David Blaine, Criss Angel..Magic or ?

I'm watching ..David Blaine: Magic Man.. on TLC. He like goes to different parts of the world and performs his illusions. But, are they illusions? Is this slight of hand or something more? He seems to be so mysterious, deep. Chriss Angel also, both have these qualities...do you think maybe they have tapped into something other than your mainstream magicians. So many people, after the tricks are performed mention they feel as though they are possessed or work with the devil. Has anyone ever come in contact with any of these guys? All I have ever seen is what I see on TV. Maybe its all illusions with the help of TV. It freaks me out..I dunno, any comments?

[edit on 5-3-2007 by tator3]

Waiting for them to pronounce themselves as prophets or something. Many prophets of old sold their messages accompanied with magic.
Jesus turned water to wine, walked on water....
If David or Chriss raise someone from the dead...watch out!!!

Its all tricks and fakery.Illusions and misdirection just like all magic.What they both do quite well is sell it,you get the impression that David Blaine really believes its magic.However they are both heavily edited for t.v and the camera angles are very specific on alot of tricks.

I saw a show on TV quite a few years ago that that gave away a lot of Blaine's tricks..Theres a video on you tube were Chriss Angel shows how to do one of his tricks..I think they both have taken advantage of using TV to at least enhance there magic tricks..But we didn't really think they were magic..Did we??

Originally posted by Azador
Its all tricks and fakery.Illusions and misdirection just like all magic.What they both do quite well is sell it,you get the impression that David Blaine really believes its magic.However they are both heavily edited for t.v and the camera angles are very specific on alot of tricks.

I see what you are saying, but either the people he meets on the streets are actors or he is a really good magician. The slight of hand tricks I can see to be learnt, but what about the mind reading parts..that goes beyond illusions.

chris angel has a levitating trick in person, where he levitates about 6 inches.. thn on tv he levitates about 4 feet in the air. Then there are a few tricks that are just amazing, but u never know if they hired actors

Yeah, and Criss Angel walking on water in that pool in Las Vegas. It was either staged with actors...or WOW. People were like swimming in front of him and under him as he walked across the pool...freaky

www.youtube.com...

Here's a funny video on You Tube that makes of fun of David Blaine..
youtube.com...

Originally posted by gotanybob
Here's a funny video on You Tube that makes of fun of David Blaine..
youtube.com...

Thats Funny! A little gay..hehe

When I say gay..I mean like Happy.

Have you seen this on where Criss Angel has this lady pulled apart and the top part of her like starts walking off with her hands...freaks me out.

www.youtube.com...

I would have loved to been there for that...AWESOME!!!

Here's the link to the video were he shows how to levitate

www.youtube.com...

Have you seen this on where Criss Angel has this lady pulled apart and the top part of her like starts walking off with her hands...freaks me out.

Yeah that was a funny one

[edit on 3/5/2007 by gotanybob]

I downloaded a PDF file of David Blaine: Magic Explained. It was pretty informative, but the mind reading stuff...thats what gets me, there has to be something to it. Its one of those things that you want to believe but I need to be there, him reading my mind before I can believe that its not actors and TV Tricks.

They are skilled at their arts, that's all there is to it.

Got to give them credits for the work they put into their skills.

Here's a link to mind reading tricks..

www.oldandsold.com...

Chris Angel will almost always use actors for his stunts. The one where he was in the park and had split the woman in two, at the waist is an obvious ploy with a hired actor. The top half of the woman is a woman who was in the Guinness Book of world records, for having only her upper body, and no legs.

You can even hear him break the frame that was holding the woman with the smaller person as the legs, when he taps on the stomach of the lady.


Blane is moving away from magic and doing more "stunts." I don't see how it's magic to hold your breath under water and almost drown.

It is all simple magic.

The reason they seem so 'mysterious and deep' is because of their showmanship. It is simply entertainment, and they are acting out their parts.

I can do every card trick both Blaine and Angel do, as well as both their levitation tricks. They are simple illusions.

Look up Criss Angel Levitation on wikipedia if you want to find out how it is done.

My son and I met David Blaine at a magician's seminar. Actually went outside with him for a smoke a couple of times. He's a normal down to earth guy. He also hates Chris Angel because 90% of the people you see on tv with him are "plants"

I have never heard of Criss Angel. David Blaine is creepy. Years ago I wondered if he dabbled into the black arts .. but then he started his stupid stunts and I changed my mind about him. He's just a very gifted (and strange) performer who is creepy.

Theyre both cheats, they use camera tricks or plants or just plain dont do what they are meant to like staying in the ice cube for ages, he just switched places with other people.

I find Blaine a bit dull and very weird, Im not alone as people were chucking eggs at him and keeping him awake when he was in the glass box above the Thames.

The levitation is a camera trick when theyre over a foot off the ground, they film that when no people are there and suspend him on a wire, when theyre a few inches off the ground and doing the crowd reaction shots, they are just standing on tip toes on one of their feet and angle their body to cover the rear foot.

I can't comment on Criss Angel because I haven't seen his shows or know much about him. There was once a series of several shows on FOX in the US showing exactly how David Blaine's tricks were done.

One of the most amazing was where he "reads" a persons mind for a name then burns the paper of the name and rubs the ashes on his arm, revealing the name of the person thought-of. I remember some late-night TV ads selling a video which explained how it was done so you could do it at parties.

There's a reasonable explanation to all those tricks.