So, Epic Win got me thinking. There must be good ways to do an entertaining stage show, using memory skills. The whole barcode thing would be cool, and then there's this awesome performance by Penn and Teller, which obviously isn't really a memory trick, but it could be. It'd work with a paintball gun, two easels, a blindfold and a big long tube full of blue and red paintballs.
What other cool things could I do that aren't just standing on a stage and reciting pi for sixteen hours? Because that's just not xtreme enough for modern tastes, apparently.
You could remember how to ride a motorised scooter, that's an Epic Win apparently...
ReplyDelete(you were robbed.)
I agree, Ben.
ReplyDeleteStage performance is such an interesting area.
And the challenge is to present it at everyone's level of daily life.
I watched the BBC iPlayer and I watched how they made you a human barcode scanner. It was humourous and related to everyday life. I thought it was excellent.
The only thing I am not so keen on, from a performer point of view, is that the mystery of how it is done is removed. I know it's good to advertise memory techniques but the Brazilian 'mystery cloak' concept is more my cup of tea.
Mmm... there's a part of me that long wondered whether you could present yourself on "Penn and Teller: Fool Us" with the trick being that there is no trick and you're simply that good at memorising the deck. (And, hey, the prize is a trip to Vegas - which is pretty much ideal for what you might spend prize money on!)
ReplyDeletePerhaps P or T could shuffle the deck themselves, then fan it out facing you, and you memorise the deck while they hold it. Then they blindfold you, then you recall.
I'd guess that you'd have to get good at spinning a story to cover your memorisation of the deck - then, perhaps, you could recite it forwards and backwards and give random access to "the card before" or "the card after".
Don't know whether there is going to be another series of Fool Us or not - if anything, I'd guess not. It always struck me as an enjoyably respectful show to its contestants whether they won or not.