. . a n a d a 1 6 5 0 9 - 2 5 - 0 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "David Blain" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Schoolboy . . w w w . a n a d a . n e t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In England, magicians are traditionally cheesy, wig-wearing, liquid- tanned, deeply unattractive characters that normally have some desperate escapee of a crack-whorehouse as a "glamorous assistant." In the US, there are those two leotard-wearing tiger humpers (they're obviously taking that Bloodhound Gang song too literally) whose names I can't be arsed to remember and David Copperfield (no comment). Oh, and David Blain [you knew I was going to bring him up, he's in the title]. David Blain fucks with my head like no other. I watch his one-off TV shows and stare agog at what I'm seeing but then I also find myself hitting my head against the back of my seat in sheer intellectual turmoil. Not so much as a fan but as in "should I be a fan or is the whole thing just a cinema-verite, scripted scam?" I just don't KNOW! By the way, if you're wondering who the fuck this guy is, he's an ultra cool/mumbling young magician who looks like he could be a member of Ricky Martin's dance troop. He wanders around New York, mainly, "stopping people in the street and showing them magic." I use speech marks because that's what it LOOKS like he's doing but there are certain signs to suggest it's all boloney/bullshit/[here's a new one that'll make you sick:] crusty cunt juice. Recovered? OK. Now I may be an atheist but that does not preclude me from believing in shit like telepathy. After all, if you think of it as being some form of unidentified energy then to me it's not scientifically impossible. I wouldn't even go so far as to say likely, just not impossible. If you think about evolution and the animal kingdom there are animals that are either super sensitive using some of the known senses or they use a basic sixth sense. Just look at their foresight and navigational skills. Also because of the very slow pace of evolution perhaps it will take several hundred thousand years before we truly tap into any sixth sense that might be available to us. I'm talking just intuitive telepathy and stuff not like Luke Skywalker. That said, I do try to be as cynical about what I see on the TV as the next man but I have seen some things that do hint towards some kind of sixth sense existing. For instance, on TV there was a discussion programme about the sixth sense on which Yuri Gellar appeared. I guess he's known outside of Britain as he did an opening voice over for David Blain's show. He got the presenter, a very upright and, by necessity, neutral news anchor to draw a simple picture, put it in an envelope and keep it in his pocket. Then, live on air, Uri got a pad and drew the same thing! A tree. It was even the same height! "Bullshit, cheatcheatcheat!" I hear you rasp but I just feel this news anchor, who is also a journalist, wouldn't allow cheating so I can't think of any provable explanation. The only thing I can say is I just don't KNOW. Back to Blain. He let certain things happen that made me question if ANY of what I saw was real. Firstly, on the first show I saw he did a spot of levitation in the middle of the street and completely freaked people out. The shots you saw, he was about 2 feet off the ground. Wow! Fuck me, how the fuck did he do that, is he a ghost? Fuck me, I don't believe it etc. Problem is I found out later, can't remember how, that when people were filmed watching he actually rose about 3 inches off the ground with a technique I managed to copy first time when I was told, and then they added the rigged footage either side the audience reaction. Ha! Secondly, on his last show, he visited some natives in deepest Brazil who still wore tribal dress and "still have almost no contact with the outside world." Fine. But all the children had shirts on! With Buttons! And while David, if that is his real name, was showing some bemused Indians his leaf levitation trick, clear as day behind them was a soccer goal! No net, just the posts and cross-bar but still definitely a goal. Untouched by civilisation? Fucking garbage! But so many other tricks were extremely convincing and amazing. Good actors? I don't KNOW. But I bet he's a better dancer than Ricky Martin. . . w w w . a n a d a . n e t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . anada 165 by Schoolboy (c)2000 anada e'zine . . . w w w . a n a d a . n e t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .