Anybody watch Chriss Angel Mindfreak...

shawn474

This guy is pretty amazing. Half the stuff he does makes me cringe, but it is amazing nonetheless. He just swallowed five sewing needles and used a piece of thread to pull them out of his belly button. Everyone knows it's an optical illusion, but I have no idea how he does hlaf the things he does. I used to be amazed at David Blaine, but he's elementary school compared to this guy.

Shawn

daboyz

My daughter loves him to death. We'll watch him together. The levitation bits are pretty cool.

Fireman32

He is unbelievable. I saw the burried alive bit he did with Rob Zombie it was pretty freaky.

shawn474

I borrowed the DVD from a buddy who raves about him. The different thing about him is that he is so convincing. He gets hit by a car and goes through a brickwall and you end up believing that it actually happened. With other guys, you can sometimes explain how they MIGHT do their tricks; with him there is no way to predict how he does it. The bit where he is suspended by four flesh hooks in his back attached to a helicopter over the desert is ridiculous.

Shawn

zombie boy 2000

Another thing I like about him is his obvious appreciation for the history of magic and illusion. Hearing him talk about those who inspired him and how many of his ideas were developed from previous illusions is rather cool.

shawn474

ZB, that's true, man. He always gives credit to the magicians who originated the tricks. He seems really inspired and respectful to Harry Houdini, who I've read quite a bit about. It's refreshing because there are a lot of guys out there (like David Blaine) who doesn't do that; they take credit for tricks that guys have been doing for years.

zombie boy 2000

Herrmann the Great, Harry Kellar and Houdini's brother among others. The history of magic is storied and quite fascinating. The brotherhood that exists among fellow illusionists and the secrecy of the trade which is honored always floors me.
I think Chriss Angel does a fine job of bringing it into the 21st century. I enjoy him immensely.

wingnut4772

That helicopter thing is more of a stunt than a trick though I think. That was rough to watch though.

shawn474

Somebody please tell me how he levitates.......it is beyond my comprehension. They say that they never use camera tricks (I find it hard to believe). Amazing stuff.

Shawn

edbert

I saw him reveal how he did the levitating just standing there. One of his pants legs has the shoe attached to it with a slit down the back. While he is "mustering up the power", he is actually putting that foot on a ledge behind him and lifts himself up. It was still hard to believe when he did it though because you can barely even see his leg behind him. Not only that but to be able to lift himself up slowly and smoothly with one leg is pretty impressive and takes lots of muscle control.

As far as levitating between buildings, I have no idea, but it's fun to watch!

wingnut4772

edbert wrote: »

I saw him reveal how he did the levitating just standing there. One of his pants legs has the shoe attached to it with a slit down the back. While he is "mustering up the power", he is actually putting that foot on a ledge behind him and lifts himself up. It was still hard to believe when he did it though because you can barely even see his leg behind him. Not only that but to be able to lift himself up slowly and smoothly with one leg is pretty impressive and takes lots of muscle control.

As far as levitating between buildings, I have no idea, but it's fun to watch!

that expains the shaliniess. I can't believe he would reveal that though.

PolkThug

edbert wrote: »

As far as levitating between buildings, I have no idea, but it's fun to watch!

Crane with wires, the crane is out of TV angle.

sayanika

Well, we all know that all those tricks aren't real but the illusions of our mind. Can anybody explain the science behind this? What about criss angel's tricks that involves walking through glass, slicing him in half, eating a coin and bringing it out from his wrist etc. How does illusionist like criss angel and David Blaine play their tricks? Please answer with real experience. Thanks.

bobman1235

Kinda kills it if you know how it's done, doesn't it?

Criss Angel's tricks are pretty cool, but I had to stop watching cuz I couldn't stand the theatrics and overproduction and other goofy nonsense on the show itself.

Plus all I can think of is GOB Bluth.

jflail2

bobman1235 wrote: »

Kinda kills it if you know how it's done, doesn't it?

Criss Angel's tricks are pretty cool, but I had to stop watching cuz I couldn't stand the theatrics and overproduction and other goofy nonsense on the show itself.

Plus all I can think of is GOB Bluth.

HAHHAHAA!!!! Which in turn makes me think of Final Countdown playing in the background while lighter fluid errantly squirts out of his sleeves.

Great post man.

Systems

Watch him on Tivo sometime and you can catch about 80 percent of how he does most of his tricks.....

bobman1235

jflail2 wrote: »

HAHHAHAA!!!! Which in turn makes me think of Final Countdown playing in the background while lighter fluid errantly squirts out of his sleeves.

Yes... but where did the lighter fluid come from?

Motzart

Guy is simply amazing!!
Has some kewl tunes as well!!!

Systems

Heres two examples also of how all this stuff he does is staged before the cameras start rolling.

He was on this feats of human strength kick for awhile too and one of the "stunts" he did was to push down a palm tree in front of this hotel. Well if you looked close the tree trunk was different color from the rest of the trees in front of the hotel.

Another one I saw the other day, he supposedly popped in on a friend of his to check out a motorcycle and his friend wanted him to do a spur of the moment magic trick where he had 7.5 minutes to get out of this barrel. He got in the barrel and jumped around in it to make sure the bottom was secure( oh and they had a camera conviently located right above the barrel for this spur of the moment magic trick) They gave the lid of the barrel to the crowd to make sure nothing was rigged on it and then started the trick. Instead of using that lid they went and got a different one( a manhole cover, yeah right...) and put that one on instead. Then they had a guy weld it on the barrel, well you can tell he was just making sparks and not even welding it on. Then they took another barrel and put it over the top of the "manhole cover" and poof he's in the top barrel....

Guys, sorry to burst your bubble about Chris Angel but hes just a showman/actor/stunt guy. Its all staged beforehand and the crowd is part of the show.......

bobman1235

I dont' think anyone claimed the guy was actually full of magic drawn from the depths of Mordor.

Everyone knows it's all tricks and slight of hand and camera tricks, it's still neat to see how they pull it off.

Systems

bobman1235 wrote: »

I dont' think anyone claimed the guy was actually full of magic drawn from the depths of Mordor.

Everyone knows it's all tricks and slight of hand and camera tricks, it's still neat to see how they pull it off.

The way people act about him, you'd think he was from Mordor:)

zombie boy 2000

bobman1235 wrote: »

I dont' think anyone claimed the guy was actually full of magic drawn from the depths of Mordor.

No... but I can't say the same for Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute.

AsSiMiLaTeD

bobman1235 wrote: »

Criss Angel's tricks are pretty cool, but I had to stop watching cuz I couldn't stand the theatrics and overproduction and other goofy nonsense on the show itself.

That's the way I feel as well

ND13

edbert wrote: »

I saw him reveal how he did the levitating just standing there. One of his pants legs has the shoe attached to it with a slit down the back. While he is "mustering up the power", he is actually putting that foot on a ledge behind him and lifts himself up. It was still hard to believe when he did it though because you can barely even see his leg behind him. Not only that but to be able to lift himself up slowly and smoothly with one leg is pretty impressive and takes lots of muscle control.

As far as levitating between buildings, I have no idea, but it's fun to watch!

Okay, then how does David Blain do it bare-footed(no ledges anywhere in the vacinity) and he gets over a foot and a half (or more sometimes) off the ground? Just wondering...:)

And Angel gets on my nerves too much to watch him for more than a few minutes at a time.

I prefer Blain's calm, quiet demeanor.