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David Blaine Real or Magic Discussion.

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pipi94

pipi94

Sep 22, 2007
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First off i'd like to say that was the best magic special i have seen on tv in sometime. Davids one of a kind and does some amazing stuff. Theres always stuff in his specials that fools me. He takes things we all know and love to the next level but without stooges or camera tricks. He really helps to further this art form. Lets discuss the effects or whatever we liked about this. I think it will be beneficial to all of us.

Adam
 
Completely agree, that was the most satisfying magic I've seen on TV in a long time, maybe ever. His style is so genuine, I love those weird little moments like casually eating a glass cup.

Harrison Ford, Jaden Smith, Stephen Hawking, and Ricky Gervais were my favorite reactions, but its hard to pick. Watching people authentically come that close to tears is such a gift.

The cigarette through bill was perfect, you can see her understanding of the world shatter within seconds. :D

A++ David! :)
 
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I didn't make it through the whole show but enjoyed what I saw, especially his spin on PK Touches and of course the alligator production (a real Alligator Purse. . . ). The biggest thing I like about Blaine is that he isn't an ego showing off, but does everything as if it's natural and normal in his world; proof that the Shaman approach has a dynamic that's worth exploring when we work vs. the Showman approach we've been conditioned to use for so long. David kind of kicked off this movement in 97 and I for one, am glad that he's holding to it.

We need to see far more work of this sort.
 
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I really liked when he preformed the ciggerette through bill and when he did a torn and restored bill that looked a lot like regeneration
 
Yes I loved the trick where he took a picture of Jayden Smith and the 3 card monte trick. Does anyone know if either of those tricks are available anywhere? thanks
 
Yea it does look like he did a version of regeneration but with a bill boy would i love to learn that. Thats crazy. And that cigarette through bill does that exist outside this special. What really got me though was the restored corner at the end of angle zero.
 
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pipi94 said:
Yea it does look like he did a version of regeneration but with a bill boy would i love to learn that. Thats crazy. And that cigarette through bill does that exist outside this special. What really got me though was the restored corner at the end of angle zero.
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That's the first time Ive seen a cigarette through bill, unless its a cigarette through card adapted to a bill
 
I also loved the entire special, it took me back 8 years when I first saw his Street Magic special. It's what got me into magic in the first place. The things that I don't know how it's done are the Jaden Smith card fan trick, the cigarette through bill, the Angle Zero restoration, the needle through biceps, the Indigo color appearing on the wall and the names appearing on the pavement (if he didn't use the helpers), and how did those two cards end up in that black guys pocket in Cards Across. :)
 
that card in fruit was something to thats been done before but with a thought of card its almost to impossible.
 
This show brought me back five years ago to when I saw his Dive of Death special and I was completely amazed by every single thing. David Blaine is who got me started me magic and watching this brought all the nostalgia from five years ago. I was flipping out when he did regeneration with a dollar bill. I also really like how David Blaine did really simple effects like the sharpie change, out of this world, and other simple things and still completely fried the spectators. I have no flipping clue how he could of possibly done the ice pick thing, the cards across, or how he was able to read those people's mind! I love his take on the PK touches and some other things. It was quite today because a few weeks ago I actually performed PK touches and a card in fruit trick, and then today at school people were like "David Blaine did your trick on TV last night" and I didn't know how to respond.
 
Toby said:
I also loved the entire special, it took me back 8 years when I first saw his Street Magic special. It's what got me into magic in the first place. The things that I don't know how it's done are the Jaden Smith card fan trick, the cigarette through bill, the Angle Zero restoration, the needle through biceps, the Indigo color appearing on the wall and the names appearing on the pavement (if he didn't use the helpers), and how did those two cards end up in that black guys pocket in Cards Across. :)
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The cards across bit is an old Tamariz and even older ploy. Really, if you think about it. You'll start to figure it out.
 
I don't get it how he did the PK touch. I mean, if you read a book by Banachek you really have to touch the person after the person closes eyes. But he didn't touch the celebreties at all after they closed their eyes. I really don't get what david did there.

I know how he did the string through eye, cause it's actually a method by Wayne Houchin called Thread, available here. I also know the "out of this world" trick, but not how he did it.

About the needle through hand: I red here that there's a dvd by dan hauss explaining this. I just cannot find it. Isn't it called "through and through"?

p.s.- if anyone knows the names of other effects he does here, please share here, cause I would like to learn some. And I have to decide what will be my christmas gift :P
 
My goodness, everytime a camera moves away from someone, my dad will jump up screaming,"They're setting something up! Parker, this is not real, get over it!" I then perform any trick we see on the special that I can, to show him just how real it is :)
Also, my mom says she is "completely disgusted" at how magicians "scam" laypeople. Gotta love the parents.
Also, this special took me back to when I was five and watched him do the coin bite thing. I remember I was at a hotel, and I found a quarter and busted my tooth on it back in our room.
 
Oi Vey!

Reading through this thread reminded me of a complaint made by David Copperfield some years ago concerning his specials and how so many magicians saw it as a shopping list for their next season. Take a look at this thread and how many here want to obtain or replicate the effects they saw David do on this special. . . I'm shocked no one's mentioned the Alligator Production. . .

The Card Fan is a 21st century twist to a routine done by Copperfield back in the 80s; I'm pretty certain the method is similar though I think the person taking the photo needs to have a certain degree of control when it comes to the camera. The 3 Card Monte isn't new, it's an old routine (I'm not a card guy and I know that much), I've seen at least 3 different incarnations of that routine including one using "mechanical" cards (for lack of a better description).

My point is a simple couple of points the first being, why on earth is everyone clamoring to "borrow" from David's thunder? Why do you feel you "must have" this or that effect? Or worse, why do your feel that you deserve to know how it works?

The second point is that a bit of studying will answer a lot of your questions and chances are strong that you already know methods by which to replicate each of those effects; it may not be as clean as you saw in the show, but you can demonstrate them.


ABOUT PK TOUCHES. . . the Banachek notes are not the only way that effect can be executed, I know of at least 5 or more variations and am pretty certain David combined two technique in his routine, which is quite common amongst working pros. You might want to look up a routine called INVISIBLE TOUCH or SPIRIT TOUCH. Fortunately, some of the better methods aren't in general circulation
 
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