Category Archives: magic

Grant Morrison documentary

Fear draws out creativity – telling ourselves a story that we made up can be soothing. When we share our stories they go from sublime-to-mundane.

Good writers manage to capture some element of the sublime experience and convey it. Dragging some element of magic along in their prose.

Some writers make us feel more sublime than we have lived or experienced – their words point to something we can only imagine at that moment. Some rare writers create new possibilities by writing them into existence.

That’s Grant Morrison.

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Filed under art, communication, documentary, drugs, fashion, forbidden fruit, juxtaposition, learning, magic, rhetoric

Boris Wild mocking the genre

I was very impressed with Boris Wild performing a stunning card / mentalist trick on Penn & Teller’s Fool Us. I think the trick threads the boundaries of the genre of magic (don’t disclose how a trick was done) with the fabric of the trick itself. To position yourself as a meta-magician (which becomes more evident when he is describing how he thought of the trick with Alyson Hanigan).

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Filed under juxtaposition, magic, rhetoric

Ricky Jay: cons, cards and the correctly structured drama

I guess it’s Ricky Jay day here at Life of refinement.  There are several great moments in this Ricky Jay video.  My favorite was the description of conning by David Mamet at 39:00:

“The idea that intelligent people, such as you and me, can be deprived of our hard-earned money and self respect by the correct . . . by a correctly structured drama.”

A correctly structured drama indeed.  Stick around for the poker lesson at the end.

 

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Filed under art, communication, gambling, magic

Ricky Jay: card magic

Thanks to the forums at waxidermy for the link.

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Filed under communication, gambling, magic

Amazing Randi


Wonderful kickstarter to help fund a documentary on the Amazing Randi.  Drop ’em some cash.  For reason, inquiry and love.

Thanks to boing boing for the link.

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Filed under documentary, Gay, magic, representation