The trick Blaine did I can't figure out...

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 8:47am

OK, I know he was being blasted yesterday, but I watched the special anyway. The hanging upside down thing was lame and the end of it was impossible to see on TV so didn't have the effect it should have (would have been better if he'd told the cameramen what he was doing so they could actually shoot it).

Anyway, many of the tricks he does on the street can be explained with trick decks or simple sleight of hand. However, he did one trick I can't figure out for the life of me. I watched this three times and am no closer to figuring it out: He showed a deck of cards to a volunteer and then handed her the deck. He told her to think of any card she wanted and then say what card she was thinking of. At this point he was leaning against a railing a good three or four feet from the deck of cards. He told her to put the deck on the table and cut the cards in half, then square the deck. There was a little bit of funny business with the cards looking like they were sliding around (which is when I figure he did the trick). He then told her to flick the deck so a set of cards turned over - and the top card was the card she named. Now, even if he manipulated the cards with a wire or something - how the HELL did he manage to get THAT card out of the deck???

Then again, maybe it wasn't a trick -- maybe it was an ILLUSION.

[Weez]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 8:53am

What card was it? People are fairly predictable when told they can choose any card at all from a deck to think about; women will often go for Hearts, men will often go for Spades, and 7 is a VERY popular number (but women often choose Queens and men often choose Kings as well). If it was something like the six of Clubs (which is similar to the card I personally would choose if the victim of this trick, because I want to avoid choosing what is expected of me!), then it's pretty damn impressive. But if not, then it's just the old chestnut of the magician manipulating his victim.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 8:59am

I watched the whole special and went to bed remarkably upset at the cop-out of an ending.

Looked like he had hanged himself once you finally saw the rope holding him as he jumped. That woulda been something!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 9:04am

Blaine's most astonishing trick/illusion/stunt has been his career. A man of average conjuring talent and no discernible personality has gotten numerous television specials.

He's the George W. Bush of magicians.

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 9:07am

When the first person did it, it was the 2 of hearts. They showed the END of the trick again with Orlando Bloom doing it, and I THINK it was the 6 of diamonds. Honestly, even if he DID force them to choose a certain card (which I have no idea how he did it), when he didn't touch the deck at all I can't figure out how he made sure that card was on top!

Just to be clear, most of the other tricks if you watch carefully enough you can see when he exchanges one card for another, one coin for another, or know it's some kind of trick deck. This one just completely baffled me.

And Yankeefan - the end was a COMPLETE cop-out of an ending. If he wanted to make it look like he disappeared into the night afterwards, the announcer and camera man should have been let in on it that that was happening - it was VERY poorly done.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 9:19am

He just said on Regis that his planned ending was changed because of the delay from Bush's speech. He was originally planning to ride off on a ton of balloons.

::shrugs shoulders::

[jasonf]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 9:21am

Congrats Roscoe - I figured that comment was coming sooner or later.

And balloons? Caused by the delay? Please - how could the delay possibly have affected that? If anything it should have given them more time.

[yodamarie78]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 12:38pm

A man of average conjuring talent and no discernible personality has gotten numerous television specials.

I'm no fan of David Blaine, but he is a fantastic magician.

[Jon]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 5:08pm

To me, he always looks and sounds stoned.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 9/25/08 at 5:48pm

I prefer the fake David Blaine sketches that ThoseLittleRabbits post online. Now THAT David Blaine definitely has a personality... a vindictive psychopath, but still a personality.