David Blaine Drowned Alive???

Since I was asked about my opinion regarding the New York Underwater Bubble Guy, AKA David Blaine, I thought I'd go ahead and make a general post about him.

Personally, I have never liked him. My reasons are fairly straight forward.

When he first appeared on the air waves a few years ago, he was performing his "Street Magic." David is pretty much responsible for the current wave of popularity in this particular field of magic, and while I can't fault him for that, I do have a problem with the impression it has created.

In the same moment as creating the popular movement of "Street Magic" David also convinced a huge segment of America's youth that it would be cool to be a "Street Magician." The only problem is that for the most part they all STINK AT IT! More then any other popularity boom in the magic world that I have had the opportunity to witness, "Street Magic" has led to a higher percentage of "bad magic" then any other type.

Like most magicians, David spent the entire hour doing various small effects while hyping the one "grand illusion" that would be presented at the end of the show. He would levitate himself in the street.

Now, for what it's worth, I know the levitation that he used. I know how to perform it, though I haven't practiced it in the least. And I know that you can get a couple of inches off the ground when you do it. But more about that later.

So, the rest of the TV special David is doing a selection of card tricks, one coin trick and one 'body' trick (a kind of controtion). The entire time his presentation almost always involves him walking up to someone, looking down at his shoes and mumbling something that sounds a bit like "heyyawannaseeeatrick."

Poor presentation, poor presence and nothing at all to make me want to like him.

Now before I start sounding like a bag of sour grapes, let me just say that David's *technical* skills are really impressive. Some of those card manipulations he does are certainly beyond me. He is an extremely good technician. It's his persona that I have problems with.

Then it was time for the grand illusion. He is going to levitate himself on the street in front of people. And he does it! Except that what we all saw on TV and what they saw live WERE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! That's right, David used a camera trick. The people who were there live saw David come off the ground a couple of inches. On TV we saw him come off the ground by 12 to 18 inches.

Since then every special David has done has followed the same basic format of about four tricks repeated over and over again for different street audiences spliced together with hype for whatever "grand illusion" he is currently doing.

Except that after the levitation he hasn't done another "grand illusion." Instead he has done various kinds of "endurance stunts." So far he is been put into a block of ice for how ever many hours it was (which was done by James Randi years ago when he was still performing regularly by the way), he has been suspended in a box over a river for several days, he has stood on top of a pole for several days and then jumped off into a pile of cardboard boxes and now it's spending time in a bubble of water. YAWN.

Did you know that when he was hanging from the bridge in a box he actually had an active internet connection? There was a big deal about it because a bunch of people kept sending him email telling him how lame the stunt was.

He also had a show in Vegas. A show that opened and closed in less then a week. Why? The audiences were bored. He simply couldn't sustain their interest.

But there is some sense of justice. The "kids" who all want to be "Street Magicians" are getting bored with him as well. At least as far as I can see in the various forums I watch. They are complaining that the stunts are stupid and boring and they want to see magic instead. Not only that, they are starting to realize that David isn't that interesting a person either.

So I have some hope. A tiny flicker of hope anyway. And maybe, just maybe, even David Blaine will start to realize that stunts are not magic and there are better things for him to be doing.