Tio_Narratore
Studies
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2008
- Posts
- 71,088
>sigh< You sound like one more person who has lost their sense of wonder. I used to be a professional magician and I started each show with the same invitation: "Come with me into a land of wonder. A world where anything can happen and often does. A place where most of all you need to watch, because you never know when something was suddenly isn't." And at those last words, my cane would vanish. (Technically, transform into silks, but same dif.)
If someone was left wondering "How does he do that?" instead of enjoying the thrill of "Look what he's doing!" then I failed as an entertainer. Steve Frayne brought a moment of wonder to several hundred people that day and that's the magic.
One more little quibble: sleight of hand is seldom about being fast, it's more about being good. The hand is NEVER quicker than the eye.
Now, since this IS the humor thread - two cartoons I wish I still had:
The first was in Hustler showed a bored looking magcian's assistant bent over. The magician, in full tuxedo with tails, is standing with his prick dangling, announcing, "And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I will make my penis disappear."
Second showed a surprise looking woman standing next to the bed. She's still dressed, but holding open her pants and looking down. Sitting on the bed, with a dejected look on his face, a magician dressed in full evening wear. At the foot of the bed was suitcase labeled "Mysterio the Great." The capture is the woman speaking, "I can understand that you have a problem with premature ejaculation, I just want to know how the hell you did it in my pants!"
I still have my sense of wonder, Bucky, and it always does leave me wondering how she did that. You seem to have a bit of that streak as well; you did catch the Moses/Noah leger-de-mot that I missed earlier.
What I do appreciate is the wonder of how people (and everything else) manage to do the amazing things they do. And knowing how they do them only makes it more amazing, if it's something they've done. I love watching Penn and Teller explaining how they do a trick while they're doing it, and still not seeing where they misdirected me to hide it. I'm not big on elaborate and expensive technical tricks, though, except, sometimes for the fact that someone thought of and designed them.
I do a bit of juggling, Bucky, and knowing how it's done gives me greater enjoyment in seeing those who do it well. I do three things at a time - three balls, three oranges, even three knives - so when I saw a juggler do what he called "The Dense, The Deadly, and the Delicious, I was awed. He juggled a bowling ball, a machete, and an apple together. His ability to deal with the different sizes, shapes, and weights all at once was astounding. I don't think someone who doesn't know what's involved in juggling can actually appreciate that as much as can another juggler.
There is another issue, though, the one that drives Randi, and one that I share: the fact that there are people who believe the abilities are supernatural and there are those who take advantage of that belief. I teach forensics, and I deal with the question of psychics every semester. There's even a police science textbook used where I teach that has a chapter on how to use psychics in investigations! One of the techniques I use to address it is fortune telling. I'm pretty good at it, and I'll get a student volunteer to have his or her fortune read by me. They're always amazed, and then I explain to them how I did it by "reading" their unconscious answers to my questions as I go from the obvious and general to the hidden and specific. Most understand, but I always have a few who, even after the explanation, tell me that I have real supernatural powers and should use them to help people.
I could go on, obviously; I am a lecturer by vocation, but I'll end with just one wider note. There are many people who think that if you "analyze" something, you take away from its wonder and beauty. Flowers are often the example used, but I find the more I know about the flower, the more wonderful it becomes to me. If you look at an orchid, say, and admire it for the pleasure it gives you, you've only used it as a vehicle for a form of masturbation - it's only about you. But if you see the orchid the way Darwin did, you see a living thing that has developed a wond'rous mode of having sex through intermediaries, and in understanding it more, in sensing more of who it is, you've made love with it.