Hey guys,
I've got some great news. I'm back!
I've been away for a long time - too long. But I'm returning with some great news. I'm becoming manager of a brand new magic shop and online community!
There's a chance my blog might be moving to become a part of that site, or it might stay here.
If you've followed the link above and checked it out, I'm pretty sure you'll like it. But I'm also sure you'll notice that it's not entirely finished yet. We're still putting the finishing touches on things. When it arrives, it will be great!
I'll talk to you in a few days!
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Derren Brown: The Cult??
This week's offering was quite an interesting episode, though Trick and Treat in general seems to present Derren Brown more as a therapist of sorts than as an entertainer.
In this week's episode he turned an IT consultant from an introverted and negative individual into an outgoing and funny man purely by altering his self image.
There was an interesting trick in the midst of all of that - where by copying the body language of a stranger, this week's participant could read his mind.
This raises an interesting point. This was clearly an illusion - and a good one - but the way Derren presents it as implied fact, suggests the basis of a cult.
He used the illusion, presented as plausible fact, to convince the audience that this is possible. And as I've seen at Derren Brown's live shows, 50% plus of the audience do believe that what Derren does is not "just magic".
This seems mightily hypocritical of Derren, a man who claims to fight untruth, and even made a show defrauding religious organisations in America. And yet here he is, doing sort of the same thing they do. And people believe him.
Anyway, that was what happened this week. It's quite a good episode with a well told story.
In this week's episode he turned an IT consultant from an introverted and negative individual into an outgoing and funny man purely by altering his self image.
There was an interesting trick in the midst of all of that - where by copying the body language of a stranger, this week's participant could read his mind.
This raises an interesting point. This was clearly an illusion - and a good one - but the way Derren presents it as implied fact, suggests the basis of a cult.
He used the illusion, presented as plausible fact, to convince the audience that this is possible. And as I've seen at Derren Brown's live shows, 50% plus of the audience do believe that what Derren does is not "just magic".
This seems mightily hypocritical of Derren, a man who claims to fight untruth, and even made a show defrauding religious organisations in America. And yet here he is, doing sort of the same thing they do. And people believe him.
Anyway, that was what happened this week. It's quite a good episode with a well told story.
Friday, 23 May 2008
Derren Brown's Trick or Treat Kidnapping
What on Earth was that?
First of all I should probably make clear that I'm not a great fan of the Trick or Treat shows. While they are occasionally enchanting, I fail, with most of them, to see any kind of magical beauty, which is a sorry shame, when Derren is as talented a performer as he is.
The premise isn't all together bad. It's a conflicted theme, fairground theme music combined with the the Derren devil logo. It's reasonably well thought out. One day, quite out of the blue, life stops or stands still, or something strange happens and before you know it, Derren is upon you. You never know where or when or even if it's going to happen. And then something happens. Either something enchanting and magical and quite surreal, or something dark, disturbing and rather scary.
I do like the rather unsettling way that Derren makes his entrance in each show. This episode was particularly good. The lights go out and everybody freezes. Of course, as viewers, we couldn't appreciate that the same way the participant could.
I just think that some of the shows lack magic. And at the end of the day, Derren is a magician, or psychological illusionist if you prefer. But it's all the same. I think that each show should have that magical touch, that enchantment, that sense of extraordinariness that real life often lacks. That is the whole point of magic. I feel that this episode, in particular, lacked that.
On a show like that, this is a communication issue. It could be something that was lost in the edit, rather than it being something that wasn't there in the first place. We'll never know.
And wasn't that kidnapping the most friendly and considerate kidnapping in the world? Perhaps the reason why I didn't like this particular episode was a case of it being overhyped and underdelivered. It wasn't really a kidnapping at all. All the abductors had going for them was the element of surprise - the participant did not know when it was going to happen. But they told her that Derren had sent them, and thus it ceased to be a kidnapping. As a friend of mine said, they could have had some real fun with that.
Anyway, that's it until next week. I hope for a better show.
But while I'm on the subject of Derren Brown, I came, rather gleefully, into the knowledge that my third edition signed copy of Pure Effect - now out of print - is worth around £150! An unsigned one sold on eBay a few weeks ago for £120. That did truly brighten my day.
That's it for now. Tomorrow on my blog, I think it's time to get into some discussion. I'm going to talk about one of my favourite subjects: card tricks! I might even share a few with you.
Best Wishes,
Michael Munroe
First of all I should probably make clear that I'm not a great fan of the Trick or Treat shows. While they are occasionally enchanting, I fail, with most of them, to see any kind of magical beauty, which is a sorry shame, when Derren is as talented a performer as he is.
The premise isn't all together bad. It's a conflicted theme, fairground theme music combined with the the Derren devil logo. It's reasonably well thought out. One day, quite out of the blue, life stops or stands still, or something strange happens and before you know it, Derren is upon you. You never know where or when or even if it's going to happen. And then something happens. Either something enchanting and magical and quite surreal, or something dark, disturbing and rather scary.
I do like the rather unsettling way that Derren makes his entrance in each show. This episode was particularly good. The lights go out and everybody freezes. Of course, as viewers, we couldn't appreciate that the same way the participant could.
I just think that some of the shows lack magic. And at the end of the day, Derren is a magician, or psychological illusionist if you prefer. But it's all the same. I think that each show should have that magical touch, that enchantment, that sense of extraordinariness that real life often lacks. That is the whole point of magic. I feel that this episode, in particular, lacked that.
On a show like that, this is a communication issue. It could be something that was lost in the edit, rather than it being something that wasn't there in the first place. We'll never know.
And wasn't that kidnapping the most friendly and considerate kidnapping in the world? Perhaps the reason why I didn't like this particular episode was a case of it being overhyped and underdelivered. It wasn't really a kidnapping at all. All the abductors had going for them was the element of surprise - the participant did not know when it was going to happen. But they told her that Derren had sent them, and thus it ceased to be a kidnapping. As a friend of mine said, they could have had some real fun with that.
Anyway, that's it until next week. I hope for a better show.
But while I'm on the subject of Derren Brown, I came, rather gleefully, into the knowledge that my third edition signed copy of Pure Effect - now out of print - is worth around £150! An unsigned one sold on eBay a few weeks ago for £120. That did truly brighten my day.
That's it for now. Tomorrow on my blog, I think it's time to get into some discussion. I'm going to talk about one of my favourite subjects: card tricks! I might even share a few with you.
Best Wishes,
Michael Munroe
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Welcome to Michael Munroe's Magic Blog
Hi there magicians and magic enthusiasts,
Welcome to my blog. This is the first ever post of something I hope to add to every day.
My blog is going to be about magic and illusion and every day I will post on it either some magic news, a show review, maybe a trick review, or my thoughts on some aspect or other of magic, such as sleight-of-hand.
So this has just been an introductory post. I'll be back tomorrow with my first meaningful post about Derren Brown's latest season of Trick or Treat, since there's an episode on tomorrow. I might as well start with that.
Best Wishes,
Michael Munroe
Welcome to my blog. This is the first ever post of something I hope to add to every day.
My blog is going to be about magic and illusion and every day I will post on it either some magic news, a show review, maybe a trick review, or my thoughts on some aspect or other of magic, such as sleight-of-hand.
So this has just been an introductory post. I'll be back tomorrow with my first meaningful post about Derren Brown's latest season of Trick or Treat, since there's an episode on tomorrow. I might as well start with that.
Best Wishes,
Michael Munroe
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