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Da Vinci Code reference in Penn & Teller: ********! ?

jay.tarnoff

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jay.tarnoff
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Let me first state that I absolutely love Penn & Teller: ********! which is why I was thrown for a little loop tonight after watching the airing of the Organic Food show (Season 7) on Showtime.

P&T, or at least the producers, used Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" as the backdrop, with Penn as Jesus, Teller as the disciple to the left side of Penn, and actors playing the other eleven disciples.

John "The Beloved Disciple" was played by an actress (on Penn's right side), as in the claim of the fictitious Da Vinci Code as Mary Magdalene in this position. This was the only female in the scene.

Okay. This may just be a coincidence, because Penn & Teller, using the Da Vinci Code? It left me saying, "huh? Really? The Da Vinci Code? In BS (censor)??? REALLY???"

Anyone else catch this or am I simply making a causation out of a coincidence?
 
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We can't use the full word of BS in the JREF threads? Even in reference to the Penn & Teller show?
 
Many things done on the Show Not To Be Named are done with an eye to how many people they can hack off by so doing. More Christians to hack off than Dan Brown fans. Dan Brown naysayers other than Christians probably didn't enter in their calculations, and the BS of Dan Brown should speak for itself.
 
Interestingly enough, and not totally unrelated, I have read that, the Renaissance painters had a set of standard and such when representing the various saints and apostles (I guess so that they could be recognized).
Luke was always supposed to be young and pretty and it was not uncommon for painters to use female models to inspire the pretty boy's Bishonen-ness.
 
jay.tarnoff said:
We can't use the full word of BS in the JREF threads? Even in reference to the Penn & Teller show?
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I couldn't use the word BS in a post where I quoted Randi himself.

As far as Penn & Teller, I'm sure the reference was just supposed to be funny.
 
MikeSun5 said:
I couldn't use the word BS in a post where I quoted Randi himself.

As far as Penn & Teller, I'm sure the reference was just supposed to be funny.
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Funny? A harmless joke?

Perhaps.

Or perhaps something more ... sinister.

Consider, when Jean Cocteau died in 1963 Penn Jillette was 8 years old.

8 years old is considered the age of reason in many middle eastern countries.

The middle east is the very place where these events began!

Consider also the names:

Penn - something that transmits words.

Teller - Teller of what? Words maybe?

And who was called the Word made Flesh? Jesus Christ that is who!

Consider this. Jean Cocteau was the last known Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. Is it really so far-fetched that a secret Priory would elect a new Grand Master at the moment he reached the age of reason? What better age?

What better role for the current Grand Master of a secret Priory to hide his identity? Nobody would expect that someone who was protecting a great esoteric truth would be a professional scoffer at all things "woo".

Anybody who even suspected the truth would not dare tell it for fear of being mocked in the way Penn and Teller mock their victims.

It is the classic "hide in plain sight" stratagem.

And they have a perfect vehicle for transmitting secret messages throughout the world.

Oh I know you narrow minded pseudo-sceptics will scoff - but can you prove it isn't true?

Do you have a better explanation for these facts? Co-incidence you say. But isn't that what you always say?
 
Robin said:
Funny? A harmless joke?

Perhaps.

Or perhaps something more ... sinister.

Consider, when Jean Cocteau died in 1963 Penn Jillette was 8 years old.

8 years old is considered the age of reason in many middle eastern countries.

The middle east is the very place where these events began!

Consider also the names:

Penn - something that transmits words.

Teller - Teller of what? Words maybe?

And who was called the Word made Flesh? Jesus Christ that is who!

Consider this. Jean Cocteau was the last known Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. Is it really so far-fetched that a secret Priory would elect a new Grand Master at the moment he reached the age of reason? What better age?

What better role for the current Grand Master of a secret Priory to hide his identity? Nobody would expect that someone who was protecting a great esoteric truth would be a professional scoffer at all things "woo".

Anybody who even suspected the truth would not dare tell it for fear of being mocked in the way Penn and Teller mock their victims.

It is the classic "hide in plain sight" stratagem.

And they have a perfect vehicle for transmitting secret messages throughout the world.

