Tag: David Blaine

Magic on TV

David Blaine Returns to TV for Sweeps Magic

Inside Magic Image of David BlaineABC Television is putting their sweeps hope on magician David Blaine this fall.  Mr.  Blaine’s special “David Blaine: Real or Magic,” is slated for Tuesday, November 19 at 9:30 p.m., Eastern.

As we have come to expect, he will have several A-List celebrities on-hand to be amazed and serve as a defacto committee for viewers at home.

Among the stars will be Jamie Foxx, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Ricky Gervais, Katy Perry, Woody Allen, Robert DeNiro, Kanye West, Harrison Ford, Will Smith and Olivia Wilde.

He will even check in with Stephen Hawking whilst in the UK.

It seems fitting to review some of the stunts from past episodes:

1.   He’s been buried alive in New York City for a week

2.  Encased inside a six-ton block of ice for three days and nights,

3.  Perched atop a 100-foot-tall pillar in Bryant Park for 36 hours without a safety net

4.  Ate nothing but nothing and drank only water whilst inside a transparent box in London for 44 days,

5.  Spent one week in a sphere-shaped pool at Lincoln Center and almost broke the world record for holding his breath.  He ultimately broke the record on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” by not breathing for 17 minutes and 4 seconds.

6.  Hung upside down for five days in New York’s Central Park.

7.   Stood in the middle of a million volts of electricity for 73 consecutive hours.

We cannot wait to see what he has planned next — especially if it is magic-related.

Latest Magic News, Magic in the Movies

Jim Carrey “Criss Angel and David Blaine’s Offspring”

Jim-Carrey-as-Magician-Steve Gray from New Film The Incredible Burt WonderstoneIt is a magic story as old as time.  Superstar magicians dominate all other acts in the mythical village of “Las Vegas” and become complacent from their success and guaranteed box office draw.

Young up-and-comer magician (Jim Carrey) looks to challenge the flashy duo, causing a crisis of confidence.  The magic partnership breaks up bringing economic devastation to both magicians.

Fortunately, an attractive and loyal assistant (Olivia Wilde) encourages the senior magician to return to basics; to find the love he once held deep in his show-biz heart for magic and for his partnership.

The Hollywood production people sent us a blurb (remember the old days when it was illegal to send blurbs using the U.S. Postal System?) describing the plot line in two  pithy paragraphs thusly:

Superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) have ruled the Las Vegas strip for years, raking in millions with illusions as big as Burt’s growing ego. But lately the duo’s greatest deception is their public friendship, while secretly they’ve grown to loathe each other.

Facing cutthroat competition from guerilla street magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), whose cult following surges with each outrageous stunt, even their show looks stale. But there’s still a chance Burt and Anton can save the act—both onstage and off—if Burt can get back in touch with what made him love magic in the first place.

We look forward to seeing Jim Carrey as the young buck, Steve Gray.  He performs magic from a new paradigm like cutting off his face or not using the bathroom for almost a week.  According to one critic, his character is a melange of David Blaine and Criss Angel.

We also understand that David Copperfield appears in the film as himself and has contributed a new illusion to the story.

Continue reading “Jim Carrey “Criss Angel and David Blaine’s Offspring”” →

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David Blaine Signs on with the Beeb

Inside Magic Image of Fed Chairman Ben BernankeEveryone loves Justin Bieber.  We weren't sure until we read the USA Today and saw their very helpful graphic showing that everyone love everything about Justin Bieber always.

We think that was the proper interpretation of the graphic.  It wasn't our copy of the USA Today.  It was half-way tucked under the door of our neighbor here at the Marriott by the airport.  Ours was locked in our spacious executive suite along with our luggage and the two keys made specially for us by Trina last night. 

The graphic showed some kind of pie chart with an outline of the globe and pictures of either Justin Bieber or a child actor with a really bad haircut surrounded by hearts flooding towards his floating head from locations around the world. 

It may have been a graphic about the Federal Reserve Board's decision to undertake a third round of Quantitate Easing but the picture didn't look like Princeton University Professor and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke per se.  

Anyway, our point was that Justin Bieber is one popular singer and he wants to add some specialness  to his upcoming tour.  Logically, he has hired David Blaine to mix magic, mirth and music to give the audience something about which they will no doubt tweet and blog.   

Mr. Bieber's first show will be on September 29, 2012 in Glendale, Arizona. 

He said he is rehearsing "like crazy" and is "really excited" about having David Blaine consulting. 

Ironically, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has also signed on David Blaine to assist in the creation of a pamphlet teaching readers how to go without food for up to 40 days in the event the latest monetary move doesn't do the trick.

(See what we did there? "doesn't do the trick"? Blaine's a magician and . . . )

Magic News

Blaine Does Trademark Card Tricks

Inside Magic Image of Johnson Smith Ad for Magic SetDavid Blaine played to a nearly empty theatre in Holland recently.

