How Does David Blaine Levitate? Do You Know?

Originally posted by BaastetNoir

ther is too much garbage around oin the world, so why not make the few litle places we can (like this one ) a litle more Peaceful, huh ?

Amen to that...........but......i mean.....Blaine even has a book out and i posted the links to all those videos where they showed the levitation trick....ugh....whatever, i give up.

It is refreshing to read that you have given up. Thank you. I am very honest when I say that I have long ago given up the idea that I can, or have any right to, try to convince others what to believe. I gave that up long ago. All I request is respect. Tolerance is passable, and I can live with that, but what I would really like to have others treat me as an equal, and accept that just because we differ, no one is right and no one is wrong. My belief is right for me, and others' right for them. Different, and good, necessary even. I have at times not bothered to defend myself when I am derided or called names merely because I happen to believe differently. So, now if everyone else on earth would just give up trying to change others, and realize that ourself is the only person we can control or change. And even that is a toughie, for me anyway. And then if we can all accept each other as equals, unconditional love and acceptance of different faiths, cultures, etc., then the little refuges of peace will no longer be little, as the whole world will be at peace. Well, it was a nice thought anyway.

Originally posted by James_Moriarty

You figure that since the older generation of magicians 'might' be aware of this trick, then they should be making street magic video's.

Precisely. And by the way, they do talk to one another and exchange ideas constantly.

If it were all that easy, many more magicians would be doing it as big bucks are involved. Without something that is unique and unusual and cannot be easily duplicated, one does not get backing for a television show like Street Magic. I don't care how many years someone has been working in the industry and doing illusions. Without something that blows the socks off a big-time television producer, you are not going anywhere beyond performing in nightclubs and having websites that provide mechanical explanations for manifestations that very few can produce on city sidewalks.

In this instance, it is those of the scientific mindset who are the ones being duped!

Furthermore, neither Blaine or Angel refer to themselves as telekinetics. Why should they? Would you? Of course not. That would end the illusion that they are just illusionists. People would rant and rave to have their powers tested in laboratories.

Better to just laugh all the way to the bank!

Blaine became a multimillionaire at an early age precisely because of his Gift of Telekinesis. He even purchased the mansion of Harry Houdini. How many nightclub magicians do you know who have done that?

Common sense dictates that people like Blaine and Angel have a lot more going for them than just being in the right place at the right time along with a some sleight-of-hand and electronic gimmicks.

Oh, I see that you have given up.

Say there BlackGuardXIII...

Have you seen the DVD, David Blaine: Fearless? You would really like it. It has things in it that he does which are not shown in his Street Magic video -- although that is also included.



[edit on 31-7-2005 by Paul_Richard]

Originally posted by Paul_Richard

Furthermore, neither Blaine or Angel refer to themselves as telekinetics. Why should they? Would you? Of course not. That would end the illusion that they are just illusionists. People would rant and rave to have their powers tested in laboratories.

That would end the illusion that they are just illusionists........I......I'm not even going there. You are right, I am wrong. David Blaine and Chris Angel have mystical powers that cannot be proven.

Paul Richard, your logic is sound. It makes sense and might even be the most plausible explanation, because it solves some very obvious hurdles, secures their safety, and rewards them. They most likely would follow the route that would do that. I don't know how they do it, but I don't claim to know that they have any 'mystical' powers. They may, I don't know. But my best guess is what I posted earlier, the ability to harness a force that is just not as obvious as gravity, magnetism, or electricity. That would not even require anything supernatural, it would only require the chance that the scientists have missed something. That is not so hard for me to believe, in fact, I doubt any scientist would claim to know everything. They know that they don't know it all, yet they are just as sure they are right as the religions. David Copperfield was asked if scientists were hard to perform for, and he said they were the easiest audience of all because they are so sure they could not be fooled. I can be fooled, but I do not go around posting sarcastic innuendo suggesting those who claim I 'might' be wrong, are fools, chumps, dupes, or whatever. I do that because I want the same respect, the golden rule, by Rabbi Hillel. It must be nice for other people to be able to know that I am wrong , cause I can't figure out how to prove that I am, or that they are.

Hi James,

Empirical evidence IS a form of proof for David Blaine and Criss Angel, and anyone else for that matter.

Hey, get yourself a DVD copy of David Blaine: Fearless. He does some things in there that cannot be explained in a nonmystical website or book.

For example, he took a man off a city street and gave him money to purchase lottery tickets at a convenience store. They were scratch card tickets, not fill-in tickets. The dubious man -- even after finding winning matches -- wound up winning 1600 USD.

You don't ever want to gamble or play cards against Blaine or Angel.



