Dear all!
I have yet to share with you some thoughts about my web series ‘The Deductionist’ This entire web series is done with a crew of 2 people, me being one of them and the other is the technical wizard, my friend, Mr Adam Golamaully. We had this idea, that we could really some up in a few words. What if Sherlock, or any Deductionist for that matter, skewered their career preference towards entertainment? What would that look like and what would you be able to see as the viewing public. We had a concept that we were going to be as upfront about everything as possible, in the same vain that Mr. Holmes would always be asked to explain his deductions we would tell every volunteer that offered their time exactly what was happening and what was going. If we tried to pull a fast one behind the camera or ask them specifically to say or do something, social media was banned and if all this wasn’t strictly adhered to, then they are to shout and scream and tell the world, lift the lid on exactly what was going on. Currently, there are 2 episodes, with episode 2 being a 2 parter. You can find the links for them below.
The Deductionist Episode 1 – This was the introductory episode to me and the series itself, a wide range of effects and possibilities. Before the strictly thematic episodes were born.
The Deductionist Episode 2 part 1 – The beginning of the episode entitled ‘PEOPLE’. The aim was to test just how far we can read people, accurately, and on as little information as possible. Seen at the beginning of this episode is when i had my abilities tested by a documentary film crew in York. Kept in a room for hours, that was a mobile phone signal dead zone, not even wifi. Allowed to only say hello to everyone for a brief window of around 30 seconds and then not allowed to even look at the host, that i was reading, until the cameras went live. They didn’t even tell me his name! Lots of fun!
The Deductionist Episode 2 part 2 – The climax of the show!
Episode 3 is called ‘Physical’ and should be dropping within the next 8 weeks. Episode 4 is called ‘Memory’ and you can probably guess what that is about, but this did get me thinking about a very important aspect of memory work as a reductionist and is covered at great length in my forthcoming book ‘The Monographs’
Now then, what got me thinking today is because i was filming my version of a memory stunt seen on the mentalist.
So the bathtub is full, the list of random objects was numbered in the 40’s. We wanted to make it even harder than the show by having a mix of objects, playing cards and numbers. Then ask for them to be recited in a random order. I said specifically to Adam (who was to be the one to ‘drown me’) that you are to force my head under the water and hold it under for differing lengths of time. I am an Asthmatic and not a free diver, so i found this quite hard, holding my breath under such force and pressure and then having to remember the random lists and still do it successfully. We did it quite a few times in total and by the end of it i was completely knackered, and not to mention, incredibly wet!
Relaxation, and the quieting of the emotional voice inside your head are conducive to clear and logical thought. Relaxation engages the parasympathetic nervous system and flushes the body with oxygen. It is the anti flight or fight response if you will. In the same way that sleep is a chance for the body repair the neurons used in the nerves throughout the day, so to can relaxation and rest allow more neural epinephrin to move through the brain and allow you to function at optimum levels and in this instance complete the memory challenge. That is why this was such an incredible challenge, because you can’t concentrate on the fact that you can’t breathe and the pressure is building up in your insides because your bent in half over bathtub, this puts unnecessary pressure on your internal organs. You can’t wonder how long you are going to be down under the water for or whether all the water is going to fall out of your ears in time for you to hear the next part of the list. You need to be able to clear and focus your mind, ignore the voice inside your head telling you to get up and breathe! Go dry yourself off and take your inhaler! Focus on the task at hand that you’ve done 200 times before that and do it right, like your life depended on it. Strive for success. Sherlock Holmes said it best when he said ‘Emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning’ which is true. How many times have we all heard someone say, he would never lie to me or she would never do that to me! When intact anything is possible and its this emotional glasses we choose to look through that impair function in what we want to achieve cognitively.
Wise words from a Philosopher, and is a lesson we can all learn when fine tuning our own deductive minds!
Stay tuned folks for more updates and tips over the coming days!
Ben