Just got back from a bank holiday weekend in Bruges, which was quite delightful. Not the most bubbly city I’ve ever visited, but as Ralph Fiennes so eloquently put it in the movie, “it’s like a fucking fairy tale”. Stuffed ourselves full of beer, waffles, mussels, pancakes and chocolate, did a fair spot of sightseeing and bike-riding and the girls took off an afternoon to go shopping. If that sounds like a vacation to you, check it out. Also a good spot to hit if you happen to be pregnant and/or mentally challenged, as it turns out – noticeably high concentrations of such tourists around. And the locals speak Flemish, which is practically Afrikaans so you can finally put those 12 years of mandatory torture to some use.
Last night we went to see Derren Brown’s show in Charing Cross. If you haven’t heard of him before or seen his tv show, you’re missing out on quite a talent. By his own admission he’s not a psychic, but the things he’s capable would have you believe otherwise:
Derren Brown is a unique force in the world of illusion – he can seemingly predict and control human behaviour.
He doesn’t claim to be a mind-reader, instead he describes his craft as a mixture of magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship.
You’ve seen that lame twat John Edwards with his embarrassing “Crossing Over” crap, right? Well Derren Brown rips off John Edwards’ head and relieves himself down his throat. Whereas the erstwhile US Presidential candidate (well, not exactly) manages to reduce old ladies to quivering rice puddings by suggesting that someone they know called “G” or something is missing them from the grave, Brown (blindfolded) points to a random guy in the top tier of seats and tells him he’s of Eastern descent, his name is Azir, he’s an actor who has appeared in the show “Casualty” eleven times and that the question that he’s thinking is “Will I be a successful actor?”. All correct. And he does this with about 10 different people. Quite amazing. And at times a little too accurate to be believable, at which stage he just becomes infuriating.
Shit, he did “20 Questions” with people plucked randomly (and they were plucked randomly) from the crowd, and managed to get everyone’s objects in about 5 questions or less (he guessed “helicopter” just by looking at some guys hands, asking him if he could draw it in his mind and establishing that the guy doesn’t use it in his house). Pretty good.
His show otherwise consists of clever optical tricks and he exploits hypnosis, suggestion, distraction, memory and showmanship to great effect in a compelling and thoroughly entertaining evening out. I’m guessing there’s a healthy dose of research before each show as well, but I plan on hitting Google hard today.
I haven’t seen any of his tv stuff, but I’ll definitely do so now.
In the clip below, Derren takes on 9 chess experts simultaneously.
Hectic, hey? And pretty cool how straightforward the solution is at the end of it all.
How about this one then? The zombie shoot-out.
Awesome! Here’s a link to some more YouTube videos. Watch at your leisure. If you find any ones worth sharing, link to them in the comments below.