Uri Geller

[ramonmercado]

He's been here 35 years. I wonder what's brought this on?

Maybe hes just retiring to Israel.

 

[Swifty]

Maybe hes just retiring to Israel.

Maybe he's starting to run out of money.

 

[Mythopoeika]

That may be it...

 

[PeteByrdie]

Maybe he's become tired of being accused of being a publicity obsessed fraud. Quick, everyone; accuse him some more to make sure he sticks to his plans.

 

[Graylien]

Uri's parting gift to the UK is one of the ugliest sculptures I've ever seen. Also it doesn't have planning permission. I see Uri hasn't lost his habit of talking about himself in the third person or his habit of dropping celebrity names:

Speaking at the launch on Monday, Mr Geller said: “I bought this sculpture to remind people Uri Geller used to walk along this path....I hear Taylor Swift wants to buy my house, where is she?”

I doubt Uri's short of a bob or two. Judging by his website he's still busy enough. He's even got some kind of TV show in which he wanders around the world looking for the next Uri Geller. Personally I can't get annoyed about the guy - he's just too entertaining!

 

[Ulalume]

Uri's parting gift to the UK is one of the ugliest sculptures I've ever seen. Also it doesn't have planning permission. I see Uri hasn't lost his habit of talking about himself in the third person or his habit of dropping celebrity names:

I doubt Uri's short of a bob or two. Judging by his website he's still busy enough. He's even got some kind of TV show in which he wanders around the world looking for the next Uri Geller. Personally I can't get annoyed about the guy - he's just too entertaining!

At first I thought that sculpture looked vaguely ovarian, which was puzzling, but then I realized it might represent a bent spoon. Sort of. Still hard on the eyes though.

I agree, Uri Geller is just too entertaining to hate. He never did anything to me besides encourage some fruitless hours trying to bend metal with my mind.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I'd be sorry to see him go, actually. We'll hear less from him when he's in Israel.
I think it may be, as one poster said earlier, a retirement thing.

 

[gattino]

The most extraordinary thing about Uri Gellar is how amazed he is every time he manages to do what he ..er..manages to do every time. Spoon bent? watch restarted? drawing a match for yours? "Oh my god! I don't believe it! Wow! That's Amazing!".

Only Sally Morgan comes close to him in terms of constantly taking herself by surprise.

 

[GNC]

Presumably Uri has family in Israel, so perhaps he's moving back to be closer to them? He is an absolute charlatan, but he's also incredibly charismatic and the world would be a duller place without him.

 

[Graylien]

It seems Uri has previous form with sculptures. Last year he commissioned a giant gorilla sculpture made from thousands of spoons donated by people all over the world.

Geller had originally planned to transport the statue home in a net attached to a helicopter, in true King Kong style, but due to safety concerns, this will no longer be permitted.

Apparently Uri lets poorly children tour his garden to look at his collection, which is quite sweet.

 

[Tribble]

At first I thought that sculpture looked vaguely ovarian, which was puzzling, but then I realized it might represent a bent spoon. Sort of. Still hard on the eyes though.

The sculpture has disappeared. Nobody's claiming responsibility.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mystery-uri-gellers-bent-spoon-6643062

I think it looks like six-pack rings.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Probably removed by some concerned, public-spirited citizen.

 

[Heckler]

Or a passing giant with a bowl of soup and no clean cutlery?

 

[Graylien]

I reckon the culprit is the Victorian Time Traveller eyeing the sculpture up on the right. He looks like a man who's thinking "I simply must take this back to show the chaps at the Athenaeum Club!"

 

[sherbetbizarre]

I'm hoping some prankster will return it - all straightened out.

 

[Mythopoeika]

 

[ramonmercado]

More attention seeking guff from Geller.

Uri Geller Plans to Excavate the Ancient "Egyptian" Treasure of Fictitious Princess Scota on a Scottish Island He Owns
7/28/2017

A long time ago, before I was born, Uri Geller was famous as a spoon-bender, and it is rather astonishing that “spoon-bender” was ever a profession, even if he was technically supposed to be some kind of telekinetic. His repertoire of tricks was always rather threadbare, and I can remember amazing my New Age classmates in anthropology classes by doing the spoon-bending trick and making objects move with the power of my “mind.” I performed such tricks—based on physics and misdirection—because one of my classmates claimed with a straight face that Buddhism had given him telekinetic powers, and he tried the same prestidigitation but called it a spiritual miracle. He also claimed he could levitate, but only when no one else was around to see.

I bring this up only by way of introducing Geller’s latest attempt to try to remain relevant four decades after his heyday. Back in 2009 Geller bought the tiny Isle of Lamb in Scotland’s Firth of Forth, and now the septuagenarian psychic is planning an archaeological dig on the island because he had a vision that the land hides the lost Egyptian treasure of the fictional Egyptian princess Scota, the retroactive eponym of Scotland. “When I was on the island, I felt it,” Geller told The Mirror this week.

Geller said that he became convinced of the existence of the lost treasure during his one and only visit to the island in 2010, in which he paced the 100-yard-long island with dowsing rods. ...

