"
A wonderful brain interprets something differently from what it actually is, but it doesn't mean it's made a mistake. It took the information it had and did it's best job." Those are but two tricks from
Jerry Andrus (1918-2007), self-taught magician and illusionist, and
one of great renown amongst
other magicians. But he was more than a slight-of-hand man: he was also
a poet, philosopher, inventor, humanist, agnostic, and skeptic. There are an impressive number of videos of him online, these are but a few to get you started down the rabbit hole:
Jerry Andrus is visual poetry (Google video /
YT, 28 minutes) ::
Jerry Andrus at the Magic Castle (G.vid, 49 min),
Jerry Andrus at 83 his Optical Illusions (G.vid, 41 min) ::
Jerry Andrus and Ray Hyman on Uri Geller (YT, 26 min) ::
James Randi on Jerry Andrus (YT, 5 min) ::
James Randi - who was Jerry Andrus? ::
James Randi describes Jerry Andrus. The last two clips are from
Rex Young, a young illusionist who has recreated many of Andrus' illusions on his
YouTube channel, and
made some of his own.
posted by filthy light thief
on Sep 12, 2011 -
25 comments
He invented or popularized a startling array of the fundamental elements of film: the dissolve, the fade-in and fade-out, slow motion, fast motion, stop motion, double exposures and multiple exposures, miniatures, the in-camera matte, time-lapse photography, color film (albeit hand-painted), artificial film lighting, production sketches and storyboards, and the whole idea of narrative film.
By 1897, in a studio of his own design and construction – the first complete movie studio – his hand forged virtually everything on his screen. Norman McLaren writes, "He was not only his own producer, ideas man, script writer, but he was his own set-builder, scene painter, choreographer, deviser of mechanical contrivances, special effects man, costume designer, model maker, actor, multiple actor, editor and distributor." Also, his own cinematographer, and the inventor of cameras to suit his special conceptions. Not even auteur directors such as Charles Chaplin, Orson Welles, John Cassavetes, and Stanley Kubrick would personally author so many aspects of their films."
Inside: 57 films by Georges Méliès, the
Grandfather of Visual Effects.
[more inside]
posted by Paragon
on Feb 3, 2010 -
31 comments
Everybody loves Zombies. Everybody loves killing Zombies. Nobody wants to suddenly wake up surrounded by Zombies. Not when you thought you were just playing a
video game.
posted by Elmore
on Feb 18, 2007 -
40 comments
