I'M NOT DEFENDING CRISS ANGEL

With that said, so what if he has a live show. He did, and guess what David Blaine, doesn't and didn't.

Having a live stage show doesn't mean anything, some magician's aren't stage magicians, hence they won't have stage shows.

Ok just wanted to point out that a show does not a great magician make, but a great magician does a show make. Does that even make sense?

Yeah I was just wondering why these Hotel/Casinos would set him up with penthouses considering he isn't bringing in any business. Criss Angel was at the Aladdin for a while and now the Luxor is hooking him up. I know the casinos were promoted on the tv show but there wasn't anything to promote really. It's not like he had a show people could pay to see.

You are right about David Blaine never doing a show but at the same time I don't remember him being given a penthouse in any casinos.

I'm a David Blaine fan and think he's a great magician yet I think it would be hilarious to watch another magician perform and imitate his persona with the monotone voice and the whole "look look look watch look" thing. However, I think it's obvious what Criss is doing (or supposedly doing) is nothing more than childish mocking. It would be one thing if he did it and actually had respect for David Blaine, but he clearly doesn't, so he's just giving other magicians more reason to dislike him. It's sad because I run into a lot of people who like Criss Angel and think he's the best and I just just want to shake them and be like, "Can't you see how fake these tricks are? I mean, it's magic, but c'mon" but I don't out of fear that it'll ruin magic in general for them. I don't hold back on calling him an a-hole, however. He has a lot of misplaced confidence in himself and I think he deserves that title, at least.

And it doesn't matter if he has a stage show at the hotel casinos. He's a relatively big star and their hotel casinos are being featured on his show which is heavy publicity meaning it's a lot of exposure that they don't have to pay for. So, they'll hook him up with a penthouse suite and make sure he's as comfortable as possible so he airs the episode and possibly tells his other celebrity friends how well he was treated at the hotel.

True but his celebrity friends aren't the ones dropping hundreds of millions of dollars at the casinos, it's the little people. I can understand the publicity on the tv show but still don't get not having a show for all this time. A successful las vegas show could easily bring in 10 or more million dollars a year just in ticket sales. If the publicity from the tv show was enough why did the Aladdin just close down and reopen as Planet Hollywood? I think Criss Angel did 3 seasons of his show at the Aladdin and it doesn't appear to have helped.

His celebrity friends may not be the ones dropping hundreds of millions of dollars at the casinos (even though I'm sure the ones that gamble do drop more than most of us make in a year or three), but celebrities attract people. On top of people seeing the show and going, "Criss Angel stayed at such and such hotel. It must be pretty decent. I'll have to look into that for my trip to Vegas," if he gets his celebrity friends to go there, people staying at the casino or just visiting will see them and then go home and tell their friends/family/blogs/forums/whatever that they saw so and so at whatever casino. Which will make people look into that casino for their trip or at least remember it just in case.

It doesn't always work, but it's publicity. Meaning it's pretty much free. They're not really losing any money when they set these people up with these suites for a week or however long. They probably more than make up for the loss within one hour on the casino floor if they even take a loss at all. Yeah, they'd get more money if they give him a regular or even one time show, but they're not losing anything by letting him feel like he's special for a few days.

My friend, shows aren't given because of time and results. A Big Name Show is not a reward, its a type of show. Criss has chosen not to do a big show just to himself, although the contract with Cirque is pretty big, in fact I don't see how thats not a big show, I digress... Guess what about the Alladin, it was changing before Criss Angel came along. That was a deal that had been in the works for a long time. Crissy had nothing to do with it.

In fact as a side note, a lot of these new hotels and resorts in vegas, they've been in the works for as much as 50 years. So just because somethign is new to us, doesn't mean it's new to the people changing things. Just something to think about.

I saw the hour special today and it was funny when criss acted like David Blaine. He made fun of his balducci levitation and it looked almost exactly the same. When the guy who was watching freaked out, a guy walked over and he was like "He needs help, he levitated a quarter an inch!" Criss said he gives david props but the fact was funny that everybody talked about david levitating an inch. I think he still respects david but thought it would be fun to act like him.

I see a lot of threads and posts on here that bash Criss and I have to say that I agree with every one of them. Criss Angel is extremely arrogant for someone that can't perform live. I'm into magic but I have more knowledge of film making. From what I know about film alone I can spot how he is placing his edits. We do it all the time in film making.

I think most people think it is wrong for him to lie about camera tricks because really it comes down to false advertising. Most people from watching his show would expect to see the same thing live. I of course have no way of knowing for sure but I'm going to guess that his upcoming live show will be a complete let down. There is no way he can display the same things live that he does on his prerecorded show.

Criss Angel is a creep and without people like David Copperfield and David Blaine, Criss would be nothing.

What I have been saying for years. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and Angel will always be a Blainiac. Only difference is that Criss needs cutshots to do relatively simple sleights, whereas Blaine can do knuckle-busting/finger-flicking/real magic with no cutshots on TV. Now that takes skill.

David Blaine > Sissy angel

Actually, David does use some camera tricks and marketed effects.

he uses camera effects once in awhile. i can remember a few of em. but look at how much of what he does ISNT camera or paid audience. he actually does do magic. blaine dont do too much that requires editing...

David does not do camera tricks, although he did edit his Balducci levitation to protect the angles from TV viewers in some cases. His specials consisted mostly of commercial magic, or "legitimate magic" as opposed to "fake magic," and magic that needs to be cut away from like sissy Angel uses in EVERY show. David Blaine already had the chops/skill before his TV specials, Angel didn't and still doesn't.

He needs to go back to stage, as he is horrific at close-up, and cannot even do a charlier cut without cutting to his stooge. He just wanted a quick show and wanted to try and emulate Blaine, then discredit him. When in actuality he is the one who looks like an idiot now, and as I suspected all along. Read the beginning of this forum...

Does anyone know if Criss Angel is beginning to lose his audience? About six months to a year ago he was very very big but lately I'm not hearing too much about him. Is he already over? Provide honest opinions about this, don't just say it's about time.

About time.