Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

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Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 20th, 2003, 8:33 am

Since Blaine managed to make it for 44 days, and has been carted off to the hospital, what does everyone think of his stunt now?
Was it a trick? Was his water spiked?
Was the stunt a positive or negative thing?
Is Blaine a schmuck or a king?
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 9:02 am

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Since Blaine managed to make it for 44 days, and has been carted off to the hospital, what does everyone think of his stunt now?
Was it a trick? Was his water spiked?
Was the stunt a positive or negative thing?
Is Blaine a schmuck or a king?
Here in the UK, whenever his name was referred to on any of the talk shows I caught parts of in the preceding weeks, whatever word(s) that were used to describe him were bleeped out by the network. We saw him as a schmuck, except for a group of teenagers for whom he can do no wrong.

The fact that his PR company flew in when he was being used as a target, told me that the ridicule wasn't expected, and they were here for damage limitation.

My method would have been to live on one huge length of spaghetti sucked up the tube. :)

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Terry » October 20th, 2003, 9:26 am

Blaine was in a box? They let him out?

Who cares? Why care? Lack of air? :D

I guess the action figures (dolls) and video games will be out in time for Christmas.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 9:46 am

I have very mixed feelings about David Blaine.

I believe that the stunt was real, that he did survive in the box for 44 days with only water for sustenance. This would be a difficult challenge but far from an impossible one.

The part that bothers me is that the media refers to him as an illusionist and a magician. If he did what he claimed this was not a magic trick, it was an endurance stunt.

I appreciate that David Blaine brings attention to magic. I also appreciate that he is redefining how people think of magicians. He would not be my first pick as the magician I would like to see garnering all this attention, but I don't have control over the media.

One thing I do appreciate about him is that I don't see him out bad-mouthing other magicians. He does not challenge them to duels, or deride their choice of material or presentation style.

Magic as a performance art is as diverse as music. To expect that Yo-yo Ma and Eminem will both appeal equally well to everyone is rediculous. It is equally rediculous to try and evaluate the merits of these performers using the same point of reference, but they are both popular musicians.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 10:06 am

I don't know why he did it. I think the fellow who posted about Blaine wanting to appear as a mystical charactor was correct....I feel bad for the guy. I do wish he wouldn't be such a wuss about everything though. There was an article comparing Blaine and his nail chewing feminized followers to the guy from Jackass and his hooting hoard of maniacs. I think I would rather hang out with the hoard.
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Robert Allen » October 20th, 2003, 10:06 am

I thought this quote summed the stunt up well:

"But 15-year-old Stacey Harper was disappointed that Blaine merely shuffled out of his box. "It's quite impressive what he's done but me and my friends were expecting a big stunt at the end. He is meant to be a magician," she said."

The part that bothers me is that the media refers to him as an illusionist and a magician. If he did what he claimed this was not a magic trick, it was an endurance stunt.
Perhaps it's time to to start calling him, simply, Messiah.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Adrian Kuiper » October 20th, 2003, 11:43 am

I'm looking forward to the DVD.

Seriously, I have NO idea what he attempted to accomplish nor what he DID accomplish. As a PR stunt it borders on lunacy... it has NO magical value....and, so far as I can see, no redeeming social value.

BUT...his name was in the papers more in the last 45 days or so than ALL of ours will be for the rest of our lives. Mission accomplished????

Adrian

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 11:45 am

My favorite remark abouth the whole Blaine thing came from Kelly Ripa. This morning on LIVE!, Regis mentioned that magician David Blaine had completed his 44 day stunt and Kelly said, "That's not magic! That's a DIET!" :whack: Hit that one right on the head, she did! --Asrah

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Robert Allen » October 20th, 2003, 11:55 am

And thus the TRUE REASON behind this stunt of Blaine's is exposed: he plans on releasing a book on The Blaine Diet, followed by a tour of talk shows nationwide, finally concluding in the formation of franchised David Blaine diet camps where people will pay huge sums of money to be locked in lucite boxes and fed by a tube of water. There will also be the David Blaine Ashrams where the same procedure will be followed, with the addition of random beatings on the boxes during the middle of the night to help you raise your consciousness.

Blaine is a genius!

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Ian Kendall » October 20th, 2003, 1:30 pm

I'm amazed that anyone really thinks he had no food for the whole time. The last couple of days BBC 24 always said 'Blaine has survived alledgedly without food...'

