Magicians and Illusionists

Prowl1984 · Post by **Prowl1984** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:12 pm

I meant to start this thread a few weeks ago after seeing a new show on BBC1 called "The Magicians". It got me thinking, now that we're no longer kids and the skepticism that accompanies adulthood has kicked in, how do we all feel about magic shows? I used to love them as a kid and although this new show was entertaining, well apart from Lenny Henry desperately trying to put across that he's still funny, I found myself constantly trying to figure out how they did it. So does anyone else find themselves doing this or are there those of you out there who are happy to just sit back believe the unbelieveable?

Wildrider · Post by **Wildrider** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:27 pm

I have Wizard of Oz syndrome and can't suspend my disbelief beyond nausea, for me it's an archaic entertainment form that should be reserved only for children's birthday parties and they rate below jugglers and clowns.

I hate magic shows, I hate magicians, I hate Lenny Henry. I think it's the smug performance of what everyone knows is clearly not magic, but the art of illusion, which is impressive I suppose, but it's performed with such pompous arrogance by a lot of 'magicians' I see. Although the mystery surrounding 'The Magic Circle' makes me laugh, bloated performers sheltering under the delusion that their secrets haven't been widely published and mujst be protected at all costs!

I blame David Blaine to be honest, a laughably pretentious individual.

That being said 'The Prestige' is on TV tonight and that's pretty decent!

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:45 pm

Mmm, Wildrider sums it up for me - I wouldn;t mind so much if the magicians weren't all pretentious cocks - Derren Brown deserves a good stamp on the nuts for acting like he's some sort of superior being for being able to trick people who can't be bothered to pay attention to him because they've got proper jobs. Actually, Derren Brown probably wouldn't claim to be a magician but a Socilogical Trigger Augmentor or something, so don't stop stamping until you hear those balls burst. Also, because of magicians we have ironically praised student icon and BrassEye rube Paul Daniels, so magic can **** Right Off.

I can see it working on stage perhaps, but on TV it really doesn't come off anymore when you consider what spotty herberts can do with computers now. It's a case of what's the point, apart from giving some camp old twat an ego boost? It's all gone a bit E4, like the world in general. Plus the percentage of magicians who are paedophiles has got to be abnormally high.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:30 pm

I disgaree with cliffy there. Magicians have for a while now given up pretense of it being magic and thus have elevated themselve sto an art form. The fact you are fooled by their acts is all the more impressive as their skill with no special effects.

I really enjoyed Penn And Teller's "Fool us" show on TV a few weeks ago. The concenpt was Penn and Teller are world class magicians who have a vegas show and if any UK magician could trick them without them working it out they would get an opener on their show. It was immense as I certainly couldn't spot how most of it was done and enjoyed P&T pretending to unveil the old saw in half trick only for them to turn it into a gory joke where you are still none the wiser for how they did it.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:45 am

We used to enjoy watching The Masked Magician on a Saturday afternoon, mainly for Mitch Pilegi doing full on Simpson's "Hi, I'm Mitch Pilegi..." intro. Loved it when he got unmasked at the end of the series and it turned out this person who'd been portrayed as this dark and dangerous mystery man was in fact the campest gay stereotype ever to grace TV.

Sixswitch · Post by **Sixswitch** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:04 am

Has dalek been transformed into the Queen? What with talking about himself in the plural and alll. Surely that's magic!

Anyway, I'm happy to suspend disbelief and enjoy things for what they are. Nowt wrong with that.

-Ss

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:26 am

Sixswitch wrote:Has dalek been transformed into the Queen? What with talking about himself in the plural and alll. Surely that's magic!

Believe it or not I did not live alone as a small(ish) teenager and sometime there would be as many as five of us watching the TV at a time. Heady days.

Though I certainly wouldn't mind pulling that Zara out of a hat.

Summerhayes · Post by **Summerhayes** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:34 am

I had to review one for the local paper and I found it quite hard to write the review because everyone else I spoke to was amazed but I found it incredibly obvious how he did everything. They were all pretty standard children's tricks, dressed up in an irritatingly pompous pretense that it was "mentalism" and he was using psychology to judge what people were thinking. Like Derren Brown.

That said, I'm watching the Prestige on my Wii on iPlayer right now. I love this film, because in the golden age when its set, people could believe that little bit more than we can now.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:46 pm

Jetfire wrote:Magicians have for a while now given up pretense of it being magic and thus have elevated themselve sto an art form. The fact you are fooled by their acts is all the more impressive as their skill with no special effects.

Who the Hell says I'm fooled by their tricks? I just plain ol' don't give a shit, and I'm not going to give a failed actor attention just because they're inverted enough to pretend that exercising a few basic psychology or sleight of hand tricks on the unintelligent (note how Derren Brown stays firmly on C4, the station of those who think what they're told to think) and uncaring makes them special.

And any chance of anyone explaining what, if anything, that first sentence means?

Prowl1984 · Post by **Prowl1984** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:08 pm

I agree on two opposing fronts there, yeah it's become more of an Art form now, or at least it's perceived that way by many, but most of them are pretentious dickheads. However, the act that that impressed me the most on this particular show was a couple of young scottish guys who incorporate to combine humor and slight gore into their act without coming across as complete T**ts. i find some of Derren Brown's stuff to be quite impressive but the guy has a serious God Complex, as for david Blaine he can F**k off. I like the street magic stuff but Blaine was just a total tool, how is hanging upside down for 24 hours whilst being allowed to get stuff to eat and use the toilet on regular breaks impressive?