Blaine's street magic contained dozens of tricks that you can either buy at a magic store (folding quarter anyone?) or that are stock amateur tricks. the real genious of blaine is that he thought to make the focus of his special the audience rather than the trick.
Blaine's street magic contained dozens of tricks that you can either buy at a magic store (folding quarter anyone?) or that are stock amateur tricks. the real genious of blaine is that he thought to make the focus of his special the audience rather than the trick.
Obviously I don't believe in magic... but what's supposed to be special about "magicians" is that they're illusionists. David Blaine maybe have a few illusions up his sleeve, but by and large, he's just another chump with a camera pointed at him. With the same camera work, any of us could perform the majority of his illusions.
Houdini didn't get 146 takes to create his "illusions". Of course, he's dead... but still...
The illusions you see David Blaine perform on TV are either a) masochistic acts that aren't illusions, or b) multiple scenes/shots all crafted and glued together and presented as a single event to the audience.
The levitating stunt mentioned above is a prime example. When that's shown on TV, it's actually a multitude of shots with several different audiences who are intentionally made to appear identical throughout. They then take the prime shots from all the different takes and present it as one seamless event, which is total bullsh*t. You or I could pull that off, FFS. It's really quite lame. If he could pull half the stuff he does sans camera, I'd be impressed.
Yeah, he's got a few sidewalk gags that don't require a bunch of camerawork, but that certainly doesn't set him apart from any other peddler walking the boardwalk.
usually the "i could do that" argument annoys me. mostly as it applies to modern art. but i think in this case, its pretty accurate. because he isnt "inventing" the technique used. he is simply taking standard old midway tricks and applying them to the streets of major cities.
sure, he deserves his success for marking us as rubes but dont expect me to shell out cash or watch his masturbatory efforts on tv.
i dont hate the guy...but i understand the welcome he got in london.
Albatross
Platinum Member
- Jul 17, 2001
- 2,344
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wheresmybacon
Diamond Member
- Sep 10, 2004
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David Blaine is entertaining in the same way the bearded lady or the pig with the 50-pound balls is at the state fair. You guys know there's no such thing as "magic", right?
wheresmybacon
Diamond Member
- Sep 10, 2004
- 3,899
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I wish. It was about 15 years ago at the Oregon State fair. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. I think we paid $1 to go into this foul smelling tent.
HardcoreRobot
Lifer
- Nov 7, 2000
- 16,403
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what, you don't think he can actually levitate? im sure he can really breathe underwater, he just wants to make it seem like staying under 9 minutes is hard
he's starting to have a little facial expression...but no painful faces left...yet...
guess he's supposed to do something w/ the chains now?
guess he's supposed to do something w/ the chains now?
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