# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/61 "2013-11-21T00:49:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The more I look at the clip, the more I think this is a real possibility. David Blaine is known for creative editing in his magic tricks. I think Harrison Ford is not in on it, and his reaction is genuine, but we’re not being shown a “clean” take. That’s basically Blaine’s real trick. He shows people real magic tricks, and then edits them so that the trick looks totally impossible. Since we see his RL audience appear totally blown away, we think they must be blown away at the same thing we’re seeing, instead of a more mundane trick. His fame come more from getting over-the-top audience reactions then slight of hand. I’m sure mileage varies, but I think its kinda cheap. Obviously magic tricks are going to involve some sort of a “trick”, but executing a trick live involves a lot of skill and cleverness. Doing it with camera angles and editing makes the whole exercise rather trivial, and thus pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/62 "2013-11-21T01:04:06Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > You say that with so much confidence. I don’t know why. Do you know that a piercing of that gauge in that spot bleeds immediately? Do you know that there’s no way to prevent that bleeding? Have you ever seen a closeup of his arm after the trick with actual holes going through his body? Of course not. It’s a trick. As soon as you say, “well, it must be real” you are declaring yourself to be the perfect mark. You seem to take pride in that for some reason. But you might want to notice that the rest of us are backing away from that title at 100 mph and leaving it solely to you. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/63 "2013-11-21T01:11:58Z")
David Blaine getting invited to a party that Harrison Ford is going to be at is plausible. Blaine sneaking a camera into such a party is plausible. Blaine then showing footage from that camera on national TV without paying Ford for it is not plausible, as that would be way too expensive and Blaine can’t afford it. ---
**Author:** ![boulevard11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@boulevard11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boulevard11)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/64 "2013-11-21T01:20:40Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > A card inside the orange is prepared ahead of time. The magician then (a) forces Han Solo to pick the matching card from the deck and (b) palms it or otherwise makes it disappear, neither of which is terribly difficult for a top-rank magician. The trick you describe is quite easy, but how do you suppose Blaine does HIS trick? There is no chance of a card force. He hands Ford the deck, tells him to think of any card, and then name the card he thought of. Without touching the deck, Blaine asks Ford to find the card in the deck he (Ford) has been holding the entire time. Ford searches, but the card is missing. He then points to a piece of fruit in Ford’s fruit ball. Ford cuts the fruit open to find the card he named inside. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/65 "2013-11-21T01:24:11Z")
> [@boulevard11](#): > > The trick you describe is quite easy, but how do you suppose Blaine does HIS trick? There is no chance of a card force. He hands Ford the deck, tells him to think of any card, and then name the card he thought of. Yes. That’s what _we_ see and _we_ hear. But that may not be exactly what happened when it was being recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/66 "2013-11-21T01:24:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Have you ever seen a closeup of his arm after the trick with actual holes going through his body? Of course not. It’s a trick. > > As soon as you say, “well, it must be real” you are declaring yourself to be the perfect mark. You seem to take pride in that for some reason. But you might want to notice that the rest of us are backing away from that title at 100 mph and leaving it solely to you. So if I find a video of a non-magician doing this feat without bleeding and pulling out a clean skewer, you’ll apologize to me for calling me an easy mark? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/67 "2013-11-21T01:25:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > David Blaine getting invited to a party that Harrison Ford is going to be at is plausible. Blaine sneaking a camera into such a party is plausible. Blaine then showing footage from that camera on national TV without paying Ford for it is not plausible, as that would be way too expensive and Blaine can’t afford it. All it needs is a signed release. Which would not be hard if Ford was genuinely impressed. Do you really think that Ford, DeNiro, Woody Allen and George W. Bush shilled for David Blaine for money? What do you think is a more likely explanation? This is something he put together over several years before he got enough good footage. And its not a party Ford is at. It is Harrison Ford’s house. