Videos of Ramana's levitations
Here is a video of Wouter Bijdendijk, a Dutch magician who performs as Ramana, levitating outside the White House. He has, er, risen to the occasion in many famous locales, including Times Square.Link to White House levitation, Link to NYC another levitation on YouTube, Link to Ramana's site (via Cabinet of Wonders)
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http://www.obscurica.com/incredible.jpg
How incredible, that he's able to levitate his sitting platform at the same time! I'm sure that length of rebar-reinforced bamboo is there strictly for reference, so he doesn't space out completely and float away. Weird how this trick works best over manholes. Amazing!
how, in the world, is this done?
Is it just my imagination or is that youtube video of NYC levitation really annoying? The constant switching between peoples' reactions... Fine! We get the point!
(Sorry for the rant.)
oh, so what's the mystery here? i can totally see the supporting stick and the platform he's sitting on in the early part of this video. (see the photo that #1 has linked to, above)
@#4 - Oh, so I suppose you don't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny either, huh?
Nice stick. Oops, I meant "shtick"! "shtick"!
Props to Obscurica at #1 for spotting the edge of his platform in the movie.
The rug is nice, too. I think the presence of the rug implies that this guy doesn't need a manhole to plant his rebar-reinforced stick in -- the stick may be welded to a big metal plate that is covered by the rug. It works just like those office chairs that are shaped like a big letter S and have only two legs, in the front -- the plate extends under him on the ground and provides the leverage to prop him up.
The flowers are probably helpful for obscuring any telltale bulges in the ground cloth.
This guy's act looks like great fun. It's more akin to those human statues that you see in public places than to a magic act, because there's not a lot of dramatic intro or exit. I wonder how he gets on and off his platform without attracting attention -- maybe he just sets it up in public and whoever happens to be watching gets to learn how it's done. It's not like it's a very big secret.
The NY levitation is even more fun -- a very elegant effect.
This makes me want to go back to welding class. If you see me doing this in Harvard Square you'll know that I've bought a welder!
The second video takes place in Amsterdam, not NYC.
(I don't speak Dutch, but the news headlines at the end of clip mention Het Spui, a popular hangout for book lovers.)
The link to the so-called NYC video takes me to one of Amsterdam. The people all speaking Dutch was a clue.
This is so not a mystery I wonder why it's being posted everywhere. Why no video of the levitation itself, the moment when he raises up? I think we know the answer to that. This guy makes Uri Geller look like Harry Houdini. Worst. Illusion. Ever.
I'm not sure why you'd say "Worst. Illusion. Ever." It's obvious we all know how the trick is performed, but there are details that are very well done. His baggy pants have his platform concealed well. His large wooden stick conceals the strong pipe strength. And the stick appearing to rest easy on the rug conceals the metal plate underneath. All interesting methods to shift focus away from the actual physics involved. The video of him suspending off the wall is also quite impressive in similar fashion. The suit and umbrella or interesting props to cover what actually lies beneath.
However, I suspect the most impressive part of all is his flexibility. He must be in great shape and maintain these poses for an extended period! I'm sure that despite the platforms, he is using a lot of strength to look comfortable throughout.
Just enjoy his expression of art as it were : )
This guy would be a lot more interesting if the mechanics of his tricks weren't so obvious.
I wonder about all those people gawking at the umbrella "trick". Did they round up 100 people who all flunked out of high school and had spacial perception disorders and then haul them to the square?
David B.
Why is this newsworthy? It's a person doing a magic trick. Those haven't been notable since the purported vanishing of the Statue of Liberty, itself a trick with a fun explanation (but one I'd rather not share)
I can't say I'm impressed.
A large part of any conjurer's levitation act is the transition to levitation that gives the illusion that the levitation is impossible. In such an act his "walking stick" would be subtly shown to be a separate, "ordinary item" above suspicion. Instead, what we get is a guy sitting on a rather obvious means of support. Snore...
Man, you guys are jaded.
In other news, you can apparently open and enter manholes near the White House.
