I myself have been torn on this one and I am not a fan of either one but they have generated a lot of interest in the area of magic. So the question is:
Do you believe Criss Angel or David Blaine are positively affecting magic in anyway?

I have seen a lot here about how magicians have been asked to levitate like David Blaine or do bodily harm to themselves like Criss Angel, obvioulsy this is annoying. But... on the other hand many people have become interested in magic and may look more into going to a show or booking a magicain for their kids because they have seen Mindfreak or something.

some positive but not much i think magicians hate them more that lay people

I think Criss is a fool, but I think Balien si great. I really can't stand when these two are compared, I can see why because they both have mainstream shows, but their philosophys are so different.

How the poll though, I dunno.

Spot on. I'm a huge fan of Blaine. His magic is real & raw. I hate Criss' guts. He's pathetic. Walking on water, levitating between buildings, he must think we're idiots. What next? Where will these stupid effects stop? Crap magician who's a wanabee bad rock boy. Try doing an illusion without a camera.

I think Blaine was one of the best things to happen to magic in years, at least until he decided to go the "endurance artist" route. Angel does nothing for me. My first exposure to him was his A&E show and the first episode or two I thought he did a few decent illusions but I was pretty sure he was using TV production to accomplish some of his stuff. After seeing the show where he hypnotised an entire restaurant I decided he was just insulting the intelligence of his audience..