David Blaine is the devil
 

One of his specials is on TLC right now. This guys tricks are crazy

I missed it.

A long time ago I saw him do this weird levitation thing on TV, I always wondered how he did it.

toatlly misread the title and hoped this thread was about Blaine Neal

still on

He bagged Fiona Apple when she was 18, that makes him a god in my book.

I meant the trick.

Which trick?

I'm not entirely certain that would have been a particularly difficult challenge, would it?

He did it when she was 25, thats simply magical.

It an easy trick to do. stand at the right angle from the audience, and lift the left facing the audience, and stand on your toes on the other leg.

When you see it on the show, you see the reaction from the shot of him doing the above trick. But when you see him doing the trick, they use wires to make it look better.

He needs to tuck in his shirt tail. He looks all sloppy.

I was a huge fan of the Masked Magician.

ITs an easy trick to learn to impress your friends :D You just have to make it look difficult :D

Someone call the Super Best Friends. They'll stop him ;)

SI

I think he's great. One guy that I can't figure out some of his tricks and an amazing manipulator of cards.

"Turn around," says Jesus, "okay now turn back."

I remember the one where he showed up at the Cowboys training complex and scared the crap out of Deion and Emmitt with that levitation shit. IIRC, Deion gave one of those, "That's it, I'm outta here!", shaking his head comments, walked straight to his pimpmobile, and (purportedly) drove home.

I'm sure everything he does is pretty simply explained, but he sells it well.

Would you like to become a Blaine-tologist? I am one, as well as my friends Kyle and Kenny.

I like the one where he is doing a trick with Emmitt Smith. Two cards between Emmitt's fingers. He's so fast and he's switching the cards in and out of Smith's hands who has no idea what he's holding between his two fingers. That one trick is my favorite.

What exactlly would that be?

Blaintology is really kewl. You get to learn about his magic tricks, and get to go a camp. We also are going to go to Washington DC to get tax-exempt status for the group.

It's about time. I couldn't believe this thread went 15 deep before hitting South Park references.

SI

Now I get it.

When he did that stupid "standing on an 80 foot tall pole" thing here in NYC I saw it. I was having lunch in Bryant Park one day and saw that idiot climb on top of it. I had no clue what the hell it was, or who he was. It looked like it was about to start pouring rain. I was hoping he would get struck by lightning...

When he jumped off the pole into a ton of boxes it took a minute for him to move. We were all laughing. When he then started moving I was boo-ing. You could tell who the tourists were that night. They were the ones who liked it.

what was the point of that trick? that he's not afraid of heights?

After almost 35 hours, ten stories up, and with no water, food, sleep, or something to lean on, David Blaine leaped off a 105 feet tall, 22 inch wide, pillar into some card board boxes only twelve feet high. There was no harness or safety net had he fallen off or jumped off before the predestined time.

"The pillar that I am standing on is about as wide as my shoulders at most... about as big as a flower pot. Standing on it I feel a kind of weird piece. I can't hear any words. It's quiet up here. It's as if the city is underwater."

When

He was pulled to the top of the pillars by a crane at Noon Tuesday, May 21. His special was aired May 22, 2002 at 10/9c on ABC. At the end of the special, not quite 35 hours, was when he jumped. An hour before hand the boxes were assembled and some metal bar-handles were raised for him to hold onto to prepare him to jump and because of the pervasive wind.

Why

"The idea for this challenge dates back to the 5th century. There is a group of ascetics. called Stylites or pillar-hermits. The most famous one was San Simeon. The Stylites stood on pillars as an act of protests against the decadence of their time. San Simeon believed this brought him closer to God."
"This is my way of challenging every fear and using magic as performance."
"The only way to overcome a fear is to challenge it strait on."
On ABC's 20/20, David explains how his feat is based on San Simeon and the pole sitters of the 1920's.
Audience

10,000 people were actually at the pillar site, and millions more watched on ABC. Celebrity Christopher Reeves visits and talks how David's stunt shows "mind over body." It also shows David go alone on a street corner, and with nothing but his repertoire, a crowd adamantly builds up.

