David Blaine: Street Magician

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Have you guys seen him?



I saw just a few tricks on cable, he was on the street doing tricks on the fly (improvising, etc). The guy blew my mind.



He was able to levitate himself a foot of the ground right in front of a group of people at will.



I don't know much about him but he seems really fresh and cool. Any comments or opinions? What tricks have you seen him do? How did he do it?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    yea, he's a frickin nut.



    he's done a bunch of stupid stunts here in NYC over the years
  • Reply 2 of 28
    burningwheelburningwheel Posts: 1,827member
    yeah is he's cool but one strange dude
  • Reply 3 of 28
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    I taped his first (and I think second) regular "street magic" specials. I loved them. I'm not so hot on his Houdini-like stunts in the ice and what was it - buried underground or something?
  • Reply 4 of 28
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Some well known illusionist has ripped off Blaines schtick. Check your local listings.
  • Reply 5 of 28
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    David's the friggin coolest thing to happen to 'real' magic since Houdini.



    To wit: He stands on the street in front of a Chinese restaurant, asks a passerby to pick a card out of the deck (but doesn't look), she puts the card back in the deck.....and he hurls the entire deck of cards at the plate glass window of the restaurant. ONE card is left sticking to the window (of course, it's the card she picked), he goes to reach for it....and it's really stuck to the inside of the window. He goes inside the restaurant, peels it off, comes back outside and..."Is this your card"?



    Holy Mother Of All That Is Sacred!!!



    The guy knows his stuff, obviously. My (potential) FIL is a magic collector, been on the Magic Museum's board for 20 years, and knows just about every trick in the book (yes, even levitation) and this guy blows his mind.



    He's good.
  • Reply 6 of 28
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    Blaine does not levitate a foot off the ground. He uses a method called the "Balducci method". Its simple and pretty stupid actually. Its only a few inches and of course its just an illusion.



    Plus, he splices in the scenes of people reacting to his levitating a few inches with scenes of him being hoisted into the air with a device attached to his waist. (notice his back is always too you).



    Most of his tricks can be explained pretty easily....yes even the hours "frozen in a block of ice"



    Its all just smoke and mirrors
  • Reply 7 of 28
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Willoughby

    Blaine does not levitate a foot off the ground. He uses a method called the "Balducci method". Its simple and pretty stupid actually. Its only a few inches and of course its just an illusion.



    Wow, you mean it's not real magic?



    You're such a tough-minded skeptic.
  • Reply 8 of 28
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    Wow, you mean it's not real magic?



    You're such a tough-minded skeptic.








    People give him more credit than he deserves. Thats all I'm saying. A lot of magicians hate him because he uses a lot of camera tricks instead of real illusions. He also uses plants in the audience.
  • Reply 9 of 28
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Yes of course but it's the schtick that makes it good. It's Jerry Springer meets Doug Henning.





    +=
  • Reply 10 of 28
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Yeah, plants like his camera crew...



    That card-on-inside-of-window one?



    Note that he says "Show it to the camera... show it to them..."



    And the window is off-camera. The people sitting on the inside of the restaurant at the table *at the window* are his plants, along with the crew. They are the ones who stick the card on the window, after it is shown to the camera, they have a live feed.
  • Reply 11 of 28
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Willoughby





    People give him more credit than he deserves. Thats all I'm saying. A lot of magicians hate him because he uses a lot of camera tricks instead of real illusions. He also uses plants in the audience.




    No they don't. They just like him because he's actually appealing unlike most magicians who act like Vegas schmucks with frilly tuxedos and bad jokes.



    He didn't use a lot of camera tricks. 95% were classic tricks that he did well with a new younger/cooler approach.
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Yeah, plants like his camera crew...



    That card-on-inside-of-window one?



    Note that he says "Show it to the camera... show it to them..."



    And the window is off-camera. The people sitting on the inside of the restaurant at the table *at the window* are his plants, along with the crew. They are the ones who stick the card on the window, after it is shown to the camera, they have a live feed.




