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). :)