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Hi all, What do you all think of Criss Angels Magic. I think Criss is a fantastic magician and his version of Houdinis water torture was awesome. Keep up the good work Criss

His more extreme stuff is a complete turn off as far as I'm concerned but his 'proper' magic is very good indeed. I suppose it's a sign of the times when the main magicians getting air time and publicity are from overseas - apart from Derren Brown, nobody in the UK gets such programme time.

On the same general topic, I saw the Max Somerset thing on Friday and it was great in parts, he was on again on one of the Sky channels last night and did some good stuff. The Totally Hidden Extreme Magic programme on Sunday (?) - aka T.H.E.M. was a mix of good magic, tasteless stunts (swarms of flies from somebody's mouth at a Restaurant table?!) and rehashed 1980's Game For A Laugh stunts designed to embarrass the public.

(Come back Paul Daniels, show 'em how it ought to be done!)

here here P.D. is the man!

By going to see him do his one man show my wife was converted from a P.D. hater to a P.D. lover.

My undercover spy (She Who Must Be Obeyed) tells me that Paul is doing a couple of performances at various Warner Hotels in September - am trying to track down more details but I guess it'll be on Paul's website somewhere.

(PS, sorry, I seem to have hijacked/diverted the original post - back to Chriss Angel folks!)

i think chris is great shame he is abit lik blaine editing his stuff but great i like him.

I like Criss's style. It's different but who wants the same old thing everytime.

I am not a Criss Angel fan. I don't care for his style of magic at all.

That being said, I have great respect for Criss (exception being his "Street style TV special, which was naught but a Blaine rip-off). He has taken magic of old and replaced it with his very own creative, Goth vision. I don't need to like his presentation to know that he is deserving of respect and a tip of the hat for being himself, rather than following the crowd and doing the same old same old. Criss deserves the success that he is receiving in this industry. Long live Criss Angel!

Going back to the street magic special, I think Criss was doing what is, unfortunately, necessary to stay on top, which is giving the people what they want. People enjoyed Blaine's specials, so Criss jumped on board and went with the need for publicity. An unfortunate part of being in the business that we are in. Still, I can forgive this transgression because it was a necessary evil.

So, whether you like Criss's stuff or hate it, the fact is he is original and talented. That means more to me than my preference for presentation.

Mike.

Michael Jay wrote:Going back to the street magic special, I think Criss was doing what is, unfortunately, necessary to stay on top, which is giving the people what they want. People enjoyed Blaine's specials, so Criss jumped on board and went with the need for publicity. An unfortunate part of being in the business that we are in. Still, I can forgive this transgression because it was a necessary evil.

I'd have to disaggree. I really was appalled to see such a talented Stage Magician lower himself and jump on the band wagon of street magic. I do not believe that it was necessary for him to do so to gain publicity and if I'm quite frank about it I think he took the easy otion of ripping somebody else off to gain publicity. If you want to catch somebody's eye there of two ways of doing it.

a) Do what's been done before.

b) Do something new.

Obviosly option b is much riskier than following the crowd but after seeing excerpts of Criss's stage show I think that it is definatly possible for him to catch the public eye with something new and creative.

I was so impressed by his stage illusions, I havn't enjoyed a stage show for a long time but I definatly enjoyed Criss Angel's.

Don't lower your self Criss! You're better than that!!