Also, when you are in the 7th row, 20 feet or so from the stage, and the magicians body is split in two, and each half wheeled to opposite ends of the stage, while both halves are still moving, and you have a clear view of it all from very close up, the distraction thing is a non factor. I know these things are impossible, its just that when you see them in person, up close, its a real puzzler. I usually ended up chuckling through most of that kind of stuff, it was so ludicrous and incomprehensible to witness.
It's not mass hypnosis, imo, because its on tape. It's amazing whether it is some little known force being used, or whether it is super high technology such as holographs, etc. I doubt its holographs, and if I had to guess, I'd say it is the ability to manipulate some as yet unknown force or energy, which few people have been able to find out.

thanks for sharing BlackGuardXIII...

great story

Originally posted by fu1982
It sure did "look" real. But, lets not fool ourselves people, there is NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC!!!

No the scientists are calling it lots of names nowdays, PK, TK, remoteviewing etc

I like magicians. I think they open up the mind by making people ask questions and instill that sense of intrigue that everyone loves.

what i don't like is people getting really uppity. watching criss levitate b\w two buildings whilst his cameraman is screaming "you the man, you the man" is a bit much, because in this way he puts himself above the common man.

Gravity is 9.8, and Criss Angel has a mass. he's a skinny guy, Lets say 75kg?

Anyway Gravity X mass equals force. Downwards. meaning he falls. quickly. These the laws our world works by and they apply to every-single-person on the planet. Yoga and other unorthodox disciplines give strength of mind. but they do not give you 735N of force upwards.

The ability to APPEAR as if one is not affected by gravity x no. of viewers= MONEY.
Therefore, a motivation to do it.

a new episode of "mindfreak" is on tonight at 10pm ET on "A&E"

be sure to watch...

well...

tonight's two episodes were crazy (as always)

the main trick of the first episode was that criss cut himself in two and didn't die...

in this illusion, both parts of criss were moving...

the main trick of the second episode was that criss walked on water...

a woman swan under him and there were other various witnesses...

great stuff

Can I play burst the bubble game?

By Sheer chance, I've met Criss Angel's Machine Shop/Special Effect Guy. His shop is in the back of an old Magic Shop here in Vegas. I met him while my girlfriend was performing a play on the mini stage in this magic shop.

He showed me a few of the harnesses and whatnot used to do the defying gravity while bending over backwards trick.

Yes, the people who volunteer to be a part of a "stuntish" looking feats of magic, had been prepped ahead of time.

For TV purposes, this stuff is awesome. For up close and personal, ask him to do some card tricks, or juggle lol.

-ADHD

fair enough...

its just that its amazing because the bystanders pass their hands over the person that is levitating and under that person too...

also, the trick (that one) was in broad daylight (in the episode i saw)...

i wonder if that harness you saw was invisible




[edit on 8-6-2006 by they see ALL]

I just can't believe some of you don't think the audience is in on all this stuff. I'll take an *in your face* sleight of hand card trick way before some guy floating over buildings on TV.

I do like some of the things Criss Angel does, such as the levitation effect he does with his back to the specator levitating up to an object. (currently for sale on dvd for $100). That is a clever illusion, which is practical. I don't, however, enjoy watching Criss Angel float over buildings, because #1, it's either camera tricks and/or video editing, and #2, the crowd is in on it - no other explanation, period. To me, thats not magic or an illusion, thats just lame wannabe entertainement for TV.

My personal favorite as of Criss Angel's last show was when he casually walks up to some lady and asks her to draw *any* animal on a napkin (or something) - she draws a bird. He not only guesses what she drew, but seconds later makes a small live bird appear from the palm of his hand.

I then so another video clip, of this same effect, only this time the specator drew a butterfly, and once again he produced the butterfly from the palm of his hand.

Why aren't these spectators drawing elephants, or Tigers, or Aligators? Because they need to draw something small so he can conceal it easily, which means what? You guessed it, yes sorry to say, those specators are also in the on the trick. How Lame!!!!

So far, I think I've seen him to (2) effects that don't require that the crowd is "in on it" and don't require video editing. Those are, the levitation effect on the dvd, and the quarter in the soda can (also on dvd). What a coincidence that both of those are on dvd?? How strange...

Would you all think that criss angel if in any way this is possible, that he derives all his supernatural power from his viewers, he is always saying believe at the end of all hid episodes, i just wonder, it could be possiblle this guy gains power from the people that belive in him.

Originally posted by promytheus
Would you all think that criss angel if in any way this is possible, that he derives all his supernatural power from his viewers, he is always saying believe at the end of all hid episodes, i just wonder, it could be possiblle this guy gains power from the people that belive in him.

as funny as it may sound like to others, i am actually starting to think that angel does in fact have some sort of supernatural power...

i started to ponder this idea when i noticed angel always breathes heavily before and after levitating...

maybe, before the stunt, angel gathers up "energy" or something, and after the stunt he becomes tired

yupp, it sounds crazy

Originally posted by promytheus
Would you all think that criss angel if in any way this is possible, that he derives all his supernatural power from his viewers, he is always saying believe at the end of all hid episodes, i just wonder, it could be possiblle this guy gains power from the people that belive in him.

as funny as it may sound like to others, i am actually starting to think that angel does in fact have some sort of supernatural power...

i started to ponder this idea when i noticed angel always breathes heavily before and after levitating...

maybe, before the stunt, angel gathers up "energy" or something, and after the stunt he becomes tired

yupp, it sounds crazy

EDIT:

i like your idea promytheus




[edit on 12-6-2006 by they see ALL]

Well your brain is less active with less oxygen. Oxygen is the brain's fuel, the more of it I believe, the more whole you become and active. You can have a 5 day stunt on the couch just watching TV all day and eating a bunch of nachos, but if began to take about 5 minutes, breathe in and out in repetition, but not hyperventilating, you will ultimately feel a rush of energy and motivation to want to get up and do something (besides get more nachos! :lol.