The dearth of audience members was intentional, however.

DNA India reports his sponsor, Madonna, rented out the entire movie theater “so that she could enjoy a night out at the movies with her boyfriend Brahim Zaibat.”

Described as Madonna’s “Toyboy” by the media source, Mr. Zaibat is a 24-year-old dancer on tour with the iconic performer.

Mr. Blaine was brought in to entertain the small party of Madonna, her companion, daughter and manager at The Tuschinski cinema in Amsterdam.

DNA India says Mr. Blaine performed his “trademark card tricks.”

We are told that Madonna was wearing “a cardigan, knee length skirt and glasses” and her ensemble could be considered “demure.”

We have attempted to learn more about Mr. Blaine’s “trademark card tricks” but to no avail. Initially, we assumed this was some new effect in which trademarks of various companies or services vanished or transformed visibly whilst in the able control of the magician. This left us without the satisfaction we crave when we encounter something new.

We immediately tore through our books and periodicals collected in the anteroom to the great Hardy Estate’s Southern Annex. We found nothing about “trademark card tricks” in the more recent journals and books.

Knowing Mr. Blaine’s penchant for reviving the classics of the great masters – such as Buried Alive in the spirit of Harry Houdini – we thought “trademark card tricks” maybe a knowing wink to the performance of his predecessors.

Interestingly, it is widely accepted that one of the very first trademark was created by and for the Dutch East Indies Company in Amsterdam around 1601. Perhaps that was why Mr. Blaine performed the “trademark card tricks” whilst in the city.

We were able to find one reference to a trick that sounds similar to the “trademark card trick” in an old Popular Science magazine advertisement from Johnson Smith & Co. The writing is difficult to make out and we have tried to highlight the portion that seems relevant. Our reading of the original (sorry for the poor quality scan) is:

“but none MORE entertaining then (sic) TRADEMARK Cards trick . . . VANISH and REAPPEAR with EASE . . . friends and even GIRLS!”

We will continue looking for additional references and supplement this article as we find them.

But for now, as the Sherlock Holmes commented to Dr. Watson upon learning his toilet seat was stolen – no doubt by Professor Moriarity – “I’m afraid there’s not much to go on.”

 

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Blaine, Murder, Magic & Art

Inside Magic Image of Performance Artist Marina Abramovic Performing Rhythm, 0 (Circa 1974)There is a fine line between art and premeditated murder.

Magician and endurance stunt endurer David Blaine knows the location of that fine line. He will come close to it but not cross. That’s why he continues to command huge fees and great ratings for his appearances.

Marina Abramovic?, artist and author of Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, has made a reputation in the often confusing but almost always entertaining world of Performance Art. New York Magazine’s Vulture blog notes the documentary about her 730 hour-long staring contest at the New York Museum of Modern Art won the Audience Prize for a feature film at a festival in Paris honoring US indie films.

The film is now showing in New York and stirring some controversy. New York Magazine’s Vulture blog writer Andre Tartar wondered “just how much lustier the reception [for the film] might’ve been if Abramovic? really had let magician David Blaine disembowel her with a fire axe.”

Mr. Blaine chews on a glass whilst discussing a performance piece with the artist. We assume he was just “spit-ballin'” some ideas with his creative equal. He proposed taking a hatchet to Ms. Abramovic? and leaving her in pieces-n-parts all over the exhibit space. “You know there are always those axes in the glass in case of emergency,” Blaine says on the video. “…She’s laying there, and the whole exhibition is over.

We are not sure why Mr. Blaine and Ms. Abramovic? abandoned this sensational plan. Then again, we are not sure why Mr. Blaine goes through with many of his other stunts. There is a shrewd calculus in the mystifier’s mind. That’s what makes him special.

As for Ms. Abramovic?, however, she is clearly not adverse to taking her pursuit of art to places rarely considered in suburban wine-and-cheese galleries.

In the early 1970’s, Ms. Abramovic? performed Rhythm, 0. She became completely submissive to her audience and allowed them to use one of 72 different items to interact with her. The items were a mixture of harmful, pleasurable and benign. She had a gun held to her head, she was pierced by rose thorns, and suffered other indignities. The lesson, “if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.”

Excellent point and, in our humble opinion, an amazing work of art.

Check out the incredible MOMA page documenting The Artist is Present exhibition here.

The documentary will appear exclusively on HBO on July 2nd.

Magic News

Magic and Anesthesiology in the News

So we were perusing Anesthesiology: The Journal of the American Association of Anesthesiologists whilst waiting for our HOT POCKETS® brand Breakfast – Ham, Egg & Cheese sandwich to cook and came across two articles with magical applications.

The first is by Dr. Amr Abouleish titled “Try and hold your breath while reading this!”

