David Blaine and the Dive of Death

ExtremeSleuth

ExtremeSleuth

Veteran
David Blaine is a pretty cool guy. I was able to go to the taping of the bullet catch segment. My friend Carl was his consultant on the bullet catch. Carl is the only other man other than Blaine that has done a REAL bullet catch. It was such an honor as a magician myself to meet Blaine, and get to witness a bullet catch in person.


Let me tell you. It was real.
 
You know I always get the feeling, one day, just one day we may end up with a televised snuff film..

(not knocking his stuff, its amazing what he does)
 
well then maybe explain to me this dive of death. they keep saying he's going to dive 44 feet. he stands there, with harness, drops off. it stops him well short of the distance. he hangs there with a smirk on his face.

then after a long delay they pull him up and then the camera operators try frantically to find shots from the crowd where people look halfway impressed.

i totally dont get it, and i dont think anywhere there did either. which leads me to believe this one had some illusions that seriously backfired.

anyone else watch this grand finale?
 
Interesting article.

Simply put, this stunt is not motivated by passion. If you want to see passion, go check out Man on Wire, which is still playing at some theaters. It’s a documentary about French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, whose dream it was to walk on a wire strung between the Twin Towers. It was on his wish list for about six-and-a-half years before his team actually planned out how they would illegally gain access to the roof of the towers and then rig the wire. It took eight months to map it out, but on August 7, 1974, they prevailed: Petit walked, danced, and even lay down on a wire suspended 1,350 feet in the air. He did not alert the press. He did not have a two-hour primetime special. Doctors weren’t there checking his vital signs, advising him that this could be the ultimate Dive of Death. He just did it -- a true stunt, and for those who saw it, a magical one at that.
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I've got to see that movie.

Not bashing Blaine. I didn't even get to see the big finale.
 
ZFarms Productions said:
Carl is the only other man other than Blaine that has done a REAL bullet catch. It was such an honor as a magician myself to meet Blaine, and get to witness a bullet catch in person.

Let me tell you. It was real.
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please tell me you are joking and i am missing the sarcasm.
 
ugafan said:
please tell me you are joking and i am missing the sarcasm.
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I'm not being sarcastic. My friend was his consultant and helped set up the gun, with the bullets. It was real. Don't believe me if you want, I don't care. I was there, and I know what happened.
 
ZFarms Productions said:
I saw the bungee cord or whatever when he jumped off. He went all the way down to just above the platform. Then the chord slowly raised him into the air well above the platform top he jumped from, as he waved to his fans, then went out of frame of the camera, then was gone.
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LOL! So it really did screw up?

Sounds like a live TV disaster!
 
ZFarms Productions said:
It didn't screw up. HE DISAPPEARED A HUNDRED FEET IN THE AIR! That was the stunt! He never meant to land on that platform. He MEANT to have the bungee cord attached. Then the chord raised him in the air and he disappeared.
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Really? All over the Net everyone is saying that it screwed up. That when he "jumped" he hung there for a while and then waved the people in the crane to pull him up. They are saying it looked awkward and unplanned.

Either way, if most of the people watching didn't get it... it couldn't have been much of a trick. No?

I'll watch it on You Tube I guess and see for myself. :)
 
ZFarms Productions said:
It didn't screw up. HE DISAPPEARED A HUNDRED FEET IN THE AIR! That was the stunt! He never meant to land on that platform. He MEANT to have the bungee cord attached. Then the chord raised him in the air and he disappeared.
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I just watched it on YouTube and there's no way that was the way the trick was planned. Even David looked disappointed and embarrassed, just hanging there, until they eventually "lifted" him up till he left the cameras frame of view. Which is not the same as "disappearing". Ha! We witnessed the producers back-up plan ("get rid of David"), NOT the actual finale they had hoped for.

Feel bad for the guy.

It looked as though he wanted to jump directly onto the stage but the safety wire/bungy pulled him up too much, at the end, and the trick failed. After that they just decided to pull him up pass the lights and make that be the big finale.

Not all tricks go as planned. This was obviously one of those times.
 
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PK Gillock said:
I just watched it on YouTube and there's no way that was the way the trick was planned. Even David looked disappointed and embarrassed, just hanging there, until they eventually "lifted" him up till he left the cameras frame of view. Which is not the same as "disappearing". Ha! We witnessed the producers back-up plan ("get rid of David"), NOT the actual finale they had hoped for.

Feel bad for the guy.
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I completely agree. He looks really embarrassed and awkward just hanging there in front of everybody. And he keeps looking up, it's a dead giveaway all the way. Too bad. I think Blaine is done, these stunts apparently aren't thought out very much lately. I was really interested in him when he was unknown, now he just seems to be out of ideas.

And have to agree with Hudson 100% here. There was a single line Blaine said, I can't remember it exactly, right before he did the bullet thing. It was to the effect of "a lot of people died trying to catch a bullet, don't copy this, I am safe because its an ILLUSION". duh.
 
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I want to see this bullet catching thing. I bet i could catch a bullet! jk jk jk hahaha woooooh you guys thought i was nuts for a sec huh?

so who has a video fo this bullet catchin thing?
 
PK Gillock said:
I just watched it on YouTube and there's no way that was the way the trick was planned. Even David looked disappointed and embarrassed
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Ouch, watched it, very embarrasing.. poor dude, I guess thats the thing about doing crazy stunts, do it well people will be amazed, fail it and you just look stupid...
 
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