David Blaine - Death Dealer

[Travis]

Only two, to my knowledge.

Carl Skenes was the first and David Blaine is now the 2nd, using Carl's method.

[Rick Ruhl]

Keep in mind Richard, you can also slow down a bullet by using less gunpowder, and you could even grab it with your hand at a slower speed.

[Richard Kaufman]

The speed of the bullet doesn't impress me. The set up was very precise, so not hitting the target wasn't really an option. REGARDLESS of those things, I give Blaine credit for standing there with a metal cup in his mouth. I sure as hell wouldn't do it.

[Rick Ruhl]

me either Richard. Too many things can mess up. I don't even like chopper effects.

[David Scollnik]

Just posted a conversation on the Finale Flub with David as to what was supposed to happen and what went wrong. Why is David upset with the President? LISTEN AND FIND OUT

Here is the video clip from which that audio was taken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFok-Ak0o_I

[amp]

David Blaine Dive of Death brought to you by...Macy's. I think it would be better if they said,David Blaine Dive of Death brought to you by Cobb-Warner Funeral Home.
The show put me to sleep.

[Steve V]

If you fast forward through the commercials, the hanging upside down stuff, the yacking, and only watch the magic tricks you can zip through that sucker pretty darn quick.

[MaxNY]

The super slo-motion of bullet was great. You could really hear that film camera winding the film around FAST! There was no way a video camera could have caught that motion. But, it does take time to develop...etc.

The only other guy, that I know really takes a bullet was his adviser, he did it for That's Incredible. I can go back and check to see what type of bullet it was. I believe he did it three times in his life. he twists balloon animals now in Florida.

How does get he permission to climb bridges?

[Joe Pecore]

Skene's bullet catch on "That's incredible" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DkiVH7p5t4

[Joe Pecore]

and David's already on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDpeOdXlyeA

[Magic Newswire]

I posted that on the website later in the day as well. It was sent to us before teh video was posted. I think that I mentioned it here, but maybe it was the Cafe. In addition, we posted a slightly better quality copy of the video at the site.

cheers
Dodd

[MaxNY]

Things he does better than anyone else..... Endurance stunts. He also has tapped into an audience that really wants to believe that magic can somehow take them out of their mundane existance.

Apparently the gang style hand signals outside of 113th Street were not gang related at all...but the universal hand signal, letter "H" for Houdini!

[Kevin Connolly]

You can take off holding your breath under water. That's been broken.

And with the audience and their mundane existences, yelling "You Suck, You Suck" at the end, that must have made their day.

[MaxNY]

Here is what DB wanted the ending to look like...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262008/tv ... 130740.htm

[The Magic Apple]

I guess he won't be on ABC anymore...what a schmuck

[Pete McCabe]

This is an old Orson Welles idea.

At least, that's the way I heard it. A garden party somewhere in Hollywood. Welles has a card chosen, returned to the deck, deck placed n a houlette. Chosen card rises from the deck, up into the air, and disappears in the sky.

The method was a weather balloon with a long string. I don't think the idea was to actually fool people -- I think a weather balloon would be hard to conceal. But that moment when the card rose up into the sky would be unforgettable.

I was working on this for a friend's wedding, outside by his pool at night. Turns out a single black balloon will easily raise a playing card and a few hundred feet of upholstery thread. Then the wedding was moved to a different location and indoors.

One day.

[Travis]

Something utilizing this idea was marketed by Steve Fearson years ago. It's called Area 51 and it was a little glowing rod that floated (a la his Floating Cigarette method). As a finale, the magician would step outside and release the glowstick which would fly up into the night sky and disappear.

[Doug Brewer]

As of last night I'm starting to have my lay audiences ask me if I saw the last David Blaine special (unfortunately I didn't). Asking them their opinion it is obvious that what we hold true for individual effects, holds true for TV specials - that is, they remember the last thing they saw. I had a number of people say it was "awful" or worse. I asked if they were referring to the ending that didn't go as planned and the answer was "yes". I said, "but the magic during the show was good, right", and they said, "oh, yeah, he did some cool stuff, but the ending . . ."

Just goes to show you that no matter how hard you work - they'll go home talking about the ending.

[MaxNY]

It was'nt just this show that had a bad ending either. Frozen's ending left many people pretty empty. The Fishbowl stunt got flushed... The only really cool ending was the jump from the cell tower.

[John Tudor]

http://newteevee.com/2008/09/26/hanging ... comic-dog/

...Triumph the Insult Comic Dog with DB.

[Magic Newswire]

We posted an independent video filmed live as that segment was shot as well as the clip from Hulu if you want more.

Cheers

(posted this because the other link seems not to be working at the moment.)

[John Tudor]

After the "standing on a pole" stunt, a client asked an agent of mine if I was "going to actually do magic, as opposed to just stand there".
I have to say I liked it, despite the "Dive"...