David Blaine
Just for the record, David Blaine is not a magician any more. He is not an illusionist either. He’s some form of weird endurance-cum-performance artist (cum performance? yikes!). His stunts are definitely entertaining and I admire the fact that someone is apparently pushing human endurance barriers. Heck, sitting in a box for 44 days would drive me nuts - in fact, make that 10 minutes.
But please, he’s not a magician or anything even close. Even performance artists usually have an important message in their work - Blaine’s is just self promotion. And if he is an illusionist, then how much of these stunts are to be believed? Derren Brown destroyed his credibility walking the same fine line between illusion and deceit in that stupid russian roulette stunt. So I personally question the value of it at all - other than the modern equivalent of self flagellation in public to make a dime.
Oh, and if he’s so enamoured with the classic magicians and escape artists, like Houdini, then why can’t he re-enact the legendary catching a bullet in the teeth trick. I’ll be the one firing the gun.
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