Hi BlackGuardXIII,

Thanks for the positive feedback.



[edit on 1-8-2005 by Paul_Richard]

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
But my best guess is what I posted earlier, the ability to harness a force that is just not as obvious as gravity, magnetism, or electricity.

The thing is, if David Copperfield was able to use 'anti-gravity' to levitate, then he single handedly destroyed the theory of relativity proposed by Albert Einstein. See, Einstein gave the notion that gravity isn't actually a force, its a fictitous force; an illusion. Imagine you are in an elevator in space accelerating upward at 9.8 metres per second sqaured. Now consider what would happen if you were to let go of an apple in that elevator. BEcause the elevator and you are accelerating upward, the apple would hit the bottom of the elevator. In your frame of reference, you would say that the apple 'fell' to the bottom because some 'force' pulled it down. This 'force' we call gravity, even though it is simply an accelerated frame of reference. Now, this is an analogy of course, because gravity has nothing to do with our accelerating in space, but rather, our accelerating in space time. It is this accleration that causes the fictitous force. So you see, if there was such a thing as anti gravity, then that apple in the elevator would float upward instead of the elevator hitting it. This means that we have to invent a force to explain this. This goes against what Einstein was trying to do by getting rid of a force. Now, you may argue, well ya, but this is the 'theory' of relativity not a law and that is true. However, the only reason it is a theory is because we can never prove it. But no one has been able to disprove it either in over 90 years. If i made a statement saying that all crows are black, it only takes one black crow to disprove my theory. Well, its been 90 years, and no one has found that black crow to Einstein's theory. Also, consider the fact that relativity has predicted gravitational redshifts, bending of light (verified during a solar eclipse) and perihelion shifts of planets. THis theory has explained so much and has been integrated with quantum mechanics into string theory. So basically, you are saying that David Copperfield has been able to outsmart some of the most brilliant (well apparently not) men in history? Albert Einstein, Steven Hawking, Roger Penrose, Richard Feynman etc.

Originally posted by Paul_Richard
Empirical evidence IS a form of proof for David Blaine and Criss Angel, and
anyone else for that matter.

Given the editing that was done for that video and the very very OBVIOUS cut behind people from a camera man that wasn't there, this video would be considered inadmissable in a court of law. Thus, it does not count as empirical evidence. By the way, if you do your research, you will find out that david Blaine did the Balducci method first and then reshot it behind the ladies heads and did it with a rigging system to show them how magicians sometimes do it. And they simply edited it in that fashion to trick the audience of the video.

[edit on 1-8-2005 by James_Moriarty]

Originally posted by Paul_Richard
Empirical evidence IS a form of proof for David Blaine and Criss Angel, and
anyone else for that matter.

Originally posted by James_Moriarty
Given the editing that was done for that video and the very very OBVIOUS cut behind people from a camera man that wasn't there, this video would be considered inadmissable in a court of law. Thus, it does not count as empirical evidence. By the way, if you do your research, you will find out that david Blaine did the Balducci method first and then reshot it behind the ladies heads and did it with a rigging system to show them how magicians sometimes do it. And they simply edited it in that fashion to trick the audience of the video.

There are actually a number of video shots of David Blaine doing his levitation, not just one in his DVD. Again, you need to take a close look at David Blaine: Fearless. But the video evidence issue takes a second seat to the eyewitness testimony.

The definition of empirical evidence is that which is observed and/or tested. In which case, the many witnesses of David Blaine's levitation (and other manifestations) on city sidewalks do in fact constitute empirical evidence.

Does eyewitness testimony constitute evidence in a court of law?

You bet it does!

Testimonial evidence is a primary facet of the judicial process. Video evidence can indeed be faked and is inadmissible, but I am not referring to video evidence here, only the empirical evidence. Getting Blaine to repeat his levitation in front of the judge and jury would also constitute substantial empirical evidence.

Originally posted by Paul_Richard

Does eyewitness testimony constitute evidence in a court of law?

Of course the people on the street thought they saw him levitate, it was part of the illusion. He did the Balducci method or perhaps even the King Rising method. THe king rising method is amazing. It actually makes it look like your feet are half a foot to a foot off of the ground. The question isn't what people thought they saw, it is how did David Blaine apparently levitate? And i just answered that for you. He used one of thsoe methods listed and the edit showed a different, more complex method involving an actually mechanical device.

Regardless, their testimony constitutes empirical evidence in a court of law!

Then there are the other manifestations that Blaine does that are also supported with an abundance of empirical evidence:

* Having a random street person win a lottery of $1600. I'd LOVE to hear your mechanical explanation for that one!

* The transposition/teleportation of a little girl's chosen playing card into her back pocket.

