Of Brains and Balls

Perhaps you have, or perhaps you have not, heard of the television show called Phenomenon. I had avoided watching it, as it was, by all appearances, a showcase of woo-woo puffery combined with all the suspense of Americas Next Top Model. One of the judges is the incredibly irritating Uri Geller, just to complete the picture.

Not really my thing, in other words.

But my attention had been drawn by the fact that Criss Angel had been invited to be the other judge - and he often uses disclaimers in his own show that he's NOT magical, just a magician. One that happens to be very good at it, but that comes with practice.

One of my favorite episodes of his own show was the standard "Haunted House", where he brought in a slew of b-level entertainers and proceeded to scare the heck out of them. If you've ever (accidentally, of course) caught an episode of any of the dozen "Unexplained Spooky Stuff" shows, you know how easy that is.

In any case, at the very end, he's got a flashlight under his chin in the best "campfire stories" tradition, and asks: "Do you believe in ghosts?" Then a wink: "I don't."

Have to like that!

In any case, here's what happened when Angel was particularly unimpressed with one performer: a bit of Jerry Springer, as James Randi called it.

I still won't watch the show, but I may well check out the highlights!