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.

Great, you revived a dead topic, thanks for making this forum crappy again. Enjoy your next few weeks of debating with the angel bashers. You made this mess for yourself, have fun living with it.

1. Many skilled magicians such as Jeff McBride, Lance Burton and Penn and Teller are good friends with Criss and respect him. So apparently you're much more technically advanced than they are because you can see Criss' ''obvious'' lack of ability, yet they can't. Uh-huh, sure.

I spent a week in Las Veags last month. I can say, beyond any doubt that there is very little, if no respect for Angel in the Las Vegas Magic Community. I met McBride, Eugene Burger, Lance Burton, Penn & Teller, Mac King and Dirk Losander. (I also had a LONG conversation with Johnny Thompson at the Magic Castle recently). The general consensus is, Criss burned his own bridges and insulted too many people.

Criss has proven his lack of ability by simply comparing the impossible feats on his Cable show and his lackluster performance in his live show.

2. I'm going to let you in on a little secret here, um . . . brace yourself, because this may be a bit of a shock, but . . . Magicians LIE! It's part of the act! All magic is in a sense a lie, that's how we fool our audience.
Getting upset with Angel for saying ''I don't use camera tricks'' Is just as pointless as being peeved at him for saying ''I'm going to make this coin dissapear.'' In the end it's just another form of misdirection. What's the big problem with it? Blaine uses camera tricks for his levitation; Copperfield used them when he vanished Lady Liberty, and no one had a problem with them. But if Criss Angel decides to use some editing once in awhile, O God, the complaints start coming. That just Isn't fair.

Angel has gone beyond the normal "deception" magicians use in performance. Yes - Magicians lie, without guilt, to achieve their goals; but Angel has ruined decades of trust that other magicians have built since the late fifties regarding their TV audiences. There are Criss Angel Loyal knuckleheads that will swear to god that what Angel does is authentic and no camera tricks are involved. There is another BIG difference here - Angel uses camera tricks to hide his lack of skill and magic ability. His constant, "What you see is what you get." his laughable.

3. So do Penn and Teller, and a lot of other notable Magicians. Get over it.

Penn and Teller usually expose their own material. If they expose classical material, like the cups and balls, for example, they do it in such a confusing and entertaining way, the audience cannot recall the actual secret to repeat the effect. Also, Penn & Teller are brilliant entertainers with actual skill


6. Again, another false statement. Criss has NEVER claimed to have supernatural power, and if you would spend any amount of time with the show, you would see that he often discredits those who do make that claim.
By ''what you see is what you get,'' he means that what he does on the show is what you would see if you watched him live, and has nothing to do with any supernatural claim. And yes, he really does do those stunts you mentioned for real, don't sit there and tell me they are camera tricks too. If Blaine can stand in ice for several days, Angel can walk on spikes for a few seconds. It's not that far fetched

"What you see is what you get." is a blatant fabrication. If Criss could actually perform these miraculous stunts and feats of magic, without the aid of camera tricks and impossible/practical methods, don't you think he would be performing them, LIVE, nightly at the Luxor?

7. Okay, I'll sum this up quickly: Angel didn't 'ruin' the performance. He simply told the guy that he was a fraud. Criss was a judge on that show, and judges are allowed to 'judge' someone's performance if they have a problem with it. Again with your outrageous claims.

There is a code of decorum in the world of professional magicians. One is heckling a magician during a performance; Criss did just that. He did not call out any other performer during the shows run; why is that? Criss was not put on the show to "judge" the contestants, he was put on the show to draw an audience since the network had little faith in Uri Gellar doing it for himself. (A huge mistake on NBC's part I might add since, World Wide, Gellar's show is getting stellar ratings, but the US version - with Angel - tanked horribly). Criss had also planned to attack Jim Callahan's performance from the get go since he had prepared his prediction envelopes prior to the show. Did you actually watch the show, or only heard about it or saw "clips" on YouTube?

There are no outrageous claims here - everyone involved with that show, including Gellar and the magic advisors agreed Angel's behavior was deplorable.

( I as actually slated to appear on that show, and thank goodness I was not picked. I was assured by the producers, along with all the other performers, that this show would showcase their work and they would not be attacked. I guess Angel did not get that memo).

I think I'll stick to my guns on this one and still say that Criss Angel is great, and if you think that makes me an idiot, I don't really care, because your opinion doesn't matter to me.[/b]

If Angel critics opinions don't matter, why take the time to post several comments on this forum defending this hack?

Hey listen, I'm not denying that Angel is going about it wrong sometimes, and you made some good points here, but I still think a lot of these arguments come down to opinion. In your opinion Angel is a talentless hack, but I just don't see how he could be because you don't get as far as he has if you have absolutely no talent.

If you want to hate Criss Angel, that's your right, and it's the popular thing to do right now, so you'll fit right in, but I don't think it's as cut and dry as most claim. Angel has good and bad sides to him, and whether or not you are impressed with him, he is out to impress laypeople, not magicians, and he's getting people excited about magic again.

I don't completely dissagree with you, but I still think Angel is great. Just my opinion. And I agree with you about the Loyals: they praise everything he does no matter what, and that's just naive.