Let's talk magic and magicians. - by SubJeff
SubJeff on 16/1/2014 at 15:44
Now I love magic, I love tricks, I love being baffled or amazed and I love trying to work them out. I actually prefer it if I can't work them out because it preserves the sense of wonder.
Recently David Blaine has been back on UK tv with a show called Real or Magic (or something) which is him doing tricks with celebrities. Some of them are clearly trick deck set-ups, one of them (the ice pick through his hand) is probably real and through a formed (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fistula) fistula which is a big thing to do but in his line of work it's probably worth it. But he's done a few things that are actually baffling, like the card trick in Harrison Ford's kitchen.
The thing with Blaine is I kind of hate him. I hate that "woooo I'm myssssstical" nonsense that some of these guys pull. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYVEvQKfcpM) This video is taking off exactly what I'm talking about. Plus he sometimes tells people that their dead loved ones are happy and blah blah and we know he's just a showman so that is really disrespectful imho.
And previous to this series I could always work out or develop a theory as to how he did his tricks.
Derren Brown is hands down my favourite "magician". He states straight out that it's trickery and showmanship but a lot of what he does is just amazingly baffling. There has been some stuff on UK tv recently and his tricks with Jo Wiley are good examples of his best stuff. The only thing I don't like is the "insta-hypnosis" bits because I just don't believe that stuff at all. Oh, and I love it when he reveals how he's manipulated a person or the audience like with Simon Pegg and the toys or in his stage shows.
Dynamo is a newish guy here in the UK and he is very Blainish in his mystical bs. But he does some good tricks. Many of them can be deconstructed though so he seems quite lame to me.
I'm not so into extreme feats, like Blaine's starvation stuff, but clever manipulation and seeming impossible knowledge.
Anyone else a fan? Any other people I should watch?
faetal on 16/1/2014 at 23:28
Derren Brown is great, not only because he genuinely amazes, but also because he does it with a 100% sceptical slant, so no pointless weaving of supernatural bollocks around it.
His books are great too. Tricks of the mind taught me some amazing memory tricks which were great for revising for exams.
DarkForge on 17/1/2014 at 08:38
As a kid I was quite into magic but for some reason or another my interest had waned a little over the years. The three guys that you've mentioned are the same three I probably would've said had I made the thread.
Derren Brown certainly is my favourite and I just love watching his stuff. Certain stuff like "Apocalypse" takes a little effort to try and wrap your head around as though to convince yourself it's not all just some big hoax for the viewer, but they're few and far between. What I really like with his stuff is that, even when it looks like things have gone totally wrong and the plan's ruined, he then nearly always pulls some last-minute twist out of nowhere (the only exception I can think of to that was the one where he got that one guy to gamble loads of money on a roulette wheel and he lost it all - I was totally expecting a twist and it never came! :cheeky: ) Some of it might be "magic", some of it might be some clever manipulation but either way, most of time I have no idea how he does it!
I've never cared much for David Blaine's big endurance stunts, but his street magic certainly impresses me. I also watched Real or Magic which only convinced me that's still the case (I think that show was actually made a few years ago though, but I guess the UK only just got it.) I do agree with you that the whole "woooo I'm myssssstical" nonsense (as you so wonderfully put it) can really get on your nerves. Did you ever see that interview Eamonn Holmes did with him on GMTV? Poor guy, having to put up with that loon!
I've heard about Dynamo but sorry to say that I've never seen him in action - his stuff was all aired on Watch which isn't a channel I have easy access to. I know the first series of his show has finally started on BBC1 and your thread has just reminded me that I forgot about it and missed the first episode. I'll have to see if I can get it on catch-up.
When I was younger I do remember really enjoying "Magic Secrets Finally Revealed" or something like that, which featured a masked magician showing you all these big stage tricks like escapism and stuff and revealing how they were done. I found it fascinating to watch, though in the last episode when they made a big build-up of the guy revealing his identity then he pulls off the mask and goes "It is I, Valentino, the masked magician!", I'm just like "Dude, I have absolutely no idea who you are!" :p
demagogue on 17/1/2014 at 08:58
I like watching magic videos on YouTube, very good amateurs, like I like watching great amateur music covers. I don't know if I go for the really big kind of magic, since it seems like it should be an intimate & small thing to me ... although of course I enjoy good professional magicians when they're entertaining. It's also something I watched more of when I was younger & haven't watched enough recently TBH. I like watching Penn & Teller videos though. I like knowing a few tricks that I show to friends sometimes, e.g. whenever there's cards around.
N'Al on 17/1/2014 at 09:13
I never much bothered with magicians/magics; not that I dislike them (although the "woooo I'm myssssstical" crap can get quite grating), it's just I never had much interest in catching their shows live or on TV - having said that, a friend of mine recently went to see one of Derren Brown's live shows and he says it's highly recommended.
I did catch part of Dynamo's show on TV recently, and whilst his tricks were pretty impressive the format of the show was utterly infuriating. It basically consisted of about 5 minutes of him performing the trick - usually in front of some sort of celebrity - and then 2 minutes of said celebrities (and their entourage) incredulously explaining what they just saw happen. What's the fucking point in that? I just saw the trick being performed myself, why do I need someone else repeat it back to me again?
Are the other magicians' TV shows structured the same?
SubJeff on 17/1/2014 at 09:51
It's a bit unfortunate that you saw Dynamo first. Derren Brown does stuff with celebrities too, sometimes. Sometimes he gets other people of note to do tricks on. Yesterday I saw him do a time related trick with a watchmaker. The celebrities on Brown's shows are usually celebrities who, err, deserve it though. You won't get reality tv stars on, but you will get Simon Pegg or David Tennant. They have intelligent reactions though. I've seen what you're talking about on Dynamo and that's another thing that cheapens him imho - the celebrities he has on, which reflects (I think) who the show is aimed at.
Brown also does some great debunking stuff. Check out Messiah or The Experiments. Basically him going to see shysters (many in the USA) who claim to be spiritual healers or whatnot and duping them into believing he has special powers, thus exposing them as bs artists.
N'Al on 17/1/2014 at 10:31
It's not the quality of celebrities I have an issue with - I mean, one of them was Ian Brown; whilst I don't really listen to his stuff, I think he counts as a pretty 'good' celebrity, no?
It's the fact that each trick ends with them going:
Quote:
"Wow, did you just see that?!? He just did this, this, this 'n this!"
Effectively just a step-by-step walkthrough of what I just saw myself. Utterly pointless.
Volitions Advocate on 17/1/2014 at 11:22
When I was in elementary I was obsessed with 5 Card Draw, probably because of the movie Maverick. At one point I convinced the guys in my grade 5 class to play poker instead of pogs, and use their pogs for chips. I got in trouble for doing this and stopped playing poker at school. But while I was messing around with card decks I found my dads stripper deck and got him to show me how to use it.
I fooled a lot of 10 year olds with some "magic" that took zero skill whatsoever.
smallfry on 18/1/2014 at 02:55
I really like magic but there's a lot of it out there I just don't like, like anything where anybody gets into a box, or any of that mystical mumbo-jumbo that you guys are talking about. But, not too long ago I watched the short series Penn and Teller: Fool Us and I really liked it. A big variety of tricks (sorry, illusions) some of which are really good, unique, or really really funny, and when the magicians actually fool Penn and Teller it's really exciting.
