Derren Brown: C/D, but most of all how?

It's a strange mixture - some parts it is easy to see how he achieves whet he does while some things I couldn't work out at all. When he had a group of people at the end of the programme and he was claiming to be able to contact their dead relatives, he started out with something really unspecific like "I see a tall man with a beard" and waited for a glimmer of recognition from someone in his audience, then having got that he focussed in on her and gave a suggestion, rather than asked a question and got the woman to fill in the gaps. He very cleverly avoided trying to name the deceased person closest to the woman in question but gave a choice of names who this person knew - "I see a man, possibly Charlie...or Thomas" said Derren and let the woman say "yes, Charlie".

There was also a part where he claimed to be an alien abductee who had gained the power to describe people's medical history from the aliens. He correctly diagnosed a throat problem a woman had suffered in her youth - she'd had an operation on her thyroid - presumably gaining this info from the fact she spoke in an unusually husky voice.

every now and then DB comes up with an absolute doozy of a performance, he has something of a gift for stage managing spooky experiences. so seance = grebt, but the russian roulette was noncesense. i've been pondering writing something about it for Proven By Science - because of the way he exposes the limits/credibility of our subjective experiences/psychology.

He then walked over broken glass, very slowly and deliberately squashing his bare feet onto the glass. And then lay down face first on it and got a guy from the audience to walk over his body.

He claims the lack of oxygen in his blood prevents him scarring or bleeding when he does this. It was very impressive in any case.

He did sort of explain his "mind control" stuff, he basically described himself as like a salesman, he just makes people make the choices he wants them to make, it's still amazing when he does tricks whereby he has to do this loads of times in a row.

burn him!

the staring contest in particular was freaky.

the video game come-to-life was disturbing. (he hypnotised someone who was playing a video game about killing zombies, whisked him off to a disused building full of actors in zombie makeup, put a gun in his hands and woke him up. the guy freaked.)

On TV:
DB: "Think of something you got as a present!"
Actress (forget her name now) "Hmm..."

Dawn(watching at home with me) : "The horse she got when she was 14?"

DB: "Is it a horse? When you were 14? or thereabouts?"
Actress: "Wow! That's amazing"

Dawn:"wow! How did he do that?"
Me: "Umm, the same way you just did?"

http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/see/2005_05_01_dys_archive.html#111507733805381055

PS - I just mis-typed "zombie" as "zomboe". I'm thinking of a scarey oboe.

http://www.uknova.com

Derren is much better looking though.

I think he's amassing his own private army in a bunker somewhere, ready to do his evil bidding.

absolutely loved his horse racing one from friday night, possibly my favourite one yet. i kinda twigged how he did it halfway through but was still amazed by it. thing that's puzzling me is how did he choose the correct horse at the end? did he bet on each and every horse and just use sleight of hand at the last minute to put the winning ticket in that woman's hand?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article1066171.ece

neuro linguistic programming? morelike neuro linguistic proGAYing, amirite?

"...admiring female fans."

the most interesting thing about that story is the frankly awesomely weird window title:

"Derren Brown | Sexuality | Gay | The Sun | HomePage | Showbiz | TV"

you wot?

the caption for the pic "Ginger beer ... Derren has a 'perfect' partner"

ginger beer... queer. surely that's a bit out of order?! (even for the sun)

This is just one of his crazy mind-control techniques in action. If his "admiring female fans" think he is uninterested, they will want him even more.

ginger beer... queer. surely that's a bit out of order?! (even for the sun)

-- NI, Tuesday, 22 April 2008 00:57 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Come on, the headline is "I'm A Mind-BENDER"

Didn't he come out last year in the Indy? I can't be bothered to trawl through their crap website looking for it, for I'm pretty sure he did.

Aha!

Second Coming

For anyone confused as to why Derren would seem to be 'coming out' again, and this time to the tabloids: the article in the Sun yesterday was something of a stitch-up. Derren had answered a couple of questions from a Sun journalist within a half-hour interview about the TV series, that were concerned with why he discreetly mentioned all that man-on-man business in the Independent a few months ago. Derren politely answered that it was a necessary evil: not really anyone's business, but if you don't do it then it becomes perceived as a secret. The Sun then printed this as if Derren had chosen to come out there and then to them, complete with 'Exclusive' across the top of the article. As if. Other papers then picked up on this, and suddenly it was new news.

So, yes, for those who thought it was a bit odd and tacky, it was.

From his website - which is full of subliminal bits and bobs and things and I am in fear that he has maybe hypnotised me now but anyway...

Now I understand why Whitehouse split up, William Bennett is obviously looking to a new career as the new macho he's-all-man-ladies face of NLP

haha Grimly that's exactly what i noticed first!

it's barking, isn't it?

also, dom OTM re: caption/headline.

haha my friend who was at brisol uni with him says he used to do mind-control seduction hypnosis bobbins on girls all the time.

Hateful cunts in hateful cunts shocker. Though I'm sure we must give them dix points for being technically brilliant.

Didn't The Sun get taken to court in the early 90s for using the term "poofs"?

ah yeah headline is just as bad. the "derren has a 'perfect' partner" bit too, subtext being "perfect? HAH, apart from the COCK"

Ok, just watched this episode where he gets this woman to think of a card, say it and then throw a dart at it, blindfolded, amongst a whole load of other cards and then when she does he gets her to look at the back and the dart has gone right through a circle he's drawn on it. How the fuck did he do that? How did he know it was going to be that card and how did he make sure she hit the circle?
This whole series has been full of good stuff.

Also he guessed numbers between 1 and 49 that 6 people had written down. HOW!?!?

I figure with the lottery numbers he must have known in advance what they were going to pick... so did he get researchers to somehow inconspicously find out their lucky numbers?

As for the dart one, I've no idea! Gaaahh.

Episode dedication at the end was a top gag.

The card was obviously NLP'd, because I was thinking of the queen of hearts as well. Probably a magnet of some sort?

Yeah, and me. Weird.

Also, yes, the lottery tickets/numbers trick all comes together if he knew the numbers - the standing in their own names and win/lose business - but how did he get the numbers?

I thought he would kind of get boring after a few series but this one has been better than the others. He seems to have loosened up a bit, even he seems amazed sometimes.

I'm gonna watch it again and see of the dart arcs in a strange way.

The card was obviously NLP'd

i've never seen NLP used as a verb like this but NLPing shit is a skill i would like

that would have to be a heckuva magnet i think.

Just watched it again and it does look like it kind of veers over towards the card. I think I'm maybe just seeing what I want to see though!

I've just watched this again and have no idea at all. Couldn't be arsed the whole David Tennant on a spacehopper subtext, but the dart thing seriously bugged me.

anyone who doesnt love this guy is a tool

really?

The guy is OK, but some of his "trick or treat" stuff is more hateful than Beadle ever was!

You think? (I mean obviosuly you do otherwise...) But I found him, this season, rather more human than in the past. The animal torture was a bit harsh I'll warrant. Maybe he's just making me feel like that.

