Who says I didn’t write it down? To mess up the trick, I’d just keep my slip under my napkin, and hand you a patsy slip with a snarky note on it. And when you guessed “steak”, I’d remind people I was a vegetarian, show them the slip I’d kept (with some complicated order on it, naturally), and earn a free meal for everyone at the table except for one person :).
Normally, it’s atrocious manners to screw up someone’s magic trick. When they’ve turned it into a bet, however, all bets are off.
Daniel
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Ricky Jay. I read a fascinating story about him in the New Yorker years ago & apparently he’s been on cable a few times.
Love the wedding cake image!
How about a complete Thanksgiving dinner? The creamed corn would be marvelous!
When are youg going biscuit firing paulbeserker? Need any help?
mmm, tomorrow morning but depending on how drunk i get tonight. perhaps sunset would be a more pleasant setting…
pull!
and oh yeah, turn up in one of those Debbie McGee style diamante leotard and tights set up Fizzy, and you can be my assistant
say yes paul shazam blau! etc etc
Does anyone have a link to a webcam besides the Channel 4 one? For some reason I can’t subscribe.
i thought sky tv was doing one, but apparently its streamed through the interactive tv service. have a look, i couldnt find it anyway
http://www.skyone.co.uk/programmes/features.asp?fID=12&page=2§ionID=6
Randi’s latest:
I’m with you Jojo
If you accept Scylla’s explanation, it’s not magic, but it is an example of human endurance. It’s a stunt. Pulling your head out of your ass, now that would be magic. If you don’t buy Scylla’s explanation, then it’s is “magic”
He wants attention, of course. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want some dope firing biscuits at him or deliberately trying to wake him up when he’s trying to sleep either.
Yes. You are rude. Incredibly. Take pride in it. Revel in it all you want. It’s still rude.
Well, actually I’d say it’s the second rule. The first rule should be treat others like you’d like to be treated. The second rule is that there is always some idiot out there that will break rule number one.
No need for the smiley. It’s obvious your immaturity is a point of pride for you.
What is he telling you that it’s plainly not? If you mean that he’s actually getting nutrition in there, then it’s magic. That’s what magic is, telling you something it’s not. If he’s not it’s a stunt of human endurance. Either way, it’s an act that seems to have gotten many a person’s attention and wonderment. And I honestly have no clue what you mean about his stunt being “taking a piss out of you.” I’ve seen nothing to indicate that he’s mocking Londoners, or even that he has something against London or the English people. For fuck’s sake he did one of these stunts in NYC. Was he mocking them too? Is he mocking anybody who gets a moment of awe and wonderment from his magic tricks or stunts?
You guys really need to calm down a tad. You don’t like it, fine. But shooting biscuits and taking offense at it is over the line.
Hamlet , i’ve never been as serious about anything in my life than this. i’ve been preparing for so long for someone to live in a box by tower bridge for 44 days so i can blast biscuits at him.
christ on a bike, are you the only one that can’t see a funny side here
i’m taking the piss
and do you want a bet that i couldnt starve myself for 44 days? make it 50 motherfucker. no magic, no tricks. i’ll do it. i will quit work. build my own box with water pipe and nappies. its fucking stupid, yes, but i will do this
who wants to run a book? i weigh about 13 stone, but with 2 weeks prep i could get upto 15/16 no worries.
Blaines conjuring/illusions i like. sitting in a box does not impress me. given the impetus, i believe almost anyone could do it., and $7 million is a fucking big impetus to me.
show me the cashmoney, i will show you a starving paulberserker.
i’m gonna go get a shovel
Unfortunately, I do not have $7 million, nor, it appears today, a sense of humor.
I’m with the camp that feels folks throwing things at him and taunting him are rude. I feel similarly about those who torment animals in the zoo, talk during a movie, speak loudly on their cell phones and are generally asshats in public.
Esprix
You wanna live in the box? Cost you 5 bucks extra.
Dan:
Ok. I went and found my copy of Blaine’s book. You’d asked specifically about his cold readings.
Well, Blaine has two systems that he’s worked out for cold number/card readings.
After reading his explanation, I understand how he does the trick where he asks somebody to think of a number cold, and the car with the number drives by a moment later.
He can also do it where he asks you to think of any card in a deck and then just guesses it.
Basically, if you ask the question very specifically I.E. “I want you to think of a card in a deck. You can think of any card, but I want you to choose a difficult card,” and you give the person only a few seconds Depending on their sex they ae extremely likely to choose a certain card. Like 75% of the time. He has it worked out in statistical order the next 3 likeliest choices. They cover about 95% of all picks.
If he misses the cold guess, he can make it look deliberate either by producing the next guess in an unlikely manner (driving by in a car or painted on a window,) or by working the wrong guess into a coincident trick he has going at the same time, so it looks like he meant to pick wrong.
If he’s working with a small group he has the statistical scenarios worked out so that the odds are hugely in his favor with his cold guess.
So he’s making a very educated guess, but if he’s wrong he works the error into a trick that makes it look deliberate.
I applaud those who are taunting David Blaine. Not out of any personal dislike of David Blaine, it’s just more entertaining if there are people out there actively trying to make him screw up.
When you are making a public spectacle of yourself for money or even art, you cannot have (and do not deserve) any expectation of politeness or that people won’t actively try and fuck with you. That just isn’t how public spectacles work. They’re public. The public is part of them. They won’t always do what you want them to, and it has nothing to do with politeness.
I think someone should plaster his box with paintballs until he can’t see out.
Those who find it amusing to taunt him, please make appreciative noises at my attempt.
Those who don’t please look the other way.
Watch out. His girlfriend will have people hold you down while she gets her revenge.
Also of interest is the fact, which I had not heard, that the stunt has been performed before. For longer even.
The most creative ideaI’ve seen was in the newspaper letter pages (the Metro, I think).
If the person who suggested having Damien Hirst fill the box with formaldehyde is reading this: you are a genius of the highest order and I want to have your babies.
Man in box for 44 days = dull dull dull
Man in box for 44 days + Ratapults, Wedding Cake Trebuchts, Girls showing boobies, Biscuit Cannons, Crazed Golfers, Random Bangra Drummers, Egg flingidge, [Doctor Evil] Las-ers [/Doctor Evil] = something worth reading 4 pages of thread about!
Did no-one warn the Prince of Pointless that by coming to London he waived all rights to be taken seriously!
Balducci Levitation