Tra-la-la-la-la

[venta]

A quick test. Read the question below. Then (and only then) click on the cut and read the poll question within.

What do you think of Mr Brown today?


[Poll #1455652]

I'm just curious.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

It's not a prediction: it's some kind of trick to get the numbers set up between the BBC broadcast and the reveal.

Yes, I took it as read that that's what it was. In fact, having subsequently seen this trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXz4RKqVMhI) he describes it as "misdirection", thus suggesting that he was never claiming it was really a prediction.

I believe there's some sort of how-it-was-done on tonight; I'm curious as to whether that'll be even remotely honest. If it's an honest explication of the trick, I'd hope it was something more inventive and interesting than a bit of camera trickery like that.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

I've got:

Episode 8850 Derren reveals how he could have pulled off his latest live stunt.	8850	11th Sep 2009	C4	Fri	21:00	11th Sep	1:00

So Friday night, not tonight. But double check a schedule near you :)

(Also:

	Not an Episode Derren Brown attempts to control the nation and literally have viewers stuck to their sofa as he speaks to participating viewers at home.	9900	18th Sep 2009	C4	Fri	21:00	18th Sep	1:00

Which is a week Friday).

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't intend to make a radical commitment like watching it, I'm content to catch it on Youtube after :) Also yes, Friday. I agree with that, I just keep thinking today is Friday.

Interesting to note he's revealing how he could have done it rather than how he did.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. I noticed that caveat as well :(

However, I think it's also how you can do it, if you so wish. Which, I presume, means "in your living room, in front of your aunt", and therefore precludes camera tricks. Because I don't think it's possible to fix your aunt's left eye, so she sees an unchanging image from it, while you swap the props around.

Well, unless you want to get your aunt a set of rigged spectacles, with an image already fixed to the lenses. In which case, you might as well go the whole hog, and just blindfold her. She'll never notice.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

I think it's also how you can do it, if you so wish.

If he reveals a trick, surely it would only be as a "sacrifice move". I think the standard formula is "I'm going to do a trick". <does trick where woman appears out of box>. "Now I'm going to do it again, this time showing you how it worked". <moves camera behind box, does another trick which looks the same from the front, but from behind woman is seen to be concealed in hidden compartment of box all along. Disassembles box, woman has vanished>.

But I understood "I'm going to show you how to do it" to mean, "I'm going to present a one-hour show in which I do various effects relating to numbers, with the theme that I'm supposedly preparing to predict the lottery, and that with the same preparation you could do it too". Rather than "I'm going to present a one hour show in which I show you how to do that one effect".

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

I'm curious as to whether that'll be even remotely honest.

It won't be. I watched last night's thing this morning (TiVo), and he was talking about it being "a year of his life", and "having lottery numbers all over his walls" at home. So I assume it's going to be about that, and not about ways to get 6 numbers written on some ping pong balls at short notice.

I'm curious to watch it, though, on grounds that he's usually interesting. An hour of him pretending to analyse number frequencies and attune himself to the universe of chance would not be interesting, so I'm pretty confident he won't do what I expect...