Part of being a magician IS badmouthing other magicians.

I remember being at a party once and a guy asked me to do a "Blaine-like-trick" so here's what I did: I went to my pocket as misdirection, or direction for youse sensitives out there, spun the guy around and locked him into a rear naked choke. I had retrieved my pyro perception device from my pocket and put a nice four-o-clubs on the jerks forehead, then I put him to sleep, face down on the floor.
Quickly I went back to my pocket for my forcing deck and shoved it into the face of one of the guys' crew. This new guy, stunned, pulls out a four-o-clubs, of course.
I said," Your friend's been dreaming about your card. Lets ask him what he thinks it is, okay?"
Well the colour comes back to this guys face, and the impression I made stood out like I've never seen it before!
Four-o-clubs, and it's pulsing blue/red!
Another of this guys crew soils his-self, and I say, " I think I smell Blaine's next special in the works!"

A.

btw Great post Josh.
You'd think most guys here at the Café have never heard of democracy or freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is usually demarcated as freedom of MY speech, not freedom of YOUR speech. Unfortunately people only realize the fault in this approach when they become the "YOUR". So I guess they heard of it, most just don't understand it.

I think magicians are the main reason I don't like, and therefore am tired of, Blaine. Which may be one of the downfalls of such a freedom: unintended outcomes.

If you depend on any T.V. person to make a name for your magic, please reconsider. You will not be able to recreate the magic that they saw on T.V. even were the T.V. personality to not use stooges and editing. It's like thinking "Bruce Almighty" got people interested in god. However "The Passion of the Christ" did return my interest in snuff films.

My 2 cents...
I love David Blaine the street magician and I think he has elevated the art of magic. However, I would like someone to explain to me how any of the stunts he has performed are in any way related to magic, illusion, or escapology. All of his public stunts are basically endurance stunts not magic.
If for example while he was underwater or in the ice igloo or buried alive we later found out that indeed he was not there and it was an illusion then I would consider it magic. With Houdini there was some form of escapology involved along with the publicity stunts he did. With Blaine there is nothing like that and I don't classify it as magic. Don't get me wrong I'm impressed with his endurance and ability to perform these stunts and I give him credit for getting a TV special and all that. All I'm saying is that it is not magic and that bothers me somewhat.

I wish there was more magic in his specials, but I am not tired of him.

Honestly, the new specials haven't really improved the interest in magic, at least not here in ABQ. I work in a shop and we didn't really get any improvement in sales based on the shows. We had some of our regulars come in and talk about it, but no new people that I can think of.

Ok... Blaine isn't my favorite magician by far, but I respect him for what he has accomplished.

Josh... I think you're missing the point about the post that stated:
"On 2006-05-14 08:54, Marvello wrote:

If you serioulsy don't like your magic then how do you expect audiences to become interested? "

What he's saying is that if you don't appreciate your own magic, then your audience (any audience, it doesn't have to be on T.V.... aka anyone you show ANY magic trick to) won't appreciate your magic, or it will show in your performance, and your magic will seem lack-luster. It's not saying that you have to get on television and show the world what you can do... it's not saying that you have to go out and perform for anyone either. Heck, if this is your hobby and you do it just to amuse yourself, more power to you. But, back to the original topic:

Blaine may seem a little... slow... in the mind. I'll give you that. But he has done some amazing things. I don't know what the ratings were for his last special, but I would assume they were through the roof. That's proof enough that people still like him. Heck, even if you only watched the special to see him fail, you still watched, and were still interested in some form or fashion.

In summation: don't knock other magicians. It just plain doesn't look good. Find a way around people asking you to do something that they saw another magician do. And Alewishus... no, magic isn't about badmouthing other magicians... I seriously hope you were being facetious. Honestly, if someone asked you ABOUT a magician, just a simple question... like for instance, I've been approached by people about whether or not Criss Angel worships the devil: would you tell them that he does, and smear his name? No, I don't think you would. You would either say, 1. I don't know... or 2. You already know the truth, and you tell them that he is a Christian, and prays to God before every show he does.

