Rance Holloway: Did you like that? Of course you did. That trick just blew your mind, because that's what magic does. It blows people's minds. Welcome to the amazing world of magic.
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Rick the Implausible: I'm in the lobby doing the 2 to 2:30 shift. Wednesdays through . . . Well, just Wednesdays. Plus I'm doing some webisodes. Drum up business that way.
Burt Wonderstone: What the hell is a webisode?
Rick the Implausible: Are you being serious? What's a webis . . . ? It's a show that you do on the Internet. It's just like being on TV or having a movie except you don't go through, you know, all the hassle of people seeing it.
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Steve Gray: Sorry. Guilty pleasure. You're a really good sport. Whatever that means. Would you like to help me with a trick?
Audience #1: Sure.
Steve Gray: Now he’d done it.
Burt Wonderstone: Who is this hot mess?
Audience #2: That's Steve Gray, the street magician.
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Burt Wonderstone: Mr. Gray, what you do is not magic. It is monkey porn.
Steve Gray: I understand. It's natural for a dying leaf to be frightened by the autumn wind. It's not about pulling a rabbit out of your hat anymore. It's about pulling your heart out of your chest.
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Burt Wonderstone: Anton and I did a little show called: "Burt & Anton: A Magical Friendship." But as some of you may know, we recently had a falling-out.
Anton Marvelton:Yeah, we fell right out of The Hot Box.
《名魔生死鬥》(The Incredible Burt Wonderstone)講的正是魔術師的故事。電影中的伯特幼年身材弱小,又因家庭狀況孤僻內向,往往是同學霸凌的對象。但自從某年生日得到魔術工具盒與教學影片,伯特的人生從此不同,他不但找到人生的目標,惡整欺負他的同學,也因此結識了日後的魔術表演好夥伴亞頓。魔術有多麼吸引人,從伯特播放教學錄影帶時就知道。錄影帶中是魔術大師瑞斯好樂威,他表演了「口中鳥(mouth bird)」魔術(將雞蛋放入口中後,從嘴裡飛出一隻白鴿)後,告訴觀眾:「That trick just blew your mind, because that's what magic does.」在這句話中,blew your mind的意思是「大開眼界」,這個片語帶有讓人感到驚嘆、興奮的感覺,這種前所未有的感受,簡直就像是要讓大腦爆炸般的令人難以置信。
由於被火焰丟中的觀眾並沒有生氣,男士又加了一句:「You're a really good sport.」一般來說,sport這個字通常都做名詞「運動」來用,但在此處,男士顯然不是在說壯漢是種好運動(?!),而是用了sport很口語的說法,這邊指的是「開得起玩笑的人」,一般而言,可以指個性有趣、討喜、不太跟人計較的人。男士接著邀請壯漢參與接下來的魔術表演,而這場魔術表演並非一般的紙牌魔術,而是包括與皮肉傷相關的招術,令眾人在訝異中又充滿驚駭。一旁圍觀的伯特忍不住問了:「Who is this hot mess?」在英文俗話中,hot有聳動、受歡迎的意思,而mess則有一團亂、形容人狀況很差的意思,兩者彼此組合,hot mess指的是看似很酷炫但其實糟透了的人事物。透過這句話看的出來,伯特雖認同此魔術的成功,但是要搞到皮開肉綻以聳動吸睛,實在是太恐怖。而伯特的問題也得到回應,此人是新興的街頭魔術師(street magician)史蒂夫葛雷。
史蒂夫葛雷的出現無遺對這些傳統魔術師帶來威脅,他的魔術屢屢挑戰身體極限,憋尿、躺火炭……等招數的出現,更挑戰魔術的定義。某日伯特與史蒂夫又狹路相逢,伯特忍不住說:「Mr. Gray, what you do is not magic. It is monkey porn.」通常,當monkey這個字在英文口語中出現時,帶有對受話者的貶意,像是monkey business的意思就類似於中文口語的「胡搞瞎搞」,而monkey porn(直譯是猴子演A片),指的跟monkey business差不多,是類似「耍猴戲」的意思。
面對伯特的批評,史蒂夫也還以顏色,先用秋風掃落葉(It's natural for a dying leaf to be frightened by the autumn wind.)來譬喻來形容傳統魔術即將沒落被取代的現狀,再繼續強調新興魔術講求的非經美道具或傳統手法,而是血肉之軀與極限的對抗,史蒂夫說:「It's about pulling your heart out of your chest.」在英文俗語中pull one’s heart out帶有行事真誠之意,類似中文「掏心掏肺」的說法。不過,由於史蒂夫在片中不斷挑戰身體極限,可以判斷這句話的言下之意其實是要伯特將「身體」也納入魔術的一部分,就算如同字面上「將心掏出胸膛」都得做到以搏大眾注目。
伯特經歷演出低潮、新魔術師與魔術方式的挑戰,更面臨與兒時好友兼夥伴亞頓的翻臉拆夥。還好經過一番轉折與貴人的相助後,又重新思考魔術之於他自身與觀眾的意義,重新與亞頓修好,兩人再度回到舞台,為觀眾打造令人耳目一新的表演。在新節目的開場,伯特和亞頓簡單的描述一下近來的心路歷程,講到兩人的不合,用了a falling-out這個說法。我們大家都知道,墜入愛河的說法是fall in love,而相反的,分手則是fall out of love(也可以用break up)。不過,fall out不只用在戀情,也可用在友誼上,意指兩人因某事不和而絕交、分離、互不往來。而在這裡,當然則指兩人拆夥之事。
不過,如此讓氣氛低迷的往事怎麼能炒熱現場氣氛呢!亞頓接著說:「Yeah, we fell right out of The Hot Box.」這句話中的The Hot Box是兩人過去學史蒂夫葛雷的一項把戲──將兩人置於吊掛在半空的玻璃箱中,不過把戲失敗,兩人從箱子中跌出來,因此這邊的fall out講的是「跌出來」這動作,與fall out「友誼決裂」文字一樣,意義不同,但因妙用雙關語而讓現場氣氛再度活絡,更可看出兩人友誼歷經動盪但又修復的難得過程,且如往日般的保有好默契。