David Blaine is above all... an idiot.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

[QUOTE=QuickSilver]
I disagree.

I think it takes a certain moral flexibility to be that disingenuous. I think it takes a certain amount of con artestry. I think it takes a certain amount of narcisism. Certainly showmanship. And I think it takes a good publicist.

Is it true that few of us are in posession of the right combination of the above? Yes. Are these admirable qualities? I submit not and I don’t think you find them admirable either. You’re just arguing for sport mate.
[/QUOTE]

I think that Showmanship is an admirable skill.

I think that the ability to con a mark is also a skill, one I can admire while admiting that is morally wrong in most instances.

The man, like him or not, has a talent at close up magic. He made a name for himself doing just that. He then segued from close up magic to “stunts” such as escape artistry and physical endurance stunts. He’s emulating Houdini, though his commercialization would probably turn Houdini’s stomach.

My take on David Blaine- He’s got some talents and skills that not everyone has. He has since parlayed them into a public persona as a weird guy. He has discovered that he’s willing to undergo physical discomfort, and can push the limits of his indurance. He has parlayed that, in addition to his other skills and his persona, into this idea that he’s a daredevil.

For those that missed it, there was some escape artistry in his fishbowl… he was chained to some weights, and started trying to get out of them at the 5 minute mark.

I think so much of the hatred of the guy is in his persona (which is designed to do just that, in some regards, and creep out folks in others) and the fact that he’s a bit of a publicity hound. Ok, an attention whore.

But so are most politicians, and most celebrities.

22

Could it be, he refused outside medical attention to avoid being found out? Maybe I’m more cynical than the rest of you, but I think the whole thing was a sham. He has no special talent to hold his breath. I believe the nose pinchy thing he wore, fed him air some way. Being seen by medical professionals who aren’t in his employ, would just prove there was nothing whatever wrong with him, that he was never unconscious, or oxygen deprived.

23

I already know I’m weird, but I just don’t get the whole escape-artist magician routine to me. To me, performance magic is when the magician seemingly makes the card you chose turn up in a sealed cigarette package, or does the levitation illusion, or changes all the cards to aces, etc. But just watching someone escape from a chained and locked crate, I just go “meh”.

24

I get the guy when he’s actually doing “magic” – meaning sleight of hand, card tricks, escapes, etc. I thought his early TV specials on street magic were mildly entertaining, where he’d just go up to people and do magic tricks and you’d see they’re “how’d he do that?” reaction. Because that’s the appeal of magic: to watch someone do something apparently impossible or inexplicable and wonder how he or she did it. Houdini was the once and final king of this.

But Blaine’s endurance stuff I don’t get. It’s pointless and it’s not entertaining. I’m going to live underwater for days! I’m going to be buried alive for days! I’m going to be suspended in the air for days! So what? Where’s the mystery there? He’s either going to be able to do it or he’s not. There’s no mystery in how he does it; no skill in doing it (other than being able to endure); no pay-off at the end. It’s true there is a real place for endurance in magic – Houdini was able to pull off his spectacular underwater escapes only because he could hold his breath for long periods of time – but endurance in that sense was and is a means to an end – a component of the trick, not the trick itself.

I agree that by putting himself and his intentional suffering on public display, Blaine has moved from the “magician” form of entertainment to the “freak-show” form of entertainment. Is that still a form of entertainment? Sure, for some. Certain people will always be interested in seeing the two-headed calf, the guy who hammers nails through his tongue, or the guy who sticks himself in a big fishbowl until his skin falls off. But IMO it’s not nearly as interesting or entertaining as magic. So I find these “specials” to be not only pointless and boring, but also a bit of shame, because from all reports Blaine could be a really, really entertaining magician when he was focusing on that.

25

[QUOTE=McNew]
Blaine isn’t satisfied just existing, he wants to experience the limits of human survival.
[/QUOTE]
Welcome to the Boards, David Blaine’s Publicist. Nice to have you here.

26

Most of the criticisms are valid.

I like David Blaine. I like magic. I’m an amateur untalented musician, but I love to read about all the tricks that I can’t do and am to lazy to practice.

