Cool Magic Tricks: magic mind tricks

Friday, 28 December 2012

Magic Mind Tricks

Magic Mind Tricks Biography

Jared Harris, “Mad Men” (AMC): Watching “Mad Men” usually makes me feel like I’m near the end of a five-martini lunch. You get a nice buzz, but you also feel a little bit sleepy. Harris’ performance as the doomed Lane Pryce certainly stirred things up, offering viewers a man slowly sinking into a spiral of shame. Richard Harris famously never won an Oscar or an Emmy. Let’s hope the awards gods don’t make the same mistake with his son.

Lenny Pickett, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC): I’m not sure who’s most responsible for “SNL’s” great musical moments this year, but let’s go ahead and give credit to the underappreciated Pickett, who has served as the show’s musical director since 2000. From Mick Jagger’s touching farewell serenade to Kristen Wiig to Martin Short’s star-studded ode to holiday hormones earlier this month, Pickett & Co. have hit all the right notes.

Aaron Sorkin, “The Newsroom” (HBO): The man with the golden touch, not to mention an Oscar for “The Social Network,” is primed for a letdown, but this dramedy shouldn’t be it. Yes, the series could be cloying and even ridiculous at times, but more often than not, Sorkin’s dialogue rang out with romantic overtones and optimistic fervor. Realistic? No way. Rousing? You bet.

Tim Van Patten, “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO): In the late 1970s, Van Patten’s TV legacy consisted of playing a guy named Salami on “The White Shadow.” Today, he’s heralded by film historian David Thomson as possibly the most important director of his generation. Hear that, Spielberg? Van Patten helmed the handsomely shot “Boardwalk Empire” four times in 2012. He’s also put his mark on “The Sopranos,” “Rome,” “Deadwood” and “The Wire.” Not bad for a guy with a mediocre jump shot.

Magic Mind Tricks

science magic tricks

Science Magic Tricks Biography

There are historical records of people using the names of saints and various religious incantations to try to drive rats out of cities and towns across Europe. Also, there are reports of people “rhyming” them to death or using bagpipes to drive them away. Sometime between the 11th and 14th centuries, the position of “apothecary” arose, and these people specialized in all sorts of medicines and poisons. There is a section in Chaucer’s Pardner’s Tale (1387 A.D.) detailing the purchase of something from an apothecary for “rattons quell,” meaning “rats kill.”

Modern day barbers are also ancestors of pest control personnel. The profession of barber-surgeon was originally a branch of medicine and they were often assigned to armies during wars to perform battle surgeries. Even today, the red and white barber pole represents the blood and bandages originally associated with barber-surgeons. Eventually, during the 14th century, an official Guild of Barber-Surgeons was formed which, through time, enacted increasingly stricter educational and professional standards, eventually leading surgery to a more respectable profession. The barbers were thus left behind to shave men, cut or dye hair, and dispense nostrums and ratsbane, among other activities. During the Middle Ages, the ratsbane seller was a street and market vendor who sold a variety of chemicals and rodent traps. A little later, this developed into a profession called the “rat catcher.” Rat catchers were colorful figures often dressed in fancy clothing who appeared at county fairs and marketplaces performing juggling acts, story-telling and magic tricks. Perhaps the most famous rat catcher story is Robert Browning’s 1842 version of the much older Pied Piper of Hamelin story, in which the rat catcher agrees — for a fee — to drive a plague of rats into the Weser River. When he doesn’t get paid, he entices the children of the town away by the sounds of his pipe.

Magic Mind Tricks