All david blaine does except ambitious card is all gimmicked as far as i can tell...


Raven
Invisible deck
Rising card
3 and 1 quarter

and a slue of others

whats your point?

The point is that many are bitter that Blaine has built a very solid career... all with the same tricks that many of us use... I say good for him!

It raises the bar for everyone else. Besides, who wants to be "the next (fill in the blank)?"

lol, Ambitious card is not gimmicked nor is 2 card monte......and so what if he uses gimmicks? He's still a good magician.

You obviously don't watch David Blaine too much, as there are several more effects he does that aren't gimmicked (and quite difficult to do, for all the DB haters out there whom I know can't do a lot of what he does). LOL.

lol, basically what I said in another topic.

I'm sure what "he can do" and what you have "seen him do" are two entirely different things.

Okay first off, can you do all the stuff he does? What speak up....no...thats what I thought. I like how that one kid put it , people are just pissed because he is an established magician that use some of the effects that we do. Pull your head out of you know where!!!!


By the way, mad props to B_magic and Gary W write to if you can!!!

Peace

Exactly. I've heard from a few different places that this guy is awesome with a pack of cards.

I also think that off-camera Blaine is probably very skilled. When I watch Blaine's shows, I'm not interested in watching him make a card rise, or take a bite out of a quarter anymore. I'm interested in the few times Blaine does things that are non-gimmicked that are very impressive. For instance, I love watching Blaine do Instant Replay from AoA. This is said to be one of the most difficult things to master. I like to see him lose a card in a deck, do a hot shot cut, and catch the selected card inbetween the two aces.

I wish Blaine would make an entire show decicated to non-gimmicked magic, including coins, cards, rubberbands, pens, etc. Hopefully his upcoming show will have less gimmicked tricks, and more things that show Blaine's true skill.

Remember also these are network specials and edited for REACTIONS from the audiences. Who knows how much content is filmed and cut for these specials. Also which tricks. Obviously the guy impressed someone along the way or he wouldn't be doing tv specials...

How'd his ear thing look I didn't see it my dad did.

Despite the fact that he uses gimmicks, we all have every reason to believe that DB is a very skilled cardician, simply by the things he does with cards in his specials (most notably "Street Magic"). As melb stated, Blaine's execution of the hot shot cut and Instant Replay (and the Simple Switch, for that matter) are entertaining and impressive, not to mention flawless. I've especially gained tons of respect for his execution of the Simple Switch as I personally took months to learn it and am familiar with what it takes to pull off this almost impossible card flourish. In addition, his double lifts are also executed very nicely. Top change, Immediate Bottom Placement/Convincing Control, classic force, shapeshifter, snap change, etc. He does all of these things well. And in the opening montage of "Street Magic" he does a nice thumb fan (with the one handed closing technique) and there's a brief glimpse of him doing the one handed riffle shuffle (a flourish that I currently cannot do to save my life). It's all of these little things (and not so little things) that impress me and prove that DB has the skills.

This is precisely why I absolutely love "Street Magic" and how every DB special after the first one did not entertain me as much. I would love to see him do another special with the quality and simplicity of "Street Magic", but alas that will probably never happen as with each subsequent special, his tricks get more and more extravagant, complicated, and less to do with cards (not to mention few and far between). Regardless, I anxiously wait for the emergence of Blaine from his 44 day public fasting just as his next special hits the airwaves (should be around mid october).

omg man another frigin Blaine hater. all haters of any magician are all JEALOUS! tink about it. One of Blaines Mentors is PAUL HARRIS , what do you think?

Here comes the list, as far as I can remember, of non-gimmicked effects that he has used, and that he has performed near flawlessly. He doesn't just rely on gimmicks.

Street Magic
- Mental Optical Riffle Force to Snap Change
- The David Williamson plot of the Torn and Restored card effect (where the signed card ends up on the top of hte deck again)
- Be Honest; What is It by Eddie Fechter (Two-Card Monte)
- Hindu Thread
- Twisting Arm Illusion
- Card Through Window
- Card in Mouth (Max Malini)
- Here Then There
- Card to spectator's pocket
- Hotshot Cut (Daryl)
- Ambitious Card
- Card Stab
- Balducci Levitation
- Instant Replay (Paul Harris)

Magic Man
- a variation of You do As I Do (in the hands version)
- a Torn and Restored Card plot
- Waving the Aces (not Gug Hollingworth's version)
- Coin Matrix
- Card to Bottle
- Simon Lovell's Deck to Pocket

Frozen In Time
- Card to Basketball
- Counterfeit Money (Paul Harris)


(As far as I know)

And with this list, you call him a "gimmickian"...

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Point well made. Couldn't have said it better myself.