David Blaine is a magician but he claims his performances as an endurance artist involve no trickery - this despite the fact that he inhaled pure oxygen for 23 minutes before claiming a world record by breathing underwater for over 17 minutes on the Oprah show. Are we impressed and, if so, for how long? Or does the niggling doubt of deception minimise what might or might not be a great achievement?
The whole thing reminded me of
Iain Tait's Under The Influence musings about what sort of "magic" works best in the marketing arena. Does a Blaine extravaganza impress me more than his close-up street magic? Frankly, no. Both involve technique, craft and expertise but the more incredible your claim such as David Copperfield making the Empire State Building "disappear", the more you're asking people to suspend disbelief.
For sure, you can make an impact with big extravagant promises, but I'm with Iain in thinking that a succession of smaller, more intimate moments of delight will ultimately cast a deeper and more enduring spell.
