I have heard that Criss Angel is a good magician in person. I have heard that his Broadway show is good. I have heard that he is a great sleight of hand artist. I agree that his T.V. show is a great way for the general public to experience magic. But something still bothers me.
I read all of these post that point fingers at stooges, camera tricks, and every other T.V. trick you can think of. I agree. When you look at a few simple tricks that are only possible with the help of a stooge, it makes you question. For instance, last week Criss is in a bar and grabs a "strangers" jacket. He pauses while a waitress walks past, puts the jacket of two "strangers" hands and a full bottle and bucket of champagne appears. Come on. This might be a poor example but seriously, not one person in there helped out on that? The acting on some of the stooges brought forth are horrible. I cannot remember what trick it was, but it was also last week that I saw the worst show of acting ever. Criss performs a trick and two guys in the background, turn to each other and high five in a way that made me stop my TV just to see it again. Are you kidding me. Never in my 10 years of magic have I had two grown men turn to each other and play patty cake in a bar. Odd?
I'm not saying that he uses stooges 100% of the time, but some of the effects are just so obvious. I don’t know how anyone can defend that. I know I know, I'm just mad because I don’t know how he did it, or because I don’t have my own T.V. show. Is that what you were going to say to me? I'm not questioning whether his show is good or not, I'm questioning why someone that calls themselves a magician would defend that? If you are a laymen, ok I understand. For instance the other night a man said to me" how did Criss Angel float from one building to another?" I just looked at him and said” magic". But I expect that. But from someone who is a magician? I just have this feeling that in person, Criss isn’t going to be walking up a random wall at will. He wont be floating 10 feet over my head in a Christ like pose and I’m also guessing that he wont be making poker chips penetrate through a Non-Criss Angel manufactured deck of cards. Just my thoughts.
O, and before I end this, the exposure deal. The tricks he has been exposing are simple tricks, tricks that the professional wouldn’t use. But what about the third grader whose just getting into magic and has now been crushed because a trick that has good quality to it has been exposed on A&E. Ratings my a$$. I'm guessing that if a show came on at 11 right after MindFreak, and exposed everything Criss had just done, he wouldn’t be very happy. Just my thoughts I guess.

I agree 100 percent on what you said

Always good to see when others see the light.

Yeah. I agree 100%. I used to think that the people who complain are just jealous of him and blaine.

But then i started getting oeple who say, "can you go through a closed window?","can you levitate across buildings?".

And their reaction to my magic, which is fairly good i should say, mostly card and money magic is reduced because they believe all street magician need to be able to do those kinds of "street magic".

But to be honest, i would the same thing criss does if im making millions. So i cant be mad.

When I watched Criss perform the effect with the Poker Chips, it was the worst sleight of hand I have ever witnessed...period, bar none. I'm not sure that the Academy of Magical Arts made the right choice naming him Magician of the Year...

That being said, somehow Criss still manages to entertain and make many forum visitors wonder where they can purchase the effects he performs.

I too agree with this post i esepcially got turned off when he did the illusion of ripping the women in two on the park bench i mean gee how obvious can you get that it was a stooge. Great effect-poor planning if you took a random person on the street and acually ripped them in half do you really think they'll smile at their other half and start running away on their hands??? Yeah right, if he did that to me I would lay their in shock NOT run away laughing and smiling very poor planning on his part. And for those of you who say I am exposing this illusion all I have to say is watch the illusion he basically exposes himself.

Thanks for all of your reply’s. Blindside, you are 100% true about the poker chips. I guess I should have edited my first post. I just try to hit some of the areas that the kids out there are going to use against my post. Now that I think about it, that might be the same episode that he was performing a card trick and my 85 year old grandmother looked at me and said" Did he just perform a pass" and she knows nothing about magic. It was so freaking obvious. You would think that in the editing room he would have caught that one. As for reactions being hindered do to floating and other things, I agree to an extent. Yes people do expect me to float, I get that like 100% of the time, but I try to do other things to take the focus off of that crap. For instance the other night the conversation started off about Criss Angel, as I posted earlier, but by the end, a man that is considered high up on the business ladder in Ohio gave me a great compliment. "You have beautiful hands". Might sound odd but I thought about it. I kept the magic going and after the initial conversation never did levitation come up again. I was taking objects that shouldn’t be magical and making them magical. If you pick something and make the impossible possible, then that will take charge of the T.V. show someone watched the week before.
I saw a post last week on how AoA by Paul Harris was one of the worst books they have ever seen, you could never use any of his material. I beg to differ. That is a great example of bringing the impossible into someone’s hands. For instance" Can you float from one building to another like Criss Angel" as I reply with a "No" while removing a card that was previously selected from a card box that a spectator held then pushing the card box through my hand turning it inside out(Paul Harris Effect). My point being, work off of someone’s ideas from Mr. Angel. Prepare a response now that will be effective when someone ask you that. When I first heard that question, I responded in a way that I never will again. "Its impossible, he uses wires and its on T.V.". When the finale word of that sentence came out of my mouth, I shut up and thought about it. If that is impossible, why should they believe me then. How is it possible for me to bend forks or to move objects. T.V. may be available for everyone to see, but when you perform for on individual one on one, they will remember you over Criss.


