Derren Brown - Some sort of Devil God.

Wow! This was the 4th time I have seen the fabulous Mr Brown live and it was quite simply "The most impressive thing I have ever seen"

Even when you think he has lost control, he's just fucking with you. Even when you think you're asleep he's fucking with you. To summarise, Derren Brown, can fuck with you anytime he pleases. Oo Er.

A great performer, a great magician, a great story teller, a great comedian.

I hate him. I hate him in all the ways that women hate women that are prettier than they are. The only refuge I can take is that he is both taken and gay, although last night Derren, I think you may have "turned" me.

I won't talk about any of the funky tricks he does because some of you will still be going to see this devil-man in action. All I will say is WoW! Even if you have been following this man's career in the way I have for this long, he can STILL surprise you with just how fucking good he is.

I'm not joking, some sort of Devil-God.

The Science Festival in Brighton - Saturday 27th

This was brought to my attention by Marcus Chown on Twitter about a week ago and I had the day off work for once so thought this would be a nice day out. Fantastic day out!

Had to get there for about 9am when it was opening at 10am because it was sold out and they only had about 50 extra tickets. There was a choice of lectures and presentations from two different theatres. We spent most of the day in Theatre two.

The Hero of the Zero - Fame lab Winner Tom Whyntie talks humorously about the Large Hadron Collider. He explains why finding nothing in this very expensive on-going project may turn out to be a very exciting and helpful result after all. This was a very informative and at times, rather funny look at science and the intentions behind this project. The possible outcomes we explained with honesty and genuine appreciation for all perspectives. A great start and I now understand quite a bit more with regards to what they're actually doing!

The Lying Ape - Brian King and Harry Witchel reveal the amount of deceit that surrounds us. These two, very sadistic men spend the first part of the lecture informing us how necessary and crucial lies are to holding our society together. Social lubrication I believe they refer to it as. THEN! They spend the second part of the lecture telling us how to spot a lie. What the hell are they thinking?? Interesting in places but they didn't go into too much depth with the concept which was a little disappointing, was expecting a little more. But still, a very interesting talk.



The Top 10 Bonkers thins about the universe - This was the main reason I came along to the festival. To meet Marcus Chown. Marcus is without a doubt one of my favourite authors. Having read "The universe next door" "The never ending days of being dead" and "We need to talk about Kelvin" I am always blown away with how interesting he can make certain concepts, but mostly, how accessible and easy to understand Marcus makes some of the heavier, more complicated science. Marcus gave his talk and I was able to chat with him for a while afterwards while he signed books. He is a very modest and humble man, far too humble in my opinion! I asked Marcus a few questions about his knowledge of Anthony's work and was surprised he knew so little. I gave him as much of a summary as one can give in a few minutes and we discussed several other things such as consciousness and it's effect on time and quantum variables. I must say It was a real pleasure to meet Marcus and I hope at some point he'll have the time to look at Anthony's work and drop by on the forum.

Science Story - Michael Moesly's BBC2 series, Science Story, gives us a summary of the evolution of scientific theory focusing mainly on Newton and Hooke. A very polished speaker (obviously) and great to listen to. He gave a great analysis of the famous apple falling from a tree story which has been amplified throughout the centuries because of its very reductionist appeal to years of hard work. Our society really is all about instant gratification forever isn't it.

Climbing the tree of Physics - Three young scientists (including Tom from the first talk) discuss how different branches of scientific theory need to come together to explain different things. I was expecting a lot more from this talk, we ducked out early of Michael Mosely's talk to come see this, not sure why. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as it should have been. Had I known about the last talk we were going to we would have ducked out early from this one too.

The Miller's Tale - Ben Miller is interviewed by Steve Mould about abandoning a PHD in quantum electro-dynamics for a career in TV. As well as fronting Armstrong and Miller he writes on science and takes place in science programmes. Ben discussed the struggle to include some science sketches in his shows, the idiocy of Homeopaths and his interest in the future of science. The night before we came here I had a fairly early night. I could have put on 1 out of 200 old videos full of old TV shows I had recorded but by some strange coincidence I put on Paul Merton the series from about 10 years ago. In some of these sketches was of course, Ben Miller. I stayed behind afterwards to chat with him which was a real bonus to finish the day on. He was very impressed that this was pointed out as he said this was his first ever job in t.v. We discussed the brilliance of Paul Merton. I pointed out how wonderful it is when Paul Merton starts any sentence on Have I got news for you with the words "Is it....(this)" or "is it.....(that)" which was appreciated and agreed with. Look out for his new book, if it's named "From infinity to one" I would like a bit of credit, in fact, all of it! I was tempted to ask him for some tips in blending science and stand-up but I didn't want to ruin the moment by becoming "that guy" = A giant man whore.

A fantastic day out for £10!! Shall definitely be going next year.

Horizon - What makes a genius?

Best of the three episodes I've watched over the last few weeks. I was totally engaged with this last night, from start to finish it was absolutely rich in content and fantastically balanced. It left you feeling optimistic but deluded about what the human brain is capable of.

Part 1 - Maths Genius! Not quite sure about the process this guy used but it wasn't similar to Daniel Tammett! It was actually mathematically worked out.... amazing. He gave a very good explanation of how he does what he does. He says he's not a genius, a genius he associates with creativity, where as what he does is mechanical. He "plays the piano well and there is a difference between a skill and something that is immensely creative." This is similar to Matt Damon's character in Good Will Hunting. He says as far as he can remember he's just always been able to play. It's not so much creating art but more letting art flow through you because you are tuned in, where others aren't.

