What's the deal with David Blaine?

Back in England I was in a movie theatre and they were showing some ad's, I think it was a nissan. That was the first time I saw david blaine, and he did a trick 'pick a card' and flashed the deck of cards in front of you. The one you pick is the ace of spades or something, because that's the only one you really get a clear picture of. I thought it was great and couldn't figure it out til I saw the ad again. ho hum. He's just a trickster like all magicians are.

I like Penn and Teller a lot better.

This topic is interesting- and have you ever heard of the Wizard? This one is good and easily done.

You are at a party and you pull a deck of cards out of your pocket. You then tell the story of the wizard- who is this grumpy old cuss that you call on the telephone and by staring at the card the Wizard tells you what card you have. The wizard lives in the mountains, and while you let your friends may talk to him you cannot release his phone # , as you paid 500$ for it- and only you can make the initial call.
So you told the story- and asked a dummy to choose a card, and show it to everyone in the room-and have everyone concentrate on that card. Then you dial a #, that is long distance, to reach the wizard, who answers the phone and then you place the dummy on the line with the wizard, who ,speaking in a mysterious voice- tells the dummy to look hard at the card-and then tells him what card he has.
Warning- this trick has severe effects- especially if you gamble on it- people get mad.
Solution- You have a cohort- who is the "wizard" and when you call your cohort he knows who you are- and the sequense of events is as follows, from the beginning of the call.
1. You call the Wizard, at his long dist. # for effect
2. Your cohort answers with "Hello"
3. You ask- "Is the wizard at home" this is a cue
4. Your cohort then begins by saying all 4 suites with a slight pause between each one said, and you simply stop him with covversation when he comes to the correct suite-
example. 1.You call.
2.cohort answers hello
3. You ask "Is the wizard at home"
you then hear this spoke from cohort- "Hearts.......Clubs......Diamond.......Spades..........."

say the card, that everyone saw in the room, including you( the catch) was an 8 of Diamonds-

When i heard my cohort say "diamonds" I stopped him with this "Good evening Mr. Wizard"

Then, my cohort simply does the same thing with face of cards-
2...3....4....5.....6....7......8.....and here I stop him with some thing to this effect" Yes, Mr. Wizard, I know you do not like me calling you all the time- here, I have a young man here that would like to speak with you- and then I hand the phone to the dummy...who is astouned when the Wizard tells him to hold the card to his forehead- concentrate on it- sit on it- whatever-he is astounded when it is revealed by the wizard that he is holding an 8 of diamonds-

LMAO as I remember- I was once the dummy- and it took me 6 yrs or so to figure it out- but i did in Scarne Book of Cardtricks-

This trick is very effective and uses reality as illusion, and is a hit, if you have a fast thinking cohort he or she can really add to the illusion with voices and commands, etc.- it is surprising what you make people do over the phone, as they are holding the card.

Originally posted by Zodiac
Ah, yeah, the Raven... I knew it was some R word. I knew a magnet had to be involved.

Do you know, what about the one where he throws all of the cards at the restaurant window, and the card they picked turns out to be on the inside, facing out? Is that just another person involved?

Yeah, another person is involved. The card is already stuck to the otherside of the window, then he uses a technique called a force to make the person pick exactly that card, while giving the illusion of free choice. Simple, but its quite a good effect

He's one damn good illusionist though!

This is a man with a goal in life. Becoming the Hoodini of his era is a goal worth pursueing and anyone who has followed his last stunt, has to agree with me he's not a fraud. His 44 days in a glass box above the River Tames without food sure as hell didn't look like illusion to me. To me it was the stunt of the year and I'm waiting anxiously for his next stunt.

[Edited on 25-12-2003 by Olafski]

read this if you want to know how he does some of his tricks.
www.yougottareadthis.com...

I don't believe that what he does is magic... but I still bought his DVD and I still watch it. He's an entertainer and he does a great job.

I downloaded an e-book not so long back which explained all his tricks/illusions. The majority seem so simple. I liked the one with the dead fly that he picks up and brings back to life. Basically before hand he freezes it slightly and then when he picks it up and cups his hands around it, it revives it again and off it flys.. nearly all of is others are explained too.