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American Morning
Interview with Magician David Blaine
Aired November 14, 2002 - 09:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Most of us know David Blaine as a street magician performing amazing stunts for unsuspecting passerbyers, or you may know him for his seemingly death-defying stunts, like allowing himself to be buried alive or froze in a block of ice. Ooh, I remember that one. Now he's about to become known as an author, with his new book "Mysterious Stranger." It's an autobiography and a history of magic, and perhaps most intriguing, the book is supposed to lead us a treasure hunt to find a 25-karat solid gold orb worth $100,000. David Blaine joins us to talk about that.
And maybe you should be listening for clues this morning. Great to see you. Thanks for dropping by.
Let's talk a little bit about how tough it is going to be for people to determine in this book where the clues are and where they're not?
DAVID BLAINE, MAGICIAN: I kind of created it, so -- with help, of course, but I created it so that it would be very simple, if you were to think outside of the box, or if you were to go the typical way of solving clues, it would be very difficult. One thing I want to note, the gold orb, when you find it, that's not worth 100 grand; you call my phone number, which is my cell phone, and I'll show up to you with a briefcase of $100,000 for finding it.
ZAHN: Do you think anybody's going to find it?
BLAINE: Absolutely.
ZAHN: Based on these clues...
BLAINE: I hope some kid somewhere in the middle of nowhere just figures it out and finds it.
ZAHN: I hope so, too. But based on the clues that you give in here that are so obtuse, I'm not holding out much hope.
Let me read one excerpt out of this book that David has just conceded to me is a clue. Here's a picture of P.T. Barnum right here, right, and the caption reads, "P.T. Barnum, innovative, nervy, audacious, somewhat typical of New England."
BLAINE: That one I've given away, and that's one of the simple ones, but the reason that's a clue, if you listen to the words, the words that are innovative, nervy, audacious, somewhat typical of a New Englander, I'm not somebody to determine who's typical of New England, and that's not the way I would speak. So if you take that section, take the name away, and take the first letter of each word, it spells out a completely different sentence.
BLAINE: I am in a stone, which means that the treasure isn't buried anywhere. You don't have to go digging up yards or anything; it's resting in a stone, and it's a solid gold orb, so somebody with a metal detector could walk around and find it that way.
ZAHN: You want to save us trouble and tell us what other pages the clues are on? How many clues are in here?
BLAINE: I can't tell you that.
ZAHN: You can't tell me, because I never would have gotten that one.
BLAINE: Look at page 200.
ZAHN: OK. And tell me as I'm going through there what I should be looking for, because I am going to help someone in the audience find the $100,000 reward. OK. I'm seriously slow here this morning, OK, one more. I can't count this morning.
BLAINE: What do you notice there?
ZAHN: There's a building, and you are looking up at the top of the building.
BLAINE: No.
ZAHN: What I supposed to see?
BLAINE: In the building, in the windows, there are little symbols, do you see it?
ZAHN: I do.
BLAINE: So if you turn it counterclockwise and you start to decipher the letters, these are top halves of letters, so you can see the word wonderful. Maybe you could look at last one which is P-E-E- R-S, which people figured out, it's all over the Internet already. There are clues like that that are abstract.
ZAHN: We appreciate the help, David. We just have to understand those clues.
BLAINE: I'm not helping you, believe me.
ZAHN: I know, you haven't at all. I tried.
Now in the book, you talk about how do you some of your mind reading and some of your tricks. Do you want to share a trick with us today?
BLAINE: Yes, this is a little different, because it's about pain resistance, which is a new thing I've been working on, which I'm using when I do my stunts.
ZAHN: Am I going to do something to you?
BLAINE: No, you can just watch.
I use an acupuncture needle.
You have to kind of get close to see it, I think.
Not you, you might not want to get too close, but yes, if you can see the needle, see, I place it right here, and see how I push it just like this, and so if you look, the needle actually looks like it's going right in.
ZAHN: Yes, it's disappearing.
BLAINE: It's not just disappearing, though.
Do you see that? It comes right through. See the bottom?
ZAHN: Ouch. You can see it breaking through your skin.
BLAINE: That's pain resistance.
ZAHN: So what are you doing? That should be killing you. You should be writhing in pain. You don't feel anything?
BLAINE: Nothing.
See how it goes just like that.