Am far from working it out, but some anomalies in the dart thing:

Why only 48 cards on the board?
Why in that unusual pattern?
Handy that the Q of H was pretty much directly in front of her throwing hand.
There is an obvious video edit - watch the tip of her nose when she has the blindfold on.

And re: the dedication at the end ("this episode is dedicated to the memory of our participant Joey Russell, who sadly lost her life on the way home from filming") - kind of lucky that she said "what if something happens to me on the way home?", near the beginning, after the black cat crossed her path.

Don't want to suggest that she is a complete stooge, 'cause that would be shit. But... it's curious.

I thought black cats were meant to be lucky if they crossed your path?

re. the gag dedication at the end, I'm guessing it was her saying that that prompted the wording used, and not the other way round.

That black cat shit is stupid, it's lucky or unlucky, apparently.

and a shit joke too!

I would imagine the card thing is just a riff on this, available to you for only $69.80

http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/mind-target-by-erez-moshe-trick-p-6270.html?zenid=35a368992bd6b7b98080b92a7d1f5e92

my god, that was a TREAT!

Yes. I was completely mystified from the moment I said "Australia" at the same time as the guy right at the beginning. HOW DOES HE DO IT?

how's he done that then

I was just going to revive this for the same reason. I did check, as I'm sure everyone else did, and his broadcast was totally in sync with the BBC.

o_O

He annoys the fuck out of me. Compelling bastard!

Aye, we had the lottery draws on at the same time. Guy's a right annoying bastard. See you back here on Friday, eh (when he totally doesn't explain it at all)?

Top theory at the moment seems to be that the balls are electrically sensitive/screens of some sort and the numbers were typed on by assistant (offscreen). Most other theories seem to involve camera trickery - split screens or a freeze where he has his hand over his mouth, with the BBC stream inserted into the gap.

Hang on, that's a point. Since when have we been able to film (and broadcast) tv screens? Did that go away with the move from crts?

LCD has no refresh like CRT

Just watched Brown's "The Gathering" after that. There were words "subliminally" flashing occasionally on stage (or maybe just on screen?). The last one said "forget" but I didn't catch the others. Hope he's not fucking with my mind for future mass hypnosis.

the balls are electrically sensitive/screens of some sort

That's what I think too. Of course it could all be just mirror work and there was a bloke there writing the numbers down the whole time.

it'd be a bit of a cop-out if it was just some cheap visual trick, wouldn't it? And hardly the kind of thing he does. Judging by his unusually unreserved reaction I'm guessing it's something completely nuts, although no idea what of course. Unless that was all part of the show.

There'sBUYnoAILSAsuchBEERthingONasSATURDAYsubliminalONIMOmessages.

Merdeyeux, the darts thing he did a while back was totally just camera shots played as straight but, when watched back, the subject's blindfold moved, lol continuity fuckup. Visual tricks are good if you can get everyone talking about them! Also, he's a very good showman and actor, which is how he gets away with it. He didn't predict the lottery numbers, fuck's sake, if he could do that, he wouldn't need to twat around on the telly for a living.

The real genius is making it a ten minute programme that is guarenteed to spread like wildfire on Youtube before the real programme on Friday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS8AK3F8_sY

hardly the kind of thing he does.

Exactly what he wants you to think.

IYOUthinkTHINKsomeIsubliminalDON'TmessagesREMEMBERareYOUmoreLEAVINGeffectiveMEthanOFFothersTWOailsaROUNDSbutLASTymmvSATURDAY?.

Suppose Penn and Teller had done this? Or David Blaine, or David Copperfield, or Paul Daniels? Would everyone be all "WO AMAZING PSYCHIC POWERS, or ehhh pretty good magic trick"?

It's not really a handheld camera filming him, is it?

I don't think anyone thinks he has psychic powers. Especially as Derren is an arch-skeptic and bangs on about not believing in such things.

Derren Brown = better WO HE IS AMAZING PSYCHIC POWERS BELIEVE IN HIM agent than lame old magicians.

onimoPLEASEdon'tDON'TthinkREMEMBERI'mTHATforgettingIyouPOCKETEDsayingTHEyouMONEYdidn'tWEwantWONaOFFpintTHEfromQUIZmeMACHINE.

This subliminal message thing is hard. Derren Brown is a genius.

Ok not psychic powers, but amazing powers of body reading, suggestion, etc. NPR and the like.

xp yeah it was fun while it lasted but tbh I now see him as just a stage magician and am kinda weary of the dressing it up as something more amazing.

his whole NLP, hypnotism, body-language, persuasion, psychology master shtick is often part of his misdirection which I find kind of cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmxua_V1AcM

hmmm

"body-language, persuasion, psychology master shtick is often part of his misdirection"

But... isn't that what misdirection is? or is there some third order misdirection going on?

no i mean the fact that you think that he's probably using some NLP shit or whatever is part of his misdirection because he's probably just doing a card trick or whatever.

oh so it's only second order misdirection. ha!

Another idea in case my first one is wrong is that I he might have mentally suggested the lottery machine to pop out those numbers. I know this sounds crazy but just hear me out. If he can mentally manipulate and suggest things to people, then he can possibly do it for machines too.. after all they are man built. I am really curious to know what you guys think. ANy thoughts?

He really did guess the numbers. This might sound silly to some of you, but he does have a PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY. So he could have easily made a mental image of all the balls over the past year, and how they drop, angles, velocity, acceleration. The reason it had to be on 9/9/09 might be because of the earth's rotation/axis was perfect for him to accurately calculate all the variables. I think on friday we will all be in for a long lesson on physics... GO DERREN!!

http://up.metropol247.co.uk/Chie/dbte.gif

Of course it could all be just mirror work and there was a bloke there writing the numbers down the whole time.

I've decided this is the how.

This is dangerous.

Messing about with the supernatural can, and eventually will, result in him unleashing uncontrollable forces which will wreak havoc with his mind, body and soul.

Whatever is giving him these amazing powers is lying to him, simply waiting for its chosen time.

Trust in God, Darren. Do not try to be him.

- Bringidon, Wardley, England, 10/9/2009 8:43

A friend of mine is on his show on Friday, as a willing subject, apparently looking like an idiot. I am very much looking forward to this.

either mirror work or there's some method of printing/displaying the numbers on the balls.

That gif above shows one of the eggs moving, does it not?

It'll be something as straightforward...

A while ago, he had a 'trick' where he made a coin toss heads each time in ten goes.

Showed the film, tossed coin (shown to be heads/tails normal), ten throws, ten heads.

Later, he showed how it was done: Over two days constant filming, he tossed the coin and as soon as he got a tail, he restarted the take. As ten throws take about 2 mins to do, and "ten heads" is one in 1024 or something of that order, he'd reckoned that he'd get it within 2 days. (final take, concluded, big cheers from crew and "thank F* for that!" from himself)

My guess would be that he pre-recorded possible outcomes over the passed year. Everyone is obsessing about the "14 million" combinations, however, he actually says up front that he will get 5 out of 6 balls correct which is about 1 in 55,000. Obviously, there is a chance of getting all 6, as he did.

