He was on this kick for a while, watching all the Criss Angel specials on TV and recounting the many miracles therein to me as if they'd really transpired.
Now I'm a bit of an amateur magician myself, the keyword is amateur. About the only trick I've mastered with any proficiency is the vanishing of money, which nobody has yet paid to see me do. But from that perspective I tend to be a little skeptical of paranormal claims - "Extraordinary Claims demand Extraordinary Evidence".
He's not so skeptical.
I bought him a book on Criss Angel, an autobiography, it was appalling drivel, but key in it was Criss Angel's personal refutation of paranormal means to achieve his ends. Most magicians are like that, think of Houdini, Derren Brown, Penn and Teller. They deny that miracles occur because they are their stock in trade, they work behind the scenes and know how they're done, can do similar, and so themselves are great skeptics.
And for a time he doesn't bring Criss up anymore. Maybe 6 months. He's disappointed in him, his denial that he's the new Messiah.
But there was a new special on TV last night where Criss levitated and vanished and he has to tell me about it...
I'm impressed, I haven't seen it but I'm sure he's very good....
I'm not getting it.
"Wouldn't it be good if we could all levitate and turn invisible?"
"It would be good, but he is a magician you know, I think it's just a trick...." I tell him
Now he looks skeptical.
"Maybe. Or maybe he just wants us to believe it's a trick. He could be fooling us..."