David Blaine White is an American illusionist, endurance artist and extreme performer. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has set and broken several world records.
Blaine innovated the way magic is shown on television by focusing on spectator reactions. His idea was to turn the camera around on the people watching instead of the performer, to make the audience watch the audience. The New York Times noted that "he's taken a craft that's been around for hundreds of years and done something unique and fresh with it." According to the New York Daily News, "Blaine can lay claim to his own brand of wizardry. The magic he offers operates on an uncommonly personal level." Penn Jillette called Blaine's first television special, Street Magic, "the biggest breakthrough done in our lifetime" for changing the perspective of television viewers toward those seeing the trick live. Wikipedia
Interview with Brett Martin for Time Out New York (April 1-8, 1999, on-line). http://www.hwwilson.com/_home/bios/1997004856.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFnGhrC_3Gs
Speech at TedMed for TedTalks in October, 2009.
