talkmagic.co.uk

Crummy English! You get all the good stuff!!!

Aw c'mon, we have to have something good to make up for English weather, English politicians, English restaurant food, Extortionate English Taxes etc !

Yeah, but you get a cool mentalist like Derren Brown!

Americans? We have to struggle through David Blaine re-runs and watch as he fumbles through mentalism, staring at you like his brain just fell out.

staring at you like his brain just fell out.

That's the best decription of the 'Blaine Stare' I've ever heard - thank you, it's cheered me up tremendously on this cold, wet, drizzly Friday night !

Regarding the "mind mapping" isn't this also called "Method Of Loci". I assumed this was the technique used but must admit I've never tried it myself.

Mandrake wrote:

staring at you like his brain just fell out.

That's the best decription of the 'Blaine Stare' I've ever heard - thank you, it's cheered me up tremendously on this cold, wet, drizzly Friday night !

You think its wet there! Every time I come in it looks like I have fell off a boat !!!

Actually, a strange thing is that the worst weather I have ever been in was in Haifa, no less! It was midwinter and it was bucketing sleet and the wind was strong enough to make it hard to walk - not fun!

Something to remember the next time it starts to drizzle

Kati

Special-K wrote:Regarding the "mind mapping" isn't this also called "Method Of Loci". I assumed this was the technique used but must admit I've never tried it myself.

Method of Loci rings big bells.

Predictably, there are some who aren't all that happy with Derren's latest broadcast!

Have a look at
http://www.channel4.com/news/content/ne ... id=1366779

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/010 ... _page.html

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... ory=675042 (about half way down!) and

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4586704.stm

for the news items as mentioned on Magicweek.co.uk.

Interestingly, Derren is variously described as 'Illusionist', Hypnotist' and 'Psychological Illusionist' - nice to see the media are fully synchronised as to what he is and what he does!

What are these people like!?

Hmmmmm...

So, they object to a show about man persuading people under some form of hypnosis to point a toy gun at a security guard...

...but...

they don't bat an eyelid at documentaries on terrorism, movies which contain brutal rape and violence, 'Jackass' or 'Dirty Sanchez'—both of which contain graphic acts of self-inflicted violence and abuse...

I have mentioned elsewhere that I find it disturbing that people can be brainwashed, but if you believe what you read in the press, terrorism depends on such methods to some extent.

I do feel Derren overstepped the mark just a little bit, but hey—he's got a bit of a controversial reputation to uphold!

And the rest of the news seems to be dominated by the apparently 'unacceptable' antics of Z-list 'celebs' in a house full of hidden cameras where anguished parents of one inmate appear on Breakfast TV to express their deep concerns about the verbal 'bullying' of their glamour girl offspring by two older men. Words bl**dy well fail me.

Yes, Derren might have gone a leeetle bit over the top in staging a fake hold up in the (deserted and closed off) street but everything was under very tight control, there were dozens of people in hiding ready to emerge and look after things, the Police were advised and present - and nobody got hurt. As I mentioned before, I watched the program with several other people, most of whom aren't into magic, mentalism or anything remotely similar. We all enjoyed it, we all laughed, and we all had differing opinions about who ought to have done what, when and how etc. For at least an hour afterwards we had an intelligent and illuminating discussion on the implications and possibilities of what we'd seen. In other words, we actually conversed rather than sat there like couch potatoes who's brains had just fallen out (!)

One of the guns is now on ebay.
http://toys.listings.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Classic-Toys_Cap-Guns_W0QQfclZ3QQfromZR11QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQlopgZ2QQsacatZ720QQsocmdZListingItemList
It's at the bottom of the page, I couldn't link directly to it, I don't know why.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1

I spoke in length with the seller of this item. He was an interesting guy and had some great insights into what was shown both on and off camera.

He wasn't one of the final four but Derren took them all out for a meal after the filming and that's where he got it signed.

I spoke to Michael Vine and Coops the gun was 100% genuine.

His reserve was a little high but I thought it would sell.

when you watch this the first thing you do is actually think about the selection process. they put them through if you remember the gamli experiment i think (correct me if im wrong) where they electricute the other guy and the stealing from the shop. thier mind was ready to do smaller ethically wrong activities and this was sublimanlly chanalled through to the final stages to rob the guard i dont think much of it would have been bogus because then there wouldnt have been much point to the experiment if they were going to tell us it wasnt set up then set it up i really believe it was really stong stuff!

It's clear that they were all carefully led along a path of greater temptation and encouragement to do ‘wrong’ more and more. Also, we obviously won’t have seen everything they were involved with due to the time restraints of the programme which is probably a good thing as there must be many who would try to duplicate the process, and giving all the inside info would not be a good thing! I’m still unsure of how easy it is to go from petty shoplifting to armed robbery – a hell of a giant leap for anyone!