Ok, I'm sure this has been posted before, but... why is there a david blaine section? Why not a houdini section, an amazing johnathan section, a michael ammar section? There are WAY too many good magicians out there...so why just post blaine's name? Don't get me wrong, blaine is fine..but either be all inclusive or just lose this section.

He is one of the popular magicians for beginners. Beginnners always wanna be like him, thats why..

Because he uses more gimmicked tricks and because they felt like giving him his own section

dbecker5....You've got a good point there. It's probably because most of Blaine's tricks/effects are so readily available. And the fact that they're a strong selling point for Penguin because of his popularity. Also the fact that street magic has been pushed in recent years. Blaine's isn't the only one here though, there's a Jay Sankey store on the front page, just not a specific board devoted to him. But I agree with you, there should be an all emcompassing board for discussing professional magicians, not just a singled out one because of his popularity.

I think Penguin promotes him because of the younger newbie magicians idolize him and they buy the tricks he performs. like look at the TOP 7 THIS WEEK there are 3 BLAINE performed effects I think last week there were 5 but anyways. DAVID BLAINE IS MAKING PENGUIN $$$thats why he has his own forum. I would personally like to see a Paul Harris forum because I think he has done more to revolutionise the art than any other magician in the past 20 or so years.

I personally don't think blaine is all that good. How hard is the invisible deck to do? Not hard at all. How about healed and sealed? Not very hard (or so i have heard) One thing i do give blaine is his performance. Performance is the key issue to tricks. And that's why he is famous. Plus he was lucky enough to get a gig on tv and made magic big.

Hockey? Performance? My 16 year old mumbles better than Blaine!! Yeah, he is lucky alright! Those tv specials could have featured just about anybody on this site. Heck, Oz (the guy who does the vids for pengiun) is more enjoyable to watch! (Somewhere in there is a compliment to Oz). Blaine got lucky, that's all. The previous post also made a great statement....how hard is healed and sealed...how hard is rising card? Like I said, that could have been almost any of us on this post site. Just need the contacts, kids, that's it.

Would you all SHUT UP! David Blaine is a millionaire, your not, deal with it.

edited yeah, magicmandan.

I look at this way. I'm not crazy about Blaine, nor do I dislike the guy. But I agree with dbecker5 when he says that Blaine just got lucky. There are plenty of street magicians all over the world that do performances that hands down blow Blaine's right out of the water. Yet Blaine gets on TV. Go figure! Blaine must have had help or some kind of contact to get as far as he has. Because like I said, there are other performers much better than him.

I know it has been stated by others above, but David Blaine's popularity with the general audience is huge right now. Think of it this way... How many times has someone asked you if you can the _____ trick David Blaine did? Compare that to how many times someone asked you to do a Houdini trick. While David Blaine doesn't have the respect and popularity of most performing magicians, he is in fact the majority of what laymen know about magic right now. I know it is lame a edited, but throwing in a "David Blaine" trick near the beginning of a performance will certainly catch the attention of people are familar with him. Once you have their attention you can move on the things they haven't seen before.

Hey theres nothing bad to be said for luck. I'm sure this man has had three times as much luck as we'll ever have. Good for Dave. This is my last word on Blaine. Go out into the streets, perform your hearts out with this guarantee : If you are, as you so claim better than Blaine, which is a reasonable claim, then you dont have to worry about him. Because your audience is not going to be thinking about David Blaine. They're going to be thinking about you. David Blaine got lucky. Whatever. Instead bashing his luck, why dont you go out into the field and put your own to the test.

i think all of these posts answered your quetion. He's the most controversial magician of our time. Look at all these people that love him. Look at all these people that hate him. He has his own board because people are going to talk about him more. Even though a love Jay Sankeys stuff i wouldnt really bother to come to this board as much. I think im the only person her that doesnt think highly of him but doesnt dislike the guy either. Thats just my opinion though.

Go hang out in front on ABC studios & show everyone magic tricks, that's what he did. You might get lucky & get a TV contract if the producers like you well enough. I have been asked if I wanted to go on Letterman before, but I declined becuase I don't feel like I am ready for something that big yet.