Enough badmouthing... if you really are that sick of David Blaine, write a letter to him explaining why and maybe he can fix what problems you see that he may have... but he's on T.V., not us, so he has to be doing something correct.

Any one prefer Keith Barry's show to Blaine's?

Euangelion,
I did not.

Xiero,
I am well aware of his point. As mine was (I think) clearly steeped in sarcasm, I used sarcasm to answer his question. Thus the circle closes.......

Just as an aside; The notion that being on T.V. is a meter of your value, I would suggest you watch most sitcoms.

Also, I and others here are not badmouthing Blaine to people, I am doing so to magicians and we are not people. It may not look good to you, but it looks GREAT to me.

My problem with Blaine is not so much what he does as I only watched a few minutes of his first special and never desired to see more. My problem is with the blithering nonsense I hear from other magicians I.E. Have you seen David's new trick? deck? monkey? stunt?...Oh. he's on T.V. he must be wonderful!.... I think David Blaine could beat Jesus in an arm wrestling match.... Can you tell me how he does that trick where he looks at a midget and he turns into a giant? Did you see him levitate 2 feet in the air, WOW!

Well just look at the topics on "Street magic" Hero worship is one thing, this is just weird.

Josh, those that are on T.V. are seen to many as "Idols" if you will. That's where you get all these topics on Blaine. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it except complain. Yet, that's just you expressing an opinion on the number of Blaine topics. I agree... it seems like overkill, but there's no way to stop it

Threads like this are a strong testament to Blaine's popularity. You may like him, or you may hate him - but almost everyone knows who he is. Blaine may not be the greatest magician who ever lived, but he's probably one of the most astute business minds in magic today.

Kent

Or his manager is. Anyway, it is unstoppable, untimely death not withstanding.


unregardless (Not a word BTW) I felt the need to join this discussion for a singular and selfish reason: out of a pile of pro-Blaine topics stands this masochist asking if anyone else is tired of Blaine. I was in heaven. Also I have felt contentious lately, and this promised to be a bloodbath. Unfortunately it failed in it's promise. That's 2 singular reasons.

He's probably a great guy, but I'm not gonna levitate and take that stupid coin out of my face, I'm not going to bite it. Who knows where it's been.

Like his magic or not everyone...he is getting you all more work as close-up magicians...it is "cool" now more than ever to do close-up magic...and do your self a favor, learn some of the tricks...you WILL be asked to do them, no matter how strong your own magic is...remember, our goal is to entertain people with magic, not to be jealous that someone else has a tv show and we don't.


http://www.patrickdrake.com

I'm as tired of watching tv specials by David Blaine as I would be by watching tv specials by Magicman8.

Bob

I feel more than a little thankful that I don't rely on T.V. to get people interested in what I do. I agree with Whit Haydn's recommendation to learn magic from the masters before you develop your own routines. I also believe that if you learn the "Tricks" that someone does (Blaine for example) be certain they want to watch you, not you pretending to be someone else. I wouldn't want to be a mere imitation. This may flatter Mr. Blaine, but does ones own self a disservice.

Also, while this seems simple to me, it seems not so evident to others. The fact that you do not like someone does not always make it a personality issue on your part. If you smell crap, it isn't always on your own shoe.

Those who appreciate Blaine for his tv specials, I'm with you. The complainers probably had a bad day with their own magic, so they want to critize someone else. lol

Again, with the shoe thing I spoke about. If you appreciate Blaine that's fine, in fact that's great. But if you don't... that doesn't act as a gauge of emotional issue. I don't like American Idol, that doesn't mean I had a bad day singing. The mirror in the bathroom did crack.....

Are you sure it was the singing that cracked it? Or did the reflection try to duck and run away?!!?!?!??!?!?!

The mirror was too fogged up to see.......

Did I say singing cracked the mirror?
Reading comprehension skills, this is what the children of today need.