ZAHN: So I can tell that a good quarter inch or that, or half inch has gone into your hand. Am I allowed to touch it on the other side to see if you're fooling me.
BLAINE: Yes be careful, though.
ZAHN: Oh, it is coming out.
BLAINE: Do you want to pull it out?
ZAHN: No, I don't want to do anything you don't want to do.
BLAINE: Pull it out.
ZAHN: Right now?
BLAINE: Yes.
ZAHN: All right. Slowly?
BLAINE: Yes. Do whatever you want.
ZAHN: And you didn't feel that at all.
BLAINE: Nothing.
ZAHN: How did you do that? Come on David. BLAINE: Didn't it look real?
ZAHN: It does look real.
Was it real?
Do you want to do it to my hand? Would that be the true test?
BLAINE: No.
ZAHN: So it was an optical illusion.
BLAINE: Maybe.
ZAHN: Because I felt the needle coming out on the other side of the hand.
BLAINE: But what I'm using that for, is because my next stunt that I'm going to do, I need to see if you can take the pain, you don't drown or beat yourself underwater. I want to get chained to the bottom of a helicopter with heavy lead boots strapped on, and I'll be asphyxiated, too, and I'll be lifted about over 100 feet over the Hudson River, released into the river, and I'm going to go underwater for about seven minutes, and the longer you can just accept the pain, the longer you can last before you breakout before drown, then surface.
ZAHN: So this is just like getting your training wheels on, the acupuncture test?
BLAINE: No, this is just fun.
ZAHN: Why do you want to do that, from a helicopter? Because it's never been done before.
BLAINE: Yes, and the image, I think, will be beautiful.
ZAHN: You know I'll be covering it.
David Blaine, the name of the book is "Mysterious Stranger." I don't know, none of us could ever figure out how you do what you do, but that's why we all come to watch your show.
Thank you very much for dropping by.
BLAINE: Thank you.
ZAHN: I'm afraid to touch that hand. It doesn't hurt?
BLAINE: No.
ZAHN: You don't even see a hole where it pierced the skin.
BLAINE: Nothing.
ZAHN: Mysterious stranger he is, David Blaine. Again, good luck to you. Good luck with the training.
BLAINE: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 14, 2002 - 09:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Most of us know David Blaine as a street magician performing amazing stunts for unsuspecting passerbyers, or you may know him for his seemingly death-defying stunts, like allowing himself to be buried alive or froze in a block of ice. Ooh, I remember that one. Now he's about to become known as an author, with his new book "Mysterious Stranger." It's an autobiography and a history of magic, and perhaps most intriguing, the book is supposed to lead us a treasure hunt to find a 25-karat solid gold orb worth $100,000. David Blaine joins us to talk about that.
And maybe you should be listening for clues this morning. Great to see you. Thanks for dropping by.
Let's talk a little bit about how tough it is going to be for people to determine in this book where the clues are and where they're not?
DAVID BLAINE, MAGICIAN: I kind of created it, so -- with help, of course, but I created it so that it would be very simple, if you were to think outside of the box, or if you were to go the typical way of solving clues, it would be very difficult. One thing I want to note, the gold orb, when you find it, that's not worth 100 grand; you call my phone number, which is my cell phone, and I'll show up to you with a briefcase of $100,000 for finding it.
ZAHN: Do you think anybody's going to find it?
BLAINE: Absolutely.
ZAHN: Based on these clues...
BLAINE: I hope some kid somewhere in the middle of nowhere just figures it out and finds it.
ZAHN: I hope so, too. But based on the clues that you give in here that are so obtuse, I'm not holding out much hope.
Let me read one excerpt out of this book that David has just conceded to me is a clue. Here's a picture of P.T. Barnum right here, right, and the caption reads, "P.T. Barnum, innovative, nervy, audacious, somewhat typical of New England."
BLAINE: That one I've given away, and that's one of the simple ones, but the reason that's a clue, if you listen to the words, the words that are innovative, nervy, audacious, somewhat typical of a New Englander, I'm not somebody to determine who's typical of New England, and that's not the way I would speak. So if you take that section, take the name away, and take the first letter of each word, it spells out a completely different sentence.
BLAINE: I am in a stone, which means that the treasure isn't buried anywhere. You don't have to go digging up yards or anything; it's resting in a stone, and it's a solid gold orb, so somebody with a metal detector could walk around and find it that way.