I'm going with Jerry's comments in the Guardian about the access methods.

However, he has name recognition all over the world, more money than the rest of us combined and the ability not to faint _even once_ after six weeks of fasting. Superb.

Take care, Ian

P.S. Geller said live that he would be 'dissappointed' if he found out it was a trick...

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 1:40 pm

it's unfortunate that hunger-strikers throughtout the world don't get a fraction of the press blaine did for his piece of 'performance art'. i think it would have been far more admirable if blaine did it for a cause, any cause. the fact that he seems to have starved himself purely for the press and to promote his soon too be released dvd is offensive. being nothing more than a 'hunger-stunter', i think he deserves all the harsh criticism he's received.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Curtis Kam » October 20th, 2003, 2:05 pm

It's performance art, ladies and gentlemen, and as always, it has taken a little while to figure out the point, but it's obvious when you finally get it. Blaine's "stunt" is a cultural statement, made to the world. He is saying "Yes, an American CAN survive on nothing more than attention from the media."

This explains why the piece had to be done outside of the US. (Besides the fact that if one is going to attempt a fast, it's best to do so someplace where the taste of the food will not add to the temptation)

And another note, given that the money Blaine earns from this stunt will actually provide for his living, at least for a while, the stunt continues. Indeed, he will continue to "survive on nothing more than publicity itself".

My bet for the title to the movie based upon this piece? "Starved for Attention" (Or has the press already beaten me to that one?)

Gotta go work on my own project to capitalize on Mr. Blaine's work, the soon-to-be-released "David Blaine cookbook--the best in confinement cuisine" with a forward by Martha Stewart. Let's see, warm water, tepid water, standing water, hmm...

Guest

Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 2:07 pm

UK TV just re-aired his disembark from the box.

Whilst channel hopping from another station I caught a scene with him, prior to his latest stunt, in a room with about 20 naked models who danced while he did card fans. It was all a bit Andy Warhol, but seemed lame in that he's just trying to get people's attention by any means necessary. I wonder if his creative team has lost direction?

Merely hold a card fan doesn't make what you are actually doing magic. As a study of many of the avatars on other magic forums will confirm.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Dave Egleston » October 20th, 2003, 2:11 pm

On the Jim Rome radio show today - Rome said it best - (paraphrase)Magicians are one small razor blade width step above mimes - and Bland did nothing to elevate that perception - It wasn't magic so why is this stunt referred to as such?(end paraphrase)

My question - As an obese person myself - How can someone as Biafra skinny as Bland was before this stunt started - still have a small roll at his belt line? Shouldn't you be able to count his ribs? - This is just an observation from the quick picture I saw on television today. I would have watched longer if someone would've handed him a deck of cards and asked for some "real" magic

Dave

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 2:20 pm

Did anyone notice that Roy took the Tiger incident with less anguish than Blaine leaving the box?
Steve V

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 2:39 pm

I just wonder how it was that David Blaine's hair was so soft and clean as he emerged from the box. Surely after 44 days it would have been a greasy mess. If David was not taken out of the box from time to time I would be very surprised. A little subtle misdirection would be all that would be required. His first moments down on the ground seemed to be so staged too that it all seemed to have been scripted. He is a magician and there would have been nothing wrong in indulging in some trickery and I am sure that he did.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 2:41 pm

Despite the naysayers, and the justified teasing, on this board and others, I maintain that Blaine has accomplished a great deal, especially for one simply sitting in a box, for 44 days. He in fact did little else then sit, to the chagrin of some. He made little claims for himself, which some claim was an error, and yet accomplished a great deal at a personal level, as discussed on another thread in the Buzz section on this forum. One may think Blaine should not have done what he did, does not deserve the attention he got, is over-priced, represents a sad commentary on the state of human beings today, or is deserving of any of the myriad other criticisms lobbed his way, and yet the fact remains that he has managed to put himself into a category of international fame that holds the promise of great accomplishment if he chooses to take advantage of the opportunity.

What I continue to find most amazing about Mr. Blaine is his ability to stir up such strong feelings and still avoid easy labelling. It is his talent, I think, for being in such a way that avoids black and white answers to Mr. Kaufman's black and white questions, his talent for dancing in the grey, that is his most lasting legacy to date, and perhaps a significant cause of the consternation he seems to cause

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 3:26 pm

I'll label him: Puppet.
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Robert Allen » October 20th, 2003, 3:31 pm

Mike, I don't see your point at all. Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Jackson, Ariel Sharon, George Bush, etc. can all stir up plenty of press as well, but what they do isn't magic either.