YouTube comments, man.

I liked his method for beating a bunch of grand masters at chess.

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2007/4/derren-brown-beats-9-chess-players-283131.html

he only had 5 eggs?

Where is the "messing about with the supernatural" comment from?

6 eggs - but he can possibly cover enough combinations to guarantee getting 5/6 right with a chance of getting the 6th.

xp The Daily Mail - where else?

xpost, like. five eggs wouldn't help you to beat anyone at chess

covering enough combinations in multiple takes, ok- what then for the live broadcast from bbc?

So assuming he recorded 55,000 combinations (no idea if this is the correct number required to get 5 numbers) and assuming it takes about 2 mins to shoot each sequence I make that 110,000 minutes = 1833hrs 20mins. If he did this for 10 hours a day it would take him 6 months of filming himself spinning six ping pong balls around. No wonder he looks mental.

I suppose he could make a decision to cut out any sequence of 4 or even 3 numbers in a row as that rarely comes up but even then it's "1 2 4 5 7 8... 1 2 4 5 7 9... 1 2 4 5 7 10... 1 2 4 5 7 11 ah fuck it I'll use mirrors!"

covering enough combinations in multiple takes, ok- what then for the live broadcast from bbc?

They splice in a seamless (apart from the ball clearly moving in that gif) cut to him turning the correct set of balls round.

That's that sussed, then!

hold on, that gives them, at most, abt 10 seconds to sort through 55,000 different image combinations?

well they can be sorting through them as it's happening, so there'd only be, um, 44 left to choose from when the last ball comes out.

But really it was magic I tellsya.

type the numbers into the database, click "go" - note that he waits until the numbers are put in numerical order, giving them a bit of time to cue the film.

Anyway, Derren Brown is a GENIUS. Some of the things he's done have just been beyond belief. I don't know anything about this lottery business, but if he says he can predict them I believe him.

Are soem of you people idiots or just not folow his carriar hes not magician HES SAYS CONSTANLY HES NOT A MAGICIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
or a physcic HE IS WITH OUT DOUBT one of the smartest men in the world today!

physcic reveal thyself

So assuming he recorded 55,000 combinations (no idea if this is the correct number required to get 5 numbers)

more like 200 million.

uh I thought there were only 14 million combinations of 6 numbers?

my bad. it's only 1.9 million for 5.

if the reveal takes ah fuck it no he did it with mirrors

Is 1.9 million for 5 the same as for 5 out of 6? You're allowing yourself an extra pick every time so isn't it whatever the combinations for 4 numbers is times 23?

I remember seeing the chess game episode at the time, which was another where he revealed afterwards how he'd pulled it off. As always with these things, once he'd revealed the clever, but entirely logical, method he'd used, there was another level to the trick which was even more WTF that he didn't explain (having a prediction of all the moves or somesuch in an envelope). Whatever happens on Friday, I'm assuming it will be the same. Even if the actual lottery prediction is explained and understandable, there will be some other bigger tricks that you're left with.

The moving left-most ball in the above gif, that you can clearly see in the normal speed showing as well if you're looking, does seem suspicious.

oh yeah 5 out of 6, i don't even play the lottery so i forget how many balls there are, also no idea what the bonus ball does

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GFW25efoRW4/RtIs6HzzWqI/AAAAAAAAAC4/c4j719LsVmA/s400/Not+Good+With+Computer.jpg

http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/numberfrequency/frequencyAll.do

yep, 1.9m

there was another level to the trick which was even more WTF that he didn't explain (having a prediction of all the moves or somesuch in an envelope).

He (appeared to have) predicted how many pieces would be left on every table at the end of each game.

(49*48*47*46*45)/(5*4*3*2*1)

that doesn't take into account the 5/6 tho.

OK, how about this:

When the lotto numbers are coming in, the overall picture is still. The left part of the image is frozen.

Someone dashes in while the last number is dropped on the lotto, and swaps the blank eggs for the ones with numbers on. Making sure they are all seated correctly (our Alice had a set of eggs that had shapes in the recess, so if each had a five-pointed star then they would only sit "just so")

Then the someone leaves, the left part of the image is now live, and the rest you know.

There, I think that's it.

it was shot handheld tho, with deliberate sway

that's what they want you to think. maybe it was computer controlled sway.

Lazer/light sensitive printing onto the eggs I reckon.

Ancient beings and unimaginable powers.

Tethered for eons but straining at their bonds.

A single swish from the knife of the unenlightened pouring untold despair on mankind.

- Bringidon, Wardley, England, 10/9/2009 9:59

All Mail comments boxes should be trolled by Lovecraftian dudes from Wardley.

maybe it was computer controlled sway.

OTM.

I think he probably just predicted the numbers

it's the simplest explanation

http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2009/09/lottery-prediction-broadcast/#comment-22444

the four posts from here kind of cover what we've already said re filming all 5 number possibilities and identifies (or theorises that there are) 44 seconds of pre-recorded footage.

Brown will be a bit pissed if the thing is sussed out before his big reveal.

Alan says:
September 10, 2009 at 9:56 am
You\’re so selfish Derren. Why didn\’t you stop the 9.11 attacks?

i want him to have a deathmatch with richard dawkins, where dawkins beheads him with razor shoes but then discovers that the corpse is wearing a tshirt PREDICTING IT WOULD HAPPEN

haha came here to c+p tht :)

anyway, this recording 2.5 hours a day for a year theory sounds like a right unworkable palaver

You'll be claiming next that Paul Daniels really did chop Debbie MacGee in half every night, and must have sold his soul to satan to be able to do it.
- Tony, London, 10/9/2009 10:00

I heard he regularly did. With his magic sword. Dont know about selling his soul to satan tho.

- Richard, Newcastle, England, 10/9/2009 10:23

so he prerecords a 20 second reveal of ........

the moving egg proves........

either way- the fat that he did it without an audience made it about as exciting/showy as a scene from eastenders

Agreed. All this wondering is quite interesting, but the actual 10 minute slot wasn't exciting at all - not being able to see the prediction beforehand makes it all a bit lame. Imagine if he'd had an audience and got a genuine random out standing behind his prediction watching it who could then verify it was there all the long...

Yeah, but he couldn't have done it then!

For all his faults, Paul Daniels had a time where he would (boringly) insist on having front and back audience members on stage to prove that none of it was done by studio trickery. Of course, they were duty bound not to shout out "HANG ON YOU JUST PUT IT IN YR POCKET THERE!" or some such.

Still, modern times...

Yeah, but he couldn't have done it then!

I know, therein lies the rub.

the only fading interest is to see whether he fesses up or just makes up a lot of shit tonight. will still watch it though.

apparently one of his other events was going to be mind controlling people at home into being unable to move from their seats. but channel 4 won't let him do it

he's gay, you know

we know.

I don't like him anymore! How dare he!

apparently one of his other events was going to be mind controlling people at home into being unable to move from their seats. but channel 4 won't let him do it it's not possible, so he claimed to be going to do it until unspecified 'legal shit' banned him from doing it

"i'd love to do real magic, but the eu won't let me. so here's an unconvincing studio camera trick. i'm gay, btw"

http://northstandchat.com/showthread.php?t=157770&page=3

Why was he covering his mouth when the draw was taking place? It looked like he was whispering the numbers.