The second is “A Mixed (Long- and Medium-chain) Triglyceride Lipid Emulsion Extracts Local Anesthetic from Human Serum In Vitro More Effectively than a Long-chain Emulsion,” by Weiming Ruan and Deborah French.

The first piece gives an anesthesiologist’s take on magician David Blaine’s world record setting attempts at holding his breath (as opposed to holding someone elses?) for more than 17 minutes. You can watch the TED Talk in which Mr. Blaine instructs audience members in the special preparation needed to hold their breath for more than three minutes after breathing “normal” or upwards of 17 minutes after huffing pure oxygen.

Dr. Abouleish poses the following question to his new anesthesiologist residents when discussing the relationship of end-tidal CO2 and respiration. “If your oxygen saturation is 100% and you hold your breath, what would your oxygen saturation be when you have to breathe?”

Of course all magicians know the answer to this but non-magic oriented medical residents need to be reminded of the relatively slow decline in oxygen saturation experienced by pre-oxygenated patients under general anesthesia.

We agree with Dr. Abouleish’s praise of Blaine’s talk. Those in the audience were able to hold their breath for as long as three minutes or more. Check it out for yourself and abide the constant warnings that this is not a skill easily acquired and one should never try this under water. The chance of passing out is high and because the risk of drowning whilst underwater is directly proportional to being conscious, you could, in the medical parlance, “konk out and die.”

The comments to Dr. Abouleish’s article are also instructive. There is general agreement that Mr. Blaine should have sought advice from an anesthesiologist rather than neurologists.

Instructive is a comment from Dr. Gerald Zeitlin. His capitalization and grammar is taken verbatim from his post:

As you all know Dr. Abouleish is discussing apneic oxygenation.

Watching David Blaine do his 17 minutes was fantastic – but what an incredibly wasted opportunity for science.

As we all know, HE SHOULD HAVE CONSULTED AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST!

Neurosurgeons “Don’t know nuffin’ ” about respiratory physiology. Why did Blaine not have an arterial line for his record attempt – then we’d have known what his arterial pCO2 was after 17 minutes.

Of course we all know that, at rest, during apnea the pCO2 rises between 3 and 5 mm. Hg per minute.

I failed math in Kindergarten but I think 17 times, let’s say 4 mm. Hg = 68. So, approximately he was at 108 mm.Hg pCO2.

As WE (anesthesiologists) know that level has mild to moderate anesthetic properties. I bet if you Emailed Dr. Eger he would know what the MAC of CO2 is.

We would love to meet Dr. Zeitlin. He is our kind of guy.

The second article of magic merit in the February 2012 edition of Anesthesiology, attempts to the answer the age old question, which extracts local anesthesia better, a “mixed” triglyceride lipid emulsion or a long-chain version?

Houdini’s correspondence with Kellar on this issue springs to mind.

Continue reading “Magic and Anesthesiology in the News” →

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Houdini Returns: Medium Connects with Great Magician

Inside Magic Image of Headline

We read with great interest an article on the incredibly reliable Weekly World News web site, "Houdini Speaks from Beyond the Grave." The article is probably not totally true but says Houdini has made contact through professional medium John Edward. Houdini provides several predictions to prove his authenticity. Like we said, it is probably not true but still interesting.

We live by few rules as magician / magic writer persons. First, "if it bleeds, it leads." The shocking and graphic stories go to the front of the line. In this way, we are very much like Disney World. The more grotesque or disgusting a person is (either in mannerisms or odor) the more likely he or she will be permitted to cut ahead of others standing in the Florida Sun.

Our second rule gets us in trouble, sometimes. "When in doubt, don't leave it out." Some news sources will pass on stories that have only a single source, seem self-serving or seem highly unlikely.

If it wasn't for Inside Magic, you would never know what got passed over. We publish the stuff others won't because they have "standards" or insist on "some basis in reality." Not this major magic periodical. If it wasn't for this policy, none of the following would have found a voice on the endless maze of copper tubing we call the internets.

1. President Magic Will Be Criminalized

This seemed within the realm of possible when we printed it several years ago. Our source assured us that the hobby and profession enjoyed by millions was about to be made illegal and practitioners would face jail time. Imagine how embarrassed we were to learn that the headline was technically true but just barely. It was the president of a local fraternal lodge that made the statement. And that he actually said, "Magic should be taught to criminals as a practical skill to boost self-esteem and confidence." Whether he intended jail birds to learn escape techniques is still the subject of litigation and debate within the lodge.

2. Ching Ling Foo Not Who He Seemed

For pure volume, this article should rank high on our Google search results. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Ching Ling Foo was actually a magician from China and not really Billy Robinson, former assistant to Kellar and Thurston. Mr. Robinson used the derivative name Chung Ling Soo to hide his Anglo identity and perform until he was killed performing the Bullet Catching Trick &ndash not the Cups and Balls as we also erroneously reported. We agree now that it did not make sense that a person could be killed when his or her Cups and Balls routine went "Horribly Wrong" and that we should not have guessed at what happened.

