How could any of these answers be verified?
Saw Derren Brown live last night!
- Thread starter Victor Meldrew
- Start date
How could any of these answers be verified?
They couldn't. He could be using plants in the audience. That would be easy, but probably a bit expensive to use night after night. Also easy to get caught that way if the same person attends a number of his performances.
...but more and more people who could "out" the trick.
I have no idea how it was done. Or how accurate the description is (although I doubt I would remember any more).
That people "could" out the trick is irrelevant (because one could say that about any trick, so it is not really a good reply against not using plants).
A magic show...there's gotta be some diehard magic geeks out there who'd hop at the chance to be one of Brown's assistants! Heck, they could probably be the same ones. People have already admitted they don't remember, accurately, how the trick is done, and people are just another detail in that process..
A magic show...there's gotta be some diehard magic geeks out there who'd hop at the chance to be one of Brown's assistants! Heck, they could probably be the same ones. People have already admitted they don't remember, accurately, how the trick is done, and people are just another detail in that process..
On this forum, I have seen one "outing" of a randomly chosen volunteer, in a very different trick from this. It is a risk.
You are not talking about merely using plants--remember, you spoke of "different people, volunteers, each time before his show started. Different people, and inexpensive."
If you still wish to believe the trick relies on plants, go right ahead. As I said, I have no idea how it is done.
You are not talking about merely using plants--remember, you spoke of "different people, volunteers, each time before his show started. Different people, and inexpensive."
If you still wish to believe the trick relies on plants, go right ahead. As I said, I have no idea how it is done.
No idea if it relies on plants. I suspect it is simpler than that. In fact, I hope it is. Some of the coolest tricks are the simple ones.
Victor Meldrew
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I don't think he uses plants. If he does, he must pick them locally, the ones who he picked all had strong Birmingham accents (and I recognise it well, I'om a Brummay meself!)
The risk would be too great to have about 30 plants every show. Especially with the state of our general newspapers, who would make front page headlines with it.
I am sure there is a simple explanation to this trick. However, it is performed so well it is difficult to work it out.
The risk would be too great to have about 30 plants every show. Especially with the state of our general newspapers, who would make front page headlines with it.
I am sure there is a simple explanation to this trick. However, it is performed so well it is difficult to work it out.
NeilC
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So according to that blog, on the card they actually write their name, date of birth, a question and a piece of personal information. On the outside they write their initials.
Derren mystically divines the guys name, star sign and a piece of personal info. He doesn't answer the question. Hmmm...crikey...how could he possibly do that? I mean, even if he somehow got access to the card inside - oh actually that might do it.
He didn't use all the envelopes. So I'm guessing the ones where he answered the question were the ones where the answer was obvious. He probably finessed it a bit to make it seem he was answering questions when he wasn't. He seems to have given the impression to Victor and the rest of the audience that the info on the card was more limited than it was.
Derren mystically divines the guys name, star sign and a piece of personal info. He doesn't answer the question. Hmmm...crikey...how could he possibly do that? I mean, even if he somehow got access to the card inside - oh actually that might do it.
He didn't use all the envelopes. So I'm guessing the ones where he answered the question were the ones where the answer was obvious. He probably finessed it a bit to make it seem he was answering questions when he wasn't. He seems to have given the impression to Victor and the rest of the audience that the info on the card was more limited than it was.
Stormflood
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S
I saw the show in Cardiff. I'll go over what I saw, and my thoughts - I'm only reporting what anyone audience member would have seen. No secrets.
During the interval, members of the audience had to ask ushers to be given cards to fill out. They weren't lying around.
The cards were in thick black envelopes with a white label for you to write your seat number and initials.
I didn't take part, but I stood near the bar watching a girl fill one out in front of me. If I was Derren, or a 'helper', I could have read what she was writing and taking in information about her appearance or even eves dropped her conversation - people can't keep secrets from their friends
Back in the theatre a queue had formed leading to the stage where the glass bowl was located. Participents were allowed, one at a time, onto the stage to put in their envelope and stir them around. I wasn't watching carefully enough at this point to see if envelopes were coming out of the bowl, not just going in
The glass bowl never left sight of the stage, or was obscured.
During the act, he never opened the envelopes. The audience, including myself, assumed the envelopes were actually that of the names he called out. He never held up the envelopes for us to see the initials or the contents - he screwed them up and threw them to the back of the stage when he was done with them.
If he did use stooges, they were bloody convincing, and they sat with friends. He 'read' no more than 6 people out of the 150-odd envelopes. I thought it was many more until I counted them in my head.
One answer was "You have an allergy... a strange allergy... it's to a fruit... you're allergic to apples."
