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What was his reaction? Are they up for a scrap or only if they've got 3 mates and they're all armed? |
All the towns and cities here have those markets (Medinas). But the snakes and monkeys are only in Marrakech.
For that 'trick' to even have been a minor challenge the guy most have been a dumbass pussyass bitch, which all Derren's victims are. They are very carefully selected for weakness of will, gullibility, etc. before they make it anywhere near Derren and his cameramen. Enough people in Marrakech understand English and there's an airport right nearby. It would be piss easy to get home. I couldn't even consider that challenging at all. What more do you need than local currency, the English language and a passport almost anywhere in the world? I'd for sure first buy a knife, then cut myself a stick, then conceal the knife in my person and go buy some hash. No need to rush to the plane. Plus, I guess he'll have had a whole British film crew following him around. So no one is gonna do anything weird and everyone is gonna be extra helpful. Peace, kowalski |
I've got a workaway opportunity in the South of Morocco, helping out with English and Spanish language practice. So, I might stay another month or two. Today I started learning French. Until recently it was an official language here.
Meanwhile I'm applying for work in various nations. Primarily Spain and Britain. It's so tedious, especially as I don't really want to. Though with the extra time doing the workaway would give me, maybe I could come up with a better idea. Peace, kowalski |
Fucking Moroccans, couldn't dance or operate a camera if their worthless lives depended on it.
You can't spell groove without K. Peace, kowalski |
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Peace, kowalski |
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I'm just saying it would be fucking crazy waking up in another, completely alien country, with nothing in your pocket but your passport, a few instructions and some money. |
Yes. It would totally matter that the he has money, airport is nearby, everyone speaks English and are super helpful, etc. How could those things not matter?
No. He didn't wake up in another country, that isn't how hypnotism works. I think you should watch it again and pay attention to what actually happens through the lens of what is possible and legal, meanwhile make a list of all Derren's lies and misdirection in the piece. He's an Illusionist. Nothing more. He is creating an illusion. He often does simple magic tricks that I know how to do. They do not require any mentalist patter to perform but he always presents them as if they do because that's his schtick. It's very lucrative schtick for him. His illusions are compelling. Without it he would just be another boring magician. Remember: if a magician tells you how a trick is done as a part of presenting it, that is not how the trick is done. Peace, kowalski |
I'm in a village, with just over 1,000 houses, in the south of Morocco.
Here I teach English 2 hours a day, 5 days a week for a community association. There's a "flat" on the first floor where I live. People here smoke a lot of hash. There's no alcohol. There are donkeys and cats. I snatched a kitten from outside last night after noticing that a mouse had moved in. Most days we eat tagine. In the evenings we play chess and instruments and whittle wood. I started a thermalsiphon water heater project and leaning how to play Go. I let a second kitten in because they were crying for each other. Winter low is ~10°C. It's a pretty perfect place for me right now. I'll probably stay a while. Peace, kowalski |
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Although he technically/physically awoke from his hypnotic state in another country, it isn't the same as if he hadn't applied for the Derren Brown show nor met him prior, and awoke in that place. Quote:
Sounds like you're having a fun adventure tho. |
Nah, man. You didn't see it.
