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Criss Angel is an entertainer and that is what he does very well he entertains in the means of camera work, stooges and the like. However David Blaine entertains by the means of steet magic and does not use camera work etc. In conclusion they are both good ENTERTAINERS who use different means in the way to do what they do which is to ENTERTAIN. But if you are judging Criss as a bad magician then please carry on but you cannot say that he is not a bad entertainer.

Ace of diamonds wrote:Criss Angel is an entertainer and that is what he does very well he entertains in the means of camera work, stooges and the like. However David Blaine entertains by the means of steet magic and does not use camera work etc. In conclusion they are both good ENTERTAINERS who use different means in the way to do what they do which is to ENTERTAIN. But if you are judging Criss as a bad magician then please carry on but you cannot say that he is not a bad entertainer.

By the way you say it...Criss is more of Hollywood than a magician. If that's the case, I have no complaints at all.

Ace!
Don't forget the significant factor in all of this...

You compare Chriss Angel with David Blaine. OK!

But David Blaine has never ever claimed to be the best of the best magicians. Not entertainers, magicians. And he has never claimed to be better and greater than Houdini.

Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos aka. Chriss Angel, has claimed that he is a better escape artist and better magician than Houdini and by doing that, he crosses the line, in many magician's opinion.

Ace of diamonds wrote:Criss Angel is an entertainer and that is what he does very well he entertains in the means of camera work, stooges and the like. However David Blaine entertains by the means of steet magic and does not use camera work etc. In conclusion they are both good ENTERTAINERS who use different means in the way to do what they do which is to ENTERTAIN. But if you are judging Criss as a bad magician then please carry on but you cannot say that he is not a bad entertainer.

i don't find him entertaining though, that's the thing. Mind Freak is cringeworthy

his not a good magician then his a good entertainer..

wchua24 wrote:his not a good magician then his a good entertainer..

I think It's hard to stay normal when your that famous. I wouldn't consider him a magician but more of an entertainer. Because he not only does magic but he does, or it looks to layfolk, escapology.

You also have to consider he's not trying to entertain magician but he's aiming at the larger portion of the population, e.g. laypeople.

One last thing to consider is he's under constant pressure to come up with new material. Magicians don't like him but every other layperson that I've talked to has really enjoyed Criss Angel.

But he does have cameras and the benefit of large sums of money to help, but I don't believe that everything he does it awful.

Maybe I'm wrong and will be scorned but that's just what I think.
plus I like to argue, and it's a different change of view from the "oh I hate criss angel" talk.

people are always criticizing criss angle for using stooges claiming its not 'real magic' even though magicians have used stooges for years (such as Houdini escaping from prison naked) and used camera angles and editing as soon as t.v. magic was popular (remember David blains levitation) what criss angle does is set up and perform stage style magic tricks on the street. sure there are set ups and stooges and those are used to create an illusion for the other people watching it live. with all of his tricks if you were there and viewing it from the right angle you would witness an amazing feat of magic (such as him disappearing or walking on water). there are no rules to magic tricks despite what rules you make for yourself i for example will never use stooges. but that's a personal choice and it means i will never be able to do effects as stunning as criss angle's.

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:there are no rules to magic tricks despite what rules you make for yourself i for example will never use stooges. but that's a personal choice and it means i will never be able to do effects as stunning as criss angle's.

The problem is...his stooges are the worst actors I've seen. We all know how people react, these guys don't.

Remember that guy when Criss walked through the glass window in Season 1? Just watching that guy made me realize Criss is using stooges.

Stunning? Have you seen the stooge he "hypnotized" and cut the back of his head to get the chosen card at the season 4 opener? I find that pathetic rather than stunning. The building explosion? Even the Loyal doesn't find it stunning at all.

Noodlesoup wrote:Stunning? Have you seen the stooge he "hypnotized" and cut the back of his head to get the chosen card at the season 4 opener? I find that pathetic rather than stunning. The building explosion? Even the Loyal doesn't find it stunning at all.