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/u...s-princess-scota-on-a-scottish-island-he-owns

 

[Min Bannister]

We went to see him when he came as there was publicity and a do at the Seabird Centre. He was very entertaining and charismatic. I might be able to dig up photos if I try. An interesting character right enough.

 

[Coal]

Geller said that he became convinced of the existence of the lost treasure during his one and only visit to the island in 2010, in which he paced the 100-yard-long island with dowsing rods. ...

OK, I'm waiting... *takes big breath and holds it*

 

[EnolaGaia]

More attention seeking guff from Geller.
Uri Geller Plans to Excavate the Ancient "Egyptian" Treasure of Fictitious Princess Scota on a Scottish Island He Owns ...

All of which overlooks the pesky facts that:

- There are two distinct lineages of Scota / Scotia legends;
- Neither can be substantiated any farther back than 1000 - 1200 years; and
- Both pretty clearly place the central character, her acts, and / or any associated treasure / artifacts in Ireland rather than Scotland.

 

[Min Bannister]

I am not entirely sure what is to be gained here since I am going to come over all sceptic and speculate that he isn't going to find any treasure. I don't really get it.

Point of information from the blog post:-

A lot depends, weirdly enough, on the mating habits of seabirds and whether Geller might disturb them.

Nothing weird about that. Trampling over and digging up nesting birds is not cool. Or allowed.

 

[Coal]

All of which overlooks the pesky facts that:

- he makes stuff up all the time.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Point of information from the blog post:-

A lot depends, weirdly enough, on the mating habits of seabirds and whether Geller might disturb them.
Nothing weird about that. Trampling over and digging up nesting birds is not cool. Or allowed.

An initial widely-splashed claim of intended action gets you far more publicity than the eventual news tidbit announcing you won't be doing it - especially if the intention is thwarted by a third party so as to absolve you of all blame.

Geller could well be banking on this ...

 

[Coal]

I wonder at what point in a charlatan's life they wake up with the revelation that half of the population is under average intelligence and then smacking a fist into an open palm say to themselves "Boy I'm going to rip those bastards off!"

 

[EnolaGaia]

I wonder at what point in a charlatan's life they wake up with the revelation that half of the population is under average intelligence and then smacking a fist into an open palm say to themselves "Boy I'm going to rip those bastards off!"

There are other paths into charlatanry besides inspirational enlightenment ...

For some charlatanry is innate (e.g., pathological liars).

For some charlatanry is acquired (e.g., learned from an older con artist).

For some charlatanry is a vocation into which one grows (e.g., Goebbels).

For some charlatanry is a career adjustment once your original X (X = pet philosophy or theory, SF novels, pious vocation, etc.) fails to deliver the level of acclaim and / or wealth you feel you deserve.

 

[Min Bannister]

An initial widely-splashed claim of intended action gets you far more publicity than the eventual news tidbit announcing you won't be doing it - especially if the intention is thwarted by a third party so as to absolve you of all blame.

Geller could well be banking on this ...

Interesting you should say that. Away for the weekend a few months ago, I bought a daft magazine to read in the tent. "Spirit and Destiny" or similar. There was an article in it headlined to the effect that Geller was employed by some governments agency (CIA I think) to psychically spy for them. I think this was even on the cover. Now at this point I am forced to admit I bought the magazine again the following month. Inside I spotted a teeny tiny paragraph that this claim had been made in "error". Hmm, whose error I wonder? And how far did that headline spread to people who will never see the retraction?

 

[Mythopoeika]

I wonder at what point in a charlatan's life they wake up with the revelation that half of the population is under average intelligence and then smacking a fist into an open palm say to themselves "Boy I'm going to rip those bastards off!"

He's actually a very good charlatan. And likeable too.

 

[MrRING]

Interesting, one of Ken Russell's final projects was a movie puff piece based on Geller called Bender - sorry, Mindbender which I've never seen but is meant to be stupendously ridiculous. This doc sounds slightly more sensible.

The film appears to be on YouTube, but I don't know if I should link to it or not.

 

[GNC]

The film appears to be on YouTube, but I don't know if I should link to it or not.

Presumably it'll come up on a search at the YT site. I don't know if I'm curious enough to watch it there, quality on that site is not always the best for amateur uploads/rip-offs.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... There was an article in it headlined to the effect that Geller was employed by some governments agency (CIA I think) to psychically spy for them. I think this was even on the cover. Now at this point I am forced to admit I bought the magazine again the following month. Inside I spotted a teeny tiny paragraph that this claim had been made in "error". Hmm, whose error I wonder? And how far did that headline spread to people who will never see the retraction?

My guess is that the article / retraction derived, drew from, or played off (e.g.) this January 2017 Telegraph article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/18/uri-geller-convinced-cia-psychic-warrior/

... and / or any of a number of other publications triggered by the declassification and online offering of CIA documents relating to his being tested at SRI in the early 1970's. The documents were cleared for release back in 2000, but were apparently not made available online until November 2016. See, for example:

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00791r000100480003-3