* The transposition of ash into the palm of a bystander.

* The transposition of a chosen playing card that a bystander wrote on into a bottle of beer.

* The transposition of a chosen playing card by a basketball player into an inflated basketball on the other side of the court.

* The instant tattooing of names and even faces on his arm or torso that reflect what a bystander was thinking about or just wrote down on a piece of paper at a distance.

* The transposition of a chosen playing card of a police officer into that officer's left boot that he was wearing (sic).

So once again, it isn't just the street levitation that points to David Blaine having a Gift of Telekinesis, but many other manifestations. If it were all that easy, then many would be making big bucks doing the same thing. Outside of Criss Angel, there is no one else in sight that does these things outside a carefully controlled environment.

If you look through this site, they explain how David accomplished most of those tricks. Some i do not know how to do, but a majoridy of them i do.
www.goodtricks.net...

Just go to street magic and you should see card in bottle, three card monte etc

James,

Once more, assuming that the bystanders were complete morons and didn't notice someone working around them, the site you listed only explains SOME of the tricks and it does so badly. It is like the explanations were contrived after the fact just to disprove any other possibility.

The voodoo ash explanation is ludicrous. You can see in the DVD that Blaine never even had access to the notepad after the fact -- as he told the young lady to leave it far from his sight as she walked up to him. There are also a number of other occasions when no notepad was used at all!

Like I stated: you really need to see the DVD as you really don't have any idea what you are talking about!

But for the sake of argument, let's take off some of the tricks mentioned on that site. That still leaves a whole lot of them that cannot be so easily dismissed:

* Having a random street person win a lottery of $1600. I'm still waiting to read your explanation for that one!

* The transposition/teleportation of a little girl's chosen playing card into her back pocket. I don't buy that the littler girl was in on it!

* The transposition of ash into the palm of a bystander. She was drugged, right?

* The instant tattooing of names and even faces on his arm or torso that reflect what a bystander was thinking about or just wrote down on a piece of paper at a distance (no notepad to glean the imprint from and no time to write it anywhere on his body ahead of time).

* The transposition of a chosen playing card of a police officer into that officer's left boot that he was wearing (sic). I don't buy that the police were in on the trick!

So once again, if it were all that easy, then many would be making big bucks doing the same thing. Outside of Criss Angel, there is no one else in sight that does any of these things outside a carefully controlled environment.

I'd be willing to bet that the guy who runs that website you listed didn't make millions (and now own a mansion like David Blaine) from his illusions.



This is entertaining!

Can you come up with any more pathetic website explanations?

Originally posted by Paul_Richard
But for the sake of argument, let's take off some of the tricks mentioned on that site. That still leaves a whole lot of them that cannot be so easily dismissed:

just because a trick cannot be explained how it is done doesn't mean david blaine is a super human, with super human powers. he's just really good at magic.

* Having a random street person win a lottery of $1600. I'm still waiting to read your explanation for that one!

it's a trick!

* The transposition/teleportation of a little girl's chosen playing card into her back pocket. I don't buy that the littler girl was in on it!

it's a trick!!

* The transposition of ash into the palm of a bystander. She was drugged, right?

it's a trick!!!

* The instant tattooing of names and even faces on his arm or torso that reflect what a bystander was thinking about or just wrote down on a piece of paper at a distance (no notepad to glean the imprint from and no time to write it anywhere on his body ahead of time).

it's a trick!!!!

* The transposition of a chosen playing card of a police officer into that officer's left boot that he was wearing (sic). I don't buy that the police were in on the trick!

it's a trick!!!!!

So once again, if it were all that easy, then many would be making big bucks doing the same thing. Outside of Criss Angel, there is no one else in sight that does any of these things outside a carefully controlled environment.

it's not 'that' easy to perform those tricks. it's taken david blaine's whole life to be where he is today. however, many do do the same thing, yet they are not in the limelight, hence are not making big bucks. also if there were 150 different people all doing levitation tricks on the vegas strip, it'd be kind of lame.

WOW...rational explanations and abundant empirical evidence notwithstanding, because you DECLARE it to be a trick than it MUST be so!

Do you always attempt to solve problems in this way?

In following the precepts of DENYING IGNORANCE, perhaps you can come up with something better than PONTIFICATIONS to further your weak argument. That is of course, if you do not want to be viewed as simply BIASED and IGNORANT.





[edit on 2-8-2005 by Paul_Richard]

Originally posted by Paul_Richard
WOW...rational explanations and abundant empirical evidence notwithstanding, because you DECLARE it to be a trick than it MUST be so!