David is an extremely talented magician, and an excellent showman. He’s a magician of the old school where magicians were supposed to be a little weird and disturbing.

He combines performance art with some of his magic. Hey, some guys use a ventriloquist dummy. Some guys use comedy.

The stunts are part of his schtick.

He has a schtick. He’s very good and successful at it. He’s at the top of his profession. He’s famous and he makes a lot of money.

Ok. He’s a geeky, self-absorbed, nerdy, self-promoter fascinated with attention grabbing narcissistic endeavors.

Hello!!! He’s a magician.

27

[QUOTE=picunurse]
Could it be, he refused outside medical attention to avoid being found out? Maybe I’m more cynical than the rest of you, but I think the whole thing was a sham. He has no special talent to hold his breath. I believe the nose pinchy thing he wore, fed him air some way. Being seen by medical professionals who aren’t in his employ, would just prove there was nothing whatever wrong with him, that he was never unconscious, or oxygen deprived.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but then why didn’t he break the record?

I believe I read somewhere that he said this has to be his last stunt-that one result of all this crap is that he’s in very poor health. Let’s hope so.

28

[QUOTE=McNew]
I really don’t get the hate. The guy is a moderately talented magician as far as ‘sleight of hand’ represents ‘magic’. Beyond that, from what I’ve read about him he does his stunts just to see how far he can push the limits of his endurance. What’s the big problem with that? I’m not sure why that makes him a tool.
[/QUOTE]
Stretching a seven minute event into two hours has something to do with it.

29

[QUOTE=Scylla]

Ok. He’s a geeky, self-absorbed, nerdy, self-promoter fascinated with attention grabbing narcissistic endeavors.

Hello!!! He’s a magician.
[/QUOTE]

Hello!!! Sounds like he’s a Doper!

30

[QUOTE=Quicksilver]
I disagree.

I think it takes a certain moral flexibility to be that disingenuous. I think it takes a certain amount of con artestry. I think it takes a certain amount of narcisism. Certainly showmanship. And I think it takes a good publicist.

Is it true that few of us are in posession of the right combination of the above? Yes. Are these admirable qualities? I submit not and I don’t think you find them admirable either. You’re just arguing for sport mate.
[/QUOTE]

Moral flexibility? Does an actor posess disingenuity and “moral flexibility” because he portrayed Hitler in a movie or play? I guess that Anthony Hopkins must be one immoral bastard. Magicians develop an ACT for purposes of ENTERTAINMENT.

Con artestry is for cons, and magic is for magicians. Magicians do not refer to their audience as marks.

Have I conned a person when I entertain them, draw them into several minutes of wonder and amazement, give them some laughs, and a story to tell? (Hell, I don’t even get compensated…yet.)

Do I con people into enjoying themselves for a while and, as I like to say, “Show them the most amazing thing they have seen, in OH, I dunno… two weeks.”?

Yes.

Adding a little fun, hope, entertainment, and wonder in someone’s otherwise less than eventful day is neither immoral nor narcissistic. It would seem that magicians might be narcissistic, but truly the art is outward thinking. I think more about the person that I’m working with during my tricks than I think about myself or my tricks. In fact, if one is thinking about the trick and how they look during a presentation then they are not practiced enough and shouldn’t be doing that trick.
Sure, there’s a certain pride and sense of satisfaction in art well finished. But I would suspect many derive satisfaction from a skill well worked and a job well done.

Magic is 95% showmanship and 5% gimmick.

(Blaine’s most amazing feat during his special was an indelible mark of hope that he left in Hell. Those bent bars at Angola are a powerful symbol and really belie Blaine’s charity and compassion. A gifting of powerful talisman and a piece of himself.)

31

[Inigo Montoya] I do not think this means what you think it means. [/Inigo Montoya]

32

[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher]
Stretching a seven minute event into two hours has something to do with it.
[/QUOTE]

I think that’s more ABC’s fault than Blaine’s.

33

[QUOTE=Jodi]
[Inigo Montoya] I do not think this means what you think it means. [/Inigo Montoya]
[/QUOTE]

Yea, that should read.