Yes, whispering the numbers as they were being called out live on the BBC! Should have guessed!

HE WAS TELLING THE BBC WHAT TO SAY!!!

Re tv hypnotism - this reputable psych blog claims it's doable:
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/09/why_youll_never_see.html

james mitchell u r so cynical I tell u

I went for a job once and was being shown round the place I was going to be working, it was a sort of gallery/ workshop/ art studio place, and was introduced to Derren Brown - he was rehearsing, or whatever it is that magicians do - and he stood really really close to me and kind of stared into my eyes when he shook my hand.

... I didn't actually know who he was, at the time

ok- he's covering his mouth because the whole 'live draw' sequence is prerecorded, with the tv picture and (later)the numbering on the eggs added through camera/digital trickery. his whole performance during the actual 'live' draw is a voiceover.

I M WITH OUT DOUBT one of the cynicalest men in the world today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH, YOU WISH!!!

i don't believe in cynicism until i see it done. live, mind you, none of this studio cynic bullshit

the moving ball gives the game away really

Are soem of you people idiots or just not folow his carriar hes not cynicist

jesus. carriar just twisted my brain a little

What Mark G said, basically:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqAt2akPHJ8

Awesome if true!

A source tells us...

"Over the last few weeks Derren has stolen more than £5000 from someone - he did this via hypnosis so the person will have no idea that even they met him, let alone awareness they were robbed (it could be any one of us!) At some point in the near future Derren is going to phone the person from a casino and explain he took their savings. Then he will use his gambling mind power to multiply the cash before returning it to them."

So check your account ASAP!

http://www.holymoly.com/celebrity-news/derren-browns-new-trick-revealed35638

about the 55,000 or so takes filmed to guarantee five (and just getting lucky with the sixth) idea: when he turned the balls he was standing there with the winning numbers he'd just written down right above them. He didn't write down five winning numbers and one random one, just for larfs. Six or nothing!

Didn't see this, but him getting fve out of six means my guess when I saw the trailer could be right: it's the old "I can make you choose x-1 out of x cards" trick. You get the first one wrong, and then you tell the mark to choose whatever the first one was and so on. Stupidly hard to explain on my phone.

Also, there's a delay between analog and digi tv, which is just long enough for him to exploit to get the first number and stay in sync with digi output. Was it on c4 or a digi channel?

it was on Channel 4, but he wasted some time waiting for them to be put in order and writing them down in that order, so there's something there probably. But I'm afraid I've no idea what you're talking about with the stupidly hard to explain thinig.

I'll try again.

Put all the cards face down so that only you know where they are. Tell the mark you will use telepathy to guide them so they can pick up the cards you'll name.

Tell them you will make them pick up the 6 of clubs or w/e.

They pick up a card, and hand it to you without looking at it.

You look at the card. It is, eg, the queen of hearts. Tell the mark you will guide them to the queen of hearts. They pick up another card. You look, they don't. You direct them to whatever card it is.

Repeat six times. At the end, you turn over the cards, and, amazing, you guided them to five out of six cards.

It's a good trick, actually. Looks like you were really successful, when all you did was read the cards as they came in.

I mean you don't even need the delay -- if you can keep your guesses hidden till the end (did he?), and guess as the numbers come in rather than all at the start, you can do this trick easily.

I think if he did anything like that it would involve another bit of trickery somewhere.

if you can keep your guesses hidden till the end (did he?)

yes he did.

, and guess as the numbers come in rather than all at the start, you can do this trick easily.

He did not do this.

anyone got a vid of what stet is describing

Brown didn't touch the balls all through the draw, so it wasn't this.

Will really need to see this now. 5 out of 6 really makes it sound like it. But sleight at the reveal would be hard as everyone watching for that.

Stet - watch the youtube link upthread which shows the whole thing.

wasn't there a derren brown thing where he claimed to flip coins over and over until he got 50 heads in a row to prove streaks are common? was he lying then, you guys think?

It was 10 heads in a rown, and see upthread for more detail...

A while ago, he had a 'trick' where he made a coin toss heads each time in ten goes.

Showed the film, tossed coin (shown to be heads/tails normal), ten throws, ten heads.

Later, he showed how it was done: Over two days constant filming, he tossed the coin and as soon as he got a tail, he restarted the take. As ten throws take about 2 mins to do, and "ten heads" is one in 1024 or something of that order, he'd reckoned that he'd get it within 2 days. (final take, concluded, big cheers from crew and "thank F* for that!" from himself)

From upthread

My guess is that he just got lucky

did he say how long that took him?

what i mean is do you think he'd cut corners to save time on the heads thing, and if so, you think he'd cut corners on the lotto thing? (i.e, do some cheap slight of hand versus spending a whole year prerecording lotto reveals)

why is none of this stuff on youtube

My guess is he's been doing this lottery thing every night for the past year, but up until now he's got it wrong every time, so he's had to wipe the nation's memory clean the next day. Finally he got lucky. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1uJD1O3L08

if he had a set of rigged coins and just pretended to be exhausted for the "explanation" video, I'd be a little disappointed but also relieved he didn't spend 9 hours flipping coins.

Er, also he got all six. I don't see how stet's trick could be the answer.

Also, he got all six. So surely any "he just prerecorded five then got lucky" calculations are moot? He'd still need to have been bloody lucky with his last, and there's no way he'd have relied on that. (although I won't be surprised if this ends up being the fake explanation he gives on Friday).

"This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions. "

bums

(although I won't be surprised if this ends up being the fake explanation he gives on Friday).

i was thinking exactly this

Have seen this now (<3 mobile broadband). I don't think it's my trick, but I guess there's some element of sleight in it, as the wide-angle camera wasn't used in this show so there must be something for it to reveal tomorrow.

i am going to watch the shit out his programme tomorrow. he is the greatest living briton.

If you watch carefully you can see a man in a bear suit run on and tamper with the balls just after the draw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqAt2akPHJ8

> Over two days constant filming, he tossed the coin and as soon as he got a tail, he restarted the take.

he didn't need to restart whenever he threw a tail - 10 tails in a row would've suited his purposes too.

and i doubt they were takes as such - just leave the camera running and start counting from 1 again.

Had wondered whether he did the "filming 55,000 combinations" thing, but the more I think about it the more it must be split-screen, and all the pointers making me think of the 55,000 combinations solution (with a cut as he turns the TV off) are just misdirection.

lasers on the eggs I tell you!

psychic chickens laying predictive eggs

hypnotised vernon kaye

so-called higher ball glitch is a new psychic chick about to hatch with the bonus ball tattooed on its beak

and that's great television, kid

am guessing that the redundant second cameraman will come into play tonight

and explanation will most likely be typical magician's explanation hogwash ala simon pegg's bmx

it would be cool if it were something absurdly low-tech but requiring tremendous skill, like having the digits on the balls be a set of vinyl stickers that can be palmed and removed to produce any number, but one misstep and you've got stickers stuck to your hands giving it away.

