talkmagic.co.uk

Of course he won't say. It's obvious anyway no one needs to tell you how it's done.

I personally don't like Criss Angel his magic isn't magic if you know what I mean. It's all cameras and far too fake. He's going big but he's going too big and taking what has already been done to the next level, which I think is too far.

He's taken the classic sawing a woman in half but taken out the box and the saw and added a big shock element to it. All that is good up to a point but he doesn't know when to stop.

For example, cutting a woman in half has always had the part to be cut covered up. She has never had her legs run away and the top half hasnt crawled off but thats because the magician wants the spectators to be ever so slightly suspicious. The magician hasn't always eliminated every possible answer because he wants the spectator to think about it more and keep his mind ticking for a long time.

Criss Angel boils it all down so it's right there. He pulls a random woman in half and the legs stand up and the top half crawls away with spectators standing a meter away from it all. This is all good on paper but when they see it yes they are shocked, but it takes the suspicioun out and when they walk away the answer is so blindingly obvious.

Maybe it's just the hangover speaking. I don't think I've got across what I wanted to but hell it's worth a try. I think I just don't like him as his tricks require massive setup with many assistants. But then you take someone like Blaine who really got his name out there with one 30 minute show and pure sleight of hand. That to me is a much better way of doing things.

Unfortunately the public want massive impossible things happening like walking on water and Criss Angel fakes it all and shoots it off to every TV and the public lap it all up. Whilst the little guy who practises tricks for hours and hours a day for years and years are left in the corner.

Oh well just my 2 pennies

I think this sums up what I was trying to say in the above post:

"This is lousy magic for many reasons. Among other things, it violates the Too Perfect Theory, because the only available explanation is the actual explanation. There is no way to build in any psychological misdirection to prevent the spectator from reconstructing the method. The effect itself is not magically plausible, not believable; while a mysterious penetration can in fact be magically convincing when properly performed (the subtle and difficult-to-describe element of plausibility mentioned above), the instantaneous jamming of a pen or finger through a metal coin, leaving a jagged hole behind, is not believable in the slightest. It may be surprising - but when the impact of the surprise fades, it leaves no lasting magical effect in its place. It is little more than a sight gag - a stunt, at best."

Taken from http://www.antinomymagic.com/swiss.htm

He must be doing something right as he's been awarded magician of the year five times in a row

Misanthropy wrote:He must be doing something right as he's been awarded magician of the year five times in a row

He is doing something right - marketing.
Marketing towards the teen heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

I would like to see if he can do any sleight of hand or anything other than elaborately staged special effects. I don't really see him as a magician, more an illusionist version of George Lucas. With leather trousers.

Lord Freddie wrote:heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

Just to go off topic for a moment but, for the love of metal, Green Day?! They're pop.

*Returns to his Machine Head*

Cardza wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

Just to go off topic for a moment but, for the love of metal, Green Day?! They're pop.

*Returns to his Machine Head*

For a middle-class rich kid who lives in a sleepy hamlet, they are the ultimate in rebellion!

Lord Freddie wrote:

Cardza wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

Just to go off topic for a moment but, for the love of metal, Green Day?! They're pop.

*Returns to his Machine Head*

For a middle-class rich kid who lives in a sleepy hamlet, they are the ultimate in rebellion!

I will say, a decade or so ago they used to have something of an edge. Nowadays...

Well, if you ever pass Wembley Arena after they've played, you can't move for the amount of parents in 4WD's waiting outside...
Rawk 'n' roll!

Cardza wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:

Cardza wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

Just to go off topic for a moment but, for the love of metal, Green Day?! They're pop.

*Returns to his Machine Head*

For a middle-class rich kid who lives in a sleepy hamlet, they are the ultimate in rebellion!

I will say, a decade or so ago they used to have something of an edge. Nowadays...

sorry to get embroiled into this debate but Green Day is neither heavy metal nor pop, they are what is known as punk rock. Thank and good day.

LeftEye wrote:cutting a woman in half has always had the part to be cut covered up. She has never had her legs run away and the top half hasnt crawled off but thats because the magician wants the spectators to be ever so slightly suspicious.

You make a very valid point - Kevin James started this whole thing off at Balackpool a few years back - he fell in to the trap of the too perfect theory but if you wartch hoiw he has updated the effect it does become a lot more baffling.

Just my two cents:

Chris Angel, like me and probably you, started as a young magic enthusiast. He spent all of his time learning effects and sleights. (He is very good at finger flinging, by the way). He slowly built an act over many years - and a following. His cutting edge styles and new, creative approaches to effects got him the recognition of the magic community, and bigger, better gigs. He started becoming noticed on television. In the wake of "street style magic" television popularity, he was offered a very lucrative job. His show is enjoyed by millions, if not by you.

This is a man who spent decades honing his craft, and has had more success with it than any modern magician in the world, save 10 or 20 people. I am not one of those twenty!

Now, perhaps when they offer you a television serial, and staff it with the minds of some of the best in magic, and make you the star, and give you millions, maybe you will turn it down.

I agree that some magic that is performed, that which will ONLY work on TV is misleading and sets an unfair standard for those of us who are into real-world magic. Same with Cyril, no? And, I don't like it either, when it is pretended that a stage effect can be done impromptu on any street. It somehow taints this thing that I love.

But, I also must admit that it has not, in the LEAST, hindered my ability to entertain with magic. You don't have to do Chris Angel stunts to floor people. Also, I think the television audience knows they have not seen any of this in real life, peformed by any magician, anywhere, ever. They will continue to enjoy your mysteries. After all, a miracle is a miracle!

There have always been magicians that have threatened to make the rest pale in significance, in one way or another. You know of all the behind the scenes history of magicians one-upping each other, and even stealing from each other to have the great act. Did it damage the rest of us? Just because Vernon wasn't Houdini, didn't he still have a great career? Your average person has heard of Houdini. Not Vernon. Of course, Houdini angered countless magicians at times! Now, he is mostly a hero.

Here! I'll ramble on just a bit longer! Have you ever noticed that the tricks that the spectators see you do and describe to others are often not what you even did - and often they describe something better?

Believe me, when you do the sponge balls in the spectators hands, it still gets them. After all, everything on TV is fake, no?

Sometimes I get shrieks and scare the c*** (not the best) out of people with just a card trick.

Who corners the market on illusion and deception?

Best wishes to you!

-Steve

monker59 wrote:

Cardza wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:

Cardza wrote:

Lord Freddie wrote:heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

Just to go off topic for a moment but, for the love of metal, Green Day?! They're pop.

*Returns to his Machine Head*

For a middle-class rich kid who lives in a sleepy hamlet, they are the ultimate in rebellion!

I will say, a decade or so ago they used to have something of an edge. Nowadays...

sorry to get embroiled into this debate but Green Day is neither heavy metal nor pop, they are what is known as punk rock. Thank and good day.

Hmm, I thought that's what groups like the Sex Pistols were.
Busted for slightly older kids - that's what Green Day are!

Shufton wrote:Who corners the market on illusion and deception?

Tony Blair!

HA HA!!!!!!


See? GW would debate that point!

Lord Freddie wrote:

Misanthropy wrote:He must be doing something right as he's been awarded magician of the year five times in a row

He is doing something right - marketing.
Marketing towards the teen heavy metal, pothead generation.
Green Day fans.

Green day are pop punk not heavy metal