Comment by roughly
3 days ago
Someone once described the secret to making magic as putting in far more effort than any reasonable person would, such that no reasonable person would think you'd done it the hard way.
3 days ago
Someone once described the secret to making magic as putting in far more effort than any reasonable person would, such that no reasonable person would think you'd done it the hard way.
It's also (approximately) Lawrence of Arabia; at least the same principle.
Lawrence puts out a match with his fingers as a showy trick. Someone else tries it, and cries out that it hurts, then asks what the trick is. He replies, "the _trick_, William Potter, is not _minding_ that it hurts."
And then in Prometheus that scene is used to emphasize the behavior of an android becoming mis-aligned with the crew and not minding the consequences of subsequent actions.
Never actually thought about it that way - so the Android feels pain overriding its own programming. Teaches itself to manage that pain
Lying about how tricks are done also is part of magic.
I would not rule out that he wetted his fingers before doing this trick, and, possibly, timed things correctly to rapidly transfer some water to the wick before his fingers got too hot.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leidenfrost_effect may be relevant)
The trick is that he has thick callouses and/or has burned the nerves in his fingers.
Teller, from Penn and Teller, I think https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller
See #2 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/teller-reveals-h...
That reminds me of the Ricky Jay article in the New Yorker. What an amazing guy! https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/04/05/ricky-jay-magi... It so worth the read and there's no paywall.
Do New Yorker articles older than a certain amount of time have no paywall? I never noticed.
I have a paywall there :(
I would cut my own finger if it's not from prestige.
:)
That theme certainly appears in The Prestige, but those words don't to the best of my recollection. I guess I'll leave it to you whether that merits a finger cut.
Penn & Teller, although someone else might've said that before them.
The Prestige says that (in as many words) in 2006. Someone probably said it before then.
The Lawrence of Arabia line is from the 1962 film. Perhaps there's an HN'r who knows an earlier variant.
https://old.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1ja9kdy/why_is_the_...