Derren Brown's Blog, page 6

Derren Brown wins Best Entertainment and Family Award

“Derren Brown has tonight collected the second Olivier Award of his career, winning for his mind-boggling West End hit Svengali in the Best Entertainment and Family Award category.

The entertainer and master of psychological trickery was first recognised by the most prestigious of theatre awards in 2006 for his second West End outing Something Wicked This Way Comes. Since then the television star has appeared on stage in shows Mind Reader – An Evening Of Wonders and Derren Brown – Enigma before returning with Svengali, arguably his darkest show to date, last summer.

When it was announced earlier this year that the show will return to the West End for a limited run this July, Brown spoke of his love of performing in the theatre, saying: “I enjoy the stage shows more than anything else. Live on stage is the best place for what I do: it’s unpredictable and the audience knows there’s no possibility of judicious editing.”

Audiences were indeed baffled by the unbelievable tricks and wonders on show in Svengali, but also thoroughly entertained by Brown’s natural showmanship that had the audience not only shaking with fear but with laughter too.

The acclaimed production was co-written by Brown and long-term collaborators Iain Sharkley and Stephen Long, and directed by Polly Findlay.”

Via Olivier Awards

Video: Svengali – London 2012

If anyone missed the announcement, Svengali returns to the West End for 27 performances only in 2012.

Tickets are available here: Novello Theatre, London

Announcement from the DB Blog Team

It's come to our attention that some fans have received phone calls from people claiming to be us, informing people they have won tickets to Svengali.

We'd just like to make it clear that these calls are fraudulent and not anyone from the DB Blog team.

If you receive these calls, please pop an email through to admin@derrenbrown.co.uk with as much detail as possible so we can look into this for you.

You will never receive any phone calls from myself (Abeo), Dupin or Exeo.

When we do run competitions then contact comes via the official @derrenbrown.co.uk email addresses.

If in doubt please contact me via Twitter or Facebook for confirmation.

Second largest aquarium in the world is rather stunning

Kyle Hill from Science-Based life says about this:

"This is the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. After the World's Fair in Okinawa, Japan, this massive aquarium was opened in 2002 to keep the tourism to the city alive.

The main tank called the "Kuroshio Sea" holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world's second largest acrylic glass panel (an incredible 24 inches thick!). Whale sharks and manta rays are kept amongst many other fish species in the main tank.

Suffice it to say that any fish tank that can hold the largest fish on Earth is pretty amazing. Seeing such giants up close must be as close to a spiritual experience as a godless heathen like me could get."

I don't think we could handle the first biggest aquarium in the world….

Thanks to Kyle from Science-Based life.

Website Survey: Last Chance!

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If you haven't yet filled out our website survey, you are running out of time to do so!

This is your chance to play a part in the reshaping of the derrenbrown.co.uk website and, as a little thank you, you can enter a prize-draw for a signed treat from DB.

Head over here: http://bit.ly/GFE2qe and be as honest as possible!

Thanks!

 

DB Store: 2012 Mugs and Signed Brochures In Stock

For those who haven't seen, the Derren Brown Store reopened at the start of the year.

http://derrenbrown.co.uk/store/

We've recently added Signed Svengali Brochures (They've all been signed by Derren on their front cover in silver pen). We don't often get these in stock so if you want one, grab one while you can.

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We've also got a new limited edition 2012 Svengali mug:

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Pop over to the store to check out our other merchandise, including T-Shirts, Posters, DVD's and more.

http://derrenbrown.co.uk/store/

Svengali returns to the West End for 27 performances only

SPECIAL BLOG PRE SALE TICKETS GO ON SALE THURSDAY 22ND MARCH AT 10AM, LINK WILL APPEAR HERE AT 10AM

TICKETS GO ON GENERAL SALE THIS FRIDAY 23RD MARCH AT 10AM

"A baffling, bamboozling and beautifully bewitching display of devilry. When it comes to eye-popping illusions Brown is the only game in town"

****Evening Standard

Be prepared for a theatrical roller-coaster ride as the acknowledged master of psychological illusion returns to the West End with his 2012 Oliver-nominated show DERREN BROWN: SVENGALI. This is the last chance to see the sell-out live show that has mesmerized the nation, performing in over 150 venues

SVENGALI will reside at the Novello Theatre from July 12 – Aug 11 2012.

Derren, who professes that he loves writing and performing on stage more than anything else, says:

""I enjoy the stage shows more than anything else. This one is fun, dark, funny, freaky. Live on stage is the best place for what I do: it's unpredictable, and the audience knows there's no possibility of judicious editing. Plus we've put in new material for this year and the show has grown and changed on the road more than any other."

