Derren Brown is astonishing
Folks,
I've seen a lot of magic over the years. I've seen things that are too big too over the top to be believable.
I've seen magician's come and go and try to out do one another.
I've seen the latest and greatest astonishing illusions.
But nothing you have ever seen can prepare you for witnessing Derren Brown.
This guy is huge in the UK but unfortunately no one really knows him in the US.
If you are in America, and you do know of his work, you are privy to his out of print books Absolute Magic & Pure Effect (still have a few) and his newest Lecture DVD by International Magic and that's great but you are missing his incredible show Inside Your Mind.
We are very lucky to have Criss Angel here in the US. The equivalent to Mr. Angel in the UK, would be I guess Simon Drake. Simon Drake is fun, evil & dark but is nothing compared to Criss Angel. No offense to Simon Drake (I am a fan).
With Banachek & Luke Jermay behind him, Criss Angel does do some great mentalism but it is unlike like Derren's show. Criss mixes his show up with magic, illusion, slights, other performers & mentalism. Derren's mentalism is mixed with psychology, hypnosis and in a very real sense believable.
We just don't have the US equivalent to Derren Brown (performing on TV anyway). He really is astonishing.
After viewing each of his shows, I am left with a feeling of pure helplessness. I am left with more questions than answers from everything I have seen him do. Derren frequently shows the viewer what he is doing, this makes it twice as exciting.
Last night, some friends and I watched Derren's Special The Heist. This is not a magic show nor is it a mentalism show. To tell you the truth once it was over, I am not exactly sure what I saw. In a nut shell, 13 pre screened people with squeaky clean criminal records signed on to learn some of Derren's more simple secrets. As they were learning from Brown, he was secretly programming them for committing armed robbery in Derren's controlled situations. After several demonstrations and experimentations in torture, humiliation, psychology, hypnosis, subliminal advertising and who knows what else the group was cut to four people. Unprompted 3 of the 4 followed with hidden cameras individually robbed a security guard at gunpoint and stole suitcases of cash being transported to an armored car. The fourth was tempted and just barley fought it off. The four were brought back to normal and returned to the real world.
When it was over, I was left with one question. What the @*#^?
As soon as it ended, we popped in a second special Derren Brown Messiah. This show was in a way like Penn & Tellers Bull Sh*$ but with a twist. Derren comes to the US and visits different people and places. In each instance he assumes a false identity. He is looking for endorsements as an expert in the field of what ever it is he takes on for that day. He states each time, if anyone just asks him is this a trick or is this real, he will fess up instantly. No body does, everybody believes him right away.
He proceeded to fool a (real?) psychic instructor with a very convincing remote viewing demonstration.
He assembles a group of atheists with the help of a reverend to talk about spirituality. He gets these non believers to feel the power of God pass through their bodies. All believe in minutes.
He confronts UFO researchers and says he was abducted by aliens and left with a gift to know people's medical history just by them touching his back. They touch him and he tells them their medical history. They are believers.
He gets a group of people who have lost loved ones and then speaks to their lost relatives more accurately than John Edward does.
He invents a "Dream Machine". Just wear it and your dreams are recoded in an electronic box. He lets New Age guru sleep on the "special pillow case"wired to the box for a week. Her dreams are trapped in the box. He puts these electrodes on his head and tells the woman her dreams with startling accuracy. The woman is eager to buy these boxes and put them on the market. The box has one battery a switch that lights a bulb and wires attached to nothing.
Once again, wow. You just have to see him perform. He can manipulate people in ways no other can.
It really is something to see.
Until tomorrow,
Thanks for reading!
Pete
I've seen a lot of magic over the years. I've seen things that are too big too over the top to be believable.
I've seen magician's come and go and try to out do one another.
I've seen the latest and greatest astonishing illusions.
But nothing you have ever seen can prepare you for witnessing Derren Brown.
This guy is huge in the UK but unfortunately no one really knows him in the US.
If you are in America, and you do know of his work, you are privy to his out of print books Absolute Magic & Pure Effect (still have a few) and his newest Lecture DVD by International Magic and that's great but you are missing his incredible show Inside Your Mind.
We are very lucky to have Criss Angel here in the US. The equivalent to Mr. Angel in the UK, would be I guess Simon Drake. Simon Drake is fun, evil & dark but is nothing compared to Criss Angel. No offense to Simon Drake (I am a fan).
With Banachek & Luke Jermay behind him, Criss Angel does do some great mentalism but it is unlike like Derren's show. Criss mixes his show up with magic, illusion, slights, other performers & mentalism. Derren's mentalism is mixed with psychology, hypnosis and in a very real sense believable.
We just don't have the US equivalent to Derren Brown (performing on TV anyway). He really is astonishing.
After viewing each of his shows, I am left with a feeling of pure helplessness. I am left with more questions than answers from everything I have seen him do. Derren frequently shows the viewer what he is doing, this makes it twice as exciting.
Last night, some friends and I watched Derren's Special The Heist. This is not a magic show nor is it a mentalism show. To tell you the truth once it was over, I am not exactly sure what I saw. In a nut shell, 13 pre screened people with squeaky clean criminal records signed on to learn some of Derren's more simple secrets. As they were learning from Brown, he was secretly programming them for committing armed robbery in Derren's controlled situations. After several demonstrations and experimentations in torture, humiliation, psychology, hypnosis, subliminal advertising and who knows what else the group was cut to four people. Unprompted 3 of the 4 followed with hidden cameras individually robbed a security guard at gunpoint and stole suitcases of cash being transported to an armored car. The fourth was tempted and just barley fought it off. The four were brought back to normal and returned to the real world.
When it was over, I was left with one question. What the @*#^?
As soon as it ended, we popped in a second special Derren Brown Messiah. This show was in a way like Penn & Tellers Bull Sh*$ but with a twist. Derren comes to the US and visits different people and places. In each instance he assumes a false identity. He is looking for endorsements as an expert in the field of what ever it is he takes on for that day. He states each time, if anyone just asks him is this a trick or is this real, he will fess up instantly. No body does, everybody believes him right away.
He proceeded to fool a (real?) psychic instructor with a very convincing remote viewing demonstration.
He assembles a group of atheists with the help of a reverend to talk about spirituality. He gets these non believers to feel the power of God pass through their bodies. All believe in minutes.
He confronts UFO researchers and says he was abducted by aliens and left with a gift to know people's medical history just by them touching his back. They touch him and he tells them their medical history. They are believers.
He gets a group of people who have lost loved ones and then speaks to their lost relatives more accurately than John Edward does.
He invents a "Dream Machine". Just wear it and your dreams are recoded in an electronic box. He lets New Age guru sleep on the "special pillow case"wired to the box for a week. Her dreams are trapped in the box. He puts these electrodes on his head and tells the woman her dreams with startling accuracy. The woman is eager to buy these boxes and put them on the market. The box has one battery a switch that lights a bulb and wires attached to nothing.
Once again, wow. You just have to see him perform. He can manipulate people in ways no other can.
It really is something to see.
Until tomorrow,
Thanks for reading!
Pete
posted by Ronjo Magic at 12:06 PM
1 Comments:
Derren has been freaking us out for a while in the UK.
He's also had a few TV series in the UK called 'Trick of the Mind' where he performs more standard mentalism but very well presented.
I've also seen his stage show which is excellent.
Funnily enough I've just reviewed his official site on my blog.
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