Monday, June 23, 2014

Fanboys are stange!

Within the last two days my little post, about Peter Turner tuned viral or something. Looking into the statistics, this post exploded. Basically Peter Turner fans coming out defending their precious artist. That is good. But the arguments couldn't be lamer. Basically ad hominem attacks towards me instead of the argument.

I love it when they claim that I don't perform while a little research would certainly prove them otherwise. But that would indeed cancel their lame argument.

And did I make any attacks on Peter Turner to begin with? I was asking a question. "What's up with him?" Was my basic question, as I felt this stench of a con artist about him. And the samples I found about Peter Turners work were not really strong.

But since then I have looked into some of Peter Turners work. I looked into that Jinxed DVD, which is way overpriced....

Here a little example from the DVD: his take on the Match Divination by Annemann is weird. His argument why he doesn't use matches, is because matchboxes are so hard to find nowadays. So what does he use instead? Cigarettes! That basically cancels his argument. A box of mints, toothpicks or chewing gum would have worked the same way and would be far more common.

I'm not saying he is a bad mentalist... I'm saying there are way better mentalists out there. Luke Jermay, Keith Barry, Richard Osterlind, Gary Kurtz, Max Maven, David Berglas and Derren Brown just from the top of my head.

Peter Turner is standing in their shadows.

I have seen his Penguin lecture; the effects were lame... I'm sorry to say so. It would pass off as an "okay" performance but not stick out as something wonderful as Derren Brown does.

You could argue in his defense that it is not the tricks that make Peter Turner. It's the meaning he puts into them. His endless talking to make the trick meaningful and personal. In my humble opinion the tricks should do that themselves.

One of the better arguments of fan boys is that I am not able to judge good mentalism, as I'm not a mentalist myself. I have a magic background. And that is true. The same way a person who is not a painter cannot judge good art. And a person who cannot play music cannot judge good music. Well I can say what I like. And I don't like Peter Turner's work so far.

So let me extend my initial question. What's up with Peter Turner and his fan base?

31 comments:

Unknown said...

If you take a look at Isabella 2 and see the mathematical genius of it, you get a small glimpse into the intellect of Peter Turner and that is what everyone is drawn to. Its a sense of "knowing" that this man is capable of being the next generation's Berglas, or Knepper , Cassidy. His principles are far deeper than that of the average mentalists material. Plus he is approachable to his fans..he allows the to experience his thought processes by skype. hangout, messages. He may be backed up with them but he WILL personally help them.
With Peter Turner you are drawn to his charismatic yet pensive persona, you WANT that product because he shows you it works. He did a not set-up ACAAN and i can verify they had only 30 secs for greetings before the interview because I personally connected them and backed out, and literally BLEW MORGAN"S PANTS OFF! If you want to see that look about 15 mins into the Q&A with Morgan Strebler with Full Circle Magic and try and say the reactions were not real! He is a Mentalists Mentalist. And my last comment is to address you personally as the author,You may not get it, but you are of a minority,and those who would give positive feedback are told their opinions aren't enough and devalued their judgements and fed into the negative opinions. Although you claim not to have bashed Him yourself the last title itself incited bashing from mob mentality that was more important a viewpoint than anything positive. Peter DOES have a very large fan base, but not just of people he teaches, he has EARNED respect from the biggest names in the industry, because he is a classy, intelligent person. Take a closer look at the q&a's he hosts. He will be hosting many coming up in July during our Mentalism month and I can guarentee he will do something in everyone that blows nt only his guest away but the audience watching them! I want to thank you for the second more toned down Post - just remember, you don't have to like him yourself, he may not be your thing at all, you have that right - but so do those that follow him because he IS their thing.
Thank you
Laura Eisele
Co-Founder & Talent Co-ordinator
www.FullCircleMagic.com
(For any past q&a click on that link and enter their names in search, the list will be under schedule)

Michael Jay said...

There you have it, Roland: "He is a Mentalists Mentalist." (Eisele)

You can't fully comprehend Mr. Turner because he is a mentalist's mentalist. You know, like a magician's magician. You are familiar with these guys - they churn out garbage that's made to fool other magicians, but that same material comes across poorly to the laity. Same thing, different genre.

Since you are not a mentalist, you just won't get it. This is the stuff that blows away the mentalists. And like magic for magicians, mentalism for mentalists doesn't work all that well for the laity (and in this case YOU are the laity).

I'll answer your question, "What's up with Peter Turner?" He's a guy making money off of the mentalists that are blown away by his material. They're no different than the magic establishment, they also want to pay high prices for stuff that blows them away even if it doesn't work for the laity. Hell, maybe some day they'll come up with material that blows other mentalists away so that they, too, can get rich off of their peers.

Unknown said...