David Bl;aine is amazing. his tricks on the street blows my mind.

for example he tells a lady to write a word/name on a piece of paper and to fold it up real small. then david burns the paper and rubs the ashes on his shirt. then he lifts up his shirt and her bestfriend name appear on his stomach with her own writing.

i am wonderig if the people on the street are actors/actress and is part of his show?

and wonder if they edit things for his tricks on the street for tv?

but how is that magic? anyone not afraid of heights could have done that.

its not all about magic, he does others things too. like once he was inside standing inside a big block of ice for over 24 hours in NY. and they show some of it live on tv.

most of his tricks are classics or variations on classic tricks. his delivery/style/presentation sets him apart.

Some of the tricks he did on that special were set up though. He had a couple where there is no way he could of done it without the help of the mark's friends well before the trick took place. Didn't like those.

such as?

It's hard to stand in one place (esp. in a 22" spot) for 35 hours. Especially 100' above the ground. Your legs and back get tired. You get hungry and thirsty (not to mention wanting to take a leak).

They are endurance feats more than magic...just something your average cat probably couldn't do.

That one with the guys girl friend tattooed on his chest, and another that was similar to it.

Basically he asked a guy if there was any chance that he knew his girlfriend. Then lit a fire on his shirt that made a hole that revealed a picture of the girl "tattooed" on his stomach.

Someone gave him a picture ahead of time.

Isn't that too obvious?

How classy

Nope. He's the devil. Thats the explination.

I had a teacher, Mrs. Blaine, who looked like a rolley polley.

No mirrors required.

How did you know that I was in a tux that night?

Didn't see that one. Usually when they do the whole "burn the paper to ashes and rub it on my arm or chest" it's done with soap. He somehow writes with soap on himself what was written on the paper and the ashes stick to it.

but how he gets there own writing on his arm or chest?

i have tivo and i going slow motion, there no way he uses soap to write on himself because its there own writing of the person he ask to write on the paper

Don't know about him but that's the basic application of the trick. Who knows. Maybe someone on his team had them write the same thing in a different context prior to Blaine approaching them. Clearly some form of prep is required.

Like the one where he throws the cards against the window and the card is on the inside of the window. A member of the crew places the card on the inside of the window with some magician paste or tape. I guarantee the choosen card is sititng there on the ground outside as well.

My favorite are the card manipulation tricks. That takes skill close up.

Even more magical would be if David Blaine could get jbmagic to write "their" in his post instead of "there." :P

baby steps. let's start with the missing words and work our way up to the advanced lessons of "there" and "their".

Ack, I think I just remembered that English ain't jb's first language. No harm intended, anyway (but let this be a lesson anyhow, from this English teacher!) :)

IDIOT!

But honestly, what is his first language? I dunno if I ever caught that.

Me neither.

Or if we could have a thread on FOFC without someone bitching about proper grammar ;)

SI

Hehe...still, it's not like a conversation. Everyone here has to read constantly...you'd think that the correct usage would stick after a thousand posts (and god knows how many read threads). :)

Italiano

Nice. I give him credit. I could hardly do spanish, and english has to be complicated enough to learn.

Italian first language

i speak english better than i write. but taking notes and trying to get better.

Yeah I know that trick. But it was very detailed and large, not simple, and he wasn't given anything to use soap with.

Where'd you learn it?

You're doing a good job.

I wish I could speak Italian. Bonjourno is about it.

i really think David Blaine tricks are setup with the people on the street prior on doing them.

he told a guy to pick a card, and then put card back in rest of the deck. David could not find his card in the deck after he suffle it.

David told the guy its in your shoe, and when the guy took his shoe off, his card was there.

i believe his magic is setup with the people on the street and he probably tells them to react surprise.

if not, he is damn good then.

I think he just camps outside of Dave Matthews concerts and finds the most stoned people ever.

I highly doubt the marks are in on it. The footage is edited, yes and he has the aid of his crew. There are some tricks I can't explain but I'm sure there's a fairly simple explanation.

thanks

here in the states, i grew up all my life here. i learn how to speak English mainly thru school and friends at school.


when i was growing up, my Mom, Dad, and relatives just spoke mainly Italian to me. and didnt have much help with english writing when i got home from school.

but years and years later, trying to get better. i never like English subject at school. My favorite was math and computers. :)


i am an accountant now, so ,mostly just data entry in the computer, and 10 key touch on the calculator. dont have to worry to much about writing out things. i try to get my practice here and learn my reading alot.

thanks for being patience with me all. you guys are great,

ha no problem at all.

so whats the fofc rate for taxes?