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/68 "2013-11-21T02:43:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > One possibility is that it was edited such that there was a force before, and the “think of any card in the deck” is an audio overdub, and he’s actually saying something else. And risk Harrison Ford coming forward to say that it was in fact an overdub, as Ford would know since he was there, thus destroying Blaine’s credibility? Highly unlikely, I’d say. No one has mentioned the “indigo” woman, although it has been alluded to how Blaine might pull off similar tricks. I can think of two possibilities: perform the trick until you get lucky that the “mark” picks the color already set up on the plywood, or more likely (who ever picks the color “indigo”?!) perform the trick until someone plays along because they know they might get on TV. The key is that Blaine didn’t ask the woman to name her color before he caused it to be revealed. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/69 "2013-11-21T02:49:29Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > And risk Harrison Ford coming forward to say that it was in fact an overdub, as Ford would know since he was there, thus destroying Blaine’s credibility? Highly unlikely, I’d say. Why would Ford snitch? I’m not saying that’s the way it was done, but we are missing the beginning of the trick, and my guess is there’s more involving the deck beforehand. It just looks like a trick being shown in mid-stream to me, but, who knows–I’m sure the real magicians know a better way of achieving this effect, but that’s one easy possibility. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/70 "2013-11-21T03:47:37Z")
The other thing is, remember, this special was recorded over a period of years, according to what someone said upthread. From what I’ve seen, people are not terribly good at recalling exactly how a trick played out last night, much less some time ago, so it’s completely believable to me that Blaine could have been banking on Ford not remembering the exact sequence of the trick, too, if he was worried about him snitching. Especially if you’re at a house party or whatever and perhaps are a bit liquored up or something else. All Blaine has to say is, no Harrison, you’re misremembering, look at the tape, and Harrison really has no proof his memory is correct. But I don’t think that’s a big deal. I don’t think Harrison would care enough to say anything–he was quite impressed by the trick, and we’ve already seen Blaine manipulate video (as seen above with the levitation trick) to record true reactions, but then cut in doctored footage of his levitation trick, so why would he be above dubbing audio? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/71 "2013-11-21T04:03:54Z")
This could also have just been one possible outcome for the trick, right? You tell him the card is gone from the deck, but have no idea what card it is. You hand over the deck. If he spots his card, you go with ending (a) where you ask him to say the card in mock disbelief, and you take the deck and it’s not there (because you remove it), and then he can’t find it when you hand it back, but it appears in his own sleeve (or some other variation of a relatively boring trick). But if he doesn’t spot the card, then you go with ending (b) where you palm the card into an orange after he reveals it (because you pull it out of an ordered deck in your back pocket or what-have-you). And if it didn’t happen to be Harrison that got to (b), then it would have been Tom Cruise or someone. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/72 "2013-11-21T04:11:02Z")
Sure, that’s another possible way of doing it. But I don’t think the card was palmed. I do think the card was actually already in the orange, which is why Harrison Ford is so genuinely surprised, as he sees the orange being opened in front of him with the card embedded. At least that’s my impression, knowing how the standard way of doing the card-in-an-orange trick goes. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/73 "2013-11-21T04:48:22Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > It takes no skill whatsoever to lie and hire people to lie and pretend to be amazed. And there’s so much competition. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/74 "2013-11-21T05:08:23Z")
I can’t help but notice the few posters that claim to be able to do a few of these tricks ain’t ponying up any info on how they are done. So, that being said: I can raise The Dead! I’m a \*huge \*hit at funerals! 😃 Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/75 "2013-11-21T05:32:14Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > This could also have just been one possible outcome for the trick, right? > > You tell him the card is gone from the deck, but have no idea what card it is. You hand over the deck. If he spots his card, you go with ending (a) where you ask him to say the card in mock disbelief, and you take the deck and it’s not there (because you remove it), and then he can’t find it when you hand it back, but it appears in his own sleeve (or some other variation of a relatively boring trick). But if he doesn’t spot the card, then you go with ending (b) where you palm the card into an orange after he reveals it (because you pull it out of an ordered deck in your back pocket or what-have-you). > > And if it didn’t happen to be Harrison that got to (b), then it would have been Tom Cruise or someone. I agree Blaine has just game planned for various outcomes, and only shows the successful ones. Additionally, just because Ford’s card is missing doesn’t mean his card was the ONLY one missing. That deck could have been missing several cards without most people noticing from a casual search. