Just finished watching the show. I’m not sure how to sum up how I feel about it other than I really did not care for it. Should I skip the podcast?
1 Like
No!
3 Likes
Interesting. I would very much like to hear your opinions more fleshed out.
3 Likes
I would also love to flesh out @BigJake.
4 Likes
Takes takes takes!
1 Like
It was mentioned on the pod but a perfect club on “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” would be awesome because I feel like a lot of people would absolutely hate it.
2 Likes
I would listen to an hour-long podcast talking about the “Nobody”. That was the moment that absolutely crushed me. Did that guy ever consider sitting down once he saw what was going on? What’s life like now that he’s known as a (self-proclaimed) nobody.
So many questions.
6 Likes
Even if the rest of this is bullshit, I don’t see how you could watch that part and not feel something.
3 Likes
That was the one point where I really got emotional. Throughout most of the rest of it I felt like this is some insider TED Talk that I’m not sophisticated enough to understand. Although I think part of that is he starts the whole thing off by saying most people are too dumb to understand this which puts you in that mindset from the start.
1 Like
I should start by saying I don’t think it was bad art, I just didn’t like it. There’s an important difference and I don’t want the rest of my post to come off wrong.
HOWEVA
The whole show was very deliberate and heavy handed. Personally, I don’t find the “Who am I?” question to be thought provoking. Maybe I’ve ingested too many “substances” in my life but his thought exercise feels lifted from an Intro to Philosophy textbook. I also wasn’t into the overt manipulation. The spiel he lays on the audience member before they open their letter got an eye roll from me. He could have just said, “This is the part where I need you to cry”. The magic tricks were fun and well done, but I was let down by the climax of the show. I know it’s supposed to be an emotional climax but it didn’t land for me.
The show still made me think (which is why it’s not “bad”), although not in the way I think was intended. I watched it with my mom and we both felt the same way. Paraphrasing her,
“I was waiting the whole show for him to shoot himself but I left disapointed”
9 Likes
100% agree with this. I wonder if any of this would change seeing this in person rather than watching it at home on my couch but I don’t feel that it would at this point.
1 Like
Definitely think it would hit different in person and I think the show’s success speaks to that. Just going through the thought process of actually picking your card and being committed to the show would enhance the experience.
1 Like
I can see that. It’s harder to buy in when you’re just watching people go through the process rather than taking part
1 Like
I was listening to Doug Bensons podcast and he got to be Mr Tomorrow and walked through what the stage show was like. He said he went a few times and picked a different name tag each time and of course was correctly guessed at the end.
Overall, at least for me, I think if you were able to be present in the show and not think about running the brick to a street corner each night, it served an overall purpose of self examination and camaraderie with your fellow man. The world is a fucked up place and wasting your time judging yourself and others on a single notion isn’t worthwhile. We all have faults, just choose to be the dog and not the wolf.
6 Likes
Yeah I think this is exactly right. Also I 100% think being there in person would make a huge difference - the final setpiece where he’s going through the crowd, it would have to be so much different if you’d picked a card, thought about your card, then he goes through the auditorium one by one and then says your card to your face. That has to be so much more impactful than us sitting on our couch watching him say Bill Gates’s card or whatever.
What’s the best way to subscribe to Esquire? I’m very in on anything Penn and Teller. Bullshit was one of my favorite shows ever and I get almost inappropriately too into Fool Us.
Magic is insanely cool and I 100% love DJ’s take that you have to be totally nuts to get into it because there is such a fine line between being a weirdo who does card tricks and being so talented that you sell out shows.
With music or comedy you can at least get away with being quasi bad. Making the jump from having a magic kit to being Criss Angel is incomprehensible.
1 Like
Google the article and go through the link in Longform’s website. For some reason it lets you read it that way
2 Likes
I assume this is the NYT Magazine piece mentioned on the pod. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/magazine/derek-delgaudio-the-magician-who-wants-to-break-magic.html
This line about the “Letter Trick” stood out to me.
As DelGaudio put it, “My goal is to get you to the point where it’s easier to believe that a miracle happened than the truth of what we actually did.”
1 Like
Totally forgot about this guy then he popped up on this season of Hell’s Kitchen. Apparently the Mindfreak is still doing his thing
1 Like
Wife and I just finished this…i don’t even know what to say at this point.
4 Likes