The strength of this illusion is that even with it's incredible age it still lives on and has been the basis for a great number of effects which continue to play in many of the best reviewed shows in the world. Certainly this 'classic' version may not be impressive on the levels which most of the commentators here are functioning but there is a great deal to appreciate here if magic is your 'thing'. Certainly anyone who cannot discern or find the method would be too dense and incapable of internet searches to warrant any concern beyond forcible sterilization for the bettering of the gene pool but magic is not simply method and if you only watch to be fooled you or prove you aren't fooled you are missing out.
hey, what happened to that other magic trick video you guys had posted? it just disappeared
this was done in the 30's by Yogi Pullavar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_pullavar
That explains the cones, too. Anyone getting inside the cones and leaning down would see the platform. Although the guy who walked over and waved his arm underneath was a nice touch. I figure, either he was paid to do that or was just being very sporting. ("Ah, a platform. Well I'll wave my arm and be a part of the show!")
It would be nice to see him get started, though. If the device is clever, he ought to be able to use it without, e.g., spending 5 minutes screwing his stick into the ground or jacking himself up off the ground one inch at a time with a pumping motion on the stick... which for all I know is exactly how he sets it up.
Nothing wrong with a little levitation. But this guy's setup is HORRIBLE. I mean, you can see the platform, it's over a rug, and he's using a support stick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quYMoiLpCC0
I like the "David Blaine" freeform levitation illusion. You see them rise, no visible source of support, and it's done anywhere. I'll be damned if I can figure out how they do this.
"I like the "David Blaine" freeform levitation illusion. You see them rise, no visible source of support, and it's done anywhere. I'll be damned if I can figure out how they do this."
I know how it's done. I really shouldn't tell you, so I'll just say that Mr. Balducci knows how it's done (that's a clue).
Meh.
Give him a buck and let's go get lunch already.
every now and then you can see the dude in amsterdam around the center.
I've only spotted him on summer time, maybe his superior powers don't allow him to be sitting shirt-less in the cold.
this kind of stuff upsets me a lot, and I'd really love the stick to break suddenly, just to have the mesmerized crowd laugh at him.
sorry for more rants
:)
I've been living in Amsterdam a few years and I've never seen him. The A'dam video is him on the front of a trendy cafe/boutique, as part of a living ad fo RVS Life insurance. It's part of their most recent ad campaign, which has a people flying through the air with blue umbrellas, to the haunting tune (downloadable from that page), "Come Walk With Me," by Jeff Alexander.
Now I have that damned Pixies song stuck in my head:
"Give me help, give me help/You can lev-a-tate me...."
You're welcome.
We're getting it all wrong. He's using the stick to hold up the Earth!
Hardly the worst illusion ever. I've seen some seriously bad illusions, and that ain't it.
That said, I prefer David Blaine's version of it: up close, with no visible mechanisms, and he only maintains it for a few seconds. The footage of him doing it on the street is fun, because the people watching are so completely freaked out. For some reason, about half the time that trick will make someone in the audience run in a little circle.
Here is a video of him setting up, under a tent just as Yogi Pullavar did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkS36unUvAo&NR=1
I like the umbrella stunt, from an artistic point of view.
But the levitation is a bit embarrassing. I think it's the reactions that get me - do the onlookers feel obliged to look so awe-struck, or do they really not get how it's done? I really cringe when the guy comes along and waves his hand underneath. It's like everyone deliberately avoids looking at the pole. Kind of an Emperor's New Clothes scenario.
Actually, in magicians' parlance this isn't a levitation at all, but rather a suspension. From the beginning, the effect is that he's sitting on a platform which is resting on a couple of supports. He (or an assistant) removes all but one of the supports and he "magically" remains suspended in midair on only one support.
Yes, it's a "classic" and yes, it's still performed all over the world. But that doesn't change the fact that, as many commenters above noted, it sucks as a magic trick. The method is obvious to a ten-year-old. Always has been and always will be.
The great Theo Annemann once said, "Audiences are far from being as dumb as many magicians would like to think." If BoingBoing readers are any indication, this particular suspension should be retired for good.
Actually, in magicians' parlance this isn't a levitation at all, but rather a suspension. From the beginning, the effect is that he's sitting on a platform which is resting on a couple of supports. He (or an assistant) removes all but one of the supports and he "magically" remains suspended in midair on only one support.
Yes, it's a "classic" and yes, it's still performed all over the world. But that doesn't change the fact that, as many commenters above noted, it sucks as a magic trick. The method is obvious to a ten-year-old. Always has been and always will be.
The great Theo Annemann once said, "Audiences are far from being as dumb as many magicians would like to think." If BoingBoing readers are any indication, this particular suspension should be retired for good.