Think about this to yourself. Have you ever said something about Criss Angel whether it was good or bad? If you have ever seen Mindfreak you probably have. People always put Criss Angel down because they say he uses camera tricks and set up assisants. I know I'm no person to say if he does or not but you should just leave it alone. If thats his way of performing then let him do it. Just remember that its all on TV. If he wants do a trick that isnt pure sleight of hand to make it look more realistic then let it be. I dont get why there is any reason to say bad things about him. You never know because that may be you performing on TV one day and making tons of money. If you want to say something then its your opinion. But if it is mean or harsh then just keep it to yourself. It doesnt matter if Criss Angel wants to use camera tricks or not because he has the guts to go out and make his own TV show. People make fun of him and then go buy his levitation and coin thru soda DVDs. So please stop ruining his career and try to create your own.

i totally agree nicley said

It's in human nature to hypocrise. Especially someone who is so public with their illusions.

"Humans are sinful creature" By lowgeorge

I agree with everything you said.

No offense to anyone who is an Angel fan, but I totally disagree. People dislike Angel because of his attitude, use of camera editing, and stooges. First his attitude toward magic, he seems to be competitive toward Blaine. He's always trying to be better than him at being a street magician, even though he is a stage magician. He has publicly challenged Blaine, and denounced him, as if magic is a competition, which it isn't. So how does he try to beat Blaine, with camera tricks and stooges. Some people say that him doing this is exceptable because if the effects are not edited or have stooges, it won't be strong enough to be put on TV. That's ridiculous because people like David Blaine and Lance Burton have been doing effects without editing, and they were successful. Someone might say that Blaine used editing to enhance his levitation, but he did it to protect the secret of the Balducci, which is perfectly fine because the reactions were real, they weren't actors, and he really did a levitation. Angel on the other hand do effects that aren't possible without his cameras and stooges. Other than that he can only do stage effects, which aren't bad, why doesn't he stick with what he's good at instead of trying to be a street magician like Blaine. He also don't really care about magic, if he did he wouldn't use these camera editing and stooges, he'd do real illusions like the rest of us. All he cares about is fame and money, he challenges Blaine, why, to gain publicity, he reveals some tricks on TV, why, to get more ratings. Everything he does is for money and fame. And yeah, that might be me on TV one day doing magic and people may be critizising me, but they'd be critizising me for my skill and presentation, not my use of camera editing and stooges. If I were on TV, I'd stay true to the art of magic and do real effects, I wouldn't try to convince the people I am something more than I really am.

His use of camera tricks and stooges is not exceptable, he is lying to the people, making them believe he is this master illusionist, even though he is nothing more than movie director, because everything he does, can easily be duplicated in movies. We as magicians doing magic that are actually possible without the camera and a payed cast of actors are "Honest Liars", but Angel is just a liar, and nothing more. Not only is this unfair to the spectactors who believe they are witnessing miracles, but instead they are watching a movie, with actors and special effects, it also affects other magicians. Ever since the second season of Mindfreak started, I've been asked if I can float from building to another building, no, unless if I have Angel's money, cameras, and actors, I can't do any of those effects. How can us real magicians compete with Angel, I mean compared to these TV illusions, our real illusions seem like nothing. I think Angel is ruining the art of magic and illusion, he's not staying true to the art, all he's doing is lying to everyone and trying to make himself look like God.

That's what I think and I know some people will disagree, go ahead, it's your opinion.

And by the way, the Coin Thru Soda is by Wayne Houchin, not Angel. The only thing Angel can create is special effects for TV, and stage effects, which he should stay with.

i like criss angel, but i think he takes things a little to far. the flouting from building to building, that was taking it to far.I think he should have just stuck with his 3 foot high levitation, because it is more believable.

its ok to think out side of the box, but you cant think to far out of it.
magic has to be impossable, but still believable.So it cant be so impossable that it is no longer believable.

the walking on water thing, that was amazing, very good Criss. it was impossable, and believable all at the same time.


