Keith Barry does brain magic

[lampet]

I'm surprised Keith Barry hasn't claimed the Million Dollar Challenge! This guy is amazing. See his act "Keith Barry does brain magic" on TED.com (I can't post URL's yet):jaw-dropp

[patchbunny]

I'm surprised Keith Barry hasn't claimed the Million Dollar Challenge! This guy is amazing. See his act "Keith Barry does brain magic" on TED.com (I can't post URL's yet):jaw-dropp

He's doing a show, Deception with Keith Barry on Discovery right now. He's messing with a bunch of car salesmen's heads.

I'm just wondering how many times he failed and it wasn't included in the final edit.

[lampet]

Just watched some of his Deception with Keith Barry videos on YouTube. How does he do it????

[Garrette]

Wiffle dust.

[Joey McGee]

People like to whine about not being shown the trick but it would be immoral to teach the public this stuff

[steve s]

Last week's show was pretty good. He didn't suggest anything was paranormal. He explained how it was all done by being observant or planting suggestions into peoples' minds.

But this week he said "Some psychics are con artists." Some? And then later he said to several women, "You're more psychic than you realize." After he said that I was waiting for him to come back and say "There's really nothing psychic about it. Here's how I did it." Alas, no such luck.

Steve S.

[thaiboxerken]

I know I've convinced people they are psychic, and then when I try to explain that it was a trick, they don't believe me............

[Brown]

I watched the video. Some of the effects are so basic that explaining them would lead to disappointment. You mean THAT'S all there is to it?

I should say that one of the "secrets" used in the video MIGHT be different from what many other performers use to perform similar effects. If I were to describe the different secret, though, the reaction would be pretty much the same: You mean THAT'S all there is to it?

And remember, the "secret" is only part of the trick. In conjuring in general, and in mentalism in particular, the presentation is usually what really sells a simple trick as an honest-to-goodness mind-blower.

[eeyore1954]

Last week's show was pretty good. He didn't suggest anything was paranormal. He explained how it was all done by being observant or planting suggestions into peoples' minds.

But this week he said "Some psychics are con artists." Some? And then later he said to several women, "You're more psychic than you realize." After he said that I was waiting for him to come back and say "There's really nothing psychic about it. Here's how I did it." Alas, no such luck.

Steve S.

But does he do it by being observant and planting suggestions. My son loves the show and thinks it is all that way. I told him I think some of it is suggestion. some of it selective editing and some of it is other tricks.

[Garrette]

But does he do it by being observant and planting suggestions. My son loves the show and thinks it is all that way. I told him I think some of it is suggestion. some of it selective editing and some of it is other tricks.Very little is planting suggestions, for Keith Barry or any other mentalist you see.

[Brown]

Very little is planting suggestions, for Keith Barry or any other mentalist you see.I suspect Garrette might agree that mentalists use suggestions, though, but perhaps not in the way many people would understand them.

Al Koran's classic "The Medallion" is based upon subtle suggestion. Basically, the audience makes a selection (such as a three-digit number) that the performer could not possibly know in advance. Then the performer produces a small jewel case and opens it, showing a medallion inside. The medallion is shown to the audience, and the audience can see there is engraved writing on one side.

A representative from the audience is asked to come up on stage, take the medallion from the jewel case, turn it over, and read what is inscribed on the obverse side. The representative does so, and it turns out to be the very thing selected by the audience, the very thing that the performer could not possibly know in advance!

Without giving away the secret, part of the punch of the trick is due to the subtle suggestion that because the item in question is a MEDALLION and the writing on the front of the medallion is ENGRAVED, the thing inscribed on the back must ALSO be engraved....

Some mentalists also use suggestions to say things that are untrue, like, "I never even TOUCHED the book, did I?" or "The two of you were on opposite sides of the room the WHOLE time, weren't you?" Many spectators cannot remember that these statements are not strictly correct, but the suggestion cements the mystery in their minds.

That said, I agree with Garrette's general statement that most mentalists do not work by planting suggestions "Inception"-style, in the sense that they tell the subject what to think, and then the subject thinks he came up with the idea on his own. As I understand, Keith Barry tries to convey the impression that this is what he does.

[Garrette]

I agree with Brown.