Esquire staffers learn card trick from Blaine

July 23, 2010

Fresh on the tails of yesterday’s Esquire pic, Dodd Vickers of Magic Newswire spotted this video of David Blaine teaching a magic trick to staff at Esquire magazine. Blaine has taught a few tricks before, but this is the best explanation of a trick he performs that we’ve seen.

The vid is pretty cool, and presents an interesting trick, but if you watch all the way through the end (there’s some outtakes attached) and look at the related videos, you can find a few more performances for the staff. Good stuff.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine | 4 Comments

Blaine’s upside-down efforts assist with picture

July 22, 2010

Photographer Michael Lavine (who has an incredible portfolio) has posted some interesting commentary about a recent pic of David Blaine for Esquire magazine.

The street magic legend was photographed upside-down in order to snag this incredible shot (click after the jump to see the full image). Lavine wrote in his blog that at first Blaine didn’t think the idea would work, but after seeing the setup and preparation, said the shot could be done in five tries. Writes Lavine:

Let’s just say that David has a “strong personality” and I had to use every trick in the photographic Jujitsu playbook to make it through the day. It’s incredibly physically demanding to hang upside down and I do have to give it to David for delivering a command performance.

It did take five tries, although the money shot happened on the third. Afterward, Blaine blew their minds with a few card tricks. Blaine earned his reputation for hanging upside-down during 2008’s Dive of Death.
Read more

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine, General | 13 Comments

Bullets: Fisher’s ‘Engine’ session, Blaine’s stunt, Mindfreak’s next season, Letterman features magic

May 12, 2010

Justin Robert Young over at iTricks is the man. He gives this blog and others credits and links for breaking the occasional story, but we don’t see anyone else giving him props for the stories he breaks three times as often. Dude put two and two together for a couple of biggies this week:

We don’t know about you, but we know where we’ll be on Saturday: Glued to our monitors. Aaron Fisher will be joined by Wayne Houchin and Steve Johnson for a special session about the book “The Paper Engine.” According to an e-mail, the free session should have plenty of time for questions and comments. The session starts at 12 p.m. Pacific on Saturday at aaronfishermagic.com (we’ll post a more accurate link closer to the session).
David Blaine was featured in this great interview with Interview Magazine. A bunch of people have forwarded this to me, but iTricks spotted the golden quote — namely, what Blaine’s final stunt will likely be. Although he isn’t forgetting about sleep deprivation, he plans to cross an ocean in a glass bottle. We suspect that the interviewer didn’t know the value of that quote.
Criss Angel’s Mindfreak will return to the A&E Network for a sixth season. iTricks made the connection that it would keep the hourlong format, although there was speculation otherwise.
We love Dodd Vickers over at the Magic Newswire, as well. That’s where we read that David Letterman is hosting a close-up magic week. We’re talking appearances from Steve Cohen, John Carney, Johnny “Ace” Palmer, Jason Randal and Michael Ammar. Consider us geeked. Guess Ellen DeGeneres is starting to get more influential than Oprah.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under Criss Angel, David Blaine, General, Magic on TV | 3 Comments

Bullets: Blaine a Snoop fan, EMC’s addition, latest auction, turtle vid spreads quickly

April 18, 2010

How’d your weekend go? Good, we hope. Here’s some back-to-the-grind bullets:

If you’re following David Blaine’s Twitter feed, you probably saw this featuring the street magic legend and Snoop Dogg. The New York Post tells the rest of the story (we miss you, Paul Harvey): Blaine is a big fan of Snoop and requested to perform for the rapper before a Hoboken show. At one point, Snoop was so impressed he yelled, “David Copperfield, eat your heart out!”
A powerhouse magic organization has signed on to the Essential Magic Conference: The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques (FISM). You may have heard of that group’s Word Magic Competition. Eric Eswin, FISM president, will join the lineup of lecturers.
More memorabilia from the collection of magician Jay Marshall will be up for bid at an auction in May. The auction includes posters and other items related to Houdini and much more.
Last Wednesday, magician Jason Jacobs (who is the guy behind this few minutes of awesome) posted a simple, yet beautiful, magic trick featuring a turtle to our media forums. Since then, the vid has spread like wildfire, getting mention on iTricks and other magic sites. There’s some interesting debate about the video going on in the forum, however. See for yourself, then join the fray:

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine, General | 4 Comments

Blaine finishes fundraiser, Clark finds devastation

January 19, 2010

Two magicians have been helping with disaster relief efforts for the people of Haiti. Yesterday, David Blaine finished his 72-hour street magic to raise funds for the American Red Cross. Kevin Reylek, of the New York Magic Project, sent some great pics that you should check out.

James L. Clark, meanwhile is in the thick of it in Haiti. According to his Facebook page, he is in Port-au-Prince, the largest city closest to the earthquake’s epicenter and the site of the worst devastation. He is helping rescue people, finding survivors and assisting doctors with surgeries. Unfortunately, some of his supplies are even stuck in customs. Here’s his two latest Facebook posts:

Haiti update: Just got access to the internet. In Port-au-Prince in area called Dalmas 40A. Lots to report, but limited time. See the photos. Harold and I are safe. Dan is working down to us. Treating people, but very short on resources. Need antibiotics (BAD), surgical kits (BAD), and other supplies. Please continue to help raise funds.

In from James team: Very trying day today, but at the end of the day, it was successful. We were involved in a 45 min car chase that ended at a French hospital, when we off loaded 3 critically wounded people. 2 were pulled from the rubble after 7 days. Took 3 hrs to find a hospital that would take them. Another long day tomorrow, trying to pick up 2,200 lbs of supplies that customs seized today. Need prayer for that.

You can still donate to Clark’s trip on his Web page.

Posted by Joe Hadsall | Filed Under David Blaine, General | 1 Comment