Watch Episode Two and leave a comment.
This week, Ning put's a n*** up her n*** and Kyle Ravin does some freak magic. Do not try this at home. Just because I'm somewhat medically trained doesn't mean I'll let you try it at my home.
I've been doing magic for about eight years now, on and off. There's a ton of stuff I've learnt from the process but if there's one thing I want to talk about today, it's the whole skepticism business.
I cannot believe in the supernatural anymore. Simply cannot. Once you become an insider, the person behind the magic, and you see how it's done, it challenges your idea of "impossible". Imagine an object (a card, coin, elephant) disappearing and appearing in another location. Conventionally, it's not like a dance move where you can, in your mind, imagine some intermediate steps of doing this, then this and finally this. The whole point about magic is that there are no "intermediates" you can imagine and hence it takes your reasoning mind and smashes it against a brick wall.
Now when it comes to tales of the supernatural or miraculous events, for most people, it is their intellect being smashed against a brick wall. It's an exciting and emotional moment for those who've experienced it first (and second) hand. For us, however, we've had those "simulations" before and when someone tells us an incredible story, we smile knowingly. Even if we can't specifically figure out how the charlatan did it, we have a vague idea, and there's this awesome joy of knowing.
Does this mean we've lost our sense of wonder? Ill talk about this when the next episode comes out.
Read the previous post.
Update : The next post is out.
About the Project : Sinema is an independent arts company based here in Singapore. The arts scene here is beginning to flourish and Sinema did their part by coming up with SinTV, an online arts channel. M for Magic is their first installation featuring 14 local magicians. Here's their facebook page and main site.
Do your part by sharing this note with your friends.
Facebookers: Check out the rest of the blog here
This week, Ning put's a n*** up her n*** and Kyle Ravin does some freak magic. Do not try this at home. Just because I'm somewhat medically trained doesn't mean I'll let you try it at my home.
I've been doing magic for about eight years now, on and off. There's a ton of stuff I've learnt from the process but if there's one thing I want to talk about today, it's the whole skepticism business.
I cannot believe in the supernatural anymore. Simply cannot. Once you become an insider, the person behind the magic, and you see how it's done, it challenges your idea of "impossible". Imagine an object (a card, coin, elephant) disappearing and appearing in another location. Conventionally, it's not like a dance move where you can, in your mind, imagine some intermediate steps of doing this, then this and finally this. The whole point about magic is that there are no "intermediates" you can imagine and hence it takes your reasoning mind and smashes it against a brick wall.
Now when it comes to tales of the supernatural or miraculous events, for most people, it is their intellect being smashed against a brick wall. It's an exciting and emotional moment for those who've experienced it first (and second) hand. For us, however, we've had those "simulations" before and when someone tells us an incredible story, we smile knowingly. Even if we can't specifically figure out how the charlatan did it, we have a vague idea, and there's this awesome joy of knowing.
Does this mean we've lost our sense of wonder? Ill talk about this when the next episode comes out.
Read the previous post.
Update : The next post is out.
About the Project : Sinema is an independent arts company based here in Singapore. The arts scene here is beginning to flourish and Sinema did their part by coming up with SinTV, an online arts channel. M for Magic is their first installation featuring 14 local magicians. Here's their facebook page and main site.
Do your part by sharing this note with your friends.
Facebookers: Check out the rest of the blog here