Was not Vernon Kaye, btw, but some weird Vernon Kaye clone. That's weirder than anything Derren Brown can foist on us.

So anyway, I pick up today's "Metro", and one of the stories is "How did he do it? Find out on page 34"...

So I turn to page 34, and find, pretty much, what I typed in upthread, verbatim!

(Amused more than copyrightangsty)

Derren Brown: C/D, but most of all how?

i.e. this one.

OK, I take back the bit about verbatim. Alice's toy eggs were not mentioned, etc.

let's do this

oh well looks he dismissed everyone's theories already.

Watching the re-run, seems to be a break in the TV cable where it runs behind the glass tube that the balls are on.

Reading numbers out loud so that the dude behind the split screen can sort them out (yeah yeah, have read that Christopher Brookmyre book)

oooooh

what's all this rubbish ffs just tell me how to win the fucking lottery.

i can't watch the telly, someone fill me in please

£500,000? ffs greedy bast

I'd do it for £50k

Christopher Brookmyre book = Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks. Investigative journalist debunks a Derren Brown type with lots of exposition of how mentalists work.

I was thinking £100k, but then if I got permanent nerve damage or anything I'd regret asking for so little.

Ste, he's just doing another of his regular shows, pretending it's all about influencing things.

so basically the big trick is just the crowd puller to make us watch a set of relatively low level stuff that we have seen him do many times before.

xpost.

horribly jaded internet people who take nothing too seriously

tht HHH / THH stuff is next level

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds

so has he actually revealed the lottery trick? or is it all just jibber jabber?

Anywhere us folks without TV can watch tonights programme online?

he's working up to it

buy a tv u hippy

else u cd watch on zattoo (like me) if u r on a mac

He's wittering on about statistics and maths stuff just now. He will jibber jabber for another fifteen minutes and then go "lol morons, I did it with a split screen".

Good purchase of advertising space for tomorrow's lottery rollover (HEY YOU GUYS DERREN DIDN'T KNOW THE NUMBERS!)

I'm still not ruling this guy out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

LOL

but.. the wisdom of crowds does not apply to random things, right.

only judgement calls?

this automatic writing is going to test even my faith I think

lol so I was right, the answer in the end was he just predicted it

right, either he's found the 24 least cynical people in Britain, or lol casting agency.

"oh I won't let you see you the numbers you've chosen"

no way there is more to come.

xxpost

cake and eat it moment there

I won't let you see the numbers you've chosen AND I won't let anyone see me putting the numbers into the tube.

I'm still with the split screen thing, and I want to kill Derren now.

"It seems impossible to predict whether a coin will come up heads or tails in a fair game of coin flipping. But in 1969 mathematician Walter Penney devised a seemingly impossible coin tossing bet in which the odds were skewed in your favour.

It works like this. You ask someone to give you a sequence of three heads (H) or tails (T). For instance they might choose HHH or TTT. More likely it will be a combination of heads and tails as in HHT. You also choose a sequence of heads and tails. For example, THH.

The bet is that your sequence will show up first if a coin is tossed over and over again, the upper side being noted each time.

It seems a fair bet. In a fair game it is impossible to predict which side of a coin will land uppermost. This might lead you to believe that one sequence is as good as another. But this isn’t true. The reality is that your chosen sequence is more likely to show up earlier than your opponent’s sequence. That’s because you use a secret formula to decide which sequence you will bet on.

Mathematicians call this a non-transitive game. In effect it means that no matter which sequence your opponent picks you can always pick a better one. It is like the game of rock, scissors, paper. If you knew what your opponent chose, you could always beat them.

There is an easy to remember formula for deciding which sequence you choose.

You ask the other person to make their choice first. This isn’t courtesy, it’s vital. From what he says, you work out what you’ll say. You do this by taking the middle one of his three, reversing it and putting it at the start. So if he says HHH, you say THH, and ignore the last one.

If the opponent chooses TTT, you choose HTT. If the opponent chooses HTT, you choose HHT. If they choose HTH, you choose HHH.

There are only eight possible sequences, so if you can’t be bothered to work them out, write them down on a hidden cue card. On average your sequence will win two thirds of the time. Those are great odds if you play this game several times."

"it was just a trick" - can't argue with that really, shame it took him an hour to say it.

going way back - ok i worked out the trick with the chess players as soon as i saw how the room was set up: can anyone tell me how the higher-order trick worked, with the piece prediction?

the only thing i can think of is that he can pick any game as the start point in his chain of numbers, but you'd still hardly expect that much of it to match up

damn kimbo slice is huge

took me a few secs but the HHH/THH coin trick is obvious

So, in short: He didn't say.

I have been toying with the idea of looking elsewhere on the internets to laugh at people who believed his "explanation". Do I need my faith in humanity destroyed a bit more?

1. His final words were "it was all a trick".
2. You can't crowdsource an average score of 02.

Seriously. Very disappointing.

Vaguely interesting to do a brief summary of previous 'theories' like the ox-guessing thing, and I liked the HHH/THH thing.

Was trying to keep track of what he was actually saying when it came to the 24 people but it made no logical sense.
How did they 'study' the numbers?
Why was emotion good for providing motivation with the cup/knife thing but bad when providing motivation in the form of greed?
What on earth did the automatic writing have to do with it?
I mean I know it's all crap but I was interested in the argument for it - but it was full of random leaps of logic like 'well if they're distracted that would obviously make the numbers less reliable'.

Good way of tying together different techniques - I'm guessing the cup/knife guy was primed or sth, completely different from willpower influencing objects, and again completely different from crowds being able to predict something - under one superficially similar 'theme'.

xp mike: I think he said something like you could have negative numbers, so that got around that. He didn't say that you round up/down when you get a fraction, oddly, but assuming that would be the case.

Didn't see any evidence of negative numbers being written down...?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00NtrF2Uuoc

Poor spelling, some interesting points, e.g. the motion camera does stop for a second or so at one specific point (and I don't think it stops moving at any point before that, but can't be arsed to rewind), as DB reads back the numbers that he's just written down. This would be an ideal time to make the switch.

Also, the cup/knife guy simply avoided "unlucky" cup 13 - and prior to that, its immediate neighbours.

how long till the first news story abt a syndicate of 24 using derren's 'method'?

anyway, this thing is about community not about the lottery u tedious rubes~~~~

This written explanation more or less backs up the video version - and it's quicker to digest. Note that the right hand ball rises at the same time that the "wobbly" camera briefly stops wobbling, i.e. between DB calling "23" and "28".

http://poeljames.googlepages.com/HowDerrenDidIt.html

so in summary, how did he claim he did it ?

Well yeah, obviously the 24 people didn't get the numbers, and I'm not entirely sure how you would be sure you had a minus sign before a number and not just a random doodle if you're letting your hand wander freely.

