by The Cranky Media Guy!
Fri., Dec 1
Don't Miss The Letter On The Bottom Of The Page
As you'll see if you read all the way to the bottom, yesterday
I went on a little rant about David Blaine in general and his
"frozen in time" stunt specifically. I got an interesting
email about it and you'll find it and my response to it at the
bottom of the page.
Zero-tolerance For Dying People
Monday the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether or not people
who provide marijuana to terminally ill people to ease their suffering
should be exempt from federal anti-drug laws.
Am I the only one who thinks this is just plain stupid? I really,
really, really don't like drugs (including alcohol), but what
is the concern about giving what amounts to a pain-reliever to
a dying person? Are we afraid that they'll get other dying
people hooked on wacky weed? Sorry, but that's "zero-tolerance"
gone irrational. Common sense suggests that compassion for the
suffering should outweigh the desire to lock up substance abusers.
Ve Vill Run Chrysler
I don't know how I missed this, but until recently I didn't know
that Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler in '98. Anyway, the Germans
spent $32 billion to merge with the American company. Well, that's
the way they pitched it at the time--as a merger of equals.
Because of that, Kirk Kerkorian, a billionaire who owned 13.75%
of Chrysler stock, voted in favor of the "merger". Recently,
though, DaimlerChrysler CEO Juergen Schrempp admitted that Daimler-Benz
always intended to control Chrysler and operate it as a division.
Hmm, can you say "deliberate misrepresentation"?
Since the merger/takeover, the stock has tanked. As you might
expect, Kerkorian ain't happy. He's suing, alleging fraud, et
cetera, et cetera.
It isn't often that I side with a billionaire, but it really
looks like he (and the rest of the Chrysler stockholders) got
screwed on this one. Note to Schrempp (and other cocky corporate
assholes): if you want a successful career as a con man, Rule
Number One is "never confess what you've done, especially
if the marks can hear you."
Thurs., Nov. 30
Blaine Talk
As I'm typing this, I'm watching David Blaine being (very slowly)
chipped out of a big block of ice in Times Square on ABC TV. I
confess to having mixed feelings about the current darling of
the magic scene. On the one hand, he's a very good self-promoter,
which I admire. On the other hand, he has a tendency to oversell
his tricks a wee bit, coming pretty close to implying that they're
closer to miracles than illusions.
That's a no-no in magic circles. Magicians think it's all well
and good to fool people, but you're supposed to be very clear
that what you're doing is purely illusion, not supernatural. Magicians
get really pissed off when someone pulls that kind of crap. That
may account for why some pretty big names in the magic business
have broken their usual vow not to reveal how tricks are done
and given away the secrets behind Blaine's "frozen in time"
stunt.
Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller did an interview the other day
in which he explained that the company that makes P & T's
props also built the apparatus Blaine used to be "frozen".
Penn made the point that Blaine would be near ice, not
in ice and he said that a hose would be pumping warm air
into the cavity Blaine stood in. Penn likened it to being inside
a warm telephone booth surrounded by ice and said that if he was
given a chair and a copy of Moby Dick, he could stay in
such an environment forever. He said that the hardest part of
the trick is to look good with your shirt off. David Copperfield
has also made some disparaging comments about Blaine.
You could ascribe some of the nastiness towards Blaine to jealousy,
but I don't think that explains all of it. Two or three years
ago, I saw Blaine's first two specials on TV and something struck
me. With one exception (his levitation trick), everything he did
was the kind of thing I've seen all my life in well-stocked magic
shops. Many of them were self-working tricks, involving little
real skill on the part of the performer. This was confirmed for
me by the proprietor of a store in Delaware who told me he could
sell me any trick Blaine had done on his ABC show on the spot.
The next day I was in a magic store in Times Square (two blocks
from where Blaine was "frozen" this week) who also offered
to sell me any of Blaine's tricks.
That guy claimed to have thrown Blaine out of his store two weeks
prior to my visit because he thought he was an "arrogant
asshole". Attitude aside, the main complaint about David
Blaine seems to be that he isn't advancing the art of illusion,
doing store-bought tricks instead. By the way, I broke down and
bought a $25 video that explains the levitation illusion. I now
am able to perform the same trick that was the highlight of one
of Blaine's shows. I can tell you that there's absolutely nothing
"supernatural" about how it's done.
I've noticed something else about Blaine that troubles me. He
likes to work out on the street to impromptu audiences. That's
kind of his gimmick and it's all well and good. He seems to prefer
to work to people who strike me as uneducated and perhaps given
to believing in the supernatural, though. On one of his specials,
he traveled to a remote village in South America and did some
tricks that implied the ability to bring dead plants back to life.
The natives ran away in fear. To any ethical performer of magic,
that's really over the line.
To me, proof that Blaine is willing to allow people to believe
that he's something more than a mere performer came when I read
the credits to his second special. (Yes, I'm one of those annoying
people. You'd be surprised at what you can learn by reading credits.)
I had noticed while watching the show that there was a short voice-over,
consisting of no more than about five lines of dialogue. Much
to my surprise, the credits told me that the announcer was Uri
Geller. Geller is an Israeli "psychic" who had a run
of popularity in the 70's by claiming he could bend spoons with
his mind (your guess is as good as mine as to why anyone would
want to do that). The reality is that Geller is a (not very good)
sleight of hand artist, and his "mysterious powers"
have been exposed by James Randi. Using tricks to claim supernatural
powers is considered highly unethical in the magic community
(and rightly so).
I find it hard to believe that it would be worth Blaine's money
to bring Geller in to read a couple of lines of copy, especially
when there are dozens of professional voice-over announcers available.
My guess is that Geller was actually hired to be a "consultant"
on how to appear to be a miracle worker, rather than a common
magician. In my opinion, having him read the short copy was a
way to justify including his fee in the show's budget. I don't
know whether magicians also read credits and therefore are aware
of Geller's participation in the show, but if they are, that would
also explain their enmity toward Blaine. If there's a Magician's
Shit List, Geller's name is right at the top.
I sure hope that the visitors to this web site are a little more
sophisticated than to believe that a guy who knows how to use
carbon dioxide to make a fly appear to be dead (so he can then
"revive" it) is anything other than a clever illusionist.
It's possible, though, that you have a friend or relative who's
given to believing in blatant bullshit. If so, do them a favor
and point them toward this little rant, will you please? It's
a decent place to start on the road to rationality, I think.
The Mail
Dear CMG:
There is a gentleman who goes by the name of Dr. Silkini who
travels the country selling promotional packages that will freeze
one of your station's DJ's in ice. Did it in Houston in '97 for
5 grand. You're right, you never touch the ice and they can get
you out in about 90 seconds if panic sets in.
Craig E.
Dear Craig:
Yup, I know about Dr. Silkini. In fact, Chris, the guy I'm
working with these days was "frozen alive" by him several
years ago back in Pennsylvania. He told the story on the air yesterday
morning. Just as you said, you never actually touch the ice. As
Penn said, you're near ice, not in ice. To be fair,
Chris did his stunt lying down and Blaine had to stand (definitely
more tiring), but the basic principle is the same. Blaine was
not in any danger of freezing to death.
For our Friday show, we called a magic store in Manhattan.
The guy there said that he knew Blaine and confirmed what I said
above about people in magic circles not being very fond of Blaine.
According to him, the general consensus is that there are people
in the business far more talented than David Blaine and that Blaine
gets more attention than his skills should warrant.
CMG
The BEST stories are the ones you report -- News items
may be sent to bob@crankymediaguy.com
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