First of all, I apologise to both Exapno Mapcase and Dr Deth for anything I’ve posted on this – or any other ‘magic’ related thread – that they found annoying or exasperating. Not my intention. I was just trying to provide some factual input that might clear up some misunderstandings. That’s all.
It is difficult to reconcile this ‘summary’ of my first post with what I actually wrote, and the five separate points I actually responded to.
Please re-read what I actually wrote, and the points I was responding to. For example, someone suggested that Blaine’s ‘holding his breath’ stunt might have something in common with an old Penn & Teller trick in which Teller was submerged in a water tank. This isn’t the case, and I felt it might be useful to just point this out.
Someone else suggested that all of Blaine’s magic tricks relied on, or might rely on, camera trickery and editing. This isn’t the case. I have already acknowledged that it was true with regard to the levitation stunt. But I also know that Blaine has some genuine skill and aptitude, and does not rely on camera tricks. For example, in his first show he performed a card trick called ‘Dr Daley’s Last Trick’. This is a ‘standard’ of the close-up repertoire. It calls for some sleight of hand and good timing. Not camera tricks. In another special, he performed a trick in which a disposed-of soda can became like new again. You can go online and buy this trick if you want. It’s called ‘Healed and Sealed’, and it calls for some preparation and a modest amount of presentational skill. No camera tricks.
So you see, all I was doing was offering some factual corrections in the spirit of fighting ignorance. If Exapno Mapcase and others are unhappy because I don’t reveal more about how the tricks are done, that’s because I belong to a club called the Magic Circle, and the club has rules about how much information I can give out about how magic tricks are done.
This is a reference to the ‘Masked Magician’ series of TV specials, featuring a professional illusionist called Valentino. I don’t know which professional magicians Dr Deth is citing, nor am I sure what the words ‘the trick’ refer to, given that the series covered a great many. For anyone who’s interested in the facts, a small number of the illusions featured in that series were ones actually used by contemporary magicians, and the methods explained were accurate. However, in the majority of cases, the illusions were ones that no contemporary pro is actually using or would use, and the methods were special made-for-TV methods that no-one is actually employing in real life magic acts. This was no accident. There was an extensive interview with Valentino in one of the leading magic magazinbes (either Genii or Magic, I would have to look it up). He explained how the series came to be made, how his own involvement came about, why he took part and what he was trying to achieve. In part, he was trying to conduct a damage limitation exercise (the series was going to be made anyway, and he felt he could at least limit the amount of ‘genuine’ info given away). He was also trying to walk the line between enthusing people, especially young people, about the world of magic and trickery without doing too much damage to the livelihood of working professional magicians.
No, it isn’t. In the context of David Blaine’s endurance stunts (as opposed to magic tricks), my point was not that there was ‘real sorcery’ involved, and it’s unhelpful to mis-represent my words in this way. My point was that these were genuine feats of endurance. It is perfectly possible, as has been suggested here, that in the case of each stunt, Blaine was not in as much danger as the hype suggested; that his ‘training’ was neither as extensive nor as esoteric as he might have claimed; and that he was taking some covert steps to make himself more comfortable than the publicity might have conveyed. Yes, all these things are possible. But I stand by my basic point that there was genuine physical endurance involved, causing genuine stress on his body and making considerable demands on his physical and mental stamina.
We do act within the law, but there is nothing illegal at all about revealing the “secret” behind a “trick”.