I was just watching mindfreak, I don't quite know why though because you can hardly call it magic and all it does is agitate me, but anyway I'm getting sooooooo sick of Angel, this is why:

1. Any magician that is decently skilled knows Angel is not very talented as far as actual technique goes, especially concerning stuff like sleight of hand. He hardly ever does it. Even if you disagree with that, this is my point here. There are TONS of amazing manipulators out there that are literally hundreds of times more talented with actual technique than Angel, but he constantly claims to be the best at this and that. Its sickening and insulting to those that are more talented than him.

2. He constantly uses camera tricks. To those of you out there that keep on disagreeing with this, it can't even be debated now. He DOES use camera trickery. Deal with it. And to make it worse he claims he doesn't.

3. He exposes magic. Sure most of the stuff is simple, but he has exposed at least 2 or 3 principles that really nice effects I know need to work because its one part of the method to making the effect happen.

4. He exposes other performers now apparently. He exposed some of Blaine's mind reading effects and the Balduci levitation by performing them as bad as he possibly could so that he could deny exposing them if any magician says something about it. But by performing the effects terribly he gave away the methods just as if you messed up an effect and had a person discover the method without you meaning to give it away, although Angel INTENTIONALLY PERFORMED BADLY TO EXPOSE THE METHOD.

5. He insults other performers. He has called Cyril Takayama and cussed him out and accused him of copying him once he had some television deal in Japan from what I've read, although I don't remember the details. I just remember Angel was afraid he would come here on tv and that Cyril implied it was Angel but would not name the person. He also mocked Blaine and exposed the Balduci levitation to make Blaine look talentless. Back when Angel first started out on tv he was constantly challenging Blaine and such as well, and constantly talked about how Blaine hadn't done a single performance on "broadway" or something like that, meaning that Blaine wasn't a stage magician and obviously not talented since he didn't have a stage show.

6. He often claims true, real, supernatural power. The very first episode where he levitated he said "This is not a trick, this is real, what you see is what you get." He also said something similar to that before two other demonstrations as I remember being the steamroller and the one where he walked on screwdrivers, but I can't remember very well. He often claims true real power while performing mentalism as well. During his seance halloween episode I believe he seemed to be talking to the dead, and performed in a manner that gave no disclaimer until the very end of the episode, which I didn't even see like thousands of other viewers because of it being put at the very very end of the episode and only lasting literally half a second.

7. He heckles other performers. He ruined one performance on the show Phenomenon by acting like the guy performing was claiming to be able to communicate with the dead. I may be wrong here but I believe that was just the presentation he chose, but that he did not claim to be a medium or to have powers but only claimed to be a mentalist or illusionist or something like that. Angel also went after Uri Geller for no reason in the process, and while Geller probably deserves it, Angel still had no reason to do so since Geller had acted responsibly on the show by not claiming to have supernatural power. Again I could be mistaken there as well because I didn't watch Phenomenon much.

8. He steals effects from other magicians and sells them as his own. The Criss Angel levitation is truly the Icarus levitation simply turned backwards. Its stealing and he should have to give every penny he made to the creator of the Icarus levitation.

Some magician preferably a very talented one desperately needs to get on tv and show people what a good magician is. And it would be awesome if they would make Angel look bad in the process, for example do some effect he has done with camera trickery without it and say "Some magicians have done this with camera trickery before but I'm not going to do that." Its stupid and immature but after how he mocked and insulted Blaine on the episode I just saw he deserves it. Maybe the masked magician should do an Angel exposed show but only expose his camera tricks lol. Magicians would like him then, at least I would a little, ok I still wouldn't like him for exposing magic but I would like Angel's camera tricks being exposed lol.

I'm just soooooooooo sick of hearing about him from idiots that think he is talented everyday in the magic shop that I work in since I know all this stuff. Angel is an insult to magic.

Ok I decided not to take part in the upcoming discussion, I learned that it's a waste of time.

Just one thing to point 7. because you said you aren't sure:
The guy you mean was Jim Callahan and he DOES claim that he could really talk to his dead friend. I did a lot of research on that guy because of this huge and long-lasting discussion... and I never found any disclaimer.
Actually on his website there's a notice that he's now hiring people to work for him after death and promises them 1 million dollar... can only be paid out after death, as a matter of course!

I assumed he does not claim to be able to talk to the dead, and also take money from people under the false pretense of talking to their dead relatives, because in one video I saw he said he performs and lets people form their own impressions but does not try to influence them.

But you're saying on his site he's promising to make people a millionaire "after" they die if they work for him? Thats really wierd... and stupid lol.

Like I said I wasn't sure about Callahan, I wasn't sure if I even remembered his name correctly or not.

I should elaborate on point 7 though, as many people including magicians probably have a misunderstanding of the right way to expose fraudulent mediums stealing from people by lying to them.

If they do a performance claiming power it is ok to disrupt the performance and ruin it in my opinion because they may use it to convince someone to give them money, hence stealing from them.

If they do a performance NOT claiming power it is not good to do that because in turn they may expose your magic and magic in general. It will hurt your career and magic in general a little, although not tremendously in the long run.

The best way is to do like James Randi and expose the people and tricks they use seperate from a particular person and seperate from your career. If you're a magician be a magician, not a medium exposer, and if you're going to expose mediums then expose mediums, don't do magic. They're seperate things. But if some medium gets popular I could see it being ok to expose them.

You just have to keep in mind that they can turn around and expose magic too, although that is not reason enough to not expose them. I think it would be best to expose them and let the magic be exposed if those were the only choices.

I just don't think the way Angel chose to do it was the best way, but if Callahan does claim to be a true medium then what Angel did wasn't nearly as bad but still not great either at the same time. I think you guys get what I'm trying to say with all of this I hope.

