Ok, here is the topic that's been going around for quite a while. Who is better, Criss Angel or David Blaine? Now this is an interesting question, especially since both Blaine and Angel have done so much for the magic community. Let's start alphabetically, we'll start with Criss Angel (and we can start alphabetically with the first or the last name since C is before D and A is before B).
Criss has just started to become a household name the last couple of years since his new series started to air on A&E called MINDFREAK. This has caught the attention of many people and is a great form of entertainment. What Criss does on his show actually raises the bar for magicians and really looks like he performs miracles on the show. Mind you, these are all tricks and, the majority of the time, Criss' life is never in danger. I'm not going to give up any secrets in this blog but just to say that magicians always use deception and illusion to perform so called, impossible feats. Criss is no exception. Since I know how a lot of what he does is done, I know this for fact. I really enjoyed his first season of MINDFREAK and was even interested in Criss before he was popular from his Broadway show. What I don't like is the way everyone always acts like Criss is going to die performing these stunts. His brother is the worst, and he's a bad actor. He knows Criss isn't in any danger yet, he is almost in tears every time Criss does a stunt.
Don't get me wrong, I like Criss. I like what he has done for the magic community and what he has done for entertainment in general. He is great to watch and people love him. If I could make any suggestions to Criss I would say this, "Criss stop praying to God in Jesus name and then, right after the pray, curse like a sailor. They just don't go together and, if you are a Christian, it's not a good witness."
Now let's move on to David Blaine, or as I like to call him, David Blaine. David is a Street Magician. As a matter of fact, he pretty much made Street Magic popular. Now for those of you who don't know what Street Magic is (and yes, every time I say Street Magic I will capitalize the S and the T) street magic is (OK, I lied) where a magician goes up to some stranger and either asks them if they want to see a trick or starts a conversation with them and shows them a trick. The cool thing about STREET MAGIC (how do you like that, all caps this time) is that there is no set up, it's not a controlled environment and, you have to be good or your going to hear about it.
David wasn't the first to start street magic, ever hear of Harry Anderson, you know, the judge off of Night Court? He was a street magician before he was an actor. As a matter of fact, maybe he should have stuck to street magic. He was OK in Night Court, but his career started going downhill after Steven King's IT. Anyway back to David, his monotone dialogue and uncomfortable pauses really adds to the illusion that he creates. David is a mysterious person, at least that how he looks on all of his specials. As I said with Criss, David also uses deception and illusion to be effective and make his trick look like more of a miracle on TV. The bottom line about this is that when you perform a trick live, human nature falls into play and when you hear someone describing what you just did it is almost always 10 times better than what you originally did. That being said, some editing is necessary since there is a rewind and record on the TV.
David does more of the actual stunt stuff like a 44 day fast. Not for me. Sitting in ice. Being suspended on a poll or trying to break the underwater hold your breath record. I, at first, got a little frustrated with David Blaine when he edited his show and always didn't show you the full effect, but then I realized, that's just good TV. Besides, Samatha Stevens was doing David Blaine / Criss Angel stuff long ago. The only difference was that they actually do the majority of what you see through deception and they have a live audience, also, I doubt either one of their mothers is named Endora.
Bottom line, Charisma is what made these two popular without a doubt. People just love to watch them and cheer for their success. I would like to see more of David Blaine, haven't seen him in a while and I wish Criss much success on Season 3 of MINDFREAK. Hope there's a season 4 and 5 as well. OH, to answer the question THE WINNER IS ..... US! I know it sounds like a cop out but really, their both entertaining and people love to watch them so I can't say anything other than that. They both have their PROS and CONS so let's just leave it at that. Love em both and let's not compare. Their both great entertainers. Hey, I'd take either one over David Copperfield, but that's another story for another day!
To find out more about Criss Angel go to http://www.crissangel.com/
To find out more about David Blaine go to http://www.davidblaine.com/
Video of Criss Angel thread trick
Video of David Blaine with Tyra Banks
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
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