The People You Meet On Planes

Random Retrospective:
On the flight from Chicago to Dublin, Emily and I had two of the three seats in the middle part of the row.  We were sitting next to an Irishman.  We knew he was Irish because of his pre-takeoff cell conversation describing the terrible experience he'd had getting a flight out of LA, complete with authentically-accented swear words.

Later in the flight, Emily started looking at the book he was reading, which appeared interesting.  I'm glad she started the conversation, because it turns out he was Keith Barry, a professional magician of some note.  He's done a show on MTV, some talk shows (check out his video page), lots of Irish television and is working on a new series for what I think was Discovery Channel.  He'd just finished a Vegas gig, and has even given a TED talk.  We had some fun conversations about hypnosis, guided imagery, and NLP.  He also recommended the town of Dingle to us, which is where we spent most of our time in Ireland and really liked.  All in all, a really cool and interesting guy.

One trick he does in shows involves inviting three audience members on stage and having each pick one of four envelopes.  One envelope contains $10,000 (or euros, depending on the country), and if a volunteer picks the correct envelope, they keep the money.  It's his job to convince them by whatever means he has to not pick the correct envelope, including swearing on his son's life that the money is not in whatever envelope actually contains the money(Keith only has a daughter).  He told me the secret to the trick--allegedly.  Because I know he cheats and lies to get the envelope with the money, I'm forced to wonder if he told me the real envelope, or a decoy.  Or, if he told me the real envelope in hopes that I'd think it was a decoy and therefore pick a different envelope?  After all, he makes his living manipulating people's minds.  He says he's only lost the money once.

Stop reading, right now, and watch that TED talk before going any further.

Watched it?  OK, good.

So, the trick he does where he touches the guy and the girl feels it?  He did that one with Emily and I on the plane.  I have no idea how, and I was right there, and she really felt it.  Also, I think the trick with the spike is one of the most intense illusions I've ever seen.  He does it with many more people on his video page, including Samuel L. Jackson and Ellen DeGeneres.  He even told us to email him for some free tickets to one of his Return from Vegas shows in Ireland, but we sadly never got a reply.

In getting addresses for links for this post, I just learned that Keith's grandfather was recently assaulted in his home and died of his injuries.  Keith is now spearheading a campaign for stiffer sentencing for burglars, and debate seems to have been raised on home protection laws.  Both Emily and I feel for Keith, and with him the best on his efforts to secure safety for Irish in their homes, and the elderly in particular.