Yet surprisingly enough, the material they are buying transfers perfectly to the stage and blows away the laymen in thier audiences as well..which is what keeps them coming back for more material. Because it Works!

Leave mentalism alone said...

Im a mentalist and im definitely not getting it. And im goodone, and im not blown away, quite opposite, i think his stuff is trash. But it seems that peter started to send his people here like he always do. Izzy 2? mathematical genius? His Astrological number process is totally diffrent that is used in astrology and it doesnt make sense. And stuff liek that can be find easily in kids tricks with math. My friend did this to few people and most of the tuime people just asked "ok, so whats the equation?". And Bigger fish 2 is biggest trash ive ever seen
Roland you asked whats up with him. It seems that he have little mafia and he is protected by guys like cassidy (who i even bigger failure) and knepper, so he can spam- comment as much as he want.
He should be awarded WMF!
BTW just watch freeform mentalism and watch those bored faces of those 2 young ladies who were spectators for which hand, and later watch their confusion at the gift lol
Michael Jay, very good point!

Marplots said...

So he's the Jay Sankey of Mentalism?

XYZ said...

you said - "And did I make any attacks on Peter Turner to begin with? I was asking a question. "What's up with him?" Was my basic question, as I felt this stench of a con artist about him."

so yes, you did slate him/attack him by liking him to a con artist! maybe that's why you've had people sticking up for him...

he's consulted for tv shows, he helps anyone who asks, and he's allowed to sell his material at any price he wants - its not for you or anyone else to dictate...

you can be honest and say something isn't to your taste - but some of the vitriolic attacks on here are petty, armchair based stupidity...and yes, that was an insult...

tell you what, i bet if you tracked him down on facebook and offered to skype with him, you'd be surprised...

why not save the anger and OTT responses for people who deserve it, rather than just because you don't personally enjoy something...its not especially fair...

Unknown said...

Just watched an ad for freeform mentalism and Turner encourages his viewers to change people's lives.

Pretentious twaddle.

Unknown said...

Actually it wasn't an advertizement, I've discovered its the whole damned thing.

Not a fan of pirated stuff but I gave it a watch out of curiosity.

Just a clumsy collection of old principles accompanied by what sounds like the chanting of hackneyed and tiresome scripts about gypsies, grandfathers and other mystical babble.

If you like striking direct mentalism, then this is not for you.

If you like getting your spectators to do mental arithmetic whilst doing yet another fucking progressive anagram, then knock yourself out.

Some of the video is truly baffling, but for the wrong reasons.

Why is he sat with a guitar for some of the explanations?

Why does some of the commentary he offers take place whilst he's having a tattoo done?

Why are most of the explanations filmed in a shed?

What does he think the word 'semantic' actually means?

Finally, if you are going to do these needlessly personal tricks, you need a certain charisma.

Turner doesn't have it. Chanting poorly written scripts in a broad regional accent whilst wearing a t-shit that is too tight is not the way forward.

Get a little older, let your hair grey a little, take some elocution lessons and wear some appropriate clothing. Then, and only then, will you be able to get away with the pomposity of handing someone an envelope containing mystical advice to be opened in a time of need.

Cheers,

Hugh,

p.s. try and have some males in the performance footage. The constant performing to hot female students is creepy.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sean Giles said...

What's with the thieves on here making judgements. Look at yourselves, you can't be trusted or is downloading pirated material ok for Roland and his mates now.

Roland said...

Sean, argument granted, but a straw man is still a straw man!

Sean Giles said...

Yes it was a straw man. There were so many logical fallacies flying around, i thought i'd join in with my own.

I don't know Pete well, i met him once but he was very generous with his time and the guy obviously lives and breathes mentalism. He's always polite, warm and welcoming.

He did his billitless name divination on me and it was incredible that he got it right when i never said a thing. I would not of beleived it had i not seen it.
Actually he was a top man that day and he is refreshing because he has his own way of presenting things.
I get that people might not like him as it's each to his own, but some of the comments on here are just disgusting and someone even called him a cunt. It's that bitterness in magic that disturbs me. Life is too short for hatred. Our lives can be snuffed out in the blink of an eye yet we spend this precious time being bitter to fellow performers because they look different or have a different approach. It's nonsense, that's all.

Unknown said...

Hi Sean.

I didn't download anything. It was on youtube. Nor I didn't steal anything. I had no intention of using any of the material and, had I found anything that wasn't shite, I would have bought a copy.

'Life is too short for hatred. Our lives can be snuffed out in the blink of an eye yet we spend this precious time being bitter.'

Very moving stuff. You should say that when someone is doing some mental arithmetic, then you can be a true mentalist.

Unknown said...

Also Sean, the word 'cunt' has been used once on this page (twice now I guess) and it was by you.

You speak of 'logical fallacies flying around'.

Name one.

