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HenryleTregetour Regular user 184 Posts |
I have read through all these posts and the one thing that everyone has missed is this:
Blaine is a "Hip Hop" magician, and "urban" performer. His personality and performance are things of the "street" and his audience consists of people to whom "Hip Hop" has appeal (of course I don't mean this is exclusively his audience). He is a man of this time, unlike most magicians (at least in America) who are overwhelmingly white and "square" (no criticism meant here--I am white and very "square"). Just like Rock and Roll has been superceded by Rap, so "Street Magic" (meaning what Blaine does) has superceded the magic of pre-1990. Essentially, he is a man of the current times, and that is why he is so popular. HLT |
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ThSecret Regular user 147 Posts |
There is a big difference between being an Magician and Being and Entertainer. Blaine has answer the question what are you? With the Answer A showman.
Definitions as follow; __________ Showman: noun a person who produces or presents shows as a profession, especially the proprietor, manager, or MC of a circus, fair, or other variety show. Entertainer: noun a person, such as a singer, dancer, or comedian, whose job is to entertain others. Magician noun a person with magical powers. a conjuror. __________ A showman is an entertainer. Blaine is a showman. He is an entertainer who performs magic and feats of endurance. I do not believe anyone here is a magician as per the first definition, but the latter is somewhat possible. One can be a conjuror, but not a magician - "A person with magical powers". (^That is looking at it from a literal perspective. One can also argue you are a magician because you perform magic tricks or illusions.) I think it is crazy that people bash other successful people. We are all people. You hate because, you are jealous? angry? insecure? There is never really a good reason. You would be crazy not to respect the individual's success and ask yourself what you can learn from them, and why it is they have made it where they are. Even if you hate the person (as you are entitled to your own opinion), if they are successful you can always learn something from them. So why no do so instead of bashing them. Blaine much like Copperfield, and Penn And Teller are entertainers who practice magic. For the purpose of this thread, David Blaine does not just practice magic in the traditional sense of cardistry and illusions. He does stunts as well as other sideshow acts. He does do card magic as well and I think he does a darn good job with the effects he does. But again I feel like his performance is what really sells the effect. [Side Note:] Another great example of this, and you would know this very well if you watch wrestling in the 90's.... The WWF [World Wrestlin g Federation) (now WWE [World Wrestling ENTERTAINMENT]) and WCW [World Championship Wrestling] What happened you ask? Well today, the Billionaire Mr McMahon -the chairman of WWE, had then, bought out his competition. How and why? The WWF was an Entertainment company that had a wrestling show, and the WCW was a Wrestling company that was trying to provide an entertainment show. In the long run, the entertainment company was thriving and the wrestling company was falling.
"A play does not take place on stage but in the minds of the spectators."
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Rainboguy Inner circle 1915 Posts |
I think that the fundamental problem that many Magicians have with David Blaine is that he is a MUCH better Magician than they are!
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ScottMN New user Baton Rouge, Louisiana 72 Posts |
Quote:
On Mar 2, 2017, Rainboguy wrote: Absolutely true! His close up magic is fantastic - he is a skilled and talented performer. That said, I think many are also upset with the constant camera edits and cuts (for effects that cannot ever be done for a live audience in the way they appear to be presented for TV, etc)... I find that irritating. |
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Rainboguy Inner circle 1915 Posts |
TV is it's own medium, relying on it's own unique methodology.
Editing is a HUGE part of recorded Television, and is absolutely necessary. Having said that, with or without editing, Mr. Blaine could still perform his close-up, sleight of hand illusions perfectly. Chris Angel could NOT do this, as his whole "TV Persona" revolves around, let's say, camera "skullduggery." I say this to point out the differences between two well-known current Magicians who are widely seen on Television. What ISN'T irritating about Magic on TV is that it promotes the art of Magic to huge audiences all over the World and that's a good thing for those of us who make a buck or two performing Magic! |
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NinoL New user 19 Posts |
This is an old thread, but I like the OP's point and completely agree. David Blaine got me into magic as a teenager because all the legends didn't do TV that I had access to. I saw the entertainer, not the innovator. But that's not a bad thing.
I listen to a lot of punk rock but I can't stand the 'founding' bands because they don't have the same message or style as those who took the ball and ran with it. In this way, Blaine has taken something and made it cool and fashionable at a time when it wasn't particularly to most people. However to use another metaphor I'll paraphrase (poorly, from memory) comic book artist James O'Barr, who learnt how to draw from studying sculpture and the human form. He said 'I hate modern comic book artists who are trying to recreate what they saw their idols do. Those older guys learnt to draw properly. The new guys are copying something that's already a caricature, so it's essentially a copy of a copy. Each time it becomes further removed from reality and the further removed it gets the worse it becomes.' Come to think of it, that could also have been Bill Watterson or John Kricfalusi. Ah well, it's a good point. Don't try and imitate, take the source material and make it your own. Blaine did this, to be fair. But to copy someone like Blaine is to ask for trouble. |
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ctom New user 8 Posts |
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On Jun 12, 2004, Young Freak wrote: There are only actors playing the role of a magician... or something along those lines |
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ringmaster Inner circle Memphis, Down in Dixie 1974 Posts |
Hay, get over it. You didn't get the job.