Oh I know you narrow minded pseudo-sceptics will scoff - but can you prove it isn't true?

Do you have a better explanation for these facts? Co-incidence you say. But isn't that what you always say?
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Well played, sir. Nominated.
 
MikeSun5 said:
...also "Penn Jillette" is 12 letters long. The EXACT number of apostles...
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Oh my God! I never even noticed that.

Now come to think of it "Ray" Teller. A ray is something that comes from the sun and "sun" is a well known medieval and Renaissance double-entendre for the "Son" Jesus Christ, for example George Herbert's The Temple "Then by a sunne-beam I will climbe to thee."

The "beam" is a reference to the Cross and "Ray" is another word for "beam".

Their names are just packed with references to Jesus Christ.
 
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Robin said:
Oh my God! I never even noticed that.

Now come to think of it "Ray" Teller. A ray is something that comes from the sun and "sun" is a well known medieval and Renaissance double-entendre for the "Son" Jesus Christ, for example George Herbert's The Temple "Then by a sunne-beam I will climbe to thee."

The "beam" is a reference to the Cross and "Ray" is another word for "beam".

Their names are just packed with references to Jesus Christ.
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:D Well on your way to a P&T cult. Doomsday has the same amount of letters as Bull***t. It's simply too much to handle.
 
MikeSun5 said:
:D Well on your way to a P&T cult. Doomsday has the same amount of letters as Bull***t. It's simply too much to handle.
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The odds of this being mere co-incidence are narrowing by the minute.
 
MikeSun5 said:
I couldn't use the word BS in a post where I quoted Randi himself.

As far as Penn & Teller, I'm sure the reference was just supposed to be funny.
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Still, they are not the most scientific of the skeptics. They have the philosophy right, but their skills at supporting their conclusions with convincing evidence is occasionally lacking. Which means they occasionally get it wrong, IMO.
 
skeptigirl said:
Still, they are not the most scientific of the skeptics. They have the philosophy right, but their skills at supporting their conclusions with convincing evidence is occasionally lacking. Which means they occasionally get it wrong, IMO.
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Agreed. Although I do like how they 'fess up when they get busted on their own BS -- like when they did that segment on second hand smoke and had to take a bunch of it back. There are tons of more respected programs that probably wouldn't even address using obvious hyperbole, let alone making a mistake.
 
joobz said:
I'm not sure what your problem is?
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I have no "problem" with it. I was just surprised that P&T would play off a a novel that claimed to be true and yet had no (or extremely little) scientific support.

With the title of their show, you would think they wouldn't use a BS book to drive home the point IMO.
 
Robin said:
The odds of this being mere co-incidence are narrowing by the minute.
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Maybe it wasn't an Autobot controlling what words are put in the post, but the Show That Must Not Be Named already reaching its nefarious hand into censoring those who disagree :D
 
jay.tarnoff said:
I have no "problem" with it. I was just surprised that P&T would play off a a novel that claimed to be true and yet had no (or extremely little) scientific support.

With the title of their show, you would think they wouldn't use a BS book to drive home the point IMO.
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If they presented the piece as a bit of factual proof against something, then I would agree.

If they did the piece as one of thier jokey inbetween things, I wouldn't put much stock into it.
 
jay.tarnoff said:
I have no "problem" with it. I was just surprised that P&T would play off a a novel that claimed to be true and yet had no (or extremely little) scientific support.
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To give Dan Brown his due, he's a terrible writer, his research is lazy, it's a mystery why his da Vinci code was such as sucess but I don't think he ever claimed any part of it to be true other than the existence of the Opus Dei.

However your argument still stands (though reads a little more clumsy) "...that P&T would play off a novel who's idiot fans - claim to be true..." or if it were "Holy Blood + Holy Grail" in your sights.

Though one of the most amusing parts of the whole "Holy Blood + Holy Grail" copyright battle was Baigent and Leigh having to admit that their historical research was purely and simply the reporting of uncopyrightable truth but at least to a certain extent a creation of their imagination. That said, they lost so they're probably back to claiming it as the truth.
 
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