AndyThorley Posted May 30, 2004 #1 Share Posted May 30, 2004 ...Religious discussion in a very thin disguise For those who don't know, Psychologist and Jedi Knight (Well he's as good as...) Derren Brown is holding a televised seance and is asking that the rest of the UK join in. Now my parents are up in arms about this. "It's not right" they say, "it shouldnt be allowed!" Seriously, when they first saw the advert they practically got pitchforks and rounded up a posse headed for London so they could sabotage it. I, however, do not mind. Each to their own and nobody is forcing my folks to watch. What're peoples opinions to this? And more to the point, what are major religious bodies' reactions to this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent_21 Posted May 30, 2004 #2 Share Posted May 30, 2004 They can always tune in to the 'other side' by changing channels. I think it's an original idea, better than the perpetually re-cycled rubbish we get so much of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aslan Posted May 30, 2004 #3 Share Posted May 30, 2004 (edited) when they first saw the advert they practically got pitchforks and rounded up a posse Technically speaking, if they had pitchforks that would make them a village mob. Edited May 30, 2004 by Aslan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyThorley Posted May 30, 2004 Author #4 Share Posted May 30, 2004 when they first saw the advert they practically got pitchforks and rounded up a posse Technically speaking, if they had pitchforks that would make them a village mob. What would constitute a posse? Same thing only with a banjo player? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrScuzzles Posted May 31, 2004 #5 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Jeez! He's televising a freaking seance, what's the big deal. People press their ideas on us on TV all of the time (religious TV shows.) If they can televise a church sermon, then they should be able to televise a seance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted May 31, 2004 #6 Share Posted May 31, 2004 I think most people, religious or not, will realize that this is just entertainment. The only reason why I could see religious people protesting this televised seance is because they are afraid it might work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyThorley Posted May 31, 2004 Author #7 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Im watching it now. It's really kinda boring and nothing has happened that I cannot explain away. Room goes cold? My windows open. Computer screen goes blurry? It's cold from not being turned on. I'd love for this to end up like ghostwatch. "Ah shove it, it's a big joke" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted May 31, 2004 #8 Share Posted May 31, 2004 You'll have to write us up a nice little synopsis of the show AndyThorely. Here's a picture of medium Colin Evans levitating at one of his crowded seances in the 1930's (London) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimma Posted June 1, 2004 #9 Share Posted June 1, 2004 Just showed that its all science (ie when he explained how the glass moves). Which is my firm belief anyway. Bet all the 'believers' still believe tho'. Sceance, my arris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boddhi Posted June 1, 2004 #10 Share Posted June 1, 2004 (edited) A very good programme. Basically he proved that Seances and medium are all charlatons and that a seance can be easily faked. The trick about everyone picking "Jane" was an old one and works by having the black & White and Colour photos in a very specific order. It doesn't matter which photo you first pick, by following his instructions you will AWAYS end up with Jane. The girl throwing the Tamborine was interesting. She swore that she did not throw it, but a CCTV camera showed that she did. The power of suggestion! Visit his Channel four site, it's very interesting: http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/m.../M/mindcontrol/ Edited June 1, 2004 by Boddhi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlon64 Posted June 1, 2004 #11 Share Posted June 1, 2004 I would have liked to have seen an explanation of everything that occurred. For example, why did the second person who was sitting behind the curtain early on (the guy who had his arms tied) suddenly start screaming hysterically ? Why were we not shown the overhead camera view ? What about the moving objects in the "seance" itself ? Were these rigged to move ? If so, then how was it done ? LONDON. I would have been more convinced if it was a less well known city in Britain, like Wells in Somerset. So, the gullible viewer was ultimately convinced that strange stuff was happening. The more objective viewer (like myself) was left assuming that it had all been a big hoax. The problem here is that assumption just isn't good enough. I want answers. I want to know how this guy pulled off everything that happened. I am sure that there is a perfectly rational explanation for everything that occurred, but it is wrong to just end the program without revealing how it was done. In my opinion, it was just a huge waste of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart Posted June 1, 2004 #12 Share Posted June 1, 2004 (edited) The whole thing was clearly trickery, that's what this guy does!! I dont think there was a thing that cannot be explained. I will give my opinions: 1. Girl moving tamborines - All contestants where pre-hypnotised before hand, so she was given cues was to what to do when the curtain closed!! 2. Guy with paper - Same as above, but something freaked the guy out as he must have sensed he was doing things without conscious control (hypnosis can do this!!). 3. Picking the photograph of Jane - well I picked Jane as did my wife, the order the photos, colours of them and way we were to select them make it at least a 90% chance. Given there where 6 (I think) contestants, its a save bet. 4. Queje (hmm, not the correct spelling) - again this could have been a mixture of pre-hynosis subconcious movement. 