10/21/2003 - upon reflection I have deleted my stupid comment that "Blaine is what is wrong with America...[etc.]". As much as I don't respect his art, it's absurd for me to make that statement. Sorry.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 4:04 pm

To my knowledge, neither Mr. Blaine nor I claimed his box sitting feat was magic. There is a latin phrase for an argument that says something is not what it does not claim to be which I wish I could recall, so that I could but appear erudite and learned, but, sadly, I cannot, and thus remain emeshed in my West Texas roots.

I think Mr. Blaine delivered exactly and precisely what he promised. He said he would sit in a box for 44 days, not eat, and drink water, and he did. For that, Channel Four was willing to pay him, some people were willing to pay Channel Four to see him sit, and at last estimate maybe a million people stopped by what even the naysayers called a top tourist attraction in London to watch him sit in a box. Blaine did what he said we would do.

What we have done is take a fairly clear slate, and write on it. We have written our projections of what he should be doing, of how he should have gone about this, of what it should mean, of what should be required if one is going to attempt a stunt like this, and then labelled Blaine a failure because he did not meet, in our estimation, the goal we set for him, that he himself never accepted.

And as far as the rather global what is wrong with America assessment, there have historically been, there currently are, and there likely will in the future be, many activities that have no intrinsic content or value beyond that which the audience chooses to give it. To conclude that another appearance of relative value is either new or indicative of "wrongness" seems to me to open up a whole other avenue of discussion, and to label Blaine as the poster boy for what is wrong with America seems rather to go a long way towards proving my point.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Robert Allen » October 20th, 2003, 4:16 pm

Mike, I know the phrase you're thinking of and I can't think of it either :) . But that was not my intent.

If Blaine isn't doing magic anymore, to the extent he ever was, then I guess discussion of him here should be considered off topic until such time as he starts doing magic again.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » October 20th, 2003, 5:21 pm

Not interesting or funny as "Put Edwina back-in-bowl" ... from that movie with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin.
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 6:35 pm

The title of magician/showman is still retained, regardless if they gather news by flying pioneer airplanes in Austrialia or dating movie stars or models today.
Those who may not care or "get" what Blaine is doing or about...unfortunately for you, fortunately for Blaine, he knows the world he lives in, and makes it work for him.
Michael Eisner said, "The movie studios first tried to ignore TV, fight TV, compete against TV, and eventually,(correctly) embraced TV.
No one understands TV better than David Blaine and his associates.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Robert Allen » October 20th, 2003, 7:30 pm

Those who may not care or "get" what Blaine is doing or about...unfortunately for you, fortunately for Blaine, he knows the world he lives in, and makes it work for him
I'm reminded of a line delivered by Jody Foster in the movie Contact: "I've always believed the world is what we make of it." It seems apropos in this case.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby mike cookman » October 20th, 2003, 7:36 pm

Im one of those who doesnt "get " it. Blaine has accomplished one thing, anyway, which is that a lot of us are talking about him. But I still dont "get" it.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Kevin Connolly » October 20th, 2003, 8:05 pm

"No one understands TV better than David Blaine and his associates."

Maybe, maybe not. I watched three one hour news programs yesterday. They all covered the story. From 14 seconds, 22 seconds and 26 seconds in length. They aired from the 26 minute mark to the 35th. All were dismissive about the stunt. From being a "nutter" to possibly not being on the up and up.

My feeling is that it was really tired stunt that ran into trouble from the begining. From the physical and verbal attacks in the beginning, the Roy attack in the middle(which knocked Blaine out for 10 straight days, at least), till PM Blair with chest pains on the last day. Not to mention much hotter stories that occured during the last two weeks across the US.

If they understand TV so well, maybe the next time they'll do a better job on getting on it and staying there.
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Robert Allen » October 20th, 2003, 8:06 pm

Diego, besides, I believe Houdini had done quite a bit more magic and escapes before he flew that airplane than Blaine has done in his entire life so far.

Marketing checklist for success today:

1) goatee? check.

2) mumbles? check.

3) dresses like a slob? check.

