Chriss Angel-MindFreak
 

Mindfreak takes viewers into the world of Criss Angel -- called the "postmodern Houdini" by MTV -- whose distinct blend of magic, mentalism, and dazzling pyrotechnic effects has made him the hottest young magician in America today. In past seasons, he has astonished fans with such incredible feats as hanging suspended by hooks from a helicopter over the Nevada desert and splitting a woman in two in a public park.

In the third season -- in addition to celebrity guests, street performances, and behind-the-scenes looks at the magic -- Criss Angel will perform all new mind-bending feats: levitating 500 feet above the ground over Las Vegas' Luxor Hotel and Casino, (whose 800-degree light beam is the only man-made object besides the Great Wall of China that can be seen from space), making a Lamborghini vanish -- at high speed -- and topping Houdini himself in a tribute to the father of magic.

Anyone watching this? I caught him on Oprah, which promoted the shows on A & E. Think he is really entertaining. The stunts are pretty mindblowing! Angel vs Blaine?

Don't you mean MIIINDFREEEEEEEEEEEEAK!!!!

The guy is pretty amazing. I don't know how he does his illusions but who cares it's like watching David Copperfield you just sit back and enjoy it!!

One of my all time favourites is the card illusion he did on a bus. He had a lady pick a card from a deck and it ended up on the outside of the bus on the windshield. WOW!! :clap:

The best part of his tricks/illusions is seeing people's reactions. Priceless!!

I'm a big fan of magic/magicians, but I really have trouble watching Mindfreak because of the hyper-frenetic camera cuts and Ritalin-deprived editing. I get that it's part of his "cool" image, but it makes a lot of his magic look it was done via edits.

And that kills the fun of watching it for me when I feel like I being duped by camera cuts.

My only problem is that I don't really know when the show is regularly scheduled so I use the DVR. Besides that I love the show.

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It was better when Blaine did it 7 years ago on a taxi. ;)

I like what I've seen of the show, but what is it with both him and Blaine having zero personality? That's the only thing I don't enjoy.

those illusionator bits on Human Giant are awesome. MIND EXPLOSION!

i actually think criss angel is pretty entertaining. he doesn't come off like as a huge asshole like david blaine, who seems to want to treat himself like he's some kind of god.

but i agree on the cuts. it's tough enough watching on TV, when it comes to believing magic tricks. Those cuts make it worse.

I enjoyed this show originally, but between the editing and the rumors that in some ticks his audience/marks were ALL plants... takes the fun away for me.

Seems to me both Blaine and Angel use the same edit techniques. And of course they are using marks. Every major illusionist uses marks to pull off these tricks. These two just wrap it in a more hip/extreme approach to appeal to today's audience.

And just a pet peeve of mine. They are not performing magic. They are tricking your eye making them illusions. The 'magic' is the sense of wonder they build up around the illusion itself.

I've never seen him...but the spelling of his name bothers me.

Well, I guess I accept that these are illusions. I dont really think he has the capabilities to actually do what he does. I still find it highly entertaining and give him kudos for how he pulls it off. I also find him highly personable, more so than David Blaine, who like the other poster said, comes off as highly arrogant.

my favorite of his is when he put that girls cell phone in the heineken bottle.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=veJAnbQdfvA

prolly easily done but i thought it was cool.

I hear that!

-Kriss

I haven't seen anything from the new season, but watch some of the earlier shows and the plants and camera tricks and editing are embarrassingly obvious in many of his illusions. They are tantamount to making someone disappear by stopping the camera, moving the person, and restarting the camera. Oooh. Aaah. He would be more honest if he just called his illusions "special effects." It's too bad, because some of what he does is decent.

Exactly.

Even I can gather a bunch of my friends, pretend like they are strangers, and shoot/edit something to make it look like I'm doing something amazing. The rumors that (for at least some of these tricks) that ALL - that being the key word here - of the onlookers were plants... it makes it pointless. I realize that some editing is required for some television magic, because the usual audience distraction scenes don't work when a viewer can just rewind or go frame by frame. But at least do the trick in front of *some* real people. Plants should only be used for participation elements or to help sell it to the rest of the audience.

Smartass.