I find my optimism was misplaced. I had hoped most people were intelligent not to make a big deal out of the botched climax at the end of the special. Sure, there are quite a few people here who were able to take the show for what it was worth. But I'm astounded by the sheer amount of ignorant boobs who are getting their panties in a knot over this. What's going on here? Why are some people reacting with such hostility to the end of the stunt?
I had a conversation with someone at my job who thinks Blaine's matchbook trick was staged. Obviously, everyone reading here knows the truth: That it's not staged, and can be done by any one of us with the proper practice.
As reluctant as I am to talk about exposers, one of them wrote something to the effect of this before viciously exposing Blaine's magic: "I'm doing this because Blaine claims to be something he is not." As I was writing on the Ellusionist blog about this, I came across a lot of vicious satire posing as journalistic commentary. Some were honest when they said, "I don't get it." Others ripped Blaine mercilessly, because they didn't understand the details about his stunt.
I think that a bunch of us are a little jaded because the rest of the world isn't as impressed with Blaine as we are. And, we're biased. Blaine is one of the reasons that many of us are here. And those of us who are bashing Blaine for the botched ending are simply not ready to understand more about magic -- especially the magicians. I wonder how many of the magicians who bash Blaine have ever had anything go wrong in front of the public. If they haven't, then they have probably seconds and seconds of performing experience.
Yet, look at how Blaine has responded. Public interviews, and an admission of a flub LESS THAN A DAY after it happened. I can't help comparing that to how another recent stunt unfolded.