No and neither would i. What's your point? That not every trick he does is a brilliant one. You know when I was talking about stunning I meant the ones where he disappeared or walked on water or walked through glass (sure the stooge was c*** (not the best) but that's us watching do you think the people watching Chris angle would be looking hard at the shopkeeper?) My point still stands, Chris angle has, through varying forms of deception, made people believe he can do the impossible. Isn't that in essence what magic is? And while he only did a few good ones and a lot of mediocre ones, that's what television has changed, it used to be that a magician with three of four good tricks could last a lifetime going round performing them. Now that TV and Internet shows everyone his stuff strait away he, like many others, have to keep coming up with new concepts.

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:

Noodlesoup wrote:Stunning? Have you seen the stooge he "hypnotized" and cut the back of his head to get the chosen card at the season 4 opener? I find that pathetic rather than stunning. The building explosion? Even the Loyal doesn't find it stunning at all.

No and neither would I, What's your point? That not every trick he does is a brilliant one. You know when I was talking about stunning I meant the ones where he disappeared or walked on water or walked through glass (sure the stooge was c*** (not the best) but that's us watching do you think the people watching Criss Angel would be looking hard at the shopkeeper?) My point still stands, Criss Angel has, through varying forms of deception, made people believe he can do the impossible. Isn't that in essence what magic is?


While he only did a few good ones and a lot of mediocre ones, that's what television has changed, it used to be that a magician with three of four good tricks could last a lifetime going round performing them.

Now that TV and Internet shows everyone his stuff strait away he, like many others, have to keep coming up with new concepts.

(I edited your post a bit, I like to keep things neat)

I agree with you and your last sentence was my point exactly.

He has convinced people he can do incredible things, that's all that he has tried to do.

He also, like you said, is under constant pressure to come up with new ideas and methods.

Yet, magicians hate him for people expect regular magicians to do what he does.

Alas my final point, Why is everyone fussing over this. It won't accomplish anything but satisfying your own ego and sense that you think you're a real magician because you do plausible tricks. All Criss Angel is doing is entertaining laymen. You all say you don't like him and he's a disgrace to magic, yet it seems you still watch him, everyone lately tends to jumps on the I hate Criss Angel bandwagon so as to fit in.

That being said I will stop my ranting. Who knows if any of this made sense and if I got off topic but... Thanks for reading (those who did) by the way, I really appreciate it.

I don't personally like the guy, not really my taste. But I've never really understood the problem that people have with his methods. Sure he cheats, but don't we all when we use a double backed cvard or folding coin? The most imnportant thing in magic is that you create the 'illusion' of magic and you entertain your audience. That I think, he does very well.

Ian the Mental-Ian wrote:
I agree with you and your last sentence was my point exactly.

He has convinced people he can do incredible things, that's all that he has tried to do.

He also, like you said, is under constant pressure to come up with new ideas and methods.

Yet, magicians hate him for people expect regular magicians to do what he does.

Alas my final point, Why is everyone fussing over this. It won't accomplish anything but satisfying your own ego and sense that you think you're a real magician because you do plausible tricks. All Criss Angel is doing is entertaining laymen. You all say you don't like him and he's a disgrace to magic, yet it seems you still watch him, everyone lately tends to jumps on the I hate Criss Angel bandwagon so as to fit in.

That being said I will stop my ranting. Who knows if any of this made sense and if I got off topic but... Thanks for reading (those who did) by the way, I really appreciate it.

this will be my last post too because your right it is a pointless thing to argue over and i don't want to rub anyone the wrong way.
i would just like to point out that all any magician try's to do is convince people that he does amazing things when all he really does is deceive.

furthermore i and many others don't hate criss angle for making the general public want what he does. magic is a contemporary thing and constantly changing in both style and effect you couldn't be a magician dressing and acting and performing the same tricks that where done fifty years ago (and now i will produce a rabbit from my hat) the bar has been raised considerably and it just means that we all have to try to be fresh in our thinking.

anyway i think webmaster 430 has learned something about this site don't bring up criss angle unless your ready for controversy

The Chriss ( and David Blaine) debates have been going on here for years and they always seem to end up upsetting a few who are a little less willing to flex on the topic. If you like Mr.A then watch and enjoy. If you don't like him, well there are plenty of other perfomers to watch.

Magic indeed has moved on a lot from the 'old days' but many of the secrets are the same - it's just the way they're used and presented which has evolved. Now where did I put that hat and rabbit......