone else or at worst you freak out totally and panic, sitting very still and saying "oh dear" seems a little fake to me.

I think it's quite British

I agree! Imagine you're an old lady who - as she later said - believes she's being kidnapped and the woman sitting next to you tells you to "Wait there" or whatever... you're probably going to do it!

Mandrake wrote:According to Channel 4 listings:

This week Yshani, a young Sri-Lankan woman, selects a 'Treat' card and is taught to play the piano to concert standard and performs a recital at Wigmore Hall after only two weeks of lessons with Derren.

That would seem more like a trick to me. I think I would s**t myself if I was put up in front of God knows how many people, and play and instrument I had been learning for 2 weeks.

AJ_Salt wrote:I can't understand why people are so intent on unmasking the way he does his effects. Very few people would ever be able to do the effects he does and if you could, it would only be a pale imitation of the original.

Derren says in his Tricks of the Mind book that a greater understanding of how the universe works doesn't rob it of its splendour, merely allows one to appreciate it all the more. I'd say this is part of the reason why people (myself included) are interested in how his effects work. You're quite right in that the "real magic" that Derren performs is far beyond the abilities of most of the posters on this site, but to glimpse a little of how he creates the effects is not to "unmask" him, but to increase one's appreciation of his ability. I believe that Brown is as passionate about getting people openly interested in his methodology as he is in getting them to enjoy what is going on. He started his professional career touring a hypnotism act, but presented it as a lecture rather than just a way of getting rugby players to cop off with mops, and I don't think his attitude to his own work has changed much since then.

I think people watch Brown at different levels, and it is perhaps testament to his and his producer's skills in allowing for people to watch at those different levels.

Oh, and I've already had my share of arguments about the dummy!

It doesn't say how often in those 2 weeks like if its 6 hours every day for two weeks its quite possible but Derren's probably going to do something different like putting her in a state of trance and then make her believe she can play the piano well and thats she's been playing for a number of years even though its just been a couple of weeks

The most difficult thing about learning the piano is getting your hands to do two different things at once. Once you learn to make that disconnection you're fine.

Misanthropy wrote:It doesn't say how often in those 2 weeks like if its 6 hours every day for two weeks its quite possible but Derren's probably going to do something different like putting her in a state of trance and then make her believe she can play the piano well and thats she's been playing for a number of years even though its just been a couple of weeks

That doesn't mean she'd be any good though!

CutToTheAce wrote:personally i would assume that if a bus went off course parked up went dark and everyone silently got off the reaction would be either, at best you assume somethings up and get off with everyone else or at worst you freak out totally and panic, sitting very still and saying "oh dear" seems a little fake to me.

You heard the plant woman next to her say, 'Stay where you are,' or something similar in a commanding tone as she, plant woman, got up leave the bus. Also, I thought the old woman looked very anxious until DB turned up. I was actually sitting there thinking, 'Lawks. I'm glad this isn't live, or I wouldn't be able to watch for fear she was going to have a stroke at any second.'

Relatedly, but crossing another thread, I also thought this ep was much better than the previous two. After seeing the other two, in fact, my completely lay friend said, 'Derren's jumped the shark.' So, I was a little worried when I went to see DB live last night. But - phew - he was blindingly ace (his mind reading section perhaps went on a little too long, but that's the only un-fab thing that can be said about the whole show). In fairness, my girlfriend said she preferred the show from the last tour - she found it more dramatic and entertaining (this show is more consistently magic/psychology - no side-show detours). But that's probably just because, if she's out at the theatre for the evening, my girlfriend prefers to see someone walking on broken glass and hammering nails up their nose.