    Maybe, I'd have to watch the video again. But he could just use a force to get them to pick a specific card.
  • Reply 12 of 28
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    This one I'll swear to. I noticed about 1/4 of the way through the last special that the camera work was awfully tight to the action, then *voop*, the 'magic' happens *off* camera. Classic misdirection.



    Like the one where the little girl finds her picked card in her back pocket...



    Guess where the camera was? Right over her shoulder. Which means the camera crew was in the *perfect* position to put it there, and knew what card to plant. But the patter draws your attention to his hands.
  • Reply 13 of 28
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Oh my god is that how it works You ruined it for me.
  • Reply 14 of 28
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    No they don't. They just like him because he's actually appealing unlike most magicians who act like Vegas schmucks with frilly tuxedos and bad jokes.



    He didn't use a lot of camera tricks. 95% were classic tricks that he did well with a new younger/cooler approach.Maybe, I'd have to watch the video again. But he could just use a force to get them to pick a specific card.




    Yes. People do give him too much credit. Is he a good showman? Sure. Does he use original tricks, no. Does he use a lot of camera tricks and editing, yes. My opinion is that he uses too many.



    You and Kickaha are both right. He uses a force to pick the card that he already has planted. He has 2 cards. One in the deck and one ready to be placed on the window.



    His card tricks and the tricks with the quarters are fun. His "psychic" tricks annoy me. I could go out on the street and ask 100 people to pick a double digit odd number from 1-50 and show all the times I got 37 right. Thats not clever, thats just good editing.
  • Reply 15 of 28
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    And here I thought it was real magic Next you'll tell me there's no Santa Clause.
  • Reply 16 of 28
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    And here I thought it was real magic Next you'll tell me there's no Santa Clause.



    Even when someone dresses up as Santa Claus they can do it well or be jerks about it.



    This guy's a jerk and there are plenty of better magicians about, one's with better skills and better presentation, Penn and Teller for instance.



    He's the N'Sync of magic.
  • Reply 17 of 28
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Willoughby

    Yes. People do give him too much credit. Is he a good showman? Sure. Does he use original tricks, no. Does he use a lot of camera tricks and editing, yes.





    It seems Blaine's work is hardly ever live i.e (Copperfield) in front of a huge crowd (His block of ice trick was so staged and guarded).

    However, one on one street magic allows for very little negative feedback if he should fail a trick.



    Most "magician" have trained well enough to pull off slight of hand tricks. Others try to escape from a block of ice. Each needs a gimmick.

    Blaine has his, and he's milking it for all 15 minutes.
  • Reply 18 of 28
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    i want to see him levitating, but not seeing that from behind him like everyone in hte show did, but from front.





    all the tricks he did are those that you have seen 100 000 times in eveery show. nothing fancy, nothing original. maybe except seeing the reactions of poor, homeless, retarded or sport stars.
  • Reply 19 of 28
    Quote:

    Originally posted by satchmo

    It seems Blaine's work is hardly ever live i.e (Copperfield) in front of a huge crowd (His block of ice trick was so staged and guarded).

    However, one on one street magic allows for very little negative feedback if he should fail a trick.



    Most "magician" have trained well enough to pull off slight of hand tricks. Others try to escape from a block of ice. Each needs a gimmick.

    Blaine has his, and he's milking it for all 15 minutes.




    Does anyone know how he did that trick where he stuck his hand through the glass window of the jewelry store after covering it with a newspaper?



    I have a theory how he did it, but I think I'm probably over-complicating it.
  • Reply 20 of 28
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by audiopollution

    Does anyone know how he did that trick where he stuck his hand through the glass window of the jewelry store after covering it with a newspaper?



    I have a theory how he did it, but I think I'm probably over-complicating it.




    2 watches an assistant and a plant. The woman with the watch is a plant but he does use a real trick to steal it off of her hand. His assistant is inside the store with a duplicate watch.



    Blaine steals the watch and palms it. His assistant places the 2nd watch in the store behind the glass. Blaine puts the newspaper around his hand to cover it sliding into his sleeve. His assistants' hand comes up and pulls the watch out. The camera angle helps to hide it behind newspaper.



    After the assistant's hand brings the 2nd watch under

    the display, Blaine pretends to pull his hand out but with the watch he originally palmed.
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