Mind Games

[rickoff]

Real, or an illusion?

This is a perfectly flat area that has been transformed, by sidewalk artist Edgar Mueller,
into a cavernous pit. Amazing depth perception in this one.

[Aaron]

picture

Move in close and look at this picture. Who is it? Did you guess Albert Einstein?
Now move back away from your monitor screen 10 feet or more, and who do you see?
What's your guess? Let me know.

Now that's interesting! Much more attractive even if she did have
toes on one foot! lol

[rickoff]

Now that's interesting! Much more attractive even if she did have
toes on one foot! lol

I think you meant 6 toes on one foot, right? Actually, and you probably know this already, that is a myth that became popular after a beach photograph showed wet sand clinging to one foot in the shape of an extra toe. Just one more optical illusion, and a good one if we could locate that particular photo.

Rick

[rickoff]

How many toes?

Take a look at this young woman's left foot, at the right side of the photo. How many toes does she appear to have? Do you count six? It definitely looks like six, but is an optical illusion caused by wet sand clinging to the side of her foot in a shape that appears similar to an extra toe. This is Norma Jean, aka Marilyn Monroe, the "other face" seen when looking at the Einstein image seen 4 posts earlier. She was born with 5 toes on each foot. Nice natural optical illusion, though.

[Aaron]

Marilyn Monroe

I think you meant 6 toes on one foot, right? Actually, and you probably know this already, that is a myth that became popular after a beach photograph showed wet sand clinging to one foot in the shape of an extra toe. Just one more optical illusion, and a good one if we could locate that particular photo.

Rick

Yes, I thought I hit 6.

Actually on that pic, I just disfocused my eyes and crossed them slightly
and Marilyn's face appeared without moving back.

[wantfreeenergy]

Those street paintings done by Edgar Mueller are amazing. I"ve always imagined having a house where I could paint the walls anyway I chose. And that's the type of thing I would love to have painted on the walls. Like a good one I just thought of would be to take a room and paint the entire thing, ceiling, walls, floor into a 3d image of outer space with planets, moons, suns, etc. Or one like an underwater paradise would be neat too.

I'm gonna have to go check out his other ones I've seen now that you got me thinking about em again. My grandpa showed em to me before from his phone.

[rickoff]

Those street paintings done by Edgar Mueller are amazing. I"ve always imagined having a house where I could paint the walls anyway I chose. And that's the type of thing I would love to have painted on the walls. Like a good one I just thought of would be to take a room and paint the entire thing, ceiling, walls, floor into a 3d image of outer space with planets, moons, suns, etc. Or one like an underwater paradise would be neat too.

Yes, that would be nice, and quite a conversation piece too. Have you ever been in a dining establishment where they had a mirrored wall that created the illusion that the place was actually much larger, and that many more people were present? That's an interesting illusion also.

Rick

[rickoff]

Here's another interesting illusion that depends entirely upon your perception. Count the number of cubes that you see below. How many cubes are there?




Did you count seven? Correct!

Did you count six? Correct again!

It all depends upon whether you visualize the black squares as the top side of each cube (in which case there are six cubes), or the bottom side (in which case there are seven cubes).

[rickoff]

See the Frog.....

Look at the picture and you will see a frog. Keep watching, as the picture rotates, and then what do you see?

[rickoff]

How is this illusion done?

Watch the following video, and then contemplate on how this "magic trick" might have been performed. Let's see if anyone has a viable answer to this illusion. This is an illusion, right? Or is it real? You decide.

YouTube - 【2010央视春晚 1080HD】17 - 魔术表演 Magic Show 2/2 刘谦 Liu Qian


Rick

[Aaron]

thru-glass trick

He's the only one that I've ever seen do it without a cover. He even
exposed his arm as it was through the table by taking his other hand
away.

I'm downloading it in HD from here right now:
YouTube - 【2010央视春晚 1080HD】17 - 魔术表演 Magic Show 2/2 刘谦 Liu Qian
to see if I can catch anything in slow motion.

The first uncovered one looks like he took his hand and smacked the
table from underneath and that caused the 3 coins to bounce in the air, while
he may have been able to snag one of those three. The one in his hand
he looks like he was palming by the position of his palm under the table.
I saw an explanation that 2 coins were 1 spring loaded coin. I couldn't
tell, the HD finally downloaded but lagged so have to look at it later, looks
fairly layered one on top of the other to me so far.

But the one where he puts his arm through the table - no idea. The
popular young American illusionists - David Blane, Chris Angel, etc... do the
through glass tricks, but always covered as most of those, the glass is
simply sliding down into a slot so they can go through.

[aljhoa]

The Top Three Winners of the 2009 Contest







Best Illusion of the Year Contest

Al

[maxc]

At first when I looked at her she was clearly turning right.
Then I starred at her feet, then she was turning too the left LOL!

[Gary]

Pretty good tricks. I am pretty sure I know how he did them all.

#1 he picks up the empty container with 2 fingers on his left hand. Under those fingers is a coin. When he puts the container under the table and under that pad he can easily drop it into the container. You can clearly see he drops nothing with his right hand.

#2 same trick underneath the table, palm 2 coins and drop them in the glass container underneath, but now he is using a special spring loaded coin that swivels out into 2. on impact, it flips into 1 coin and the coins are already in the container underneath the table.

#3 this one is a bit obvious, he puts 3 coins in the glass container. The black ring is magnetic and one of the coins in the glass container is steel. The top coin is probably steel too. Then he actually smacks the glass bowl under the table a couple of times to get the steel coin in the glass container to stick through the glass to the magnet ring. He palms the top coin, lifts his hand from the table separating the coin under the glass from the magnet and it falls in the bowl.

#4. More 'spring loaded coin'. You can clearly see when he smacks the table with his hand, the 'underneath the glass' coin is already in his hand. There are actually 3 coins on the table, but the coin on the right is that same spring loaded coin that you can twist open into two. Look at how it overlaps the middle coin. When he strikes the table from underneath, the coin on the right which is spring loaded flies into the air from the force and snaps back together into 1 coin. if you compare the right coin to the left coin you will see it is visibly thicker and has a kind of beveled edge.


#5. This one is intricate and relies on the camera. Watch how the camera goes down to surface level so we are even with the table. The table is not glass, its plexiglass and the plexiglass rotates. Watch his left hand when the camera pans down as he rotates the plexiglass and the small hole that is cut into the plexiglass into position. The camera pans back up but he is now covering the hole in the plexiglass with the same hand.

He then reaches down with his hand through the table and gets the coins.

When he is done, the camera goes back to surface level and he again covers his hand as he removes it from the hole. here is where he fools you. the beauty of this trick is even if you see him pushing the table open in the beginning, you never see him close it so you think thats not how he did it. the table is spring loaded like his coin. if you look carefully You can see the table retracting itself back to the original position and causing his hands to push to the right a couple of times while the camera is still table level. When the camera pans up the table has already gone back to its normal position concealing the hole.

He is the "spring loaded magician!"

[Nadda]

Your exactly right gary, i heard the coin smack to his ring as soon as he put his hand down. I also noticed the sping loaded coin. When he laid the 3 coins down he touched the third one but the middle one moved in sync with the third as if they were connected.

I was puzzeled at first about the glass too, but now after your post i can see how he turns the glass with his left hand when he goes to cover his right hand. I can also now see how his left hand jerks while the glass is sliding back. So the glass is shut before the camera pans back up.

The glass closing was real slick, his hand jerking was the only thing that gave it away. Nice catch gary. I was amazed by the glass trick at first.