Do You Believe In Magic

[Steve williams]

Now that I've got your attention, no I'm not talking about the song by The Lovin' Spoonful but rather the art of magic. I must admit that as a young kid growing up I was always reading books about magic tricks and loved to wow my folks and friends. Over the years I have seen countless magic acts by some of the greatest but for me going back some 40 years only a handful of truly great magicians really did it for me

1. Who can forget the great Canadian magician Doug Henning who IMO was the best in the 70's and 80's and appeared on TV , in Las Vegas and never ceased to amaze. Too bad he died at a very early age from liver cancer

2. David Copperfield who mesmerized everyone with his act in the 80's and 90's. I have sen his show many times and am always entertained

3. David Blaine who IMO is probably the best in the business for card tricks as well as those stunts that he does hanging upside down in NYC or in a huge bed of ice for several days

4. Criss Angel who is a steady performer now at the Luxor in Las Vegas and has his own TV show on A&E network called Mind Freak which IMO often leaves me scratching my head.

I bring the topic up up only because I leave tomorrow for 4 days in Las Vegas and am tempted to see Criss Angel's show called "Believe" however a recent conversation a few days ago with JackD201 here suggested that his Las Vegas show was dull and boring and he could hardly stay awake.

So what sayest everyone when it comes to the art of illusion, card tricks and what we call " magic"?

For me it is all about entertainment and being up close and still come away scratching my head. No doubt it all comes down to their presentation and how polished their act is.

Am I the only kid at heart or are there others of you here that like to be entertained by performers such as these?

 

[Steve williams]

Here is one by Doug Henning

 

[Steve williams]

Here is another

 

[Steve williams]

David Copperfield

 

[Steve williams]

Here is another

 

[Steve williams]

David Blaine

 

[Steve williams]

From Criss Angel

 

[Steve williams]

And another

 

[Steve williams]

For me it is all about the performance knowing full well that the explanation is always quite simple

 

[flez007]

Magic is for all ages!, just saw last week with my kids a film with Christian Bail the other night that touched this theme tangently and liked it a lot.

 

[Steve williams]

David and Ellen Degeneres

 

[JackD201]

Hi Steve,

I love magic shows! Come to think of it I can't think of anyone that doesn't

Angel's illusions were even more mind boggling live. The problem was that the interludes between them were very long. In between we got three Cirque clowns doing irritating sketches. Chris Angel actually took a stab at Cirque du Soleil during one of his impromptu spiels bemoaning their lack of support for the show. It was truly a pity. I follow Mind Freak and the show benefits from nice and tight editing. Alas, live it really takes time to set up between major set pieces. I can only imagine how great the show could have been if the interludes were acrobatic rather than bad comedy

 

[audioguy]

10 Illusions In 5 Minutes

You like illusions? Check this out--

[video]http://biggeekdad.com/2011/12/10-illusions-in-5-minutes/[/video]

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Pretty cool! Thanks for that!

 

[carolkoh]

I had a math tutor who was a retired teacher and a former president of the Magician's association in Singapore. He must have been close to 80 when I was a kid. He had shaky hands that made his writing wobbly and do card tricks for us kids in short sleeved shirts. You know, the usual, you shuffle, you cut, you pick a card, you put it back in the deck and shuffle it again, he shuffles, lays four cards down and turns up the right one. And if that wasn't it, maybe one of these other cards (the other suites) is.

 

[Orb]

I appreciate what these people manage to do, sometimes you can sort of guess how it is done but other times it is about mind over body type focus.

Any of you watched Dynamo?
He recently had 4 episodes here in UK on Watch, and I must say he sets the standard for modern magicians.
He has a modern take on the walking on water - did this on the Thames and a couple of canoeists paddled up behind him.
More funny is when he manages to put a person's mobile into a glass bottle (had beer which he emptied ) and leaves it in there while he gets one of their friends to dial it, or when he moves a tan line on a person's body and did not put it back
That last one is interesting, as he also does a similar trick with modifying someone's tattoo just by wiping his hand over it.
These could be easily explained with some techniques, but this is more complex IMO as these involve certain real world objects that were being used (such as the bottles for putting the iphone into, or a ring around stem of wine glass in the bar,etc)

Best trick I feel though was when he put his hand through a jeweller's case window and took out a bracelet chosen by Kimberly Wyatt, or walked through a shop's window to get outside (party for a shop opening belonging to a premier footballer).

Here is the shop one, does a few tricks 1st so it is the last minute for the main trick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FuA4b0IA9k
At 1st I always thought he crawled to the door but if watch a bit earlier you can see the side closest to him is closed (in fact both swing doors were closed but someone may had come in the furthest side).
Even with that said there is a gap between the doorman and the further side of door and you can see clearly no-one crawled by that.

Here is the Kimberly Wyatt jewellery one:
http://www.frostoflondon.co.uk/youtube2.htm?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=370&width=560

More like the traditional mind over body disciplines, bench pressing 155kg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2jRuq3-cRM

Worth doing a search on, beware some alternative youtube examples trying to show how he did these tricks but they are not quite the same (such as the plastic bottle with iphone that is not seen by others).
Of course one can decide that all the crowds/people and places are a setup using fake actors and props, but this is taking an easy way in trying to explain what seem to me are more complex trick-illusions than just that.

Enjoy, I did
Orb

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Here and I thought this was just going to be another high-end audio thread.

Tim

 

[NorthStar]

Are those tricks or are these people truly blessed with super special powers?

 

[NorthStar]

 

[NorthStar]

Simply Amazing!!! --- That is the next video! Right here!