Hello Last Laugh,

I'm really enjoying the podcasts and hope you keep 'em a-coming!

You made an off-hand comment on the segment interviewing our esteemed colleague, Iain, that can't go unchallenged though. You indicated that the pronunciation of Latin is unknown, or something to that effect.

That's not exactly true. Thanks to the vast wealth of Roman poetry which has survived for over two millennia, and knowing that poets then (just like today) employed rhyming, alliteration and other phonetic devices, scholars have quite a few clues to work with in deducing what it must have sounded like. And of course, just like the offspring of a human being often shows similarities to the parent, likewise our modern Romance languages (especially Italian) also tell us quite a bit about the tongue from which they came.

I'd be willing to bet Iain would have no trouble interesting the mentalists of Rome with a book entitled "Behold! I speak!" announced in their own language.

But in all seriousness, linguists have quite a few secrets too which seem miraculous to the rest of us. Incidentally, I took up the study of Latin at age 65, and at the outset spent quite a bit time mastering what's now called the Reconstructed Classical Pronunciation. Should I bump into a time machine, I'll report back if Julius Caesar and I managed to strike up a conversation.

Now, back to mentalism...and keep up the great work!

Thomas Henry

Thomas:
Wow, now that is really interesting! I had no idea, that's great info. I am always grateful to stand corrected.



To all:
A new episode is forthcoming very soon. The power outages and fires have not only set my technical production back but also kept my kids home which, in turn, sets production back.

I happen to know that your next guest did Classical Studies. He can confirm that what Thomas just posted is correct! The same goes for Classical Greek. It's pretty far off from our pronunciation at school and at uni.

Finally got the latest episode out!

I talked to a certain someone who you might be familiar with from this here forum! In this episode, he is finally 'Unmasked'.

https://soundcloud.com/mysteryartspodcas......willemse

Maarten (who's name I managed to butcher, despite my best intentions) is one of the top corporate entertainers in The Netherlands. He is a great guy, warm, funny and really interesting. He's got a very unique approach to the mystery arts and his origin story is a great tale.

Enjoy!

Thanks for having me, Matt! In regards to butchering my name: I returned the favor by butchering the English language as a whole, I noticed. So we’re good.

Lol. Not at all. You speak more fluently than many native speakers... I think I finally figured out the 'aa' sound. Right after I finished recording.

I will personally verify that, ladies and gentlemen. I will report back.

The interview with Maarten is wonderful!! I particularly enjoyed the second half.

Very much looking forward to you having another interview with Maarten to learn more about his "no cold calling" approach to growing his performance business.

Yeah definitely! Drew B had a bunch of business notes we didn't get to also. Maybe a business super show!

I’m up for that, Matt! Sounds like fun!

My favorite episode so far!

Would love to see a business call with Maarten.

And perhaps another business call with Drew B

Yeah most definitely will aim to make that happen!



Mindvention recap episode is out now.

Besides having a great time at MV, I also got at least 5 people to agree to come on the show.

Good things a-comin'

Niceness!!!

Really enjoyed your de-brief on Mindvention! For someone who has never been, and may not ever go, this was enlightening.

That's really disappointing to hear one of the vendors had a 50% fail rate when attempting to demonstrate their electronic effects. I've not really ever been into electronics and this would be the main reason why.

50% fail? That sounds more like a propless number...

I really enjoyed this episode as well, Matt. I think you're a great storyteller. I was driving from Amsterdam to Utrecht, but it felt like spending 3 days in Vegas.

hahaha....

To be fair, I guess it was like 50% fail on the first attempt. Some of them worked after a little tinkering.

But...yeah.

You guys are brutal on the propless stuff lol.

To be fair Phedon’s jokes about anything that involves props are better. But don’t ever mention to him I said that.