Blaine makes a splash at lecture series

David Blaine closed the 27th annual Distinguished Speaker Series with a splash.

The renowned magician began his appearance on Saturday in Alumni Arena by holding his breath for 10 minutes in a steel and Plexiglas tank filled with salt water and tropical fish, while managing to hold a live eel in his mouth; juggle, peel and eat a banana; and light and smoke a cigar. He squeezed in time for a “selfie” with a Peter Morgis, an industrial engineering student, as well.

The performance was a sample of a new tour Blaine is putting together. The UB audience was the first to witness the act.

The theme of Blaine’s lecture and presentation — and new tour — centered on the question of whether each stunt he performed was real or magic.

“It’s not an illusion. I have a weird thing about pulling something off and gaining credit for it when it didn’t really happen,” said Blaine. “You’re seeing someone that is really risking his life for the audience. When I come up with an idea, I have doctors and everyone saying, ‘this is impossible.’ But to me, there’s always a way.”

Throughout the night, Blaine asked audience members whether they believed his feats were real. After meeting with a split crowd, he replied: “Either way, I put my whole life into it.”

Blaine detailed how his fascination with magic began with a deck of cards his mother gave him when he was 4 years old. Later as a child, he challenged the limits of his body by holding his breath underwater in the pool at the local YMCA and by running barefoot through the snow. And how an older magician opened up his world by taking Blaine under his wing.

Now regarded as one of the world’s leading magicians and endurance artists, and modern-day Harry Houdini, Blaine’s achievements include being buried alive in a plastic coffin inside a water tank for seven days, frozen in a block of ice for nearly three days, balancing himself on a 100-foot pillar for 35 hours and once holding the Guinness record for holding his breath for 17 minutes.

“I always tried to push myself as hard as I could, learning at an early age that the way you can hold your breath is simple: It’s overriding your body with your mind,” said Blaine. “Which is what magic is to me. It’s trying to override every single impulse that you have, while diligently working on something that is simplistic.”

Blaine heavily interacted with the crowd throughout his performance at UB, often inviting students onstage to participate in his acts. His feats included:

• Performing optical illusions while shuffling playing cards. Blaine told students to sign their names on playing cards and proceeded to pull the marked cards after thoroughly shuffling the deck.
• Demonstrating the psychological connection two close friends have by placing an ice pick into one of three identical bags, blindfolding one student, having her friend shuffle the bags and then allowing the blindfolded student to choose which bag Blaine would slam his hand onto. The audience collectively held their breath as Blaine raised his hand into the air, ultimately forcing it down onto an empty bag.
• That same ice pick, however, eventually went through Blaine’s hand. He purposely pierced the pick completely through his hand, managing not to lose a drop of blood. He even allowed a student to pull the pick out of his hand.
• Leading Dennis Black, vice president for university life and services, to randomly choose a puzzle piece from a box of assorted pieces that completed a puzzle of his portrait. Black was unaware of the portrait and was shocked when the piece, which held an image of his eye, fit perfectly into the puzzle.

Before leaving the stage, Blaine asked audience members a final time if they thought his performance was real or magic. With the crowd still divided, Blaine revealed the answer: “It’s both.”

Real or magic, Blaine did the impossible.