Editor's Blog1 min ago
Russian Roulette
Derren Brown has started looking for people to participate in his live stunt coming up in the autumn where he will paly Russian Roulette with a loaded gun. Im of the opinion that hes a fantastic entertainer and amazing at what he does but this is one stunt too far. Its irresponsible and in poor taste. Any opinions?
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I didn't know about this, but I can't for the life of me see the connection between Russian Roulette and his mind reading. As far as I can tell, he needs a human to be able to make his predictions, but an inanimate object surely wont be able to give off any of those tiny muscle movements etc that he uses to "read" people.
I'm sure he must know what he is doing, at least I hope he does!
It is no doubt very clever the way he is able to 'read' minds and influence by autosuggestion and so on (or at least appear to), but at the end of the day he's no different to any other magician or illusionist, but perhaps with a bit of psychology thrown in. To that end, the russian roulette stunt doesn't seem any more irresponsible or in poor taste than sawing someone in half or sticking swords through them etc. I certainly don't think it will encourage any copycat incidents; I think programmes such as 'Jackass' and Dirty Sanchez are far more likely to encourage self harm!
all fair points, maybe Im over-reacting, he certainly is much ,ore impressive than your average illusionist to watch, especially live. I just feel that firing a loaded gun at your head is a bit more of an issue than inserting a retracting sword into an empty box. ...Saying that Im still gonna watch it!!!!!
D. Brown obviously has the gag already worked out, he's no stupid, is he. Remember the guy who caught bullets in his teeth? Hans Moretti. We don't actually believe he caught bullets in his teeth, do we? No of course not, and Brown won't be doing exactly as he claims either.. or maybe he is going to take a 1in5 gamble with his life, yea, i don't think so. :-) - anycase, this is an old trick, which can be bought for �750, i bet he makes more than that at the show. http://www.taurusmagic.net/illusions.html
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I reckon it's certain to be a miss (groan).
Actually there is a theory that Russian roulette is safer than it appears. Apart from the odds being five to one against, the chamber with the bullet in is heavier and so should drop below the breech chamber when spun freely and horizontally. Now, if only the science teacher who told me this could have been persuaded to try it........
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The only problem with the science teachers theory is that its wrong. A revolver does not allow the cylinder to spin freely, it has a ratchet rather like the Wheel of Fortune and therefore gravity will not just pull it down. In a bored moment I proved to myself that it really is a one in six chance unless you practice repeating the spin speed with the same start position. So thats teachers for you, never seen the real world, theory based ******* to impressionable children. Hush puppies and cords, say no more. (not to mention that it would rely on having the gun exactly vertical every time even if he wasn't fundamentally wrong)
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