4) has body piercings and/or tattoos, or can convincingly display fake ones? check.

5) has no original material but can do others marginally well, um, sort of? check.

Woot! We'll make MILLIONS with this new "brand".

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 8:55 pm

Kevin,
I don't know if you were watching non-British news shows, but despite the Prime Minister and a world famous performer going to hospitals being covered as well, who else got that much coverage?

Robert,
Like it or not, MORE have seen Blaine and are aware of who he is, than Houdini had been able to do, at that time in history. Goatees,(careful, Dante, Gwynne are there)piercing/tatoos, dressed (down) as a "cool", "bad", street/rapper persona to HIS generation/world. Presenting magic in an original (street) setting where the REACTION SHOT, of the specators are the focus...quietly speaking/(Mumbling?) as the cool guy who has nothing to prove,so what is heard/remembered are the REACTIONS to those going wild, while Blaine is cool/quiet in control. I personally wouldn't mind seeing Blackstone or Lee Grabel...but the audience that Blaine knows is out there, doesn't care less what I like.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Kevin Connolly » October 20th, 2003, 10:18 pm

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Diego Domingo:
[QB] Kevin,
I don't know if you were watching non-British news shows, but despite the Prime Minister and a world famous performer going to hospitals being covered as well, who else got that much coverage?

Diego,

I think I mentioned enough to prove my point, but if you need more, here you go: Kobe case, Staten Island Ferry accident, Arnold campaign/election, box cutters onboard planes, Cubs, Boston Red Sox and thier curses. This is off the top of my head. Blaine's coverage, or lack of, could not compare to any of these.

Not to jump into someone elses case, but I have photos here that show more people watching Houdini doing just one straightjacket escape, than people watching Blaine at anytime in his 44 days in the box. Houdini performing on a workday and not a weekend.

One final thing, Houdini was already in the dictionary by 1918. He was 42 by then. You really can't compare the two.
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 20th, 2003, 11:12 pm

Kevin,
More precisely, I meant what magic/showman had received such coverage. (Blair, Horn, and now Blaine, have now been in the hospital.) I also referred to the year of 1910 as that point of Houdini's(aeronautical) era.
HOWEVER, tv created more viewers for Blaine's stunt, than all those who saw Houdini, (or Blaine) perform live....Indeed more have seen Copperfield or Blaine, in one broadcast, than have seen Houdini in his lifetime .
At a talk I gave on early radio mentalists, 2 years ago, I noted how Mel-Roy, Rajah Raboid and others, used their programs to receive dollar bills for horoscopes and dream books...and now John Edward uses his program to gain additional rating points, to generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue.
At the November Magic History Conference, I will be discussing a 1930's hypnotist who charged people 10 cents to talk to his assistant, who was "buried alive for days." Today, viewers who paid to watch Blaine in a box, on their TVs, have generated 7 figures for Blaine.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 21st, 2003, 2:33 am

Graham Nichols writes: "We saw him as a schmuck, except for a group of teenagers for whom he can do no wrong."

Amen, brother! And "right on".

BTW, I certainly hope no magician actually believes he was in that box for 44 days!

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Jon Allen » October 21st, 2003, 3:53 am

I found it very hard to get excited about the human Pinjata and, even though I had a job near his venue, I couldn't be bothered to see him.

People have asked me about I and whether it is a trick or not and I have said that while it is perfexctly plausible for someone to go 44 days on only water, he was almost 100% using magical techniques to make it easier for himself. One thing that I only heard about a couple of weeks ago was this switching out. I have seen hardly anything of the TV coverage while he was there so could someone explain how he was switched out? I'm intrigued how it could be done without people being suspicious.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Kevin Connolly » October 21st, 2003, 6:33 am

Diego,

Try not to confuse TV coverage with a live stream on a website. Yes, Blaine will most likely get 7 figures for this stunt, but that was probably up front. I don't think Murdoch will release the final numbers to see if the total costs were covered for this stunt.

Maybe more people may have seen seen Blaine than Houdini in his lifetime, maybe not. He did star in 5 movies and newsreels of the day that played world wide.

