Ho Hum Hokum

I went over to my online hangout, the Maybe Logic Academy - just to let them know (people login from all over the planet, but mostly America) that Derren Brown would appear on the televisions in the summer, and to recommend the show - because the Academy focuses on belief systems as a core subject, and I consider Derren one of the best testers of your belief/disbelief.

He always admits/confesses/brags that his show uses trickery, and yet many people still attribute great powers to him.  But then again, some people think David Blaine can levitate, and others think some sort of God invented the universe and can so do miracles if He wants to...(sigh)

Anyway. Several times in the past I have mentioned this hobby of mine, knowing full well how out of fashion and nerd/geeky it appears to most people - and tried to show how it draws on a wide range of skills and techniques, from many other realms of study.  I think of magical inventors as early-uptakers.

Someone invents electro-magnets, and Robert-Houdin goes out and impresses the natives with a box their strongest man can't pick up, while he (after waving his wand, and secretly turning off the power!) can lift it with one hand.

Someone invents film, and magicians see the possibilities and incorporate it into their shows, devise most of the special effects we still use to this day, etc.

The first hand calculator appeared during my school days, and immediately magicians invented tricks with real ones (mostly mathematical ones) , and also invented 'gimmicked' ones...that might always give the same result after people entered random numbers, say.

The mobile phone appears, and magicians immediately apply their lateral thinking to the possibilities.

And so on.

So I always assume people into Neuro-Linguistic Programming might find it interesting that magicians have used verbal patterns for centuries, to manipulate people's perceptions. They did that even before Mesmer and hypnosis became formalised.  But then again, so did politicians!

But anyway. I remain a geek.  I try to draw parallels with (say) magick, because I see a cross-over, but people rarely like to see their own realm compared and contrasted, so I get into fairly heated debate/discussion.   You can see the thread, which wandered off into discussion The Prestige - which several people really liked.   I sat down to enjoy it, and dozed off (SHOCK!)

Next thing I know, I have got into quibbling about the fact that no 'real' conjuror uses that jargon of "three stages to a magic trick" that the author just invented. I would have far preferred it if he had done some research, and used real jargon...

Anyway - I won't write it all again.  Visit the MLA and watch me fail to convince anyone!