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/76 "2013-11-21T08:01:26Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by ducati He’s an arrogant, smug asshole who preys on the stupid or uneducated. > [@bup](#): > > I know. His claims are just all so…unbelievable! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![televin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@televin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/televin)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/77 "2013-11-21T12:43:55Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > I’ve been playing with magic for 20+ years. A card force is one of the easiest things to accomplish. Loading an orange/envelope/pocket beforehand is easy. > > I’m sure you can Google any trick and find the answer, so I won’t spoil things, but I’ve been doing the needle/arm trick for years for Boy Scouts and kids parties. The older ones love it, and I can promise you there’s no unhealed or fresh piercings, or jamming a needle right through your arm. > > It’s all cleverly crafted illusion, misdirection, and outright lies. > > What David Blaine does is no better than a 10th grader who got a magic set for Christmas. He’s an arrogant, smug asshole who preys on the stupid or uneducated. > In any video you see of him performing on the street, everyone is in on the trick. > Their surprise and awe is simply people wanting to be on camera, so they go along with it. It’s ridiculous. > Let me know when I can watch your TV special ROFLMAO Schadenfreude > Conversely, Penn and Teller are great magicians, and they tell you up front they’re full of shit, and they’re going to trick you. That they still can speaks to their ability. > > David Copperfield made me mad [when I saw this crap](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOV8zVRczM)as a teenager. > " No camera tricks!" Uh-huh. What about having a dozen hand-holding “volunteers” move out of the way while a dozen or more guys push the damn thing behind the back curtain? The whole thing is a god-damned lie. I could do that. You could do that. > > It takes practice and skill to do real close-up tricks with coins, cards, and whatnot. > It takes no skill whatsoever to lie and hire people to lie and pretend to be amazed. > > This is why David Blaine and David Copperfield don’t impress me. Schadenfreude Let me know when your special is on ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/78 "2013-11-21T13:03:27Z")
> [@televin](#): > > Schadenfreude Let me know when your special is on I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don’t know what “schadenfreude” means. And I can’t make movies either, but that doesn’t mean I can’t legitimately point out that Uwe Boll sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/79 "2013-11-21T13:23:31Z")
Watching the Ricky Gervais one I noticed his hand on the pierced arm doesn’t move throughout the piercing. No finger movement, no wrist movement. It made me think the entire arm was fake. Going back to see the last time he moved his fingers or wrist he does move them when placing his arm above the table. So I looked for any film changes for when they might do a switchover. Might be just me but at the 1:17 mark the hue of Ricky’s face changes. Pretty smooth editing but still my guess for a splice. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314/80 "2013-11-21T13:39:14Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I can’t help but notice the few posters that claim to be able to do a few of these tricks ain’t ponying up any info on how they are done. Sorry. I did mention something about “knowing how the standard way of doing the card-in-an-orange trick goes.” There’s nothing too special about it. You roll up a card and put it in an orange. Normally, you cut out the stem end, jam a card in there, and replace the cut part maybe with a bit of glue. Now you have a card in an orange. Now all you need to do is force a playing card using your method of choice. There’s also a version where you have the subject pick a card (forced, naturally), then you take that card, tear it into pieces (while retaining a corner of the card by leaving it on the table), and set the rest of the card pieces on fire. You open up the orange, the card is magically in there, with a missing corner, of course matching exactly the one you had (because you were palming the torn corner and left that corner behind.) I’ve only done the orange trick a few times because it’s a waste of a perfectly good card. The effect on the subject is great, though. But just as fun, if not more, is sneaking a playing card into your subject’s pocket somehow–coat pockets are always easy–(or into some personal affect of theirs) and pulling some kind of force and doing the big reveal that way. That one really freaks people out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-one-of-you-smartasses-spoil-david-blaine-real-or-magic-for-me/674314.md?page=5)