5. Girl goes to the correct room - pre-hynosis 6. seance - the moving/breaking objects could easily have been done with props that could not have been seen in the dark (most probably was). The information given from the girl was pre-hypnosised. ADDED: 7. London as automatic writing - He told everyone it's a city (obviously in the UK), the biggest and most popular one is London. Also if you put a pen to paper and let it move without effort before starting to write, you will probably have the letter L writen as it a natural moment, after you see the L london will follow!! So there you have it, a clever way to prove that many seances were/are fixed and the attendees can be tricked without knowing it!! Good programme, just hope the full details are revealed to make it clearer!! Edited June 1, 2004 by stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrScuzzles Posted June 2, 2004 #13 Share Posted June 2, 2004 (edited) Hey, what was with the whole Russian Roulette stunt? I don't get English TV so I don't know what happened. I just heard he played Russian Roulette on TV. Edited June 2, 2004 by MrScuzzles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimma Posted June 2, 2004 #14 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Hey, what was with the whole Russian Roulette stunt? I don't get English TV so I don't know what happened. I just heard he played Russian Roulette on TV. Yes he did, he had to go to Switzerland to film it cos our authorities wouldn't allow it, but I think someone proved it to be a fake. Like someone else said DB is a Mental 'ILLUSIONIST'. Just a magic trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffybunny Posted June 2, 2004 #15 Share Posted June 2, 2004 What would constitute a posse? Same thing only with a banjo player? Banjo players are helpful to keep the mob happy(they always say it is hard to be angry when you are listening to banjo music...), but my guess that for a full fledged posse you would need lots of guns. And chewing tobacco. But mainly guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffybunny Posted June 2, 2004 #16 Share Posted June 2, 2004 You'll have to write us up a nice little synopsis of the show AndyThorely. Here's a picture of medium Colin Evans levitating at one of his crowded seances in the 1930's (London) I'm sorry, but at what point does a levitation become a lynching? He looks like he is swinging from the tallest oak in town after a botched bank robbery. I wish I could have seen the show, I love this kind of stuff. i had a good friend who was big time into magic, and tought me how to do several different tricks. The biggest thing that I learned from his is that magic looks incredibly difficult until you know the trick. In learning how a trick was done, I noticed that I had always guessed the trick to be far more complicated than it actually was. David Blaine has a trick whereby he appears to levitate in front of passer-bys on a street. I burned out many a brain cell trying to figure out excatly how he did it in front of live people that weren't in on the trick. I was really bummed when I learned how he did it, and it really changed how I look at folks that pull the same kind of tricks but do it under the guise of really being able to do it...psychics, mind readers, Uri Geller types... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyThorley Posted June 2, 2004 Author #17 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Hey, what was with the whole Russian Roulette stunt? I don't get English TV so I don't know what happened. I just heard he played Russian Roulette on TV. Yes he did, he had to go to Switzerland to film it cos our authorities wouldn't allow it, but I think someone proved it to be a fake. Like someone else said DB is a Mental 'ILLUSIONIST'. Just a magic trick. There were so many things in that show that could have contributed to it being a fake. So basically you had to trust them that they were doing as they said. I mean, having seen Derren Brown do some of the cool stuff he does is it really so hard to believe he guessed which chamber a bullet was in just by hearing his accomplice say the numbers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boddhi Posted June 2, 2004 #18 Share Posted June 2, 2004 David Blaine has a trick whereby he appears to levitate in front of passer-bys on a street. I burned out many a brain cell trying to figure out excatly how he did it in front of live people that weren't in on the trick. Me too - that Blaine levitation was so easy once you saw how it was done. It works brilliantly on people if you get the angles right and shows how simple magic tricks can be the best and most enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted June 2, 2004 #19 Share Posted June 2, 2004 The levitation trick by David Blaine is easy once you know how its done. I have an e-book that I downloaded from a P2P sharing site. It details these tricks quite thoroughly. Blaine's tricks were developed by others and he learned them, very effectively at that. If anyone wants the e-book, just PM me and I'll e-mail it to you. Its in .pdf format, I use Abode reader to open it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffybunny Posted June 2, 2004 #20 Share Posted June 2, 2004 (edited) Moreover, if you watch the Blaine TV special you can see him levitate a few inches off of the ground in front of bystanders, but also you see carefully edited cutscenes that show him levitating over a foot off the ground. It was fairly easy to understand how the levitation of a few inches was reproduced. With viewers at the correct angle, it would be impossible to see the toes of the hidden foot still on the ground. What threw me was the cutscenes that showed him levitating a good foot off the ground with the camera panning down to the level of his feet to show that obviousely his feet weren't touching. I tried to figure out how he could have been lifted without the people standing there seeing any booms or cables. Come to find out the cut scenes were filmed after the crowd was shoo'd away, Blain would then be hooked to a wire and lifted a foot off the ground with no one there to witness the act. That scene would then be carefully edited into the footage that was in front of a crowd to make it look like the folks were reacting to his foot high levitation...cheap camera tricks... I felt the same way when I figured out that "mentalists" and psychics often use audience plants to get the desired results... Edited June 2, 2004 by fluffybunny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted June 2, 2004 #21 Share Posted June 2, 2004 The way I understand it is when you see the people reacting it is directed at his few inch levitation. When you see it cut away from the audience and all you see is Blaine raised a foot off the ground, this was added in later in editing to elucidate further to the TV audience his levitation. But the eye plays tricks as well. In some incidents it does appear that he is a foot off the ground, but this is due to the surface he is standing on. This picture here shows this effect, the smooth solid colored surface makes it seem as if he is higher. This picture I can see him a foot off the ground, but I can also see his one foot still on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kismit Posted June 2, 2004 #22 Share Posted June 2, 2004 I understand how the levitation trick worked . I still have no idea how he managed to give people back full cans of drink with out even so much as an edit .. I would pay good virtual dollars to any one willing to explain it to me .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chauncy Posted June 2, 2004 #23 Share Posted June 2, 2004 .. I would pay good virtual dollars to any one willing to explain it to me .. You could go to this site and order all the things you need to perform the 'Healed and Sealed' magic can trick. http://www.magic-more.com/index.asp?PageAc...PROD&ProdID=333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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