Rational explanations? So, instead of assuming that these are magic tricks, it is more rational to assume that there is some mystical improvable telekinetic force behind these demonstrations. OH YA, that’s waaaaaay more rational.

I mean, what more do you want? We have given you explanations that you dismiss immediately, I gave you that link to www.ellusionist.com where the guy has an entire video on the King Rising levitation, in which both of his feet look like they reahc a foot off of the ground and i have also indicated that if you watch the DVD carefully (which you clearly haven't) you will see the editing i have been talking about. The cuts behind people's heads from a camera man that was never there; because they reshot the levitation scene.

Oh ya, and for the shots where there is no cut scene, you will notice David only gets a few inches off of the ground for those. Such as the opening scene when he does it on the street in front of that kid and pretends to get sick. He used the Balducci method for that one, thats why he only got a few inches of the ground. With his right foot he goes on his toes and lifts the left foot, which covers the right somewhat, giving the illusion of levitation.
[edit on 2-8-2005 by James_Moriarty]

[edit on 2-8-2005 by James_Moriarty]

[edit on 2-8-2005 by James_Moriarty]

Check this trick out, the magicain is able to melt and bend a spoon simply by touching it

www.goodtricks.net...

That sounds familiar doesn't it

In fact, this one is even better. You pick a spoon up from a table, and just by touching it, you are able to bend it 90 degrees and the best part is, you can drop it right there and let them examine it. Meaning, the spoon is not the gimmick. THere is something else which is virtually invisible.

www.goodtricks.net...


[edit on 2-8-2005 by James_Moriarty]

Originally posted by James_Moriarty
Rational explanations? So, instead of assuming that these are magic tricks, it is more rational to assume that there is some mystical improvable telekinetic force behind these demonstrations. OH YA, that’s waaaaaay more rational.

My comment was not directed at you personally, but so be it.

Actually it is rational if taken in the greater perspective of research and experience. Oh, I forgot, you haven't done any research and have no experience with telekinesis.

Originally posted by James_Moriarty
I mean, what more do you want? We have given you explanations that you dismiss immediately...

Because they are sophomoric explanations that do not address all the manifestations I listed. You avoid addressing the more obvious acts of telekinesis because you have no credible reason behind them, i.e., you have no cogent argument to further your limited scientific paradigm.

Originally posted by James_Moriarty
Oh ya, and for the shots where there is no cut scene, you will notice David only gets a few inches off of the ground for those.

It is more than just a few inches.

Originally posted by James_Moriarty
Such as the opening scene when he does it on the street in front of that kid and pretends to get sick. He used the Balducci method for that one, thats why he only got a few inches of the ground. With his right foot he goes on his toes and lifts the left foot, which covers the right somewhat, giving the illusion of levitation.

You are obviously looking ONLY at one of the opening scenes in the cable TV version of Street Magic and not the DVD, David Blaine: Fearless. In the latter he does the levitation a number of times and comes higher off the ground. Like when he does it in front of a group of three women.

By the way, nausea is one of the things which can occur when channeling telekinetic energies. You would know that if you had experience either channeling it yourself or being around those that do.

Get the DVD and then get back to this discussion.



[edit on 2-8-2005 by Paul_Richard]

the best tricks are the ones you cannot simply work out how to do. it bugs your mind so you try and come up with the point that david blaine has some sort of powers. why can't you accept that he's really good at magic?

whether david blaine levitates 1 inch or 20 feet of the ground makes no difference...it's still all levitation right? usually by saying someone has done something better, hence levitated higher is trying to enforce the belief that he really does have some sort of special power. why does he not levitate 100 feet in to the air? surely if someone can go 6 feet, then why not 100 feet or 50 feet...i don't see why their 'special' powers would stop them doing that. obviously this trick has some boundaries, hence they stop at 6 feet so some people can still think 'wow, how's he doing that'. if they levitated 100 feet they'd need a crane and there really wouldn't be any mysticism surrounding it at all.

david blaine is a magician and an illusionist. by definition david blaine's profession is the 'art of deception'.

Originally posted by shaunybaby

david blaine is a magician and an illusionist. by definition david blaine's profession is the 'art of deception'.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
the best tricks are the ones you cannot simply work out how to do. it bugs your mind so you try and come up with the point that david blaine has some sort of powers.

My mind is perfectly complacent with the truth of what is.

Originally posted by shaunybaby
why can't you accept that he's really good at magic?

I've known magicians and I've known people with a Gift of TK and I have learned to discriminate the difference. Of course David Blaine is a good illusionist! But he is also something more than that -- as is Uri Geller, Sai Baba, Matthew Manning and Criss Angel.

It has very little to do with belief and a lot to do with experience.