Magic Man

Last night I saw the incredible David Blaine do his magic show on channel eight and it was Off. The. Chain! Unbelievable, exciting, well, magical!!

I sat on the couch, trying to finish this baby blanket for my new granddaughter, I kept catching myself gaping at the screen in awe at the fantastical things he was pulling off, almost effortlessly, like he was just having a friendly conversation or something.

He makes things disappear, then reappear in a different location. He tried a trick from an old magician that never mastered it, but he did- he brought live frogs up out of his stomach through his mouth! While that was a little gross, it was also amazeballs! The man is just beyond talented and well, a little touched in the head, if you caught the last act of the night, you know what I mean!

For his final act, he had to go through a lot of preparation and he took us through each step of the journey. First, he had to have a special mouth guard made by his dentist that would catch the projectile he was planning to shoot into his own mouth!! Yes, his plan was to fire a gun, and catch the bullet in his own mouth.

As he did the practice, yes there was a practice run, we the audience, stared in amazement, all holding our collective breath, as he had a laser point directly into his mouth to a center point on the cupped part of the mouth guard. Then, once he was assured it was perfectly centered, he pulled the string attached to the trigger of the gun and right at the perfect moment, pulled the trigger! It worked! He had achieved success and he was raring and ready to go for the live show! He didn’t want anyone else accountable for his actions and that’s why he arranged to pull the trigger himself.

His best friend (or partner, I’m not sure) was beyond concerned, he did not want him to do it the first time, much less again. David was not to be denied, however, and said of course he was doing it again! All of the magicians and friends that surround him told him he was nuts, that he had pulled it off-just be happy with that, but no! He wanted to thrill a live audience with the performance and set out to do it once more.

He had to get his dentist to rework the mouth guard, it had cracked upon impact. So, his dentist flew out to do the job and he performed the trick again in front of the world. Again, we all held our breath as he built up the drama, uttering “ok?” as best he could with the mouth guard in place, several times befor he finally pulled the trigger. He did it again, and as he recoiled from the impact, we all saw his face register shock and surprise when the bullet again broke the mouthguard, sending a piece of it to the back of his throat. He thought he had missed, but soon realized he was alive and had succeeded again. The joy on his face when he realized this was palpable, and we all were happy as well to see he had made it.

To me, the guy has a death wish, or else he is totally committed to stunning and amazing his audience, even to the point of lunacy. He also stuck a sword all the way down into his stomach, a trick as dangerous as the previously mentioned one.

My former favorite magician was David Copperfield, I swear, it must be something in the name. I always enjoyed watching his shows as well, but Blaine takes it to a whole other level. I hope you all saw last night’s show, and if you didn’t, you missed something epic. Stream it, UTube it, whatever you have to do, just do it! You won’t be sorry.