ZAHN: You want to save us trouble and tell us what other pages the clues are on? How many clues are in here?
BLAINE: I can't tell you that.
ZAHN: You can't tell me, because I never would have gotten that one.
BLAINE: Look at page 200.
ZAHN: OK. And tell me as I'm going through there what I should be looking for, because I am going to help someone in the audience find the $100,000 reward. OK. I'm seriously slow here this morning, OK, one more. I can't count this morning.
BLAINE: What do you notice there?
ZAHN: There's a building, and you are looking up at the top of the building.
BLAINE: No.
ZAHN: What I supposed to see?
BLAINE: In the building, in the windows, there are little symbols, do you see it?
ZAHN: I do.
BLAINE: So if you turn it counterclockwise and you start to decipher the letters, these are top halves of letters, so you can see the word wonderful. Maybe you could look at last one which is P-E-E- R-S, which people figured out, it's all over the Internet already. There are clues like that that are abstract.
ZAHN: We appreciate the help, David. We just have to understand those clues.
BLAINE: I'm not helping you, believe me.
ZAHN: I know, you haven't at all. I tried.
Now in the book, you talk about how do you some of your mind reading and some of your tricks. Do you want to share a trick with us today?
BLAINE: Yes, this is a little different, because it's about pain resistance, which is a new thing I've been working on, which I'm using when I do my stunts.
ZAHN: Am I going to do something to you?
BLAINE: No, you can just watch.
I use an acupuncture needle.
You have to kind of get close to see it, I think.
Not you, you might not want to get too close, but yes, if you can see the needle, see, I place it right here, and see how I push it just like this, and so if you look, the needle actually looks like it's going right in.
ZAHN: Yes, it's disappearing.
BLAINE: It's not just disappearing, though.
Do you see that? It comes right through. See the bottom?
ZAHN: Ouch. You can see it breaking through your skin.
BLAINE: That's pain resistance.
ZAHN: So what are you doing? That should be killing you. You should be writhing in pain. You don't feel anything?
BLAINE: Nothing.
See how it goes just like that.
ZAHN: So I can tell that a good quarter inch or that, or half inch has gone into your hand. Am I allowed to touch it on the other side to see if you're fooling me.
BLAINE: Yes be careful, though.
ZAHN: Oh, it is coming out.
BLAINE: Do you want to pull it out?
ZAHN: No, I don't want to do anything you don't want to do.
BLAINE: Pull it out.
ZAHN: Right now?
BLAINE: Yes.
ZAHN: All right. Slowly?
BLAINE: Yes. Do whatever you want.
ZAHN: And you didn't feel that at all.
BLAINE: Nothing.
ZAHN: How did you do that? Come on David. BLAINE: Didn't it look real?
ZAHN: It does look real.
Was it real?
Do you want to do it to my hand? Would that be the true test?
BLAINE: No.
ZAHN: So it was an optical illusion.
BLAINE: Maybe.
ZAHN: Because I felt the needle coming out on the other side of the hand.
BLAINE: But what I'm using that for, is because my next stunt that I'm going to do, I need to see if you can take the pain, you don't drown or beat yourself underwater. I want to get chained to the bottom of a helicopter with heavy lead boots strapped on, and I'll be asphyxiated, too, and I'll be lifted about over 100 feet over the Hudson River, released into the river, and I'm going to go underwater for about seven minutes, and the longer you can just accept the pain, the longer you can last before you breakout before drown, then surface.
ZAHN: So this is just like getting your training wheels on, the acupuncture test?
BLAINE: No, this is just fun.
ZAHN: Why do you want to do that, from a helicopter? Because it's never been done before.
BLAINE: Yes, and the image, I think, will be beautiful.
ZAHN: You know I'll be covering it.
David Blaine, the name of the book is "Mysterious Stranger." I don't know, none of us could ever figure out how you do what you do, but that's why we all come to watch your show.
Thank you very much for dropping by.
BLAINE: Thank you.
ZAHN: I'm afraid to touch that hand. It doesn't hurt?
BLAINE: No.
ZAHN: You don't even see a hole where it pierced the skin.
BLAINE: Nothing.
ZAHN: Mysterious stranger he is, David Blaine. Again, good luck to you. Good luck with the training.
BLAINE: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
