by seige » Dec 9th, '03, 19:42
David Blaine:
1: Excellent entertainer, clever businessman, and all-time attention getter
2: Skilled magician, great performer
3: Intelligent talker, creative spirit
4: Natural showman, born to perform (oops... sorry Penguin...)
BUT...
1: Arrogant messiah-type, over inflated ego
2: Reliant almost soley upon shock tactics these days
3: Less of a magician, more of a stuntman/fakir
I must disagree about the 'not much of a magician from a presentational point of view'... His presentations of the effects he does are relatively flawless, and he executes quite difficult moves with almost fluid ease.
However, I don't like the bloke when he pulls his 'I am something special' routine.
But, as said time and time again, he's responsible for a great deal of magic becoming mainstream - which surely is no bad thing.
I also hate it when people compare 'Magicians' with 'David Blaine' - but unfortunately, he IS a magician somewhere beneath his rather ugly stuntman image.
And as I've mentioned before, I have renewed respect for him after reading his book and also seeing how the Box experience has mellowed him slightly.