Apr
13
2006

The magic is real

david blaine dvd magic

I just watched David Blaine: Fearless. I feel like I "get" magic. Or at least I did until I saw this DVD (which is a collection of three of Blaine's TV specials).

I understood that "magic" was the mastery of slight-of-hand and optical illusions. But David Blaine has taken it way beyond that. You can't explain a playing card located inside an inflated basketball with slight-of-hand. His endurance stunts I get. He stood in a block of ice for 61 hours -- I feel like anyone who is willing to train their body and mind could handle that. But a playing card inside a basketball? That's magic. And sending a homeless guy into a store to buy a scratch-off ticket, which just happens to win over $10,000? You would need the infinite improbablity engine to calculate the odds of that -- magic.

One of the most entertaining things about watching the DVD is watching people's reactions to his tricks. The hysteria that follows when he levitates is particularly amusing. Of course that's easy for me to say, safely removed via camera and TV from the situation. Were I to see it in person, I would probably have a similar reaction.

The day after watching the DVD, I learned of Blaine's newest stunt. And I just found his blog, where he posts short, philosophical, fortune-cookie-style sayings.

All of this is basically to say David Blaine, your magic is real.

9 Comments

Dude, this is more than magic, this is like crazy-devil-magic.

Did you see the one where he put the guys watch into the jewelry store window?
Or tatooed a picture of a guys girlfriend on his side?

I was disturbed by the reactions of the spectators, who were not only hysterical, but often fearful.

I don't know what to think about David Blaine, but I agree, it is like true magic.

Posted by rob on April 14, 2006

Getting the girl's picture on his side was crazy. I can't think of any explanation for that except "magic."

Posted by curt on April 14, 2006

I saw something on Fox a few years back, David Blaine: Street Magic or something like that? The only part I remember was when he bit off a quarter and then spit it back on. These two girls screamed and ran away. They looked seriously spooked.

A playing card inside a basketball? Three words. WTF. But in a good way.

Posted by Sara on April 14, 2006

he has all the makings for the anti-christ: charismatic, relatively handsome, high media profile, and of course THE DEAL WITH SATAN!

Posted by rob on April 14, 2006

He is the such a rad performer.

GOD BLESS DAVID BLAINE.

I don't love the endurance stunts, but they work at making him more famous.

Posted by Steve Schroeder on April 14, 2006

I usually end up recommending his video to pretty much everyone I meet. It's precisely people's reactions that are most convincing to me about whatever the hell it is he's up to. People don't get spooked like that over slight of hand. They just don't. I mean, really. . .the bit where he drops the chick's ring down the storm drain and cracks it out of one of those single-serving liquor bottles he finds down the block? The girl's name on the taxi? Too strange.

Posted by Elizabeth on April 15, 2006

p.s.

I have to admit, I'm a little annoyed by his "fortune cookie" quotes, and his Friday the 13th blurb smelled of Timothy Treadwell. . .

Posted by Elizabeth on April 15, 2006

I wish David Blaine could make my gut disappear.

Posted by rss on April 15, 2006

Curt, I just watched this.

Wow.

I like it. He is magic.

Posted by Mikey on April 24, 2006

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