One of the last living 10-in-one performers. I wanted to be in show business the worst way, and that was it.
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DrVG Loyal user 264 Posts |
Different times, different customs. Any art can derive to a multitude of shapes. Blaine is an example of a successful commercialization of a specific type of art through a modern media.
He probably disgusted some, but also inspired many. tastes and colors.. |
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magicianbrady New user 97 Posts |
Blaine made magic cool. Magic was treated as something silly and to be shown at kids birthday parties. But because of Blaine's mysterious persona and patter-less direct magic, magic was seen in a new way and inspired millions to take up the art form (me included).
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debjit Loyal user India 213 Posts |
Didn't know magicians even had a problem with David Blaine. He was an original character performing magic on the streets like it hadn't been done before. He deserved all the fame and success he got.
My new effect: www.penguinmagic.com/p/10638
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Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
A little late to the mix but hopefully some interesting notes to ass to the thread.
Quote:
On Dec 23, 2015, Alexandermagic wrote: You're close but as is the case with many successful magicians it is a combination of timing, talent and luck. Yes, he sold the first special and I will say that he is VERY charismatic in his own way but his early magical skills were severely lacking. Yes, it was brilliant to turn the cameras on the spectator's reactions. The reason behind it is that he flashed so much, it was hard to find a usable close up of him doing the effect so the editors did the only thing they knew... audience cut away. I should explain that in shooting a show like this, you always try and get cut-aways and audience reaction shots for editing purposes as it gives you a very easy buffer to cover bad edits. You might be able to find a match point to jump to a shot from another performance but the out points will seldom match as it was taken at two separate times. How do you cover it? Cut the audio to match then lay a reaction shot over it to cover the out point. With his special they found themselves having to to that more and more and as they saw how it was playing, the production team began to use it as a style of shooting him. The less they saw of him and the more they got of the reactions, the better everyone looked. Also, in his initial specials, he utilized... let's just say many "production tricks" to accomplish certain effects which I personally don't really respect. To be fair, as he has grown, his magical skills have improved and I think he has grown into a very good magician where his skills match his charisma. He has created and defined his own style and as a result, we have thousands of YouTube "Street Magicians" copying him for better or for worse. My main complaint in his early years was that he was fine in the restrictive television world but couldn't carry a live show. He has since proven that he can with a very successful live show that has a lot of very unique qualities to it. It took him a while to get there but he has definitely carved out his own place in Magic History.
Ray Pierce
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Peter Morrissey Regular user 111 Posts |
I think Blaine is really good. I see people saying "ah he's ok,nothing special." Isn't he? Seems pretty slick to me. Has his character down to a T. Cut his teeth doing functions etc
He certainly gave magic a fresh feel. Fair play to him in my opinion |
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servant Regular user Texas 101 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 24, 2018, Peter Morrissey wrote: I've always wondered what his real personality is like (or was like), outside of his performances. |
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Peter Morrissey Regular user 111 Posts |
I reckon he would be just as he seems. Laid back and some what quite. Obviously I have no idea but I can't imagine him being a fast moving motor mouth
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Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
I had a flight with him... just as dry and introverted as you might expect. It's not a character, that's just who he is.
Ray Pierce
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servant Regular user Texas 101 Posts |
Quote:
On Sep 2, 2018, Ray Pierce wrote: I'm quite pleased to hear that. Did you get to talk to him for very long? |
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Peter Morrissey Regular user 111 Posts |
Just bumping this as interested to hear from ray. Glad my suspicions confirmed.
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bosami Regular user 171 Posts |
Quote:
On Jun 13, 2004, Ron Giesecke wrote: Greatest analogy ever!
...forever curious
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Doctor Zolar Regular user El Paso TX 151 Posts |
David Blaine gets good reactions . . because . . . he does the same trick(s) with LOTS of people.
They edit and re-edit and choose the best of the best tricks that had GREAT REACTIONS. Some tricks were never shown on the Specials / TV. Some did not have good REACTIONS. Those were left out. Sooooo, you take the Best of the Best out of 50 tricks / 50 difference audiences-groups of people, and show the 6 or 7 tricks with the best reactions. TV Special in the can. That's what YOU SEE. The final product. Unless WE are filming for a TV Special we can not get away with Not-So-Good-Reactions, time after time, and then only let others only see the Best of the Best that we do. WE . . do it LIVE. And it is MUCH harder to do a continuous show LIVE and be GREAT all the time. If you have . . say . . $50,000-$100,000 bucks, you can GET 2 or 3 camera persons and film 50 of your effects, to small groups of people, and then choose 6 or 10 of the Best of the Best and present the edited film for a TV Special. Some network would run that. |
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