Saturday, September 17, 2011

Magic, Puzzles & Things: Magician @D_Copperfield on #Colbert [VID]

I am fascinated by magic.  I'm curious.  How'd they do that?  It is that same curiosity that drives me as a social scientist.  When I'm studying people (creators of media texts, the audiences, etc.), the same basic questions are there.  How'd they do that?  Why'd they do that?  What are the effects of them doing that?

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
David Copperfield
www.colbertnation.com
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Did you figure out how Colbert and Copperfield did their magic?  Curious?  Wanna know?  Just ask. Comment below.

Colbert's trick seemed better executed.  Copperfield seemed nervous.

In the Colbert clip Copperfield mentioned that he wrote the forward to a new book, Brainworks: The Mind-bending Science of How You See, What You Think, and Who You Are.  This book is actually a companion book to a new 3-part series from National Geographic set to air soon.  Copperfield will appear in part 1 of the series.  See the clip below.  Pay close attention.





David Copperfield: "As an illusionist we take the brain and all the concepts that people have and use them to turn the world up-side down. If you can take their attention to another place willingly, then you've done your job correctly... We all think we're paying close attention to the world around us, but as strange as it may sound, this is just an illusion."

So, magicians use our weaknesses in attention (and misdirection) to fool us.  What other occupations use or could use this?  Media professionals?




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