Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

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Bibliophage
Posts: 104
Joined: April 21st, 2008, 1:49 pm

Re: Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

Postby Bibliophage » November 20th, 2021, 11:42 am

Bill Mullins wrote:
Joe Lyons wrote:One could wait forever for a monkey locked in a room with a typewriter to produce Shakespeare.


Even if the monkey produces Shakespeare, no one would want to read it because when you lock a monkey in a room it will sh*t all over everything.


What you’re suggesting is that if you lock a monkey in a room long enough it will become a reviewer.

Joe Lyons
Posts: 874
Joined: November 13th, 2017, 8:27 am
Favorite Magician: Wonder
Location: Texas

Re: Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

Postby Joe Lyons » November 20th, 2021, 9:00 pm

Bibliophage wrote:
Bill Mullins wrote:
Joe Lyons wrote:One could wait forever for a monkey locked in a room with a typewriter to produce Shakespeare.


Even if the monkey produces Shakespeare, no one would want to read it because when you lock a monkey in a room it will sh*t all over everything.


What you’re suggesting is that if you lock a monkey in a room long enough it will become a reviewer.

That’s evolution.

I used to be a bibliophage, now I’m closer to a bibliophile.

That’s devolution.

MagicbyAlfred
Posts: 2388
Joined: June 7th, 2015, 12:48 pm
Favorite Magician: Bill Malone
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC

Re: Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 21st, 2021, 5:24 pm

I honestly don't know how far humans have evolved. All I really care about is that they go bananas over my tricks and find them highly a-peeling. [*Insert collective groans here __________________________]

Joe Mckay
Posts: 2026
Joined: April 13th, 2008, 6:56 am
Favorite Magician: Lubor Fiedler
Location: Durham, England

Re: Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

Postby Joe Mckay » November 28th, 2021, 11:31 pm

I wrote before about the role of the brain (producing dopamine hits) in creating the sensation of artistic pleasure.

Well - I think the brain produces a hit of dopamine when it recognises a rhyming couplet in a song or poem as well. That hit of dopamine is what makes most lyrics in songs feel beautiful.

And whilst on the topic of poetry - I will share a fascinating insight from the mathematician, Stanislaw Ulam:

"When I was a boy, I felt that the role of rhyme in poetry was to compel one to find the unobvious because of the necessity of finding a word which rhymes. This forces novel associations and almost guarantees deviations from routine chains or trains of thought. It becomes paradoxically a sort of automatic mechanism of originality."

MagicbyAlfred
Posts: 2388
Joined: June 7th, 2015, 12:48 pm
Favorite Magician: Bill Malone
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC

Re: Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

Postby MagicbyAlfred » November 29th, 2021, 7:44 am

I had never thought of or considered poetry in the way observed by Ulam, but he has struck a chord. I am reminded that about 10-15 years ago I wrote a rhyming routine and patter for the Professor's Nightmare (which I called "Poetic Nightmare"). It wasn't half bad either, now that I think of it, but although I did memorize it, regrettably, I never tried the routine out. Now I will probably be spending half the day today trying to unearth it.

Edward Pungot
Posts: 922
Joined: May 18th, 2011, 1:55 am

Re: Opinions on Derren Brown quote?

Postby Edward Pungot » November 29th, 2021, 9:19 am

Regarding Professor's Nightmare.
Hollingworth's Nightmare
in Genii Magazine is worth a look
September 1999 (Vol. 62 No. 9).
Kaufman says, it's worth the
price of a book.

Regarding Poems.
Barrie Richardson recommends this approach of reciting a favorite poem to accompany a favorite relevant piece of magic. And if pressed for time, just recite the poem or close with a poem.


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