The chances of not one of these people coming forward to claim it was a setup, in this tabloid society, are next to nil. The most I am willing to buy is that he's some sort of Jonas Nightengale, working off of information being fed to him by operatives, with the marks not suspecting a thing.

That still wouldn't explain most of the tricks he's able to do, though.

It explains a lot of it though.

The twisting arm thing where it goes around like 3 times is a well known common trick. Levitation the same. Biting a quarter in half...you can buy a kit.

I'll agree there are some but not most. Maybe 10% of them I have no idea.

If we are to believe this story either you sat there eating lunch for 35 hours or what you saw was a test run from the stunt man.

Like I said before. He is the devil. Why won't anyone listen?

I work down the block and walk by Bryant park almost every day. I was having lunch there on the day it started, and on my way home from work when it wrapped up. If I had to walk one block out of my way to see any of it I wouldn't have bothered, but since it was practically in front of me I said "What the hell."

I guess he has some sort of talent, mostly finding original ways to shout "LOOK AT ME!!!"

Haven't you guys even considered that *maybe* magic is real!?!? I never thought someone would top David Copperfield in the blackest of the black arts. God help us if a terrorist is even born with these gifts!!!

The shortlived new Twilight Zone series on UPN from a couple of years ago had an episode where Xander Berkeley was a famous magician who used real magic and tricks a young magician.

SI

FYI, 10pm EST on The Learning Channel, Street Magic is on.

That first one freaked me out. I'm sure there is some brain/sensory explanation but he got it right.

The second one is my favorite trick.

four of hearts was the last card shown. I actually said queen of hearts, so he didnt get me.

I've got one of his DVDs. He is really smooth. Even if you pause the DVD and go frame by frame, you can't figure the tricks out, or catch anything you might miss watching at normal speed.

I used to know a trick that worked about 1/2 to 2/3 of the time. I can't exactly remember it, but I think it goes like this: Pick a number between 50 and 100 where both digits are even numbers. I will read your mind and in the next post write your number.

Your number is 64

Wrong

i picked 88, fwiw

My original number was 62. I then also picked a few other numbers (60, 66, 88, 80), none of which was your answer

jc - Blaine has used the simpler version of the same trick, which requires one more element to work effectively:

-pick a number between 1 and 50
-both digits have to be odd
-the two digits can't be the same, so you can't say "11"




...pause...




Most people pick the number 37.

First, the requireemnt that each digit be odd narrows down the field a lot more than people intuitively think. The mention of the number 11 tends to subconsciously "scare" people toward the higher range of numbers. And 35 sounds to nice and even, while 37 sounds more "random" to people. So, a sizable share of people will pick exactly 37 as their number.

Not magic, just a bit of simple psychology.

i picked 31, fwiw.

The first one there is a slight pause. He knows which card it is. Most people will origanally start by picking a diffrent card, but they question which card they see when his card is shown. So they end up picking the card he has chosen and it is one of the last shown.

The second is cool, but it is just a double and triple lift. It is easy to do, but difficult to do it smoothly.

The third is a gimmick deck.

I really screwed that up. The digits cannot be the same. The trick I was think of is actually exactly what QS just wrote.

In the 1st trick the cards go by so quickly that by the time you see one and think "ok, i'm pick the 8 of--" the next card is already up. The four of hearts is the only one that your brain has much time to process.

So how did that last one (beer can) work? Also, was the wine glass pre-rigged in the second to last one?

It's just a trick can. You can find one on the internet for like $15. Don't know about the glass, but I would guess it's a plant.

edit: google search reveals that it's probably a trick table

So if it was a trick can then the people were in on it?

No, the people are stupid. He just waits until the guy is positioned correctly and has finished a beer of the same kind as the prop he has. Notice it's outside in the park. Easy to scout the location.

No, I'd say he just switched it out at some point. It's edited to make it look like he's just now meeting the people as the clip starts, but he's probably been doing tricks with them for a while. Or an assistant discretely switched the can earlier.

It is a normal can. It will have a small hole, usually a pin hole, towards the top. You let some of the contents out of the can and crush it a little in the middle, so it looks like someone crushed it. When you pick up the can you cover the pin hole with a finger and move the can back and forth. The carbination will then expand the can back to the way it was. The top of the can looks like it is open, but really it is just a piece of paper.
This trick works much better with a can of soda, than beer.

Some of these shows are on TLC right now.

I just tried this on both my wife and daughter...they both picked 37. Now my daughter thinks I'm cool like David Blaine :)