First of all, this will be very different from most of the Penguin LIVE lectures you will purchase.
The reason is that for you to appreciate, to TRULY appreciate this lecture, you will either be a
very advanced student of this craft, or a VERY open-minded individual who is ready to take his/her
performances to the next tier. If you are said student, this will be the best three hours of wisdom
you will purchase all year.
The lecture goes into great detail about Derren's thoughts on
his TV and stage shows, the type of planning that is necessary to pull off some of his incredible
feats, as well as the creative process that gives birth to his singular style of performance.
Moreover, Derren describes how his own life philosophy impacts his unique skill set - to me, this
was the greatest "secret" that will inspire me to truly elevate my craft.
The last 45
minutes were actually what I liked the least, but I do see why Dan pushed the lecture in this
direction. These minutes were loosely dappled with "practical/tangible" advice, but were actually
pretty useless (anyone who is purchasing this lecture and hopes to gain anything from it should
already be well versed in these methods: thus, hearing textbook methods from a genius who doesn't
care much to emphasize methodology in this lecture is not much better than re-reading them in
print). Nevertheless, even the last third of the lecture contained gems of knowledge, including
Derren's real-life experience improvising some of his most creative miracles, and how we might
expect to do the same.
All in all, what you get from this lecture is brilliant, surprising
insight from the most influential "mentalist" of our time. It takes an aspiring student of a
particular caliber to absorb everything flowing out from his mind - I for one, am nowhere near
discovering all of the hidden nuggets of gold yet to be found on further watches of this lecture.
6/5 had there been an option.
"First of all, this will be very different from most of the Penguin LIVE lectures you will purchase."
Yes, it's very different from every other Penguin live lecture.
It's not live.
It's not a lecture.
"The reason is that for you to appreciate, to TRULY appreciate this lecture, you will either be a very advanced student of this craft, or a VERY open-minded individual who is ready to take his/her performances to the next tier."
Does everyone get what Robert is trying to say here? ... those who criticize this lecture don't truly appreciate it because they're not very advanced or they're not an open-minded person ready to go to the next level.
See, it's YOUR fault for having criticisms.
Well, nice try Robert. Unfortunately, you're embarrassing yourself trying to make excuses for this interview. Go learn a little about logical fallacies before you try to argue a point again. Pay particular attention to the "No true Scotsman" fallacy.
Thank you for your comments -
I by no means think that people who criticize this lecture are faulted, and I think you make a great point about the apparent fallacy in my review. People expected to see methods revealed, and they didn't get that: understood.
The difference between your experience and my experience with this penguin live is that I got more than my money's worth, and you got nothing (or if anything, a few missed lunches). See the difference? You have a choice as to whether or not you want to take to heart the sage advice that is being offered by Derren, or if you prefer to wallow in the lack of reveealed tricks. Derren literally tells you everything YOU NEED TO BE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL YOU. This was the first penguin live lecture I have purchased SPECIFICALLY because I guessed it would be in a format no book or DVD could mimic. I am sorry that you felt it wasn't worth your money, but I certainly am thrilled with the purchase!
If you are a verified buyer I'm happy to chat in more detail about what I found most valuable from my first two run throughs
Cheers,
R
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. How can you criticize what we think??? You can't tell us our opinion is wrong... BUMP
There is something fundamentally flawed with the statement that Robert Chen from San Jose made: "The reason is that for you to appreciate, to TRULY appreciate this lecture, you will either be a very advanced student of this craft, or a VERY open-minded individual who is ready to take his/her performances to the next tier." So if one is neither an advanced mentalist nor magician, notwithstanding just being casually open-minded, then ONE WILL NOT GET MR. BROWN! Quite a bold statement Mr. Chen.
I do not think that being in the ADVANCED LEVEL was a pre-requisite, much less being VERY open-minded and ready to take one's performance to the next tier to appreciate Mr. Brown's talk. And by the way, how many tiers are there, truly? And how many of us, here, supporters of Penguin's business is about to sign a TV contract for a mentalist or magic act with, let's say, the local TV station if not CBS or FOX, really?
As far as I see it from reading Mr. Chen's review of the show, had Mr. Brown used up 3 hours to talk about his diet disciplines and exercise routines, Mr. Chen would still be awed with the show and would still take that to be one of the wisdoms of the ages if not the only one!
Hi Icarus,
Thanks for your message. I love discussions, especially if they are productive. However, with your remarkably childish comment near the end about diet and exercise, you are clearly not here for productive discussion. If you want to chat about the lecture, let me know and I can send you my email - we can chat there. If you want to talk about diets, go watch Dr. Oz.
Cheers,
Rob
Hi MidnightBlue,
I think you misread the last bit of my (sarcastic) comment. What I meant was that whatever topic Derren Brown brings up, Robert Chen from San Jose would take it as wisdom regardless.
I also gave my two cents review of Derren Brown's show in the general forum among the 90+ or so critics to date.
Cheers, cheers!
Hi Ic,
I think we are both intelligent enough to know when you are being sarcastic, when it is that blatant. My point is that I enjoy discussing magic with people who are also here to discuss magic, not people who are here to discuss other people's reviews (unless the review contains misleading, false, or otherwise offensive content as it relates to the purchase). Glad you chipped in your two cents, as have I. At the end of the day, my review isn't worth more than that.
So again, if you want to discuss the magic, would be happy to!
Cheers,
R
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