Part 2 - The experiment that tested the intuitive estimates of which colour has more dots on a screen was rather interesting. This test allows us to predict the mathematical potential of children and rather accurately too. It also indicates certain precognitive skills and ties in nicely with Malcolm Gladwell's work in Blink. Malcolm discusses snap decisions and how they often prove more accurate than thought out ones. The presenter actually stated when the analytical part of his brain fought the intuitive part he started to struggle. Was this because the intuitive was weakening and the analytical role was being forced due to necessity?

Part 3 - Learning gene identified in mice - Seems slightly cruel (probably not in comparison with some experiments they probably do) but necessary I guess.

Part 4 - Chess - Been playing a lot of chess lately, used to play a lot when I was younger. Obviously very good for coaching your brain to think 10 steps ahead in all realms of life. Are some people blessed or is it the wiring of their brain? Very interesting section about a former player that spent 20 years training to be a chess master, he never broke through and became obsessed with the reason why. He became a neural-scientist and researched brain activity and concluded that chess masters are born, not so much created. His final statement seemed a bit jaded but may have been fairly accurate. People can become great, but the status of genius has to have been something they were born with.

Part 5 - Spotting genius. The IQ test about the "termites" was something I read about recently. Can't remember where, may have been in Gladwell's work. This section helped to open the alternative viewpoint that we can mould our brain to fit our environment. We lose parts of out brain that are not used and strengthen neural pathways that are useful to us. Our brain in this way is like ever changing dictionary that will bring out new editions based on the life and times of its existence. We specialise for our environment but of course, there are some environments that because of our genes, we will excel in more.

Part 6 - Mozart/Stevie wonder - Derek is a remarkable piano player that can her a piece of music once or twice and know how to play it, adapt it slightly to his on whim. The superhero notion of other senses strengthening to compensate is something that has quite often been considered a myth. But it's more a case of the brain re-wiring to adapt in making sense of the world. There is another example of a lady later on who can see through sound. Much like the young boy (name forgotten) who could see through making clicking noises with his tongue and using the vibrations. The book I read on this indicated it could be possible to actually see through your skin based on re-wiring of the brain. Our senses are wired in a certain way based on evolution and it is not technically written in stone in terms of how our brain develops. It is versatile and undoubtably the most unique thing about all of us.

Part 7 - Smartening up through electricity and water! - Yeah I was a bit...errr as well! An experiment here to again improve cognitive skills and intuitive response time which helps to create new path ways as quickly as 30 minutes later. After about a day, it will become functioning. Structural alteration after a day!! Amazing.

Part 8 - Brain Plasticity - This section really complimented the book I read about Brain Plasticity about a year or so ago. A lady explains how she can see through technology that encodes sounds from her brain and allows her to produce images based on the re-wiring of her brain. These pathways have been there since we were babies. Evolution dictates a certain path because it is the most successful in survival for the majority.

Part 9 - The greatest minds combine Knowledge with creativity. "Imagination is more important than knowledge" Einstein. A man had a brain hemorrhage and has been painting ever since, literally. He can't stop, his description of this had a very similar feel to the TLE descriptions Tony has mentioned. This section boasts the paradox of Genius. You need to be open to many things to allow creativity to take effect, but closed enough to focus on that one piece of art, whatever form it may take. Dr Mark Lythgoe of university college London gives a very interesting explanation of this. The walls are higher for some people than others and this can cause problems at either end.

I plan to turn my wall into a window, 95% of it all will apparently go right through.. ;)

Best thing I've watched in a while, highly recommend it. Should be available on i Player. Go watch it. Now!

Gay Asylum UK Lauds Deratany's 'Haram Iran' - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Gay Asylum UK Lauds Deratany's 'Haram Iran' - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Deratany's Tour de force: London calling?

I trust that my dear friend in London, Martin Huxter, will see the import of this theater news regarding an associate of mine, the illustrious Jay Paul Deratany; Chicago playwright, attorney , politician and human rights advocate.

Martin, this play would be marvelous on the London stage as well, and you with your dark and swarthy looks and acting ability would be perfect for one of the lead roles. Contact London stage friends!! You will be richly rewarded. ; )

Deratany's Tour de force: Chicago attorney rocks gay advocacy, human rights with play - smkovalinsky - Members - my.PinkNews.co.uk

Dead Of Night (1945) Dir. Cavalcanti/Crichton

I watched this film last night.. WOW! How incredibly ahead of its time in many ways.

The ITALDian theme becomes apparent very quickly as Deja Vu, Precognition, Time dilation and many other ITALDian related concepts are discussed and explored. The style of the film itself is very engaging to watch as it explores many different stories within a story . This style of film-making has influenced many including Woody Allen, parts of this film reminded me of Deconstructing Harry because of the reasons mentioned.

The ventriloquist (Daemon?) story was indeed quite spooky. I think anything involving talking dolls gives people the chills, this may have gone on to influence films such as Child's Play. The conflict between open mindedness and the need for Scientific proof is acted out nicely by very different characters. The Dr being the voice of (scientific) reason, is the last to be convinced by the party of strange stories and experiences.

This film is also extremely funny in places. I think the Mirror story has a moment where the women turns to the man and says "Shall we dress up and spend lots of money?" Not necessarily hysterical but the delivery is perfect! There are also several other very funny moments in this film. I shall definately buy a copy soon and give it a second watch. Even the Golf story has CGI in it! Special effects in 1945?!!!??! Hitler may not even be dead yet and they're using special effects!!!! Incredible!!!!

The film ends or continues it's loop in a similar way to many other ITLADian films such as 12 Monkeys. The precognitions have been correct and his fate is unavoidable. There is a very nice touch at the end where he flips a coin in order to determine if he should go to the house or not, when the coin shows he shouldn't he ignores this and decides to go anyway illustrating an overwhelming force dictating his destiny.

A very impressive film for its time, both from an ITALDian perspective and just from the love of film/story telling.

*ITLAD = Is there life after death by Anthony Peake*