He then proceeded to just answer questions without the envelopes (which makes sense if you have already read them off-stage I guess).
Clever stuff.
During the interval, members of the audience had to ask ushers to be given cards to fill out. They weren't lying around.
The cards were in thick black envelopes with a white label for you to write your seat number and initials.
I didn't take part, but I stood near the bar watching a girl fill one out in front of me. If I was Derren, or a 'helper', I could have read what she was writing and taking in information about her appearance or even eves dropped her conversation - people can't keep secrets from their friends
Back in the theatre a queue had formed leading to the stage where the glass bowl was located. Participents were allowed, one at a time, onto the stage to put in their envelope and stir them around. I wasn't watching carefully enough at this point to see if envelopes were coming out of the bowl, not just going in
The glass bowl never left sight of the stage, or was obscured.
During the act, he never opened the envelopes. The audience, including myself, assumed the envelopes were actually that of the names he called out. He never held up the envelopes for us to see the initials or the contents - he screwed them up and threw them to the back of the stage when he was done with them.
If he did use stooges, they were bloody convincing, and they sat with friends. He 'read' no more than 6 people out of the 150-odd envelopes. I thought it was many more until I counted them in my head.
One answer was "You have an allergy... a strange allergy... it's to a fruit... you're allergic to apples."
He then proceeded to just answer questions without the envelopes (which makes sense if you have already read them off-stage I guess).
Clever stuff.
NeilC
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I think we've already surmised that the so called "answers" might not even be answers for many of them but merely the bits of "personal info" also written on the cards made to sound a bit like answers.
From what you say someone could very well have taken a few out. Assuming he could read through the envelopes (various methods spring to mind) he could have memorised the few that were taken out the bowl and read the info from the ones handled which would put him ahead enough to do some readings without touching envelopes later.
From what you say someone could very well have taken a few out. Assuming he could read through the envelopes (various methods spring to mind) he could have memorised the few that were taken out the bowl and read the info from the ones handled which would put him ahead enough to do some readings without touching envelopes later.
Bob Klase
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Sure- if you can eat apples then you can eat oranges too.
I don't believe Derren does tricks...
I think he's been sent here to fool us into believing that magic is faked when really it's for real!
What about the Prestige?
I think there's an under-world of magical over-lords battling it out to control the Earth!
Saw Derren recently on TV in "something wicked this way comes"...pretty cool stuff, walking on glass and slowing his heart down with the plastic bag.
Griff.
I think he's been sent here to fool us into believing that magic is faked when really it's for real!
What about the Prestige?
I think there's an under-world of magical over-lords battling it out to control the Earth!
Saw Derren recently on TV in "something wicked this way comes"...pretty cool stuff, walking on glass and slowing his heart down with the plastic bag.
Griff.
oh great! another believer in Jewish conspiracies.
David Copperfield...Jew
David Blaine...Jew
David Roth(coin manipulator)...Jew
David Williamson...heard of Jews
Dr Aardwolf
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I saw Derren Brown 2 weeks ago in Eastbourne where he also did the Oracle trick. In this show he told each person whose envelope he pulled their forename, 'starsign' and day of the week on which they were born. With one woman he said she was pregnant, which she affirmed and said it was a girl, to which the woman cried "I only just found out a few days ago!" I asked my friend who had bought the tickets did he have to give his date of birth when ordering, but he said no, so that was my only theory blown out of the water.
Derren Brown's show just has to be seen, I also saw Banachek at TAM5 and both these guys' feats of trickery totally baffle the bejeebus out of me. I'm reading Brown's book 'Tricks of the Mind' right now to glean some insights, and it's an excellent read and goes into skepticism and pseudo-science as well as some fascinating psychological tricks.
Derren Brown's show just has to be seen, I also saw Banachek at TAM5 and both these guys' feats of trickery totally baffle the bejeebus out of me. I'm reading Brown's book 'Tricks of the Mind' right now to glean some insights, and it's an excellent read and goes into skepticism and pseudo-science as well as some fascinating psychological tricks.
Herzblut
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No Griff, with a ball pressed firmly between upper arm and
chest temporarily draining down the arms blood circulation.
Never woke up with that strong, very unpleasantly prickled and stiff hand?
For the glass I dont know. Was it really glass? Maybe someone
else can comment.
What I recently saw was the complete video of his US tour "Messiah".
Absolutely stunning!
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1175300547407479800
"If anybody had asked me 'Is it a trick?' I'd answer 'Yes, it is!'.
But nobody ever asked me!"
Cheers
Herzblut
Is walking on glass all that hard? I thought that if the glass was laid flat, with no shards sticking straight up, then they could take your weight without piercing the skin.