talkmagic.co.uk

For those of you who don't know, Callahan is a self proclaimed "Paranormalist". He is "famous" for his interaction with Criss Angel on the NBC show "Phenomenon".

Details at link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebtMDuD4S1M

Callahan is also a serious James Randi hater. Going to obsessive lengths to try and discredit Randi.

Details at this link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttkW56FganE

So now, Callahan claims he can speak to the dead and in his next project, promises someone will "Die" (no not of laughter... actually die).

Details at the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHpjoSo4 ... re=related

Callahan, who himself is critical of Randi's "rules" when it comes to the JREF Million Dollar Challenge, has started his own challenge... He will give a million dollars to (the family of) someone who can die and then "come back" as a ghost or at least prove their existence postmortem to him and his team exclusively (of course) in a consistent way. In doing so, the ghost signs over the rights of all DVD sales to Callahan.

You can read more about this so called challenge here:
http://www.jimclass.com/

You'll even notice Mark Lewis is quoted on Callahan's site!!!

Those of you familiar with the Magic Cafe would be well aware Callahan is something of a ranter who ducks and weaves direct questions, tries to complicate simple issues and drag out being logically evaluated with such classic moves as "I will only answer posts that have one question on them... follow my rules or I will ignore your post, no... that was 2 questions... etc"

You get the idea.

So I have struggled with the thought of giving this "actor" more of his desired publicity on the basis that I believe it is a worth a Talk Magic style debate:

Does "ANYTHING" supposedly supernatural qualify as entertainment when it comes to mentalism? or is there a line not to be crossed?

Personally, I have no problem with the suspension of belief, afterall that is all good magic. And I am fine with "Ghost Tours" and the like as fantastic entertainment, the more "real" the better.

But if you take the time to see what this chap is all about with the use of my "helpful" linkage... has he gone too far?

Over to you Talk Magic'ers...

NB.
This specific Criss Angel / "Phenomenon" issue has been discussed in another thread, this thread more so relates to Callahan's "latest" challenge... "die for a million".

I cant work him out. He tries his hardest to convince people that he does it for real... yet he hangs around magicians, and magic forums.

no wonder some dont take him seriously

From what I've read by him on the Magic Cafe, he seems to have a playful grasp of demonstrative irony

Jim is a strange bird. I first encountered him about a dozen years ago... just before he staged his own death on line

I applaud him on many levels, especially in giving that foul old Canadian a run for his money over the questionable millions and the fact that he's successfully run one of the longest running cons on the public in history (outside certain religious cults). At the same time, I don't think Jim has a Mil to spare so I'm uncertain how he'd be able to pay whomever wins his sense of challenge... on many levels he's pulling the same sham as Randi, just with a different facade.

Jim's position is more akin to Kreskin; he does 101 commercial bits denying that any of what he does is trickery but when he hits his late 60s he'll publish a book on How to be a Fake Callahan... just to cash in on the fatted cow of gullibility.

Craig Browning wrote:I don't think Jim has a Mil to spare so I'm uncertain how he'd be able to pay whomever wins his sense of challenge... on many levels he's pulling the same sham as Randi, just with a different facade.

according to his website, Callahan's million will be paid off to the winner's family "gradually" as profits from DVD sales and "appearances" kick in.

Offering a million he doesn't have and may NEVER have is worse than offering a million you do have but choose to hold onto tight.

This is one person i just can't take seriously. Like mentioned above, he claims to do things for real, yet sells magic tricks and dvd's to magicians/mentalists, and even hires himself out to make model balloons!. To be honest though, there seems to be a lot of mentalists over at the cafe who pretend to be 'real' to each other and big each other up over their pretend 'gifts'. To do this on a magic forum always strikes me as ridiculous.

I think he's a complete a*se. I'm not much of a Randi fan, either. They're both self-obsessed and bitter gits.

The videos on Callahan's website supposedly "proving" his paranormal powers are absolute jokes. He's a mediocre actor and while I don't know how he appears to make a chair tip backwards without touching it I'll bet everything I own and will ever own that it's not Casper helping him.

while I don't know how he appears to make a chair tip backwards without touching it I'll bet everything I own and will ever own that it's not Casper helping him.

Add everything I own in there too.