I know Jim Callahan and what you need to understand is He is in Character 24/7.

He is an Entertainer first and foremost and his Claims about talking to the dead are for show. Criss Angel did no different in his Halloween Séance show with his week-a s s excuse for a disclaimer.

Anyone that challenge's Jim's claims or belief's has no more ground to stand on than say, anyone who has religion...

I speak to the dead in my “Haunted” Parlour act and when I performed it as the Magic Castle, no one called me out, they simply congratulated me on an entertaining show…

I think its more blasphemous for Criss to say “What you see is What you get” which is a huge lie. His whole show is one big lie and I truly feel sorry for his “Loyals” that are so star struck they do not recognize a talentless hack. I don’t feel sorry for the white trash that actually have tattoos of Crissy. That is a total joke in itself.

September Genii has a small blurb by the editor mentioning how “un-original” Crissy’s Building escape was and how he stole it move-for-move from Copperfield.

I always promise myself not to waste my time with this bozo – ugh!

I agree that the way Criss called Callahan out may not have been the best decision... but he did what he felt he had to do, and I understand his reasons very well. I still think at last it worked for Callahan, there are so many people who only know about him because of this impact.

George, so Callahan is just in character 24/7... I'm not sure what to think about that. If people believe in him and his "ability", and he never tells them that it's just a role he's playing, the result is the same as if he's claiming real "powers". I mean I searched about him a lot, and never found anything, so obviously you only know it because you know him personally. (Or if there is any public disclaimer I missed, please correct me.) I know, he doesn't claim to be able to talk to dead relatives and doesn't take money from them. But for people who believe that he has this ability, it makes them open-minded to think that maybe that medium in their town who does seances for money, has the ability too... you know what I mean?
Ok, Criss did this Seance episode. But at least he made a disclaimer, I agree he could have done better with it. But if somebody told me he thinks it was real, I could prove him wrong by giving him the source to the disclaimer if he missed it, or to any interview where Criss said he doesn't even believe in supernatural powers. For Callahan, there's nothing.
Oh and there's something, I asked you in another thread but you never answered, maybe you didn't read it: is it the real Callahan who posts on iTricks or is it just a jerk pretenting to be him?

I have taken part in these kinds of conversations before and here is my two cents again.

In the beginning I actually liked Criss Angel. At first he had an average rock n roll look and his personality was a lot nicer. He appeared a lot more humble and personable in the beginning. But ever since he actually got rich he turned into a total creep. He started bashing people, claiming he was the best and his performance ability seems to have gone down hill too.

I now think he has become a major creep and total disgrace to magic. And this is the first time I'm hearing that he bashed Cyril. Cyril is far better than Criss and I can't even understand what he is saying half the time. Cyril is a true performer and can engage his audience in a professional manner. Cyril is a true pro.

Criss Angel is a creep. He has only been famous for about 4 years now. Wait for his show to get canceled and then his live show will follow soon after that. Criss Angel will fade away soon enough.

As far as I know, Jim only posts on the Magic Cafe. I have never been to iTricks. I only partake in Penguin and Magic Cafe.

BTW - if you go to the bottom of Jim's website, there is very fine print



Since this is in print and easily accessable to all; I believe it to be a lot more credible than Criss Angel Saying, "Do you believe in ghosts? I don't" at the very end of his episode well after the credits have rolled and his fans have already tuned out.

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of satanic messages in the shows' intro

Thank you for the info. Though I still think for those who actually believe in those "abilities", it can still be misleading, as it doesn't clearly say "I can't really do it"... people could still think that what he does is real, but only uses it for entertainment. However, at least there's something.
Like I said, since I've seen that there's really a huge amount of people who didn't see the disclaimer in the Halloween episode, I agree that he could have done better with it. I guess he didn't really think about that, but rather thought it would be a cool idea in the "Mindfreak style". Like people sitting in front of the screen with their eyes wide open, still thinking about what they just have seen, and then get those lines to see how easy it was to fool them. Obviously it only worked for the more dedicated fans that always watch until the very end, but failed for a lot of people, so I think he should at least have done it before all the credits.

The think you said about the icarus and the CA levitation, He technicaly didnt steal. It was somebody else who stole it and sold it to criss who is selling it for twice what its worth. horrible angles, lighting is a bi-ach, and the dvd is 100$ and to build it is another 100$ Its true about Uri Gellar. He had no right to call Uri those things. He claims that he is real but then when calahan went on the show, he killed him. if you watch on youtube the scene not shown on TV (well idk i didnt even see the episode), Uri guessed correctly what was in the envelope and criss having no balls as he does, stopped him before he can correctly divine what was in the envelope. and after whatching that, Isnt it strange how criss had the perfect patter to ruin somebody. He had 911 on there because if he believed somebody wasnt real, he was going to do this and tell them to predict 911. criss is a horrible person. If he had real balls he wouldve given uri the money.

EDIT: what possessed him to fire Jermay, Banachek, Kaughman, Thompson, and Sankey?? They were the show! and personally, I thought the stooges acted WAY better than criss can act.

Sankey worked for Angel? Also, several of the magicians you named quit after their friends were fired, but I'm not sure which. Angel's really a hack.

Yup. The reason sankey made the craig angelo video was because he wanted to show the true side of him. I lost all respect after he fired banachek. I think sean fields should quit before he is degrated in front of everybody. i can see him telling criss "dude thats now how its done" or something and criss firing him on the spot.

I don't know what you're talking about but I'd like to see that video. I couldn't find it using the keywords, do you have a link?
Edit: I found out that it's some kind of parody or something like that, but no video to watch it.

You really need to learn to search better. This was the first Google "hit" on the words "craig angelo sankey"

http://media.theory11.com/1121-Craig-Angelo