 

3. David Blaine's Box Falls Kills Paul McCartney and Others

We had to go with it. Yes, we could have immediately verified the story by looking at the live web cam showing every second of the 44 days of boredom induced and experienced by the American magician's endurance test. But we were writing from our phone while waiting in line at the 7-11 convenience store. We note that several of the letters in Mr. Blaine's name alone take forever to type out on a cellphone key pad. We were lucky to get the story out at all.

Continue reading “Houdini Returns: Medium Connects with Great Magician” →

Latest Magic News

With Whom Would You Dine: Condi, Blaine, Dr. Weill or Glenn Beck?

Inside Magic Image of Condi Rice David Blaine will be in Naples on March 1, 2012 as part of town’s speaker series held at the beautiful and, by definition, ritzy Ritz-Carlton.

His talk is scheduled to follow the February 1st talk to be given by Dr. Andrew Weill.  Dr. Weill is known to those who would know of such people as “a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit.”

This puts David Blaine in rare company.  The series kicks off with Glenn Beck on January 7, 2012.  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the final speaker on March 20.

Without regard to politics, it does make for an interesting cast, n’est-ce pas?

Interested in checking out the series?  You’ll need $700.00 for a ticket.  That gets you in to all four talks.  Hungry and lonely?  Well, for a mere $1,500, you can get a ducat to the dinner series, which includes a private cocktail reception, dinner and 45 minute question and answer session with the speakers.  Wanting a little more, how should we phrase it, intimacy with Glenn, Doc, David and Condi?  You can become a Town Hall Benefactor.  Upon receipt of your cash or check for $5,250.00, you will receive “exclusive access for two with priority seating, a private cocktail reception, dinner and 45-minute question and answer period, plus entry to special events and an invitation to dine with one guest speaker.”

Who would you choose for your one-on-one din-din?
Continue reading “With Whom Would You Dine: Condi, Blaine, Dr. Weill or Glenn Beck?” →

Magic News

David Blaine Promises “All Magic” in Next Special

It has been four years in the making but Magician David Blaine promises his next “big event” will be well worth the wait.

News outlets are all abuzz this morning with variations on David Blaine’s announcement last Friday.  Why the delay?  We’re not sure but it  may have to do with the outlet chosen to deliver the news.

David Blaine shared his plans with fans on TinyChat.com during an on-line session.  What is TinyChat.com? From their website:

Tinychat provides dead simple, free to use, video chat rooms that just work! Enjoy chatting with your friends or making new ones, just create a chat room or join one.

It is easy to use and free.  It is not easy to search, however.  It took us a while to locate the David Blaine chat session.  His page is located at tinychat.com/DAVIDBLAINE.  We should have tried that combination of words and backslashes as we tried to guess the url.

Magicians have criticized David Blaine for his “magic-less magic shows” in the past. He told TinyChat viewers the May 2012 event (or events?)  will feature magic tricks rather than endurance stunts. “This is as good as it gets… All magic, nothing else,” he said.  “It’s better than anything that’s ever been done, by me at least… It’s the most original concept I’ve ever come up with. It’s taken me four years to sort out.”

Depending on the news source, the effect will either be seen live on ABC in the United States; or from video tape on NBC television.  It sounds like there are a few details to clarify yet.
Continue reading “David Blaine Promises “All Magic” in Next Special” →

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David Blaine May Have Been Ribald at Some Point in Time

Image of David Blaine on Inside MagicWizbang Pop! reports this morning on a timeless story.

By timeless, we do not mean it will stand the test of time.

We mean, there is no date given for the unattributed claims about David Blaine and his romantic relationships with “many women.”

Do not get us wrong.  We like scandal and titillating innuendo as much as the next high-quality daily magic news source.  But there has to be steak to go with that sizzle.  We want fries with that shake.  We would at least like to know the adventure in love and its manifestations happened in this century.

Writes Wizbang Pop!, “The two had a kinky and wild sex life according to Blaine.”

There is a description of a favorite method of expressing one’s fondness allegedly preferred by Fiona Apple.  We do not know Ms. Apple and so do not feel comfortable exposing the method d’ amour David Blaine was said to have practiced.

Unless we know the person intimately — say a family member or work colleague — we refuse to contribute to the stream of gossip and sensationalism.  Now, if the story involved one of the Hardy clan, we would tell what we knew, what we thought we knew, what we wished we knew, and show pictures (even photoshopped versions for clarity) and streaming video featuring puppets and gaudy soundtrack.

That’s just the way we are.

If you must, you can read the details here:

Kinks Of The Stars: David Blaine & Fiona Apple’s Wild Relationship | Wizbang Pop!.