All I know that people have beeen talking about Houdini for over 100 years. Let's see how Blaine does in the same time frame and I'll get back to you. ;)
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby John Kokot » October 21st, 2003, 6:56 am

Having never seen David Blaine perform and being hopelessly ignorant of both his latest "box venture" as well as the controversy surrounding him in the magic community, I apologize in advance for not being better informed prior to asking the following questions: Does David Blaine care if he is thought of as a magician? Do his publicity exploits achieve the goals implicit in the hoary public relations maxim that states, "I don't care what they say about me as long they spell my name correctly?"

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Guest » October 21st, 2003, 10:59 am

Once again the topic of Mr. Blaine has created a lively discussion. It occurs to me that evaluating whether Blaine was a success by comparing him to Houdini, or even grading his success by Diego's statements regarding TV/publicity, might be a tad off, i.e. Blaine could be a success without being a Houdini or having the top publicity machine in the world.

I initially thought one of the objections to Blaine was the lack of artifice, that is that he simply sat in the box and didn't attempt to interject magic into the feat However, in posts here and elsewhere some complain because he did not do magic, others complain because he did and didn't admit it (the water was spiked, there was a food wrapper found in the box, he didn't lose enough weight, his hair didn't look in bad enough shape). It seems to me that if he did the box sitting with a bit of artifice thrown in then that is even more reason for us to doff our hats in his direction.

How one discusses the questions Mr. Kaufman raises reveals so much about my own bias, how I define success, or failure, or whatever relative goal is being discussed. I find it interesting how the label one applies to box sitting, "feat" "stunt" "performance art" "puppet" is so indicative of how one will evaluate the box sitting whereas a reviewer can say she is going to review the magic show of performer "x" without giving away the reviewer's bias.)

So, if success is defined as being a magician with substantial fame (whether less or more than Houdini) and monetary success and attention from the mainstream press (I live in a medium size town in central Texas. Blaine made page A2 twice over the weekend. I was in a very small town coffee shop on Monday and the farmers there were discussing Blaine, some indication of market saturation) then I maintain he was successful.

I wonder whether those folks in the 1920's and 1930's who advertised themselves as being buried alive for weeks on end with no foor or water, who charged 25 cents for the right to gaze down a pipe at the box sitter, were required to starve for a cause?

There is just something about Blaine and his dancing in the grey zone that incites folks to extremes and that is what I find most fascinating.

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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Jon Racherbaumer » October 21st, 2003, 11:10 am

STILL DANCING IN THE GREY ZONE: Although I often feel as though Im becoming more gaseous by the minute and ready to rashly palaver about what is REALLY going on, its difficult not to add my tuppence regarding Blaine-Outside-The-Box, interred or liberated, street-wise, Gellerized, or sanitized

So

although Ive parroted it to a redundant and ineffectual degree, its clear to me that Blaine understands the dictum that performance is always about the audience. In the desert of the real, Davids stunts (a denatured term at this stage) erase the line between real and simulation. Except for the people who were at the physical site of his starvation test, everyone else experienced mediated versionshundreds and hundreds of interpreted INTERPRETATIONS. It was referential fodder. The reported stories and the streaming, screaming video-feed were about US, the audience in all its inglorious diversity. It was HYPERREAL; hence, more-real-than-real.

I stated long ago in a MAGIC article about Early Blaine that he was a media creature. (Matrix Magician?) We, the audience, act and react.even those that react by saying that Blaine-in-a-Box is boring, silly, whack-jobby B.S. to the max. They are only part of the story. They are only part of a vox-pox mass-karaoke of opinion and complaint. We, the audience in all our vicarious splendor, are multi-tasking zappers and surfers and consumers of hyperreality.

Blaine is slouching toward his own eschatological endgame. He is interested in last things.

As I said in an early posting: BLAINE RHYMES WITH PAIN and I alluded to Elaine Scarrys extraordinary, heavy-duty tome, THE BODY IN PAIN (1985). Among other things, its a meditation on the vulnerability of the body. It posits:

Sustained, tortuous pain unmakes a persons world. Couple this book with Ariel Glucklichs SACRED PAIN (2001), you may gain many interesting insights into what Blaine is REALLY trying to accomplish, which has little to do with the kind of magic most of us do or are interested in discussing and studying.

FIGHT CLUB IS ONLY A PRIMER: Willfully testing the human body by ritualistically hurting it is a time-tested way to bring about profound transformations in ones consciousness. The average person thinks this approach is mad, daft, stupid, trivial, or spectacularly silly. Most people avoid pain and the pleasure principle rules. But throughout history there have been many true believers who have flogged themselves, starved themselves, hung by their flesh, slept on beds of nails, walked barefooted through scorching deserts, fasted for 40 days, and even crucified themselves.

