Honestly, It's not how you do it...you have to look from the specators view and realize they are watching a miracle being shown in front of their eyes, including the TV audience. Don't blame David Blaine for using trickery, he is a performer and a magician, and so are we.

He has made it a long way by doing it in a way that works, with style and originality.

I don't love blaine but he is very successful and pretty smart about it all and you have to respect him for that. I have enjoyed watching some of his tv specials etc, and people who were in the room watching it all were totally blown away.

My biggest wish is that people who have enjoyed his specials etc could also get to see, say, John Carney, or David Williamson perform, to see a different type of magic done from a different angle, see it done live right in front of them, instead of on camera. That's all I'll say about it, I'm a gentleman.

But sometimes when Blaine does a trick, every single spectator is a stooge. And how many times did it take to get that audience reaction. Maybe the trick is such that it fails more than it succeeds, or needs an audience that's easily fooled. The spectators at that menu stab were rather elderly.

I like Blaine and his shows. I just think the camera shouldn't be used as a tool to make the magic or make it more impressive. But I do know how to take the bad with the good. So overall, I do like him and think he's a positive influence on magic. There, I said it.

No, there is never a time in Mr. Blaine's specials when everyone in the audience is a stooge. You're thinking of Copperfield.

Copperfield! That rascal. Yes, he seems to be doing it more too. This may be a trend I'll just have to put up with.

Joshua,
U accuse McGuyver of guessing...What about you, when you say that none of the members of the audience in Blaine's specials were not stooges? Are you then, not guessing as well? Unless of course you had the information given to you directly by Blaine, Harris or Kalush...

I agree with you Jonatan

The problem with using camera tricks in a magic show, is that magic is meant to be a performance art. Something that you could see live. If you start doing special effects and tricks that are TV dependent, then why not just take a step further and add in some CG dinosaurs and lazers beams shooting from your eyes. The point of a tv magic special is that people will be impressed only if they believe that they could see the same thing live. that's why we have the guy with the deep voice who says "There are no camera tricks here....This camera will not cut away" If the public believes we're just using camera tricks, why bother watching at all? There's much better movies out there with much more elaborate special effects.

Blaine uses stooges but why blame him?
His effects work, spectators love it and so do people watching his show. I too almost got caught in the "let's all hate david blaine for being popular"-rage, but then I found out that he is just an entertainer, as we all are / should be.

Some of us may not like his style, but he amazes people, leaves them stunned and entertained. And that is what magic is all about I think.

So yes he uses stooges, but does it hurt his magic? not at all...

I think magic is about entertaining, but it´s also about honesty. I don´t mean the "but doing magic is to tell lies" cheezy honesty discussion, I mean honesty in a non- Nicolo Maquiavelo way of presenting things. In his first video with DeCaprio, he refers to magician that make huge effects in a way that one would think that he is going to perform honestly, which he doesn´t.
I repeat, I don´t mean "honest" in the... I guess everyone gets it, no need to go back there for a neverending discussion.
Anyway, he IS a good magician: a DL and a balducci and make a whole nation think he is good? Talk about illusions.
I have a HUGE respect for him as a performer, but as a magician, I think of him as most software guys think about Bill Gates. He took some ideas, marketed them, and now everyone thinks he is the greatest. Nothing wrong with that, but one may give credit for the wrong reason. That´s the real danger.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The best way to fight Blaine is to be better than he is.

For one thing, anyone watching you should instantly realize that what they are seeing is not on TV, and so there is no possible special effects trickery possible. Just in case, sometimes I will suggest this to them subtlely. "This is all done with camera angles, special editing, and computers." They look at me like I'm an idiot (I am), but they get the point.

That being said, I have had people describe tricks Blaine has done (as they remember them) and I usually do something else and blow them away. Once, though, for a regular, he described something that Blaine did, and having not seen that one, I improvised something of my own on the spot (not sure if it was even close). When I was done, the regular looked me in the eye and said, "That was even better than what I saw David Blaine do." His look of wonder was worth it. And, no, it was a full grown adult.

My stock answer whenever anyone brings up Blaine is within my normal smart-aleck nature, and inevitably gets a laugh, and usually moves the act along leaving Blaine aside, neither insulted nor exalted: "David Blaine has nothing on me...except for money, fame, talent, looks, and height." I say that dead seriously, and everyone laughs. (I am short.)

But all that aside...worry more about YOUR show than about anyone else's, including David Blaine's. If he is that bad, in your opinion, than be better. It really is that simple.

:-)

Alan Gold
Key West, FL, U.S.A.