B0bbY_CaT wrote:

Craig Browning wrote:I don't think Jim has a Mil to spare so I'm uncertain how he'd be able to pay whomever wins his sense of challenge... on many levels he's pulling the same sham as Randi, just with a different facade.

according to his website, Callahan's million will be paid off to the winner's family "gradually" as profits from DVD sales and "appearances" kick in.

Offering a million he doesn't have and may NEVER have is worse than offering a million you do have but choose to hold onto tight.

Hasn't hurt a certain other individual in the least, whose million dollar pay-off is structured in a very similar manner according to those that have looked into both, the challenge and the "man" in question.

AndyRegs wrote:This is one person i just can't take seriously. Like mentioned above, he claims to do things for real, yet sells magic tricks and dvd's to magicians/mentalists, and even hires himself out to make model balloons!. To be honest though, there seems to be a lot of mentalists over at the cafe who pretend to be 'real' to each other and big each other up over their pretend 'gifts'. To do this on a magic forum always strikes me as ridiculous.

Let's clarify something here... Jim practices Old School Mentalism not this commercialized "joke" we've seen surface over the past decade or so.

Secondly, you are talking about "The Cafe" -- the Wikipedia of the magic world i.e. one of the least accurate and more questionable resources when it comes to the "real world"... a look at its censorship practices, obvious born again idiot/right winged G.W. Bush supporting mind set, etc. should be a strong hint for most "intelligent" folks, that something is a bit "amiss" from the inside out. Add to this the FACT that most of the black-market/pirate copy & file share materials found in distribution have strong and rather direct ties to said forum -- it is basically a den of thieves; I this because I, Rick Maue and a handful of others have busted members of that forum, catching them red handed with said materials upon more than a few occasions. The irony is the "management" of the forum has protected these people and on some levels, raised them up the ladder when it comes to "prestige" in that particular community.

Sorry to burst your bubble but TM is a far more valid, fair and experience based resource than you will find at the green pit of swill. Any information you get from the Cafe needs to be verified via other sources and not just hearsay... at least that's my opinion based on how they treat some of the real world working pros, such as Mr. Escape and the dozens of veteran Mentalists/Bizarrists they've ousted from said site, because of the forum management's own personal agenda.

The bottom line is, take what you hear and read on the Cafe forums with a small Ukrainian Salt Mine...

The bottom line is, take what you hear and read on the Cafe forums with a small Ukrainian Salt Mine...

I do...perhaps I didn't make that clear. But that includes pretty much everything of what Jim says.

AndyRegs wrote:

The bottom line is, take what you hear and read on the Cafe forums with a small Ukrainian Salt Mine...

I do...perhaps I didn't make that clear. But that includes pretty much everything of what Jim says.

Try talking to him on the phone for hours at a time

so, do you believe "insisting" you REALLY can talk to the dead is "crossing the line" in terms of performance?

Is Callahan the same as John Edward? is John Edward worse because he claims to talk with YOUR aunt Mary rather than someone who he may have "made up" in the first place... or are they much the same?

Seems Callahan proposes enternatainment, while Edward proports "therapy". Is one more "okay" than the other or are they both full of excrement?

I don't think Mr. Callahan is on the same level as guys like John Edward and James Van Praagh. Yes, he sells it as entertainment. He's not bilking people out of their money, or preying on the grief and desperation of the general public.

I like that he works the "old school" performance, as Craig put it. He certainly lives his act, which I think is fine. It's perfectly alright (in my opinion) to hover on that line and keep your persona ambiguous. However, Mr. Callahan has clearly crossed that line, as have many of his a**-kissers over at the Magic Cafe, by claiming it as genuine.

He's every bit as bad as James Randi, as well. I know the popular consensus was that Jim was the hero of the Callahan/Angel confrontation - but I went with Angel on that one. Even Craig came out and bashed Criss Angel on this, when Jim is every bit as arrogant as his detractors. However, like anyone not in the Randi camp, even detractors treat them with kid gloves. Aside from being a completely scripted and absolutely deplorable publicity/ratings stunt, Jim got exactly what he deserved. He's a liar, and he should absolutely be called out on it.

They're both insufferable megalomaniacs - and they certainly deserve each other. If I had the million to spare, I'd challenge them both to shut the f*** up for five minutes.

My point was that you would never see the likes of John edwards on a magic forum.