# Ask the Dude Who can Explain David Blaine's Magic. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356 "2010-08-15T21:49:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/21 "2010-08-16T03:45:51Z")
That and other rigged decks are one way to do the “pick a card” trick, but there are many others, several of which can be done with an honest deck. I can probably think of a dozen different ways to do it just off the top of my head, and I haven’t done magic since I was about eight. In fact, it’s somewhat emblematic of the way magic tricks work that there are so many different “pick a card” tricks, but the audience remembers them all as the same trick. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/22 "2010-08-16T03:55:11Z")
I’m just here to say that even though people seem to hate him a lot, I find him to be blindingly hot. He’s not classically handsome, but I find him supah sexy. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/23 "2010-08-16T04:40:54Z")
> [@BigBertha](#): > > I want to know how he does the bite the quarter in half one. Simple. He uses a [folding quarter](http://www.magic.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=769). ---
**Author:** ![Homo\_litoralis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homo\_litoralis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homo_litoralis)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/24 "2010-08-16T05:25:20Z")
I’m afraid you are mistaken about all of your assertions, postulations, hypotheses and declarations, Super Kapowzler. It’s common knowledge that David Blaine’s antics are real magic, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/25 "2010-08-16T15:26:44Z")
So, how does he do [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxu_MQSTTY)? (note: I’m aware it’s a parody, I just think it’s funny, especially the “intense stare into the camera” after the trick. Favorite part: “Take out your driver’s license. How tall are you?” “Five foot ace of clubs – WHAT THE F!!”) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/26 "2010-08-16T16:45:31Z")
Funny! “Stop putting shit on us!” “Stop putting shit on our bodies, David Blane!” ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/27 "2010-08-16T19:27:08Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The “card on the other side of the glass” on is so simple you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it. > > The card is already there. He forces you to pick the card he wants, and while you’re looking at him doing his misdirection with the cards, an assistant puts it up to the glass. He then throws the cards so fast without warning that you don’t have time to notice that there was already a card there when they all hit the glass. And that works with the people who are there in real time? Ah, fuck magic then. ---
**Author:** ![Race\_Harley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Race\_Harley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Harley)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/28 "2010-08-17T07:06:04Z")
Explain the trick he did with the emergency worker where he twisted his hand and wrist around while the emergency worker tried the same. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/29 "2010-08-17T08:29:55Z")
It’s not just about the tricks and how it is done, but stage presence, delivery, timing, ability to manipulate the crowds and suspense. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/30 "2010-08-17T09:45:29Z")
> [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](#): > > It’s not just about the tricks and how it is done, but stage presence, delivery, timing, ability to manipulate the crowds and suspense. All of the above, and getting a TV company to sink in lots of money to make a show about you and your tricks, and then having a network air the show. I will believe that it is easy when that is the opinion of someone who has done it. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/31 "2010-08-17T11:34:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, he’s good at misdirection, but his technical skill at the tricks themselves isn’t actually all that great. This doesn’t make sense (misdirection is _part_ of a performer’s technical skill, not something distinct from it) and Blaine’s is a very technically skilled magician. In his chosen field, close-up street magic, he can hold his own with the best in the world. If you have any doubts about this, may I suggest you try to learn some magic and go out and perform it on the streets (good luck with that). This may inform your judgment about the difficulty involved. I can count most of the best, most technically adept magicians in the world among my friends, and I can tell you that the great majority hold Blaine in high regard, both for what he does and the way he does it. That having been said, technical ability is never the whole story. Blaine is also admired for the impact he has had on close-up and street magic, and for achieving success with what is very much his own style. When he first came along, his approach to close-up was a very creative and radical departure from what had gone before. > [@](#): > > And a lot of them, what’s shown on his TV specials isn’t even what the live audience is oohing and aahing over. _Anyone_ can do impressive magic, with a television editing crew. You’re right about this, and it’s a source of great controversy within the magic world. That having been said, remember that TV shows are the work of many people. The performer is just the guy in front of the camera. There are producers, assistant producers, directors, network executives… all with their own agenda and their own sense of what is ‘legitimate’. Sometimes, just sometimes, a performer has very little choice except to go along with the way a producer wants to do something, ‘because it will look good and get ratings’. Though it may be hard to believe, pureness, honesty and integrity are not always the guiding principles of network TV producers whose bosses are screaming at them from on high to deliver secure higher ratings in case advertisers walk away. All that having been said, Blaine was performing magic in real life, and on the streets, a long time before TV discovered him. He hasn’t always had the option of clever TV editing. In real life, given a bunch of people on a street corner, he can and does perform incredible magic, combining great artistry, originality and technical skill. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/32 "2010-08-17T13:03:57Z")
This makes me want to start a “Ask the guy who won’t answer your questions” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/33 "2010-08-17T14:48:57Z")
**ianzin** , your entire post is pretty awesome. Do you do magic as well, or do you just know a lot of magic folks? Also, if your friends know David Blaine then be a pal and get a sister an introduction! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/34 "2010-08-17T15:06:49Z")
[http://www.metacafe.com/watch/416830/levitation\_magic\_trick\_learn\_how\_to\_do\_it/](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/416830/levitation_magic_trick_learn_how_to_do_it/) Balducci levitation explained. His tricks are on the net . ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/35 "2010-08-17T15:10:09Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > I have a question: what’s ginsing season? There is no such thing. Now, there’s a _ginseng_ season, is that maybe what you mean?😕 My uncle did a trick many years ago, where he would pull a coin (typically a quarter) _out of my ear_! On careful examination after the trick, it sure appeared to be a normal coin. On more than one occasion, he and I were the only ones present, so an assistant was unlikely. Any thoughts on how he pulled off this feat of prestidigitation? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/36 "2010-08-17T15:14:38Z")
Ask the Dude who Smoked Waaaaay To Much Pot Last Night, and Secretly has a Celebrity Crush on David Blaine, but is Afraid of Catching a Ghey. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/37 "2010-08-17T15:19:13Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@PlainJain](#): > > > > I have a question: what’s ginsing season? > > There is no such thing. Now, there’s a _ginseng_ season, is that maybe what you mean?😕 > > My uncle did a trick many years ago, where he would pull a coin (typically a quarter) _out of my ear_! On careful examination after the trick, it sure appeared to be a normal coin. On more than one occasion, he and I were the only ones present, so an assistant was unlikely. Any thoughts on how he pulled off this feat of prestidigitation? To answer **PlainJain** , many states restrict the collecting of wild ginseng plants to a certain time period. Some also require the harvester plant seeds at the site of harvest. Now back to majick. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/38 "2010-08-17T16:02:54Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The card is already there. He forces you to pick the card he wants, and while you’re looking at him doing his misdirection with the cards, an assistant puts it up to the glass. He then throws the cards so fast without warning that you don’t have time to notice that there was already a card there when they all hit the glass. I used to do this trick as a kid except that I would tape the card to the celling. You could perform the entire trick and no one would notice the card already there on the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/39 "2010-08-17T16:13:12Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Ask the Dude who Smoked Waaaaay To Much Pot Last Night, and Secretly has a Celebrity Crush on David Blaine, but is Afraid of Catching a Ghey. You forgot “And Shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356/40 "2010-08-17T16:13:24Z")
How does Blaine do the trick where he approcahes a couple of beer drinkers in a park, picks up an empty can, does a little hocus pocus hand motion and suddenly it’s a full can? How does he do the switch? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-dude-who-can-explain-david-blaines-magic/550356.md?page=3)