# Hey, one of you smartasses spoil David Blaine: Real or Magic for me... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314 "2013-11-20T03:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Scytheria](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Scytheria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scytheria)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/183 "2015-05-18T12:13:51Z")
How to force your target to pick a specific card: you can’t. What you can do, however, is be prepared for whatever card he picks. It helps if you know the most common card choices, which most magicians do. How to find your target’s card choice in an orange: you don’t. You hide a single card choice in the orange, one in your shirt pocket, one in your shoe, one in your wallet, another on the other side of your wallet, one written in soap on your arm, one in a text message you sent yourself earlier, another on your other phone… You get the idea. What to do if your target does not choose the orange: you let him cut it open, say “that’s wierd” and use your ‘powers’ to select the orange yourself for a mildly less impressive trick. The point is, we see DB magically force a person to pick a certain card which magically appears inside a nearby orange. We don’t see the 51 parallel universes in which a different card is picked and it magically appears in a wallet, under a chair, in a sealed envelope, on a photo, on the magician’s arm in magic marker, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/184 "2015-05-18T17:17:46Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I always [heard he was a boxer](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0zbdUkJkm10C&lpg=PA77&ots=JfzgqXTVtr&dq=J.%20Gordon%20Whitehead%20boxer&pg=PA77#v=onepage&q=J.%20Gordon%20Whitehead%20boxer&f=false). > > Although a brief google shows various other cites disputing it. > > Do you have reliable information to the contrary? Nope. I just had not heard about it being a boxer. Thanks for checking. > [@DrForrester](#): > > I believe that what you see is an artificial limb. I still think scar-tissue built up over a long period of time is the likely answer. It vibes very much with David Blaine’s style. He probably went and met with others who can do this and began the long(and painful) process of building up scar tissue himself. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/185 "2015-05-19T06:58:05Z")
> [@DrForrester](#): > > I believe that what you see is an artificial limb. It doesn’t move. The fingers don’t move. The only movement is the needle and Dave’s other arm. False. There are at least two instances where his fingers twitch, do not remain perfectly still and in the same position. See in particular the 1:05 marker and 1:57 marker on this version. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLAs11gkqKE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLAs11gkqKE) If you look closely, you can see more subtly that his fingers are not perfectly still throughout, but have slight movements like you would expect from anyone trying to hold their arm out unsupported. > [@](#): > > If it were really his arm, he’d “prove” that fact by moving it around, opening/closing his hand or similar. But, he distracts you from the larger picture by focusing your attention onto the small picture of the needle moving around under the “skin”. > > [snip] > > If he had spent 13 years creating a “pierced” arm, he would’ve used the arm to shake someone’s hand or similar. I mean, to have invested 13 years and associated pain in a trick and then play it off as he did … not a worthwhile payoff. More likely, a BS explanation to keep people away from the actual mechanism. No, you are making assumptions. “He didn’t do it the way I would have done it” does not mean he didn’t do it. The reason he keeps his arm basically in one position is that he has a friggin’ needle jammed through his bicep. He needs to keep the needle path in a straight line, and he needs to keep the muscle loose, not tightened up, so he can slide the needle in and out. Significant movements of his hand and especially arm would cause serious problems. > [@BigT](#): > > The problem with psychological forces is that they aren’t all that reliable. They at most increase the likelihood that someone will pick what you want them to. If you use them, you have to have a backup plan–usually a lesser trick. While true, I think you are underestimating the effectiveness of some of the psychological tricks that could be in play. “Suggestion” is difficult, but other elements of forces and guiding the outcome can work reasonably effectively. > [@](#): > > I’ve noticed that a lot of these hard to figure out tricks aren’t done in full shows, but in “impromptu” outings. This can allow for much greater diversity, since no one has any clue what trick you are going to pull. They can’t see that it’s the same setup you used for a different trick. It’s a standard element of any magic performance that the magician knows what he is doing, but the audience doesn’t. This makes it easy for he magician to make a switch before the audience knows to look for it, because they don’t know what is coming. > [@Scytheria](#): > > How to force your target to pick a specific card: you can’t. What you can do, however, is be prepared for whatever card he picks. It helps if you know the most common card choices, which most magicians do. > > How to find your target’s card choice in an orange: you don’t. You hide a single card choice in the orange, one in your shirt pocket, one in your shoe, one in your wallet, another on the other side of your wallet, one written in soap on your arm, one in a text message you sent yourself earlier, another on your other phone… You get the idea. > > What to do if your target does not choose the orange: you let him cut it open, say “that’s wierd” and use your ‘powers’ to select the orange yourself for a mildly less impressive trick. > > The point is, we see DB magically force a person to pick a certain card which magically appears inside a nearby orange. We don’t see the 51 parallel universes in which a different card is picked and it magically appears in a wallet, under a chair, in a sealed envelope, on a photo, on the magician’s arm in magic marker, etc. All well and good, except you really don’t seem to have watched that episode. Ford doesn’t identify the card out loud until after Blaine has him pick the fruit. Very unlikely that Blaine hid 52 different reveals around Ford’s kitchen, but told Ford to pick a piece of fruit just in case it worked. Either there was some prompting/cuing that we don’t see and Ford didn’t realize/recall, or Blaine found a way to slide the identified card into the orange while doing the cutting. Or Ford was totally in on it and only acting completely befuddled and amazed. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/186 "2015-05-19T07:32:53Z")
After reading **quickquest’s** link I watched [Mirin Dajo’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBjbgliMMM)clip. Needle in the arm? Try a sword through the torso, front to back and then side to side. And the Pathe commentator tells you exactly how it was done too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314.md?page=9)