But you guys, you have to remember,theirs more laymen watching him than us magicians, so he is mostly doing it for them. laymen do know know much about magic.
us as magicains critisize him very harshly, becuase we can spot when he uses a stooge or editing. a layperson cant not.

I know what you mean, but I still think that Angel is really cheating laypeople into watching him when they could have been waching a movie, because there isn't that big of a difference. I was once a laymen, and if I found out about his camera tricks and stooges, I'd be furious. By the way I do give credit to Angel for creating his levitation, but I'd respect him if he'd only do those kinds of effects instead of relying camera effects and stooges.

Thats very, very true oz. B4 I got into magic I didn't no crap about it. I thought Blaine was [edited] and that criss angel was amazing because he could jump into a puddle of water and walk out up on the boucany. I didn't see it as being camera enhanced, and most people don't. I thought angel was a talented magician, but now I see that he is a liar. It bothers me a lot to hear someone say it is ok for a magician on tv to use camera tricks. It is not ok, the camera is only supposed to b filming what you would see if you were standing there. The camera in magic is supposed to b your eyes for a tv magic show. What the camera shows and what you would see if you were standing right where the camera is should be no different. It should be EXACTLY the same. Stooges are debatable, I think the illusions that require an assistant are ok, even if it needs a lot of them, but if people are in on the trick, but still react to it only to enhance it I think that is crossing the line. This is my point I guess, b4 I was a magician I thought angel had talent and blaine had none, now I know angel as a liar and that blaine has talent so angel lying with camera trickery is lowering the amount of talent people see in not only blaine, but all of us. Who wants to see coin tricks, card tricks, and two inch high levitations when angel flies on tv? No one, they want to see angel fly, not us or blaine do real illusions for them.

Thanks, and I totally agree, that's another point I didn't mention, how could we compete with Angel's TV illusions? Being a magician, many people ask me to do magic, I generally do card effects and some penetrations, vanishes, you know, the usual close-up stuff. But once in awhile, people ask me to levitate, then I'd do Balducci or King Rising, invariably, people say that was alright but did you see Criss Angel float between buildings? Can you do that too, can you? How can we compete with these things Angel does on TV? Compared to his TV magic, or real illusions look like nothing, so how can you say him using camera tricks is ok? It takes away from the rest of us doing honest magic.

-Oztheozzie

You're missing the whole point oz. What you've just did is accused Criss Angel. Come on, give Qwerty some respect. This is his thread which is trying to teach the message not to do those things. If you're going to do that, at least do it in the Criss Angel section with other Criss Angel haters because a lot of has has seen the same thing hundreds of times and get it. I'm not trying to argue but this is pointless. And if you were really watching Criss Angel and not making accusations about his tricks, you would actually see his performance, patter,etc......art. He does magic respecting others and never said he was better than anyone. These are people to learn from and appreciate. You don't have to believe them and if you're not going to respect them, at least appreciate them. As for the competition thing, you went against your other post- magic is never a competition. I don't want to make accusations about you but you kind of just spelled it out in your posts Both Blaine and Angel both have talent and I agree with you on the camera editing thing and the stooges are obvious but stooges are not lying at all. If you were a spectator you saw a magician do something, it wouldn't matter if stooges were used. They were illusion enhancers and not really abused.

Well, he challenged Blaine and seem to have a I'm better than David Blaine attitude, always trying to be better than Blaine. He also publicly denounced Blaine, saying Blaine have never done a live show in his life when it's obviously not true. Doesn't seem like a lot of respect to me.

Bottom line, camera tricks is not acceptable, as for stooges, they're ok as long as they are not overused.

By the way, I do respect your opinion, I'm just stating mine.

-Oztheozzie

Criss Angel does give the art of magic some respect by showing it to the world and does give people credit respectfully and I understand what you have to say. I'm just saying this may not be the place to say it...

This is something people should read because too many people cannot control their emotions about these topics and act in the wrong way about it.

I understand. I'll shut up now, but I just didn't agree with the person who wrote the essay, so I spoke up.

-Oztheozzie