The New Uri Geller

[marieke]

I'm watching the new show where Uri Geller is choosing the new Dutch Uri Geller. He told us to get a spoon and put it on the tv and also to get broken watches or household appliances. So I had my spoon, my broken watch and our PUC coffeemaker that broke yesterday. I'm watching the show, following his instructions and......... nothing :dognowink:

Of course I know that most watches and appliances start running again because they are being picked up and shaken. And that Uri doesn't have special powers. But still, it would have been nice if the PUC would work again. Oh well, it's only a couple months old and has still factory garantee on it :dogrolleyes:

Are there people here interested in mentalism at all? I love Derren Brown, he's done some great stuff. I even went to see him perform in London with my London friend. For the people who don't know him: loads of video's on youtube.

 

[bipa]

That show, or else one very like it, was shown here in Germany last week. Uri Geller and a bunch of other magicians/mentalists/whatever did various tricks. We were also told to get a spoon, hold it and rub gently on the narrow part of the handle right next to the bowl. The whole studio audience was doing it, and for the heck of it I went and grabbed a spoon, too.

His spoon seemed to almost melt and curl as he rubbed it. At least two people in the audience also got their spoons to bend.

And mine? Nope... nothing. I gave up and made myself a cup of coffee, stirring in my cream and sugar with the spoon instead. :dogtongue2:

 

[l_l_a]

I have not seen Uri Geller, but I love Darren Brown's show!! However I'm a skeptic at heart so many times I wonder if they are paid actors, haha!

 

[marieke]

Derren Brown is great. But I am quite sure that he doesn't use actors. He would be exposed for sure.

 

[CollieMan]

Like l_l_a, I'm a natural sceptic. But added to that, I remain largely unimpressed by "magic" too. Unimpressed, because I know that, no matter how dramatic the effect, the person performing it is cheating me. There really is nothing magical going on, and it's all slight of hand, stooges, smokes and mirrors, as they say. Further, when Derren Brown performs such stunts as laying on glass, etc, you just know that in this country, those demons of the anti-entertainment, the Health and Safety officers, would never allow it to happen unless it was 100% safe. And so, it's hard to get all worked-up about that too.

As for Derren Brown, I think that Simon Singh exposed some of his more popular methods quite some time ago. He also questioned the validity of Channel 4 placing his television series under the "Science" section. It was then moved to the "entertainment" section for the next series.

 

[marieke]

I know that all that Derren Brown does is tricks, real magic doesn't exists. But still it's great to see what he can achieve and how people can easily be fooled. I love that feeling when I just knów that I'm being fooled but I cannot figure out hów.

 

[marieke]

But Derren Brown never claimed that what he does in real magic or paranormal. So of course he can be exposed. Any medium or mentalist can be exposed the same way. But that doesn't make their tricks any less impressive I think. At least Brown is honoust about it, unlike Uri Geller who claimed to have real paranormal powers.

 

[CollieMan]

Don't get me started on Uri Geller. How he never got sectioned for being clinically insane is completely beyond me.

I think my main objection to DB is that he over-eggs the notion of using "psychology". If psychology is leaving people not understanding how he performed a certain trick, then yes, he used psychology. Not, all too many times he performs common magic tricks (albeit sometimes with a new twist) and then tries to convince us that he's using psychology to achieve the end result. I just don't see why he would need to do that.

 

[bipa]

I've always been fascinated by stage magic. Being able to turn on imagination, suspend disbelief, and enjoy a good magic show is great entertainment. And trying to later figure out how it was done can be quite the amusing excercise. Had a great evening in Buenos Aires seeing David Copperfield live. It was an incredible experience.

Watching and enjoying a magic show is no different from sitting back and enjoying a good sci-fi or fantasy novel. You aren't being cheated, but being given a glimpse of a possible (or impossible) alternate universe. Everyone knows that these tricks are not real magic. Perhaps some folks are simply unable to suspend disbelief and enter into the proper state of mind to enjoy the show. These are probably the same folks who find the popularity of Harry Potter completely weird and can't understand the enthusiasm that so many folks have for Dumbledore and his school. Guess there are muggles after all, eh? :dogtongue2:

 

[CollieMan]

[Edited] Life is too short...

 

[l_l_a]

Even though I'm a skeptic I still love watching magic shows, whether the new genre of 'street magic' like Darren Brown, David Blaine, Criss Angel, or the more formal stage performances. I love watching it because however they pull it off is a beautiful feat in engineering, creativity, showmanship, (maybe some video editing too...??) and yes, psychology!

by the way, check out this David Blaine parody, it had me in stitches! it's about 5 minutes long. (Note: contains some profane language as all modern pop-culture movies and TV shows seem to have these days, so if the mods or admin feel it is inappropriate to post this video please delete this part of my post.)
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxu_MQSTTY[/media]

 

[marieke]

Hehe, that's kinda good! I guess the essence of David Blaine is his arrogancy, well captured by this guy.