Clip above is pretty much what I'd decided on, I'm just more disappointed that he didn't have a more coherent/convincing argument for it being super predicty powers OR fixing the balls.

crowd of twenty four analysed the preceding year's draw and then each predicted what they thought would then be the next in the sequence, the used automatic writing to bypass the 'emotions' and 'greed' from motivating their 'choices'. each of the twenty four numbers in column 1 were summed and divided by 24 for the average, and so on for the six columns... which averages were the numbers.

HAHAHA that's ridiculous

then did a cheeky "the other alternative was... fixing the machine. Which I *definitely* didn't do, oh no, because that would be illegal" complete with generic pixelated pictures of supposed 'people on the inside' and weighted balls etc etc.

This is not a good enough twist, Derren!

so, from this are we to assume that all his 'mind suggesting' tricks have been cheap tv/camera tricks? wot a crock.

long live the king!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9U3pZFPNcc

is that the score from wrath of khan???

dunno, it was used in Aliens for sure

i like the way he mentioned my (my) theory about lasers. derren been checking out ilxor safe blud!

TV Illusionist fails to explain mechanism of TV illusion staggerer

is that the score from wrath of khan???

― Philip Nunez, Friday, September 11, 2009 11:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dunno, it was used in Aliens for sure

― Great Scott! It's Molecular Man. (Ste), Friday, September 11, 2009 11:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah it's from James Horner's Aliens score. One of those cues that have been used in countless trailers and tv promos.

Horner also did Wrath of Khan, coincidentally.

I'm pretty certain it was done with the split screen technique that he very clearly dismissed at the start of the program.

One key thing to remember about EVERYTHING Derren does is that he vets EVERYONE he uses as a volunteer so damn effectively that he ends up only with the absolute most suggestible people possible. That group of 24, for instance, will be absolutely convinced that they really did predict the lottery numbers.

I'm intrigued by whether or not the mouse under the cup was ever in danger.

haha, OMG, someone on digitalspy is complaining to ofcom about him!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=35434330&postcount=2626

you know what, i knew someone would. and to be fair, i don't blame them.

perhaps this travesty of a trick is part of some larger hooplar in which he'll come out at the end of the series and amaze us all with.

(spoiler)

David Copperfield doesn't really fly all by himself either, ppl.

(/spoiler)

(to be clearer, i thought the trick itself was pretty good, the travesty part seems to be all last nights show)

Was trying to keep track of what he was actually saying when it came to the 24 people but it made no logical sense.

This is right. Maybe that was the point? All in all though not very good television. I don't know if that warrants a complaint to OFCOM though. Also not sure what the guy was complaining about specifically.

Mr. Brown tonight proved himself to be nothing more than a buffoon and a charlatan, and a dangerous one at that because he's encouraging the public to gamble, inculcating the notion that a completely random event such as the lottery draw can in some way be predicted with accuracy, and that is in clear breach of British broadcasting regulations. As such, I have lodged a complaint with Ofcom on those grounds

Has anyone complained about Derek Acorah being a buffoon and a charlatan?
Anyone know what the specific clear breach of british broadcasting regulations is?

i.e. encouraging people to gamble or saying that the lottery can be predicted?

I think it WAS good television, even if only because we all watched it and are talking about it. Maybe I mean successful rather than good.

If anything he's encouraging the British public to be more confused about probability.

It was no more or more less than i expected from any Derren Brown show.

I'm still wading through terrible displays of idiocy and some geeky statistics guys on digitalspy to find out what the grounds for complaining to Ofcom are. I may be some time.

I can't believe some ppl are incredulous that he didn't predict the lottery

it's predicting the lottery

1/14,000,000

predicting the lottery

I guess a lot of ppl are incredulous tht his explanation of the trick is so troll-y tho

If anything he's encouraging the British public to be more confused about probability.

Yeah that's definitely the aspect I didn't like. He's a keen sceptic and rationalist but he did a pretty good job of undermining that here.

Oh, here we go:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=35435877&postcount=2684

yikes

the only reason i would complain is because now i have to go into work on monday and put up with the stupid bint in our office who truly believes that he predicted the lottery with his POWER

Every office has one of them. I am pleased that Derren Brown is providing the useful service of giving an instant topic of conversation which helps to identify these people for purposes of avoidance.

I'm more intrigued that the next episode is actually the one which will supposedly stick all of us to our seats after reading that CHANNEL 4 WOULDNT LET HIM

MagiGirl is a fucking cock imo

otm

Surely Brown's programme doesn't encourage people to spend more on the lottery than, say, lottery advertisements themselves? If OFCOM regulations allow 'it could be you', then they must allow 'it could be you if you gather 24 people in a room who aren't aiming to win the lottery and get them to do automatic writing and then average out the results'.

The only bit I liked was the HHH/THH bit, which when you think about it actually seems more obvious than the 'deep maths' tag he gave it.

I still don't get the HHH/THH thing. It wasn't really clear to me how that game was supposed to work: both players were tossing coins - were they only tossing them for themselves, or were they taking it in turns and using the outcome from both coins in series? Also - were the coins thrown in sets of three (so you would have one discrete chance to get your combination with that set of three), or were they just thrown endlessly and you could pick a group of three at any point (i.e. you throw a H and, depending on what precedes it/follows it, this could be the first, second, or third coin in the sequence)?

they were both tossing coins (not that that matters being random and all)

the fact the bloke chose HHH makes it easier to see the maths behind it - by choosing THH then the chances of there being a sequence HHH without there being a T before the first H (which would mean a win for red and a restart of the sequence) is pretty slim (in fact only THHHHH would win him a point)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penney%27s_game

(ha, looks like the bloke chose the worst possible combination)

So it wasn't done in sets of three, it was just continuously going and if the pre-chosen pattern occured at some point in the sequence you got a point?

Ah - they restart the sequence when someone gets a point?
So THHH wouldn't result in a point for each player, but THH HHH would?

Yep, that's it.

And yeah, debunking magic thinking about psychics and similar quacks is all very admirable and all, but if he then goes on to promote magic thinking about "deep" maths, well, he can fuck off. I think we can safely say most people in Britain already know that psychic powers are a load of bunk. I think we can also safely say that most people in Britain don't understand probability very well. So the latter is more destructive than the former, imo.

I dunno, I thought the bit with the paper cups was good. Otherwise, lol wind-up merchant.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8252235.stm

some mathematicians have dismissed his explanation as "complete nonsense"

SOME? Not happy with the implication that other mathematicians think it's all fine.

i would like to know what johnny ball thinks

wonder if it's true that the 24 ppl managed to get 3 numbers correct, then 4 correct numbers the next time. not bad going for a fluke - or was this bit rigged somehow?

anyway i loved this, particularly the bit at the end with him describing how he DIDNT break into the lotto studios, DIDNT hypnotise security guards and DIDNT replace the lotto balls with his own weighted ones. sense the bbc shifting nervously and people across the uk become yet more terrified of predatory derren

anyone read his book? i skipped the big chunk in the middle about memory training but his thoughts on nlp & psychics were fascinating. he writes in this weird kinda-smarmy way which is a bit off-putting at first. definitely worth reading though

Yeah I read his book, it's pretty entertaining but you were right to skip the memory training bits. He's also not quite as funny as he thinks he is. To repeat my earlier question has anyone reported Acorah (or anyone of that ilk) to OFCOM I wonder? He is much likely to lead gullible people to spend money on complete fraudsters. I don't know if this is even vs. OFCOM rules though? Even if someone took Brown's crazy maths at face value they would surely just think well I can't repeat that, so I'll just guess the numbers like I do every week?

anyone up for more running commentary on his latest waste of our time?

got phone to hand

He's gotta be having a giraffe.

shd tell us how to do this shit not fkn predicting the lottery

ya for sure. Whether I end up stuck to my seat or not, this I'm enjoying.

just realised that what he's doing here is inflicting Infinite Jest (V) upon us.

