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I'm a very cynical person. If somebody tells me an interesting scrap of information I'll snap back at them with 'prove it.' If they claim to know about a secret conspiracy, I'll grab hold of them, throw them to the floor and scream 'PROVE IT.' If somebody claims that Derren Brown is a fraud, I'll... be very confused. For as much as I hate people who dismiss others as phoneys with out proper proof, I also hate people who rely on other's time and money (Since time=money) for themselves to become successful. The lottery stunt last week caused thousands of people to call him a fraud, and that so called 'split screen' trick some how became fact. I know that it's very difficult to do that effect properly, especially on LIVE television. It could only work if the camera was completely still and the shaking was just caused by some sort of computer software. Add something in to change the brightness of the whole scene and HDR will kick in, as you can see in this video HERE.

So yeah, the stunt could easily have gone wrong and I think he was very brave to attempt it, even if there was some sort of clever camera trickery going on. I don't believe in his 'proper' explanation. Do you really expect an audience to come up with numbers that relate to random lottery numbers every week?

Back to the Sofa stunt. I wanted it to work. I REALLY wanted it to work. I've always wanted to believe in something that I don't fully understand. Since science is just too cold and clinical, and religion is just plain... messed up, I was relying on psychological tricks to bring a bit of wonder and awe back into my life. Of course, the magical video came to an end and I stood up straight away, just like everybody else I've talked to. Sad.

I can't help but think that people are just too stupid to take this sort of stuff seriously. Or too clever, I forget which. Anybody who thinks that those flashing images were meant to be subconscious messages is just mislead- there's a beep sound while the screen flashes white, people. We're meant to see it. I believe it's his way of making people think there's more to it. For instance, when I have a problem with my PC I tend to take it apart and fix what I think is the problem, then while I'm there I'll tweak some other things in the hope that it'll make it work, even though I know in the back of my mind that dusting off a fan or placing my soundcard in another PCI slot won't get Windows 7 to identify my DVD drive. Thousands of years ago, elixirs of life were made for Emperors to drink. They'd throw loads of things into the potion in the hope that it would perform miracles. This plant grows at night! Chuck it in. Mercury is like metallic water! We don't understand it so it's obviously got magical properties! If those people just looked it up on Google they could have saved many Emperor's lives in those ancient times.

The point is that normally, the simplest things work. Over-complicating things is just adding further stuff we don't understand to a problem that hasn't been solved. It shouldn't be done. In Derren Brown's case, while other people pick up on this spam-like stuff and think of it as powerful mind games, Derren Brown probably relies on people to notice this stuff and to consider it more complex than it actually is.

I'd love to be wrong about this, but I can't help but think that the only people affected by this sofa trick are those who are seeking attention, or those who feel something strange and think that it's working. I felt something strange while I was sitting there. I felt my legs go numb, I got pins and needles in my arms and my head felt stiff. I get the same feeling at night when I lie there for about 15 minutes with out moving. Lie there, COMPLETELY motionless for a while and your whole body will go numb, much like the feeling when you wake up in the morning and everything just feels nice. I suggest you try it some time. Just to make it sound more interesting, read this. I've never got it to work (And I've been trying for YEARS, just because I'd love to believe that it does actually work.)

So yeah, that's about all I have to say. Derren Brown is an interesting character, but I believe that he's cashing in on people wanting to believe in the things he does. For half the audience to get paralysed like that is unbelievable. I just wish that I could attend one of the shows and have a go. Not because I want to prove him wrong or that I think it works, but because I'd like to BELIEVE it works.

Oh, if you do attempt an OOBE by lying motionless for hours on end, beware of SLEEP PARALYSIS. It happens to some people occasionally as they wake up, where their mind's awake but their body's asleep. This video is exactly how I imagine it to be. I haven't experienced such an event, but I can just imagine how traumatic it could be.

Speaking of strange night time events, I went through a stage when I was younger of being aware that I was dreaming. I would try and wake myself up, but it's a very hard thing to do. You try screaming but your mouth doesn't move and you end up making some very disturbing moaning sounds as you try to shout MUM at the top of your voice. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with shouting for your Mum when you're trapped in a room with a zombie within a nightmare. I also find that frowning and raising my eyebrows helps to wake myself up. Here, have another scary video of somebody trying to scream in their sleep.

Though by the time you realise you're a victim of sleep paralysis, it may be too late! Imagine hearing your Mum downstairs, walking about. She walks up the stairs, your door opens... and it's some horrible, disfigured monster. Imagine being aware of it, but not being able to move. Eurgh. No one's safe from this horrible occurrance, as rare as it might be!

...and with that, I leave you. Have fun trying to get to sleep tonight. As for me, I'm going to have to go downstairs and unplug the internet in the dark right now. Why do I always look up horrible stuff like this in the middle of the night?