Exciting news! Today I will be having a live video chat with ace Portuguese superstar magician Luis de Matos – we will be talking about magic, psychology and teaching everyone the world’s greatest card trick.
Update: OK, all done, you can watch it and download here.
Richard Wiseman
Quirky mind stuff
Hi Richard!
I couldn’t not thank you for the awesome (almost) 59 minutes with Luis de Matos and for the nice time chatting! =)
I really admire your work and your dedication for it! It is so cool and interesting at the same time, so I love it! I’m gonna keep checking your blog, videos and stuff – and keep recomending it to my friends.
Thank you again, and see you in July in Portugal*
All my best,
Gabriela
P.S. hope you enjoyed Coimbra and Portugal! =)
And for Richard’s next trick … making all those stupid spam links disappear.
As for what I can contribute to a discussion of the topics covered by the video, well, I think this was the first time I’ve heard the story of how Richard got into psychology by not being good enough at magic, so that was interesting. The subject of how some people love knowing magical secrets and others hate knowing them is one that could be discussed in a lot more depth, and I might have one or two opinions to contribute to such a discussion (won’t do it here lest I ramble too much). Finally, I’ve dabbled in magic myself, and would love an opportunity to get my own routine recorded on video, but unfortunately I don’t really know how to get that opportunity (for one thing, I just don’t have any local friends who own and can operate a video camera).
Oh, and one more thing … someone should have written in to say: “Concerning Richard’s suggestion that we should lie about where we are, all of us in this Antarctic research station are far too responsible to do that.” (Or something.)
Dear Richard,
I’m afraid you misunderstood what Vernon said. But it is not completely your fault because Ganson didn’t describe the trick well at all.
Vernon (according to Ganson) described what the public was supposed to think, but you as magicians are NOT supposed to tell them what to think.
Another little (?) thing that Ganson didn’t reveal was that the trick was a bet. This imposes the public to take it seriously and think about it.
Now…will it happen what you said at the beginning of the trick: the only Ace, the only black card, etc.
But it should only happen in the spectator’s mind.
I hope you also understand that with money in play at the moment of the trick, it can only be done live.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Ciao,
P.G.
Dear Richard,
I’m afraid you misunderstood what Vernon said. But it is not completely your fault because Ganson didn’t describe the trick well at all.
Vernon (according to Ganson) described what the public was supposed to think, but you as magicians are NOT supposed to tell them what to think.
Another little (?) thing that Ganson didn’t reveal was that the trick was a bet. This imposes the public to take it seriously and think about it.
Now…will it happen what you said at the beginning of the trick: the only Ace, the only black card, etc.
But it should only happen in the spectator’s mind.
I hope you also understand that with money in play at the moment of the trick, it can only be done live.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Ciao,
P.G.
P.S.
So far Vernon was never caught to lie.
Can you prove otherwise?
If not I tend to claim that Vernon never lied on Magic matters.
Just finished watching your chat. I enjoyed it very much! It was amusing and informative. Do some more of these when you can.
Richard, do you have a good explanation why someone who has been following your puzzles for some months now, has never grasped what was your books about? I remember in the earlier times to start the actions to know that, yet, I ended never knowing that. My best explanation is that, the cover books are suspiciously reminiscent of self-help books against which I have anti-bodies, ironic since from what I could tell from your live with Luís de Matos, they while being that, appears to be the kind of books I could like, well rooted in scientific research, and most likely will be my next purchases… Do I fell here a joke played on the kinds of “me”?
Had I saw the “live” live, I had join my vote to the 9 card, still subverting the preconceived idea about what would be the chosen card, but at the same time, still giving strength to the idea that it is possible to foretell it (the king and the 9 were the most voted, weren’t?)… amazing because my choice steamed from the purpose of avoiding being “read”, and likely, the choice of others too. Apparently, that didn’t translated in a more unpredictable distribution of choices.
I’m happy you enjoyed the visit to my country. Had it been two months from now, and you could have promoted your books in the bigger book fair of Portugal.
Cheers,…
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you make a joke about “the book is called ’4 minutes’ in germany”.
accually I searched for the book on amazon and frankly, its not so wrong: the book here has the title “60 seconds”! oh boy…
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Hi Richard,
I enjoyed that and I was amused to see you do the card trick that some joker in the pub has been inflicting on us for some time. I couldn’t figure out how he did it.
Isn’t it funny how you can’t see a well done misdirect even when you are looking for it. Well at least I can’t.
Great fun, thanks again.
Ian, (a new fan)