This is why I believe meditation helps make a person become more productive. Taking the time out of the day, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, even longer helps you become more whole and activates areas in your brain that can stimulate you to be more productive and think more clearer.

It supports my hypothesis on how lazy people are lazy because they don't get as much oxygen to their brain, thus activeness/energy fails them.

Try it sometime..

Maybe Criss Angel can activate some area of his brain. Or maybe it's just a stunt.

[edit on 12-6-2006 by promytheus]

This is a great video and I do not doubt that this is how criss angel does his levitating tricks, but all in all he has done some things that alot of us have seen that are completly out of our minds and different, ie-walking through glass, vanishing him or a spectator in a crowd, or even recently floating from one building to another. In reality with money yea this might be possible ( video effects and so on )

I never understood why all these tricks are done in las vegas though, i always see tv magincians there preforming the streets, just still the thought lingers that this man has a power, that is either powered by his mnd or something or an object, for now all we can do is wait and be entertained.... I still question it though, its a bargain to put something fake on television, does anyone ever wonder why this is on AE and not SciFi or some large network as ABC or TBs and so on....

[edit on 12-6-2006 by promytheus]

I recently read how his walking through glass illusion is done, and thought I would share.

You have a plate glass window. There is an "Open" sign hanging in the window, but it is actually fixed to the window frame, not the glass. He gets two people to hold a piece of paper over the window. Both these people are in on the trick. He then goes inside the shop, along with another person. This person is also in on the trick. When he's in there, this person activates some mechanism that moves the glass window. It slides up, into the wall above the window. The glass at the bottom actually forms an inverted U shape, so while you can still see the edges of the glass outside the paper, there is a hole that is formed at the bottom of the window. The glass is spotless, so, with the glare coming off of it, and the stationary "Open" sign, it appears to the outside viewers that it never moved. Criss then has someone place their hand on the paper. Criss pokes his finger through the paper and then pushes his whole body through. As he moves through, the assistant in the room lowers the window mechanism, so when the people pull the paper away, it appears the window is solid again. Pretty ingenious, really.

Originally posted by Dallas

Again thanks for that. I need more but not because I'm a skeptic..I just can't believe it.

I seen the Zulu tribe magic man in the jungle do it (appx 10 feet), along side a hanging from no-where rope. And was shocked at that.

LoL! Sorry for digging up the past here (I had to read the whole thread to participate), but this is hilarious. A Zulu tribe in the Jungle? Bahahaha!

Zulu's are native to South Africa. KwaZulu-Natal (Spot the Zulu...) to be precise. Zulu's don't perform magic tricks in the Jungle for American tourists. Ever. It's ridiculous. They do have a magic called "Muti". It's similar to Voodoo and are strictly for medicinal purposes. Not to entertain our American guests. I'm sorry Dallas. That post was just preposterous.

Back to topic... I think those that believe that these tricks played by people like David Blaine and Chris Angel should go do a magic store (i.e. store for magicians) and get a good thick book on Illusions. It will be a huge disappointment, but at least they won't have to believe that Chris Angel has supernatural powers anymore. There's an Ebook that reveals David Blaine's magic, travelling the Internet. That's a good place to start.

Chris Angel is a complete Hack, nothing he ever did was original and some of the things he did clearly showed how it was done.

Other then that, hes also a lyer.

In his "Float from 1 building to the other" video, he said "I refuse to do anything if it isn't for live television".

Yet, he apeared on shows like Las Vegas, CSI and many talk shows that apear to be live but aren't (most "live" talk shows are recorded at least half an hour in advance)

In 2 of his video's, you can clearly see how he does the trick.

First, the one where he walks up a wall with an umbrela in his hand. When you look at his descent, you can clearly see his climbing harnas and a cable attached to his back.

Second, the above mentioned video with him floating from one building to the other, during liftoff, you can clearly see a mechanical woble when he takes of, typical for mechanical lifting gear.

Then, his actual "live" street levitations are usualy just about 10cm high and use nothing but camera tricks to give the illusion of levitation, if you'd look at him from the front or other side, you would see hes standing on his toes on one side while keeping his other foot level. Consealing this by using camera angles and shadow to give the illusion of levitation.

Another thing you can notice about him, during his supposed "live" events, hes always in a corner, small alley or some other isolated place with picture perfect people going all whow and whooo.

America and Europe are full of ugly fat people, how come that in his video's there are always hot chicks and sporty guys doing all the awws and whows?