"if it gets posted on the internet it won't work"

is derren brown's internet 5 years old? we have HD now derren

anyone catch what the brief (but not quite subliminal) flash of something before the bit about people viewing the test footage was?

still of a penis

ah right. if it doesn't work on me I'll blame my 14" TV. So you're going to jip me because I'm poor, Derren? Classist shit.

Still was a man tied to a chair. Green has featured heavily in this show - he used this in The Heist to increase suggestability.

ah well, classist shit it is.

HELP GUYS I AM STUCK HERE

really?

Of course not.

Srsly?

Two definitely not stuck ppl here

x-post, slaps forehead

Do you think there is some sort of twist? Because this all seems very anticlimactic.

I'm not stuck but I was receptive

He's not going to explain it, is he?

totally not stuck - neither's the missus. load of ol' spooley!

Surely the film wasn't the key to it? A few wavy lines and stupid squiggly music.

'Other techniques' as in 'stooges'.

loved his guff about how it "doesn't work at lower resolutions"....Riiiiiiiiiiight......

man yer fucked if your TV broke before the clearing tone, yeah? (oh I guess not. :'( )

I did feel a bit of weightiness during the film, but nothing that was, well, anything, really.

ye gods some people are quick on the draw - a friend's facebook status now reads "Dear Derren you are a tasteless cunt, regards Stephen Hawking".

Waiting for someone to upload a Youtube clip explaining how to recreate it using nothing more than a Windows 95 screensaver and a whale song CD.

yeah, same merdeyeux, but I feel a similar weightlessness when I concentrate on myself when doing yoga so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKrnhafUKc

Felt a bit like I was sinking by 20 secs in and was half-believing I might actually get stuck. But no.

I'm a bit freaked out because I was watching up until he said 'Don't watch it if you...' then the signal broke up a bit then the bloody doorbell rang, someone said 'hello' in the intercom but when I went down there was no-one there. I came back upstairs convinced Derren was gonna be sat on my sofa.

No one here ever done any dramatic training? Alexander technique? Relaxation & breathing practices? Been at a football match and had your thighs cramp upbwhen ou try and stand up suddenly and celebrate a goal? Is no one here BRIGHT AND CREATIVE?

Get suggestible people VERY relaxed and then suggest they can't stand up and OOH LOOK AT THE BRIGHT CREATIVE PEOPLE STUCK IN THEIR FICKING CHAIRS.

Yeah I liked the "this only works on talented and creative people" line

Looking forward to the "DERREN BROWN GLUED ME TO MY CHAIR...WHILE MY HOUSE BURNED DOWN!" stories.

Just watched this. Can only assume it didn't work on me because lol 4oD "oh noes this doesn't work on computers" thing and not because it was a load of old pish. I did feel heavy of hand during the film, but only because I was trying to let myself be relaxed (like what Nick said about yoga and meditation and whathaveyou) to see what effect it had on my ultra cynical self. I was sort of giggling to myself all the way through, so yeah. Get out clause again with the "I didn't use subliminal messaging in any of my tricks" thing right at the end.

Did this work on anyone then?

No-one I know of.

my SO made the rather tart observation that all he had to do to glue my arse to a chair was to stick a picture of a football on screen.

Yes, the joke in our house was "will we even be able to tell?"

I strongly suspect a lot of households had that conversation (we certainly did).

When I was about 10 or 11 years old, our PE teacher had us doing relaxation exercises while lying on the floor of the gym: the old "concentrate on your toes, then your feet, then your legs..." bit. After 10 mins or so of this, he clapped his hands and told us all to stand up.

We all did, apart from one classmate who found himself completely unable to move. "I'm glued to the floor!", he giggled, in baffled, amused surprise.

The PE teacher smiled knowingly, and said that there were always one or two people in his classes that couldn't stand up afterwards.

The bright and creative classmate in question went on to become a highly successful TV presenter, columnist and author.

HAHAHAHAHA

Name names, dude, name names.

WAS IT DERREN?

No it was Adrian Chiles...

Oh, must I?!

Jeremy Clarkson.

(NB He's two years older than me, but I was a Child Prodigy and so had been bumped up.)

In Clarkson's case could his getting stuck possibly be down to a; him being a cheeky fucker or b; him being a lazy fucker?

Actually, he was a highly sensitive boy. Did a lot of am dram.

probably someone had just put superglue on his back. it's the kind of thing one can easily imagine happening to clarkson minor at school, surely?

I think it just flagged up his receptiveness and sensitivity. While the rest of us were fidgeting and thinking about SCOFFS from the TUCK SHOP, he was actually responding to the exercise. I've never quite bought his Big Butch Brute act.

Noh, all his "pronouncements", surely he be a 'comedy rightwinger"

tim westwood on da bridge.
unbelievable.

Least believable stooge all series!

(this Ben character, not Westwood)

thats exactly what i was going to say.
you must have read my mind ailsa.

ooops

I'm too scared to look elsewhere on the internet. Can someone tell me what the idiots are taking from this?

i thought the whole thing was a letdown, very odd anticlimax to everything (what other tv show as ever ended that shoddily?)

and then someone somewhere pointed out that the hidden cameras and secrecy was a good cover for it being a fake casino and that him failing (but only just) was a lot cheaper than him having to pay the winner at 35 to 1.

weird how he acted so casual when the ball fell in the wrong slot. i guess he couldn't freak out as he was in a casino but just seemed so odd. until i hear proof otherwise i'm gonna assume it was mostly legit, has there been any detailed discussion of this episode online anywhere?

A+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Cc6Bof2_0

eh so did anyone watch "Derren Brown Investigates..." on Monday, where he hung around with a scouse medium and spectacularly failed to punch him in the face?

scouse guy was incredibly aggressive, a real duplicitous piece of work. great show though, loved the reveal at the end 'his sister's neighbour!'

Was hoping they'd go more for the jugular but I guess libel etc.
scouse guy was so thick I'm actually impressed he can remember all that stuff about people after looking them up on Facebook etc.

wasn't too impressed, seemed pretty obvious and unrevelatory all the way through. also, "this is the first time i've been to a psychic show" - what, since the last series?

gone off him since the lotto numbers just being a technology trick but pretending otherwise.