Just from memory: Derren goes into the kid's bedroom with a 3 man camera crew and wakes him up in the middle of the night and he's super chill about it... because it wasn't a surprise. He wakes up but his girlfriend does not... because it's fake. Derren gets him to sign a contract without reading it and even states that he didn't have to read it. Do you not sign people up to contracts at work? You should know how totally illegal it is to encourage someone to sign something that they haven't read and don't understand. It didn't happen. He signed another real contract at a different time and was encouraged to read it. There is the claim that all the cameras are "very well hidden" why say "very well" because it's a lie. Every camera shot from a supposedly hidden camera has something out of focus blocking part of the view. That's a theatrical move. Derren says that he puts the kid into a catatonic state. He does not. That is a lie. He says the catatonic state is caused by some lights and sounds. That is impossible. The guy who created the lights show is an artist not a scientist. Derren says he was in this catatonic state (which is not true) for 13 hours. How did he piss and shit and drink water... well, because it is a lie. It takes 3 hours and 5 minutes to fly London to Marrakech. A little driving. The check in process. Ok. But what were they doing for the other approx. 7 hours? Nothing, it's a lie. You can't just stroll through airport security with an unconscious person. It's totally illegal. Yet Derren claims to do just that. When the kid "wakes up" he shows how bad an actor he is. He's like a cat that you just brought home in a bag and is now looking around your home. The room you are in now, imagine if the next time you blinked it was replaced by a completely different room what your reaction would definitely be. It's so fake because Derren is an Illusionist and this is an illusion. Illusionists don't do the things they say they do, they create an illusion where the audience and any legit participants think they are doing the things they say they are doing. I can't believe I'm having to explain how magic works to you. You know when you pretend to take a baby's nose but you haven't really done it but you create the illusion that you have. Well that is what Derren does but to adults. And he's very good at it and is highly entertaining. And if you really listen to what he says in the shows and when being interviewed and in his book, he admits it. But he admits it in a guarded way that not everyone listening will pick up on. Peace, kowalski |
I have nothing to say to in terms of argument, all of what you say is true and accurate, I'd just watched it an hour ago. He does all this, "hidden in plain sight" stuff but when scrutinised thoroughly as you've done, you can see through it.
The biggest part for me that I was like yea ok Derren, whatever is the taking an unconscious person through an airport and boarding them on a plane, that just wouldn't happen. I've got his book "Tricks of the Mind" but ain't read it yet. What do you think about the zombie apocalypse show he done, more fakery? |
I've been here nearly 3 weeks now. The first projects I've started are moving along well, I own a chicken and it's bamboo coup is nearly finished, I'm teaching the children chess, I've nearly finished the planning stage for my thermalsiphon and I've held their first ever official meetings (3 so far).
My aim is to stay long enough for them to learn the benefits of having structure and processes and adopt those behaviours. It's still the beginning so they've not really seen the value yet. The best examples I have so far are counterfactuals, i.e. times when my methods were not used and things went wrong. Peace, kowalski |
What will the thermosiphon be used for? Just general water heating?
If you don’t call your chicken Garry Clucksparov you’d be doing it a disservice |
Yes, water. It doesn't get cold enough to need home heating.
At first I thought everyone had hot water except in the association but later I realised nearly no one has it. To shower they boil a kettle, mix with cold water in a bucket and sit on a stool over the toilet hole. The idea is - build the first one at the association, show that it is effective, cheap and low maintainence, define all the uses and benefits, start installing them on people's homes, potentially develop it into gainful employment for one or more association members... and retain the grey water for cultivation. I just started teaching the kids how to play mastermind, if any of you remember that logic game? I really want to develop their ability to create and test complex strategies. Here even the adults struggle with mastermind... some adult males can't even throw and catch well. Some even told me stickball (rounders / baseball but with a broom handle bat) was too difficult for the kids. They've seen me teach 6 year olds how to play chess now, so they are beginning to accept that if I say I can teach them something I can. Gary Klucksparov it is! Peace, kowalski |
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Tomorrow I try to return to Morocco. Hopefully that works out.
Peace, kowalski |
Checkmate, fools.
On the day I arrived in Khimiss de Tioughza the guys in the association were playing draughts and discussing communism. I told them draughts and communism are for children and started teaching them about chess and individualism
A week or so later more volunteers arrived. One had a lot of really bad ideas including the belief he would beat me at chess. I told him 'no', he ignored me. Then in a conversation with Lahoucine I predicted the future. And as predicted... The leader of the association vetoed his ideas. This pissed him off. He 'secretly' organised against me. His first error was being secretive. He allied himself with the other volunteers. His choice of allie was his second error. He pushed for the election of a head volunteer. The election was his third error. And prepared the others to vote against me. His assumption that I would run for election was his fourth error. Meanwhile... I continued to conduct myself in an honest way. I continued to ally myself with the locals. I refused to put my name in the hat. I abstained from voting on any topic. All of this helped my broader plan of organising the association to be more effective. And lead to the leader of the association and I having a philosophical discussion about transparency, hierarchy and decision making. After which there will be no more voting and he insisted that I take the role of head volunteer. Sticking to my principles, we redefined the role as planner. First, in an open discussion, we came up with goals, then strategies for achieving them. So now I'm the planner here. I figured it would take around 3 more months for me to get things to where they are now. By providing such a perfect example of how not to do things that kid really helped me speed things along. It's weird when people can't see the obvious signs that they are inferior to their opponent in the game they are about to play. Last night I went to Ceuta, which is Spain but in Morocco, to renew my visa. This marks the end of the beginning. Now for Phase 2! Peace, kowalski |
I need to plan what I'm gonna do next.
