I'm just curious if anybody knows of any effects that make you look smart,
(eg: magic square)
thanks,
-Alfie
(eg: magic square)
thanks,
-Alfie
I have some misgivings about this, and I'll illustrate why through (what else?) movies. Compare David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly with Uwe Bohl's Alone in the Dark. Compare Jeff Goldblum playing a revolutionary inventor with Tara Reid attempting to portray a scientist. Jeff actually looks, talks and acts like someone who could be a scientific genius. He's obviously a very well-educated and intelligent man in real life. Tara Reid on the other hand can't even pronounce Chile correctly.
Intelligence is not something you can fake. Trust me, I've known enough libertarians to know this is true.
You want to look smart? First, actually be smart. Then actually work your knowledge into the act. Know a little about a lot and most of the work is already done.
I understand what your saying however as magician's it's out job to lie - in one way or another.
And faking intelligence is one way to do this.
Does anybody have any real answers that directly answer my question,
thankyou
If you knew enough to be able to appear to be smart, you probably wouldn't have to ask this question.
You may not like our answers because we're not spoon feeding you, but Steer and I are giving you the answer that actually answers your question.
It's not the trick, it's how you present it. The way you talk, the words you use, the way you stand and present yourself. What kind of smart are you even going for? Nerdy smart? Suave smart? Sheldon Cooper? Leonard Hofstader? The Doctor? Mad scientist? Nutty Professor?
What are you actually trying to accomplish?
Let me break it down more, and I'll even include some tricks this time.
Book Test. Present it as knowing every book in the entire library. Or maybe present it as the ability to read a book in moments and know the entire thing. Maybe you know the book to a mathematical degree where you can tell by how many pages they've flipped and the positioning of their head which word they are looking at.
PATEO Force. Present it as knowing human psychology so well you know what they'll end up picking. Present it as knowing behavior so well you know how to guide it to choose what you want them to. Present it as just knowing everything so you already knew what they'd choose. Present it as a mathematics thing where there's X percentage they'll take X, Y or Z object.
Russian Roulette, but use Acid instead of a knife/pointy thing. Claim to have created the acid. Use all the previous claims on behavior, psychology or statistics.
Rope Magic. Talk about String Theory but don't sound boring.
As I understand it, you've got a lot of performance time under your belt. You should understand what we're saying here.
I think you guys are misunderstanding what he's asking. he's not trying to seem like an intelligent or articulate person. He wants tricks that make it seem like you have some incredible mathematical skill or memory. Brian Brushwood's show scamschool has a few good ones like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5MVEXbBji4 and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al7PllobwR4
Harry Lorrayne used to teach memory classes and has written books on memory. One of the things he did as a demonstration of his abilities was give a student a deck to shuffle. He would then very quickly look through the deck at each card. He would then have the student pick a card. By looking through the deck he would see which card was missing and name their card. Anyone on these boards should be able to figure out the method, but the real trick was that Harry was established as a memory expert, so his performance was believable.
This is the problem with most mentalism performances - there is no believability in that the performer doesn't have the knowledge or life experience to make the performance anything other than a trick.
I've seen the magic square performed amazingly bt Lennhart Green and I've seen it performed like a cheap trick by performers that who try to use the trick to make them intelligent. The trick doesn't make the magician, the magician makes the trick.
As Christopher said, there are different types of "smart." From the nutty professor to the geek to the savant. There are also different types of skills that you can demonstrate There are books on how to do mathematical equations in your head amazingly fast. There are memorization demonstrations (see the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" for an insight to the national memory championships).
If I was to do something to demonstrate intelligence, I would mirror my character off of Ella the Harpie fron the Percy Jackson books (although using a this character for an Axtell puppet in my kids show would work better). The question that has to be answered is "how did you become that smart"? Otherwise you are just another kid doing tricks.
Ordered the book today, great insights.
Great idea by Harry, very clever indeed.
That whooshing noise you hear is probably the point going over your head.
Seriously, what kind of smart are you looking to come across as? Or are you one of those types who thinks that all smart people are the same person?