Self-hurting may even turn out to be trendy?
Consider the recent fascination with Fight Club, body piercing, tattoos, branding, self-punishment covens, cutter clubs, and so on.

When I mentioned this not long ago to Paul Harris (who has some novel insights re the Blaine Phenom), he agreed.

The paperback edition of MYSTERIOUS STRANGER is in stores as we speak. His In-the-Box Diary is bound to be bound and annotated.

I say to magicians, one and all: You aint seen nothing yet!

Gulp down a red or blue pill, me buckos. It dont matter no how

Welcome to Magicdom's New Netherworld...
Through these doors is Performance-R-Us...

Trudgingly

JR

John McDonald
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby John McDonald » October 21st, 2003, 3:24 pm

Nihilism branded as performance art is still nihilism - unfortunately a trend in today's popular culture. Blaine has become part of this. I found the whole Blaine thing distasteful and unmagical. It was neither inspiring or wonderful. Blaine has a very unhealthy view of himself and the world. At one point in the build up programme to the him coming out of the box, Blaine was seen to stand with red paint (blood) all over his face, falling into his mouth, a shocking image yes. What did it mean? I have no idea. I don't even think he does. Pain, suffering? There are plenty of people in pain in the world. Blaine should try and relieve others of their pain not inflict pain on himself.

I am more inspired by Ed Visteurs or Alan Hinkes who endure hardships in order to climb high mountains. I am not inspired by Blaine.

I was also really worried to hear him say on the programme that he hated life and loved death. A statement that he said he later regretted and wanted to change as he was on his way to hospital. Was this an insight into his true motivation?

I wish he would stick to doing magic and entertain rather than build himself up as this pseudo-guru figure.

I loved his first special, that was magical this endurance stuff just isn't. David get back to the magic!!!!!
Best John

Jonathan Townsend
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » October 21st, 2003, 3:48 pm

Originally posted by Jon Racherbaumer:
When I mentioned this not long ago to Paul Harris (who has some novel insights re the Blaine Phenom), he agreed.
Good news that Mr. Harris has learned more about Performance art. Back in 87 he was not so keen on that stuff.

The Blaine/Pain/Game of media has few positive outcomes for the public at large. Once again the symbol of suffering transendence is brought forth while additional demands for time and taxation are levied.

If he could sit in that squallor with no food for 40 days, certainly you can watch the entertainment presented to you, and do with a few less meals, and just a bit more giving... all for the public good.

Not so sure about the red pill or the blue pill, either way it's drugs. Do you honestly belive you can tell the red pill from the blue pill? Rather close to choosing between coke and pepsi. Very close to the same product of sweetened brown fizzy water... differentiated mostlly by advertising generated perceptions called brand image.

Perhaps an advertising agency named Uqbar & Tlon might be behind this? Always fun to find a Borges citation in these absurd times. ;)
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

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mrgoat
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby mrgoat » October 22nd, 2003, 3:18 am

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Since Blaine managed to make it for 44 days, and has been carted off to the hospital, what does everyone think of his stunt now?
Was it a trick? Was his water spiked?
Was the stunt a positive or negative thing?
Is Blaine a schmuck or a king?
as mr sadowitz wrote in the guardian, it's pretty obvious really

they clean the box at night (of course they do, night is the BEST time to clean perspex) with a cherry picker. he hops into picker, eats and what have you and then pops back in

strong search lights point at ground so anyone around cant see - a la statue of liberty

makes sense to me

and all the british are just bored of him, frankly

Dale Shrimpton
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Re: Okay, Blaine's out of the box: what do you think of the stunt?

Postby Dale Shrimpton » October 22nd, 2003, 5:01 am

the word is, he wants nothing to do with Geller anymore,because of the amount of publicity Geller garnered for himself through the stunt. Even at one point claiming that he was " sending positive energy to david, so he will complete the stunt". thus, Taking all the credit.
I thought that it was a most interesting happening. I went up and visited him twice, and found it very thought provoking. but i have to say, i'm glad he's down now. Now maybe i can go to a pub for a quiet pint or two, without laymen asking me" what i thought, and have you got any cards with you?" ;)


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