Magic

Roles, Power, and Influence . . .
Milgram, Zimbardo, and Derren Brown

Does our inate response to authority shut off our ethical sense or responsible behavior?  There are a lot of studies on this very question and the bulk of them point to a rather disapointing and resounding yes.  It seems people are often pretty much sheep or more aptly lemmings. Once again, crossposting from the Hypnosis…

David Copperfield robbery . . .

David Copperfield and two of his aides were robbed at gunpoint . . . the aides turned everything over but Copperfield took advantage of his trick pockets to conceal his valubles and memorized the license plate number and the descriptions of the teenage robbers which helped police apprehend them quickly . . . Gun-Toting Teens…

Christmas with Jeff McBride

Christmas Day, we took our daughter Kaye to see a magic show presented by Jeff McBride, a world class magician who is in Taiwan for a few shows. Our friend Michael Cheng and his son Gareth joined us. Kaye and Gareth have taken magic classes and some time ago I gave both of them DVDs…

Dr. Zomb . . .
. . . we will miss you . . .
. . . in memoriam, Ormond McGill, 1913-2005 . . .
. . . Dean of American Hypnotists

I am saddened to report that Ormond McGill passed away in his home in the US, on Wednesday, October 19, 2005. He has been affectionately known as the "Dean of American Hypnotists" for a number of years due to the high respect that so many people pay him. He’s been around for a very long…

some interesting magic bits

Here are some interesting magic bits that are worth seeing . . . Four Card Magic Crazy Tricks with Cards Gross Coin Magic Chicken Head Some of these, I’ve posted about before but others are new. For even more magical goodness, see the magic category here at Life of Brian. Thanks, toshi.tea-nifty, for the heads…

Flexible Girl

Humans do NOT do this . . . this is just about very much on the almost more than incredibly side of things . . . Flexible Girl . . . just how does one discover you can do that? Sitting around, nothing to do, so you ask yourself, gee, I wonder if I could?…

Derren Brown . . .
. . . of tranceplay zombies, trance, and hyperexperiences

On the Hypnosis Technique Exchange email discussion list, I asked a question about Derren Brown that wasn’t really hypnosis related . . . except that he uses trance language as misdirection for his magical effects . . . but, I wanted to know if anyone knew of a site with a good episode guide for…

Very Cool Card Trick

From Big Boys . . . Very Cool Card Trick: Watch this movie very close. I missed it the first few times. The dealer has about 7 or 8 cards in his hand and he deals the cards out snapping them into the table. After every snap the card dissapears. Apparently, it is a card…