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

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

could have had their attention misdirected (allowing him to switch the numbers by sleight of hand)

Misdirections which work in close-up magic don't really work in larger scale with a camera pointed at you, since the audience can watch again as many times as they like. If you're doing a card trick one on one you can (almost literally) shout "look over there" and switch the deck. I don't think that really cuts it on TV :-)

The interesting thing about the "BBC has the right to show first" thing is that although doubtless true as far as it goes, it was lame enough to draw attention. Derren Brown could just as well have not bothered saying it - he doesn't need an excuse for using the perfectly ordinary magical convention of a concealed prediction, that he's used many times before. So what's he going to say on Friday that means he *wants* us to be thinking about the fact that he did it that way? Normally he wants people thinking about how suggestible/predictable people are, not about where the mirrors might have been.

I was also a bit surprised that the BBC article (or some article I read, anyway) described him as "an illusionist". He is of course, but that's not his PR, again because it doesn't fit the mentalist patter.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I think he may be starting to be more direct about that, though. The Events trailers featured references to traditional type stage magic, iirc. His real gift seems to me to be knowing what label to to sell us his stuff under - we all got bored of illusionists in the 80s, and the reason Derren was so exciting was because he had us all believing that he might be some kind of psychomoligical genius. But I believe everyone in the world sussed that he was in fact 90% a bog-standard illusionist with really good patter some time ago, so the pseudopsychomoligical stuff won't wash so well any more, so it would only make sense for him to relabel what he does a bit. Like Madonna constantly 'reinventing' herself, or something.

I would love it if he actually did tell us how he did it. (My money's on locked off camera with fake wobble and partial overlay.) But I'll be astonished if he does, and even if he did I probably wouldn't believe him cos I don't believe a word he says!

But hey, he's Derren, so I'll keep watching. He may be the antichrist, but he's the only fresh thing on the menu.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

My money's on locked off camera with fake wobble and partial overlay.

Why make it so hard, though? Modern tech easily allows for setting the numbers on the balls wirelessly.