On August 1, 1973, Johnny Carson introduced Israeli mentalist Uri Geller to America on The Tonight Show. Geller’s claim to fame was his ability to bend spoons with his mind. Admittedly a skeptic, Carson gave Geller more than twenty uninterrupted minutes to show his stuff to the audience. Geller never had a chance. Here’s why.
Carson sought to shame Geller. He suspected Geller was a fraud (for calling himself a psychic, but a very good illusionist). He contacted his friend James Randi, a magician and psychic skeptic, to trap Geller. When Geller showed up on set, he sat down between fellow guest Ricardo Montalbán and host Johnny Carson. In front of him was a table with an array of trinkets on it.
For the next twenty minutes Geller hemmed and hawed and didn’t do a thing. His “bent” spoon wasn’t very bent at all, with Carson sarcastically saying “A spoon that’s got a slight Continue Reading “The Stargate Folly – It’s Never About The Science, It’s Always About The Funding”
Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part II)
Inspired by such classic films as The Battle of the Bulge, Burning Barn Products reached its peak with the release of The Battle of Dortmund Circle. Still from the movie.
As revealed previously, (see “Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part I),” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, April 10, 2025), we couldn’t move forward towards success without understanding the initial lesson. After learning our first success rule—get one ally before rallying the group—we were ready to turn dreams into movies. Convincing your peers to jump into the unknown isn’t easy. That’s what my brother Kenny and I faced when our neighborhood film making ambitions took off.
With my brother backing me, it was easy to convince the other boys to go along.
Hmm, maybe not that easy. There were initially too many objections. Remember, we were Continue Reading “Lessons From Failure Of Burning Barn Productions Unlock Success Rules That Drive You Forward (Part II)”