Did one of that Hollyoaks girl's mates tell Derren she had cats then? Cos he's a massive sceptic yet he still manages to be able 'read minds'. Is it still just cold reading?

Must be info passed along or cat hairs on clothing. Didn't seem like the type to go out without giving dark clothes the sticky-roller once-over tho.

Nothing new here, but was engrossed because that medium was so hideous - really vile combination of aggression, stage sincerity, emo rhetoric, weaselly nonsense and bullying teeth-gritted friendliness. Ugh.

I really liked this; felt quite Louis Theroux/Jon Ronson-ish.

V. good video game reviewer john walker hates him quite a lot.

http://botherer.org/2009/10/04/very-many-words-on-the-end-of-derren-brown/#more-1437

he might hate fun though.

that was some next level fucked up exploitative cuntitude - also the sheer credulity of people never ceases to amaze. my mouth was agape for pretty much the whole show.

re: the bronnikov method btw

The best bit of last night was when they're blindfolded and trying to guess what is in an open box (out of a choice of three things), except they actually peek for a split second anyway. The interview at the end was ridiculous!

The bit with the cerebral palsy kid was the worst. Telling him, and his parents, that his debilitating incurable condition is all in his mind and the only reason he won't be able to walk again is laziness. That's beyond cruel.

And yeah the interview, not doing the box trick because it wasn't science, I don't think he understands what science is. It's not test tubes and white coats and expensive gadgets, it's a simple methodology - hypothesis, prediction, experiment, observation, confirmation/denial. E.g.

Hypothesis: Bronnikov is full of shit
Prediction: He won't be able to tell what's in the box
Experiment: Show him a box
Observation: He won't say what's in it
Confirmation: He is indeed full of shit. Yay science!

magic- how does it work?

"These people are lying to you! btw did you know I can predict the lotto numbers?"

"these people are lying to you, and because i'm a celebrity they're letting me show you how", tbh.

Not sure how much of a celebrity he is in communist Russia tbh

spells cast YOU etc etc

in communist russia, lotto numbers predict you

I don't know why anyone would have such a downer on this. Just looking into it now, looks amazing.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF THE METHOD

1st Stage is an algorithm of 18 techniques, derived from 144 energetic Tibetan techniques. The 1st stage conveys an alternative holistic non-invasive means by which the energetic structures that govern the human body realign. It is the realignment and harmonization of the energetic structures of the human body that accelerates and optimizes the person’s restorative and regenerative system.

According to Dr. Ming Pang and his non-medical hospital in China Paul Dong’s book:“China’s Super Psychics” By early 1979 the Chinese researchers had discovered that Chi Gong is a catalyst for EHF (exceptional human function), and also found many people who had developed psychic powers through practicing Chi Gong.

Chi Gong has been successful in the holistic spontaneous restoration of health in 95% of cases. Spontaneous remission in the areas of deafness, blindness, disease, cancer, etc. to name a few.

144 energetic Tibatan techniques! Super psychics! 95% of cases! Fuck science.

You would have thought the Tibetans could have used some of these super powers to overcome their oppressors. Perhaps that would go against the chi or something?

dudes know how this ends, playing the long game

Ahh, inscrutable.

kinda love inscrutable, long-game tactics tbh

christian meek have faith that they shall inherit the earth and all that, but those tibetan dudes, they're biding old school imo

I don't think I understood a single sentence that any of those Bronnikov guys said, well not in relation to the other things they were saying anyway. The lols are on me; I thought this might be some kind of method to get people with damage to their visual cortext to be able to attend more to visual information thus making it more useful. But no it was guys in a room full of blue chairs correctly guessing that a chair was blue.

The craziest thing was that the younger guy at the start was saying that with blind ppl they don't have energy coming thru their eyes or something, so they need to get it from their balls to compensate. Then at the end the boss guy was saying they don't deal with people who aren't 100% healthy.

*cortex

so this plane thing here sounds kinda boring. I think I'll half watch anyway.

Yeah, I've lost most of the goodwill I have towards Derren Brown, and this premise sounds shit.

This guy needs to be shown how to dress properly, more than anything.

He dresses, and styles his facial hair, like a magician.

ya this is rubbish.

anyone still watching this? I stopped for a while, just turned over, this is just stupid and shit.

Yes it is, stupid, shit and unconvincing.

switched to five, law & order is on

Still, it is almost 8/9/10 11:12

Except that was this morning, Derren, you non-24-hour-clock-using wank.

24-hour-clock eh, well la-di-da Miss Frenchman.

I had it on till the end, but I can't say I was really watching. The self-helpiness of it made it feel like Derren Brown's How To Look Good Naked, except that sounds amazing rather than incredibly boring and stupid.

You're such a hero, I'm so proud of you BLEURGH

had no idea about this, only just watched the trailer, but his 'yo i fuck yo head up with hypnotism' things are always the weakest imo. if that's what it was.

That's what it was. or bad acting.

new show on now

Sky+d because I was too into a synth pop marathon. Is it worth watching? I have been put off in recent years by the lottery / plane shit. This is live in a theatre, is it not?

it was not so good. some of his shows have had me scratching my head, this one made me think 'they're all paid actors'

maybe it wwas just my mood, i dunno

live theatre show, yes, and yeah that's prob his best type of show

I caught five minutes of pub-hypnotist level "make a woman drink vinegar" crap and switched it off.

it was not so good. some of his shows have had me scratching my head, this one made me think 'they're all paid actors'

pretty sure it wasn't paid actors. not so sure there wasn't copious use of backstage spy cameras and the like. the vinegar drinking was (probably) a simple trick, barely 'hypnosis' at all.

otoh finale was (mostly) trivial to figure out, but still brilliantly presented and wonderfully inventive. making one trick seem like three or four is a neat finesse.

i'm pretty sure it wasn't paid actors, but i've seen him do too many shows where the reaction is 'there's no way he can do that' and this one was just not up to that standard.

y'know, the bit with the curtains. that were rubbish, that. rubbish.

that were rubbish, that. rubbish.

haha my inner voice is being slowly taken over by noel g's too

Yeah maybe I got a little bit carried away in my praise of derren's getting Mcfly to sing "goose and moose and apple juice".

Not been able to get that song out of my head.

not been able to tell it from any other mcfly tune tbh

well it was another mcfly tune, obviously. (d'ya see what i did there)

no

treasure your ignorance.

every day, man, every day

That last episode was rubbish weren't it?

were rubbish

last episode = game show? rubbish. one before = killing stephen fry - really rubbish.

did find myself questioning how fake the game show one was. bloke getting run over - admittedly fake. bloke being an innocent unknowing punter - probably fake. whole audience being in on it from the beginning ... ?

The one where he was basically Beadles About with audience anticipation i.e. "Do you want Michael to A: Have a nice cup of tea and a sit down? Or B: Have him caught wanking to internet porn by his girlfriend who came in to tell him he was about to lose his job?"

The great reveal is supposed to be that people are naturally evil, but all it really revealed is how much trust people put into TV shows because "what could possibly go wrong?" (in this case Michael is accidentally on purpose run over by a car).