The Blaine of My Existence

I was a wide-eyed beat writer at Valley Ranch in the early ‘90s when a street magician came a calling, wanting to film some stuff with Dallas Cowboys’ players for an upcoming TV special. And ever since I’ve had a love/hate curiosity in David Blaine.

(Come for Emmitt Smith's MC Hammer look and a young Daryl Johnston, stay for a really cool card trick.)

But last night’s stunt by Blaine was l-a-m-e.

Not only did Blaine not hang upside down for 60 consecutive hours, his “Dive of Death” wilted into him merely bungee jumping 40 feet and being hauled up, up and away by a crane. WTF?

Embarrassing. No wonder the Central Park crowd booed.

I've always been intrigued by magic and witchcraft and I'm obsessed with HBO's new vampire series True Blood.

Hence, I love Blaine’s street magic. I know it’s not "magic", but I'm nonetheless fascinated with the illusion of him bending quarters, summoning butterflies, predicting – and then producing – lottery tickets and catching bullets in his mouth.

Truth to be told, I’ve always been partial to this guy. And I’ve seen Dallas-based Dave Magee do stuff that will blow your mind. But Blaine did perform one trick last night that I'm dying to learn:

With God and my DVR’s slow-motion as my witnesses, he turned five $1 bills into five $100 bills just by flipping them end over end one time. Do that like 700 billion times and – presto! – our country's financial crisis solved. -- Richie Whitt

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