P.S. I'm suprised that I havent received any negative responses to my first post yet. I guess all the Criss Angel lovers are in bed.

the only thing im going to disagree about here is the poker chip trick. thats easily done with a normal pack of cards, and a sticky subtance.

heh im surprised that guy CameraEdit isnt here

What bothers me about proclaiming 'stooge' and whatever else is I have already heard comments from some of the people that were on the show.
Example the Saw in Half, someone mentioned that Criss gave everyone a free DVD of Mindfreak 1, the trick shocked most of those there, a girl did faint and needed to be taken off the stage-all true.

It wasn't a set up as some have claimed.

As for the Woman in Half, it has been admitted time and time again, there will be an assistant for some of the effects but the audience reacting and seeing what is happening is genuinely freaked out.
The levitation is another example of an assistant drawn out of the crowd much like a stage magician would do. There is an audience watching.

Ok first off, that trick nobody has claimed stooge. It was easly done without any adds from outside sources.
Second, Your quoting fact. How do you know? were you there? did you see the girl faint in person? im guessing not. So it should be takin with a grain of salt.

roadblock

#1. There have been those who have claimed it was 'staged' or 'stooged'
Disinformation finds itself not just here, but eventually everywhere. People start proclaiming 'Camera Trick' for everything.

#2. Concerning the 'truth' of the event--The following is a post from someone who attended and posted this message back in APRIL before anyone had seen the show and got it bang on what happened, so that is pretty good evidence that they were there.

http://p100.ezboard.com/fcrissangelfrm1 ... D=31.topic

A thread called
CRISS ANGEL MINDFREAK EPISODE TAPING


Smitty942 (4/19/06 9:10 pm)




So we see that the person knew what happened before it aired.
Was freaked out, and proved that the Girl did indeed faint or something close to it just as was shown on Mindfreak Next we also see in the thread where you GO IF YOU WANT to be on the show, because in some shows you see people in more then one shot, and these are FAN's not Stooges!


The date for the next shoot is given! So again you don't invite the public when you only want to use stooges.

If you read the whole thread, people have been bumping into him right at the Alladin, it tells you where the Mindfreak offices are etc.

Secondly I have already personally talked and chatted with a female who was on another effect, and have seen her picture. Many here and elsewhere claimed she was a stooge, I know she wasn't. The funny thing is she has no interest in proving she wasn't due to the fact she thinks people who are claiming this are just grasping for straws and that no-one would change their opinion anyway.

I just leave it at that.

Again are there assistants used? Yes, but the audience is real. If there has been anything like people are claiming I don't think it is at the level people are claiming.

I would be willing to put money on the fact that not everyone in the audience is real. some are paid. and im willing to bet that its the ones who are at the bad angles. its called crowd control. But im not saying this is the case everytime. just when its an really bad angle trick. Plus i dont care to read anyone blog about seeing the show. It still doesnt prove anything. Its all just talk. I could make a blog saying the same stuff. And you would be a fool to think that doesnt happen.

yea but when you talk to a person who can prove who they are and they are not full of it, then your opinion might change.

Also concerning the Sawing there was a thread right in this forum

http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/vie ... p?t=107574

dalairh



The type of thinking shows up at every turn.

The elephant effect was claimed by some to be a stooged audience, again that had a public invite!

Heck Gene Simmons back in 2002 was impressed with Angel! You can see his diary on his site. In March of 2002 before the Mindfreak tv show.

Not everyone who see's him are 'acting' or 'stooging' it up.

ok did you read my post. I didnt say everyone was. Im not gonna fight with you on this again. You are way to far gone and believe everything you read.