# david blaine **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234 "2000-12-18T21:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/21 "2000-12-20T20:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by muttrox \* > \*\*I believe Penn and Teller debunked the iceman stunt. He was apparently in a plexiglass “coffin” which was then surrounded by ice. Impossible to see the coffin with the light and reflections and such. So he was never actually touching ice, and the chamber retained a lot of heat… as someone else said, the hard part was standing up that long. > > Penn said something along the lines of “Give me a chair and a copy of Moby Dick, and I’ll spend the whole damn summer in there.” \*\* In an interview in San Francisco with [Sarah and Vinnie](http://www.radioalice.com/sarah_and_vinnie.html), Penn made the statement that his production company also works for David Blaine. In the case of the buried alive stunt, Penn said that they told him that they would set up all the usual tricks, so that he could get out, stretch, etc. Blaine declined, saying that he really wanted to stay in the coffin for seven days. Apparently, he was able to. Penn said that the hardest part of the “trick” was to keep the press far enough away from Blaine so that they couldn’t smell him. This lends a little more credance (at least to me) that the ice stunt went off pretty much as described. It really was a block of ice and he really was standing there for 2.5 days. Yes, his body heat would warm the internal temperature of the block of ice. But, he was sopping wet when he came out if water below your body temperature stays on your body for any length of time, you’re going to get chilled (try diving into a 70F pool and see how long you can stay in there). As to whether there was a plastic lining, I think that would be hard to do. The ice block was “built” in plain sight. Also, since he was soaking wet when he came out, it makes it harder for me to believe that he was protected by any plastic. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/22 "2000-12-21T00:14:29Z")
At first I though the ice thing was a magic trick, that he would lick the ice & then use pee to make a hole so he could get out. BTW, they added plenty of ice as the days went on as it melted. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/23 "2000-12-21T06:03:21Z")
Whether or not the ice trick was real or not, the real magic is that this guy got with Fiona Apple!!! Yowza. ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/24 "2000-12-21T07:45:34Z")
I have been against Blaine for a lil while. Especially his specials, since he cuts them up big time to garner the most amazing looks to correspond with his ‘feats’. I have commented on him before but in layman’s terms it is as thus, Blaine is a ok closeup man and carder. I met him a couple of times at Magic Castle in LA. He is definitly not inventing new tricks, just reworking old ones. He seems to love using speed decks, and the old mind reading trick with several variations on where the name appears (passing car, arm, dollar bill, etc.) He does not use many props though the ring in the bottle in the last special is a complete prop trick and is ok at stripping (stealing watches, rings). The Balducci levitation is completely impossible the way Blaine shows it. He only gets away with it with crowd cuts and (I am sorry to say) wire work. There are a LOT of better magicians out there. One of which I always suggest when someone says something about Blaine is Ricky Jay. Jay is a absolute master of the craft and extremely entertaining with stories of grifters and magics. There are no freaking lights, not poof and smoke screens, no tigers and no stupid music. Just a rather portly guy, a deck of cards (his 52 assistants as he likes to call them), and a personality. He is also has the unique talent of snapping a card so fast as to bury it into the skine of a watermelon (really does it too, no trick). I heartily ask anyone who wants to see fantastic work to see him in his one man show, Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/25 "2000-12-21T08:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Heath Doolin \* > **The Balducci levitation is completely impossible the way Blaine shows it. He only gets away with it with crowd cuts and (I am sorry to say) wire work.** Yes, this bugged me to know end. I do the Balducci, and though I don’t do it often, I can pull it off. But I’ve seen guys that have been doing it for a long time do it really well (Paul Harris does a great version). Then I see Blaine do it with a cut to make it look like he’s doing it amazingly high. The term “street magic” shouldn’t even enter into it if you’re going to cut in pre-produced stuff. And yeah, I really like Ricky Jay. I saw him perform a trick of Erdnase’s and it was wonderful. I forget which station it was on, but he had a special too. He’s a great performer. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/26 "2000-12-21T15:44:52Z")
" The Balducci levitation is completely impossible the way Blaine shows it." On TV, yes, they used camera tricks & editting. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/27 "2000-12-21T16:26:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Heath Doolin \* > **There are a LOT of better magicians out there. One of which I always suggest when someone says something about Blaine is Ricky Jay. Jay is a absolute master of the craft… He is also has the unique talent of snapping a card so fast as to bury it into the skine of a watermelon (really does it too, no trick).** I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him do this live. It is the coolest thing in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/28 "2000-12-21T16:46:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Heath Doolin \* > **One of which I always suggest when someone says something about Blaine is Ricky Jay. Jay is a absolute master of the craft and extremely entertaining with stories of grifters and magics. There are no freaking lights, not poof and smoke screens, no tigers and no stupid music.** I once saw Ricky Jay cut off his own head on an episode of X-files. He may have used some sort of camera trick for that. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/29 "2000-12-21T22:14:53Z")
You know, I kinda like that masked guy who reveals how the tricks are done… ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/30 "2001-01-24T14:25:48Z")
Not really worth opening a new thread so I thought I’d just bump this one. Does anyone know how he does that wrist-twisting trick as seen on the X-files? ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/31 "2001-01-24T14:27:45Z")
(not him on the X-files I mean, I just saw the show and it reminded me of him doing it) ---
**Author:** ![jdl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jdl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jdl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234/32 "2001-01-24T15:48:24Z")
I’m not clear on a few things: 1. Are you guys saying that the freaked-out reaction of people we see on the street when he, say, levitates himself is actually the reaction to something else? 2. How does his do that trick where the name of the special person of the guy he meets is burned into this arm? (or comparable tricks) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-blaine/46234.md?page=1)