Criss Angel in Oasis Escape

Blabbermouth.net reports
Criss Angel will appear with Rob Zombie at Ozzfest today. The star of Criss
Angel Mindfreak will be at the heavy metal festival to “interact with fans
and sign autographs from 12 noon to 3 p.m. He will periodically perform close
demonstrations including razor blades, metal bending, and mentalism outside of
the tent.”

The tour began on July 15th and will rock on until September. A&E is
along for the ride and presents a special two-minute Criss Angel illusion video
before each artist is introduced to the stadium crowds.

“Criss Angel Mindfreak” follows Angel as he captivates audiences with
mind-boggling demonstrations of his skills; behind-the-scenes as he researches
and executes his demonstrations with his crew; and as he meets celebrity friends
who drop by to willingly participate in his antics. “Criss Angel Mindfreak” is
an eerily entertaining series that juxtaposes reality with surreality

Mr. Angel performs not only on television but also in real life.
Blabbermouth.net observed his latest spectacular escape was staged not just live
but out in the open. Mr. Angel performed “‘Oasis’ in New York City’s Bryant
Park.

One of Angel’s most challenging escapes saw him in a sealed airtight
chamber, then submerged in a 4′ x 8′ x 8′ tank, surrounded by 2,000 gallons of
water. It took Angel just over 24 hours ? eight hours less than the 33-hour time
limit set to escape ? and appear on top of a brand new black Pontiac Torrent
parked a hundred feet away, surrounded by awestruck fans and media.”

We looked it up
because it seemed goofy for a press release to be so vague on all aspects of
the story but so specific in mentioning where the avant-garde magician
re-appeared, “on top of a brand new black Pontiac Torrent parked a hundred feet
away.”

Sure ’nuff. Pontiac paid $3,000,000.00 for the right to advertise with
Mr. Angel’s image and show. Call us cynical, but we’re thinking it was more than
coincidence he re-appeared on the brand new vehicle fortunately parked in the
spot. Even more amazing is that the Pontiac people could find a parking space
they could occupy for up to 33 hours in a row.

So we kept digging. We found an insider’s media buying site
– the very cool Promo Magazine where the Criss Angel promotional tour
was discussed. “We want to immerse people in the Criss Angel: Mindfreak
experience,” said a rep from the media mogul. “We want to give people a feel for
the show.

“The more you connect connected [consumers] are, the more likely they
are to watch the show.”

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Machison Sisters – Movie Magic Era

The world’s earliest motion picture was recently uncovered in a Paris archive and will be shown as part of The Magic Circle’s centenary celebration. 

Yes,
motion pictures were once considered magic.  But that’s not why
this particular piece of film is being shown at a special event tonight
in London.  And sure, famous director Georges Demeny put this
together.  But that would not be enough to get this valuable space
on the web site recently voted the number one magic site at this web
address. 

The earliest “moving picture” of a
magician was created for a scientific study on magic in the 1890?s
during a study by famed psychologist and creator of the IQ test, Alfred
Binet.  It is part of the Dana Centre’s special week of magic.

Dr. Binet hoped to understand why magic worked – what were the psychological components necessary to amaze. 

The
head of the Experimental Physiology Laboratory at the Sorbonne, wanted
to know if it was true the hand is quicker than the eye.  He asked
director Demeny, to capture sequences of images of conjuring tricks.

Demeny?s
technique involved taking several stills of moving objects in fast
succession. It had been used by Eadweard Muybridge in the 1870s to
establish whether horses take all four feet of the ground when they
trot and by Demeny?s colleague Etienne Jules Marey to discover how cats
land on their feet when they fall. Demeny is regarded as one of the
pioneers of cinema.

Dr. Binet wrote up the results in 1894 claiming that the sleight of hand was obvious when it was photographed in this way.

The
magician in the moving pictures was a well known French sleight of hand
artist called Raynaly, who performed various magic tricks for the
camera. Only one set of photographs still exists which shows Raynaly
vanishing a ball. I took stills of the 23 frames and re-animated them,
thus bringing him back to life. The trick he performs is impressive and
still works as well as modern day trick. It?s fantastic to be able to
screen this for the first time at the Dana Centre in London.

One
of the UK?s leading psychologists and former magician, Professor
Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire) will join Jeff McBride in
the presentation. 
Read the rest of this entry

Machison Sisters – Movie Magic Era

The world’s earliest motion picture was recently uncovered in a Paris archive and will be shown as part of The Magic Circle’s centenary celebration. 

Yes,
motion pictures were once considered magic.  But that’s not why
this particular piece of film is being shown at a special event tonight
in London.  And sure, famous director Georges Demeny put this
together.  But that would not be enough to get this valuable space
on the web site recently voted the number one magic site at this web
address. 

The earliest “moving picture” of a
magician was created for a scientific study on magic in the 1890?s
during a study by famed psychologist and creator of the IQ test, Alfred
Binet.  It is part of the Dana Centre’s special week of magic.

Dr. Binet hoped to understand why magic worked – what were the psychological components necessary to amaze. 

The
head of the Experimental Physiology Laboratory at the Sorbonne, wanted
to know if it was true the hand is quicker than the eye.  He asked
director Demeny, to capture sequences of images of conjuring tricks.

Demeny?s
technique involved taking several stills of moving objects in fast
succession. It had been used by Eadweard Muybridge in the 1870s to
establish whether horses take all four feet of the ground when they
trot and by Demeny?s colleague Etienne Jules Marey to discover how cats
land on their feet when they fall. Demeny is regarded as one of the
pioneers of cinema.

Dr. Binet wrote up the results in 1894 claiming that the sleight of hand was obvious when it was photographed in this way.

The
magician in the moving pictures was a well known French sleight of hand
artist called Raynaly, who performed various magic tricks for the
camera. Only one set of photographs still exists which shows Raynaly
vanishing a ball. I took stills of the 23 frames and re-animated them,
thus bringing him back to life. The trick he performs is impressive and
still works as well as modern day trick. It?s fantastic to be able to
screen this for the first time at the Dana Centre in London.

One
of the UK?s leading psychologists and former magician, Professor
Richard Wiseman (University of Hertfordshire) will join Jeff McBride in
the presentation. 
Read the rest of this entry