Svengali is written by Derren Brown and Iain Sharkey with Stephen Long and produced by Michael Vine, Andrew O'Connor & Corrie McGuire for Objective Talent Management.

SPECIAL BLOG PRE SALE TICKETS GO ON SALE THURSDAY 22ND MARCH AT 10AM, LINK WILL APPEAR HERE AT 10AM

TICKETS GO ON GENERAL SALE THIS FRIDAY 23RD MARCH AT 10AM

Teller talks about the science that makes the magic possible

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Teller, the mute half of the wonderful magicial duo Penn & Teller talks about the science that makes the magic possible. On Smithsonianmag.com you can read an article by Teller's hand on the deception he uses in his magic acts. Those who find their root in the neurological tricks that fool our brains that make a subtle exploitation of our evolutionary origins into an art-form. The magician's skill, Teller says, is understanding and utilizing this for their devious plans to continually surprise you;

"But magic's not easy to pick apart with machines, because it's not really about the mechanics of your senses. Magic's about understanding—and then manipulating—how viewers digest the sensory information."

We can certainly recommend the article to anyone interested in magic and the hidden science behind it, but especially to aspiring magicians who would like to know more about what really makes this amazing craft tick and would like to learn from one of the best.

Once you've read the excellent article you can dispel another illusion, by listening to Teller himself talk about his article on the NPR podcast. And what a lovely voice he has, miracle indeed. Don't forget that Derren has a book out where he makes similar… confessions of a conjurer.

Dust devil on Mars

[image error] NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

You thought we were the only planet to have wind and dirt? No way. With the HiRISE camera, short for the High Resolution Imaging Experiment that is fitted in a satellite that orbits the red planet, NASA scientists have snapped a pretty amazing snapshot off of the surface of Mars. What you can see in the picture above — bigger version on this link or by clicking the picture — is a whirling column of Mars-dust 800 meters (or half a mile) long, casting a shadow on the surface. It's not Martians inventing fire or sending smoke signals, if that's what you're thinking, Mars is an arid wasteland with only the theoretical possibility of microscopic life underneath it's frozen soil.

Mars is the fourth furthest planet out from the sun and hovers on the outer reaches of what we call the Goldilocks, or Habitable Zone around our star, which ought be the most optimal region of orbit for life as we know it. However, the planet is only about half the diameter of Earth and therefore has a measly 10% of the mass that we have, causing the planet to have but a third of the gravity we are used to, which makes maintaining an atmosphere of any kind pretty difficult, as atmospheric gasses simply slowly leak into space. Not to mention the fact that the planet is close to dead in a geological sense, which means it's inner core is not producing a very strong magnetic field, which we do have on Earth and blocks harmful solar x-rays. Meaning that any Earth-creature living on Mars would slowly be killed by radiation.

That's not all. Since that thin atmosphere on Mars is in fact 95% carbon dioxide, yet not thick enough to warm it to much above- 60 °C, you can imagine the planet is not very habitable to us regardless or it's permanent fatal shower of solar radiation. However, it is very amenable to robotic research and may still show evidence of microbial life from an earlier era when the planet was much warmer. That's the reason there are currently so many robots driving around or orbiting the planet, sending these stunning pictures back.

What we learn about other planets always teaches us something about earth and ourselves. For example, research conducted by the new Mars Science Laboratory rover, now well into it's fourth month of travel with five more to go, could tell us if the inception of life is a rare event, or if it happens everywhere when the conditions are right, even for a geological instant. Finding life could even imply we are all Martians, since microbes could theoretically hitch a ride from Mars to Earth on rocks hurled our way from cataclysmic asteroid-impacts or volcanic eruptions, which were very common on Mars in the distant past.

So, look at that picture for a moment and reflect on the vastness and beauty of our amazing universe. And when you see some dust whirling around you can stop and think; "…there are also dust devils on Mars".

8 minutes of stunning deep ocean mysteries and wonders

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We love the natural world here at DerrenBlog, so here's another wonderful video on the wonders and as of yet unexplored beauty of our oceans. It covers over 70% of the planet and is on average 2 miles deep, yet we've only explored a measly 5% of it. This is odd because the oceans are involved in such a huge part of our lives.

Take 8 minutes to marvel at a tiny percentage of the beautiful creatures and mysterious oddities we have already found there. Would you like some underwater river with that?