Peace, kowalski |
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I'd stay here a while longer if I could make €1 - 2k, to support it. So, maybe just a plan to make a dirty 2g. I have no desire to be here in the summer months. I could use that time to earn somehow.
Peace, kowalski |
Thinking I might go back to my old career. I started preparing myself for that before heading off on this journey but I really did not want to.
Now I feel ready... if anyone will have me. https://i.imgur.com/EJaMHy5.jpg Peace, kowalski |
UK would be a joint second choice with a whole bunch of other nations. My preference is to return to Spain. Might visit the UK though, it has been a real long time.
By chance I got a message through LinkedIn. Cabot financial (a UK debt purchasing business) are looking for a bilingual dialler manager to optimise their operation in Madrid. Because I'm so far away we will do a Skype interview to begin with. It'll be my first proper interview in over a decade and my first in Spanish and the first I've done on Skype. Fun times. Peace, kowalski |
Ya soy un madrileño.
Peace, kowalski |
You got the job?
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More or less. After the interview they now want to meet me in person. They were quite clear that I'm the only person they are seeing now and that it is a mere formality. I'd told them earlier that I would only come on such terms. That being said it is still just a 'gentlemen's agreement'.
Flight booked. Peace, kowalski |
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I'm taking this one on board. |
To clarify, I was only able to be firm on that point because they came looking for me and are interrupting a project I'm already engaged in. If I'd applied for the job, I would have to simply be available like anyone else.
Peace, kowalski |
I start work a week on Monday.
It's gonna be a tough first couple of months as I remember / relearn technical shit and get back up to corporate speed while being poor in an expensive city and probably living in hostels. I joined a weed dispensary already. Was surprisingly easy and swift. Currently vaping some nice sativa concentrate. After 4 months smoking Morocco's trash hash it is quite a treat. On Tuesday I'll go back to Córdoba for a few nights to pick up a bag and see friends. Peace, kowalski |
Currently negotiating the starting salary. So it's still not a done deal. I think, and believe I can demonstrate that, 10% more than their opening offer is correct.
I'd meet them halfway, with the caveat that it needs to increase at the same rate that I achieve specific outcomes they've already outlined which are important and valuable... and some of that value needs to be shared with the one who opened the lock behind which it was esconded. This is completely new ground for me. I never negotiated a starting salary before, previously preferring to seem unproblematic, get the contract and, after proving myself, start negotiating. *swallows nervously* Peace, kowalski |
Worked out well. We met at the halfway mark, as I anticipated.
I'm currently in Cordoba to pick up a bag of winter clothes and my skates. Six months have passed without skating. I daydream about skating a lot. Very excited to skate again. Peace, kowalski |
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Most of the time I couldn't have used them (no use in the mountains, nor in the village where I lived the last few months) and carrying them unused would have been very frustrating, they are large, heavy and cause complications at ports. When you are pulling a lot of weight on your back anything that goes unused starts to look like something you should put in a bin.
I'm thinking that in Madrid I might use public transport to get to work then skate home. I wonder how many laptops they'll let me break before they just give me two laptops... Peace, kowalski |
I've spent longer than expected in Cordoba, mostly due to complications gathering the stuff I'd left here. I took good advantage of the opportunity to create a nice memory of, and better say goodbye to, people here and the city in general.
I had left things with 2 people; Ricardo and Andreas. A couple of weeks ago Ricardo had a heart attack, he had not told me. He's 46. It took a few days before we met up. He tells me he's fine, just has to eat better and knock off the cocaine use. He had been storing my skates and winter clothes. Andreas I didn't see or hear from at all. He didn't respond to calls and messages. The girl he was seeing isn't with him anymore and lives in Jaen. He had been storing some documents, a posh chess set and I don't remember what else. ******************************** It'll take some time before I can really evaluate the last year. All I know now is: I look healthier, my hair is a little longer and I should always live with a cat. Peace, kowalski |
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