XYZ said...

as its not been addressed since i mentioned it - liking someone to a conman, and then wondering why people stick up for the person in question (who isn't a conman) - any thoughts?

if you don't like something, fine - be constructive in your review/criticism... some like his performance style, some don't...i guess being fair doesn't drive web traffic...

as for cunts, yes - lots of them posting here with obvious anger issues...

Anonymous said...

Watching something on Youtube is downloading :P The same way you downloaded this page to read the blog post.

But anyway, whatever anyone thinks about the guy isn't worth profanity and vitrol. I know nothing avout him but I hope his fans get something out of his work.

Unknown said...

Here is moment of genius....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djSmTtWhnNE&feature=youtube_gdata - Video Tube for YouTube - Android

Take a book test then add on a moment at the end that turns it into a magic trick and exposes the force to anyone with an ounce of sense.

Interspersed with hippy twaddle and you are the best thing in mentalism

Unknown said...

And more genius oh yes...nothing set up but Pete already knows a lot about her.

He fulfils a childhood dream which is so fucking trite and specific that is screams set up and pre show.

If we had never met and he asked me to think of my childhood dream I would have been amazed to see him pull Kate Jackson from Charlie's Angels out of his fat ass.

Again, is this for stupid people. The shooting star on the face of it is nice but a more canny spec might have said ,"oh yes, it's August, it's the Perseid shower", because for the attentive it's always in the news.

It's just trite overblown nonsense: (imho)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQhs4vqvoOQ&feature=youtube_gdata - Video Tube for YouTube - Android

NB She is the spitting image of the pet shop girl.

Unknown said...

From the first video Mike shared, at 2.37:

'Hopefully if I can change your perception on things, I can send a deeper and more involved message to the world.'

What a pretentious wanker.

Barry Solayme said...

Who called that wanker a cunt? I mean, who in the hell would have thought of calling that wanking cunt a cunting wanker? Jesus, people, have some respect already.

If you want to call that cunting wank-fuck, a fucking cunt-wank, then kindly use language that is acceptable to nuns and infants.

For Chrissakes.

And anger issues? Sheesh kebab! If I had a penny for all the angry bastards in the magic community, I'd spend them on a huge bomb and drop it on the mentalist community, with a few notable exceptions. After that I'd stamp on their frigging graves and spit on the headstones. Cunts.

BS

Unknown said...

Well Turner's moment in the sun will expire soon. He seems to be making a good living by rehashing out the same trash over and over again. Tossing out as many DVDs and Books as possible while raising the hype of each new release to continue to con morons out of their cash. Eventually he'll wish he stayed in school when people stop buying this crap. Oh wait, I may be speaking for half of the magic community! LMFAO

Bob Cassidy said...

"Leave Mentalism Alone,"

I'm used to snide comments from anonymous nobodies and wannabes. What have you done for the art lately?

Didn't think so.

Bob Cassidy

Unknown said...

Cassidy Run back to penguin to make another quick pound you fckn sellout. You have done a great job exposing methods of mentalism to a bunch of 10 year olds. Don't try to get all high and mighty just because a few people know your name. You're still an over the hill uneducated prick.

Bob Cassidy said...

Double Deal-

And you are obviously and undereducated anonymous asshole who would never dare to sign his name to anything and who probably has never performed professionally in his life.

Say that to my face sometime, punk. I'm sure I'll be appearing at a place near you soon.

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Unknown said...

Guys, guys, why can't we all get along.

Double Deal and Bob, look here's a message I've scribbled on a tatty piece of paper.

It will change your whole perception of things..enjoy it when you feel the need.

Barry Solayme said...

That Bob "so-called" Cassidy. Ha! He's actually an Egyptian Fakir, who was born 'Abdul Amimini Amhood'.

I taught Bob (Abdul) the centre tear back in the 40's. He's older than he looks by a few decades, by the way.

And how did he repay me? He stole my 17th wife, Consuela, during a two week binge in Tijuana, back in '53. She said something about 'mucho grande', but I never did speak Spanish. He must have paid her a thousand bucks or something.

With friends like Bob (Abdul) , who needs enemies?
All his billet work is MINE, the thieving Egyptian bastard.

Mind you, he'll get you off of a parking violation quicker than you can say "billet switch", which is a useful skill in these modern times.

BS

jim said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Cassidy

I look forward to saying much more to your face. You are a feeble over the hill decrepit nursing home resident. Try sucking in your gut. Can't wait to see you quake in your shoes when you see me staring down on you. Hope you feel frogy little toad.

Unknown said...

I'm disgusted that somebody in the public eye like Bob would steal Barry's 17th wife.

Bob, I want my tatty piece of paper that would change your life back...you don't deserve it..I hope you and Consuela are pleased with yourselves.

Evil with a capital E

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.