bye bye spyglass resort motel
tommy permalink | categories: clearwater, entertainment, history, hotels, marketing, names, things to do, tourism, tv, visitorsby tommy @ 11:40 am
Besides the (very) loud music, here’s your introduction to Criss Angel > The Official Website:
Don’t miss the first LIVE episode in MINDFREAK history as Criss attempts to escape from an imploding building! Watch it LIVE on Wednesday, July 30 at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST on A&E, or watch it LIVE here on www.CrissAngel.com!
It’s always fun to watch a building implode! The whole “escaping death” part is just a bonus. We find out more in the news section:
… From within a 9-story former hotel outside of Clearwater, Florida, Criss will attempt to escape a building that is loaded with explosives and set to detonate.
Clearwater!?!? Now famous for Scientology AND Death Defying Stunts!?!?
Anyway, Angel has 3 and a half minutes to get out of handcuffs attached to a balcony railing, through three or four locked doors, and up 3 flights to the roof, where a helicopter will whisk him off to safety.
Cool.
Even cooler is the building that will host the stunt, the old Spyglass Resort Motel. You know this place - it’s 10-story building
with 100 foot mural of the hot air balloon on it. Clearwater artist Roger Bansemer painted that mural back in 1978 (Tampa Bay’s 10 has the story of the mural).
This place became quite the dump over the past few years, but the rooms were cheap! That, along with many of the balconies facing the beach, the Spyglass became the perfect place for partying spring breakers.
Not everyone is impressed with Angel’s plans to escape getting blowed up. Steve Otto says the stunt is “pretty lame.” Ernest Hooper agrees, challenging Criss Angel to attempt to find a parking spot at Clearwater Beach in 3½ minutes on a Saturday. Eric Snider simply says Angel is repugnant, pretentious, and unimpressive.
Good grief, ya’ll. The dude is giving Clearwater Beach some free marketing national coverage, and BLOWING UP A BUILDING!!
Actually, Advanced Explosives Demolition is blowing up the building, and Applied Science International created a video simulation of the implosion.
Those of you interested can watch Mindfreak on A&E tonight at 10pm, or see the webcast beginning at 9pam on AETV.com, watch it live at CrissAngel.com, or watch it live from Clearwater Beach - they will have giant screens there, too.
You gonna watch/go to this?
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July 30th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Check out the Mindfreak parody on MadTV, available on Hulu. Not at all dumber than the real thing.
July 30th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I’m betting more than 70% of those watching tonite are hoping for a disaster, rather than a successful stunt. Best of luck to you Houdi-errr Criss! (Up next, David Blain attempts to survive a 10-hour workday and rush-hour traffic.)
July 30th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
This proposed “stunt” is so lame it needs a wheelchair. And Mr. Angel (is that his real name?) is a pale comparison of the past escape artists he emulates.
And that is all the effort he worth. I say good day!
July 30th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
gladly he lived.. but this was just tooo far… he didnt finish the stunt.. and survived an explosion???? … too far
July 31st, 2008 at 10:05 am
What a great show!
However, if you watched it a second time, you can easily see how it worked. http://www.syfyportal.com/news425267.html
Still, watching a building get blowed up is big fun.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:32 am
I didn’t watch it, and maybe I have seen The Prestige and The Illusionist a few too many times, but the trick didn’t sound astounding at all. In fact, if you look at the St. Petersburg Times today, it seems like the paper was paid off to buy into the concept more than they were actually impressed by the stunt.
And that’s what it seems like to me: a stunt. An overglorified “Jackass”.
With illusions, the audience wants to be fooled and in this case — it was a TV fooling (ahh, the magic of motion pictures).
You want to REALLY present this as an illusion? Have Angel pulled from the rubble after the implosion, a day or two later. I don’t mean that as wishing ill on Angel, I mean really make a show of it that doesn’t fit inside a 30/60 minute broadcast and captivates fans and non fans alike.
Yes, with illusions, the audience wants to be fooled… A good trick pulls it off. But the more elaborate the trick, the easier it is to find it’s flaws. And the flaw was the pre-taped escape/lock pickings.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:53 am
Clearwater Beach looked good, too!
July 31st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I was on the beach in Clearwater & watched the implosion live & in person. I predicted his “escape” to happen just the way it happened….not making it out in time…yadda, yadda, yadda. Considering Criss Angel is an ILLUSIONIST…and it was obvious that this was going to be an ILLUSION…it was an awesome SHOW. Hennce the words ILLUSION & SHOW! I just love Criss. He performs the most incredible trikery stunts!
July 31st, 2008 at 3:07 pm
What? Tommy actually mentioned SyFy Portal!
Now we ARE moving up. ^_^