Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
David Blaine Caught Taking Standing-Up Breaks
Options
-
24-09-2008 1:32am#1David Blaine is not really hanging upside down for 60 hours, according to FOXNews.com's eyewitness who photographed the magician standing right-side up Tuesday.
"The revelation would seem to deflate Blaine's latest stunt, but a representative for the 35-year-old magician said he never intended to stay upside down for 60 consecutive hours.
"About once an hour he has to come down for a medical check, to stretch, and to relieve himself, because even David Blaine can't do that upside down," said Patrick Smith, an executive vice president at Rubenstein Associates. "He has said all along that there will be times when he must get his head above his heart."
Smith continued, "The doctors told him if he doesn't do that, he will die."
Another witness at the scene told our source that Blaine turns himself around and stands up about three times an hour.
On Monday, Blaine said he was "doin' all right" after stringing himself upside down above Central Park's Wollman ice skating rink in New York City earlier that day.
Wearing a safety harness attached to a crossbar, Blaine dangled by his feet from a large steel scaffold structure.
Blaine said he planned to stay there for 60 hours despite doctors' warnings.
Sounding nasal from sinus pressure, Blaine kept smiling while describing the "enormous push of blood" that made it feel like his head was "about to explode."
"The legs go pins and needle very fast," he said, adding that stretches — kind of an upside-down sit-up — seem to help.
As a child, Blaine was intrigued to learn that Harry Houdini had dangled from a crane by his ankles while escaping a straitjacket.
"Live with Regis and Kelly" host Kelly Ripa also put on a harness and hung upside down with Blaine on her show Monday morning.
Blaine stopped eating "about a week ago," he told Ripa, so that he won't have to go to the bathroom, other than using his catheter.
"I’ll need lots of liquids so I won’t have to go into organ failure again, which has happened twice," he said.
Other medical difficulties: Swelling of the eyes and "there’s the possibility of blood hemorrhaging in the brain," he told Ripa, along with going into an altered state due to sleep deprivation.
Doctors, who will be monitoring him throughout the feat, say the increase in blood pressure raises the risk of stroke or blindness, and gravity could restrict the blood flow to his lower extremities.
Blaine has control of the cables suspending him and has front-to-back and side-to-side maneuverability. He periodically lowers himself closer to ground to interact with fans.
The spectacle is set to conclude in an ABC television special Wednesday night when Blaine takes what he calls the "Dive of Death" and falls 44 feet to the ground.
In November 2000, Blaine spent 61 hours inside a block of ice that was situated in Times Square. Two years ago, he lived for a week underwater in an acrylic sphere in front of Lincoln Center, and in 2002, he stood atop a 90-foot pillar erected behind the New York Public Library for 35 hours.
Blaine also lived for 44 days inside a transparent box suspended over the Thames River in London in fall 2003."
Hmm,surprised he's being so obvious about it,anyhow I'm still looking forward to the special tomorrow night...should be great0
Comments
-
-
One of David Blaine’s effects for “Dive of Death” will likely be a punch in the stomach from Kimbo Slice.
According to Esther Lin of Fightlinker.com, Blaine dropped by a gym in Southern California and received a blow to the midsection from the man with the massive biceps. The stunt was an homage to Blaine’s role model, Harry Houdini, who died from a similar punch. Says Lin:
The rather physically fit Blaine claims he chose Kimbo because the fighter is one of the few people he fears. From my observation, it does not seem as if the magician is intimidated. Before the punch, Blaine does look visibly nervous. I won’t spoil the fun but there’s no illusion involved to this bit. David Blaine simply stands in the middle of the cage, lifts up his shirt to prove he’s not hiding any protective material, and asks Kimbo to punch him. And after? Kimbo is wowed by David Blaine’s resistance to his gut shot. Kimbo’s manager jokingly asks, “Hey, is this going to make Kimbo look weak?” I don’t think so. And I hope after this, Blaine checks in with a doctor.
This looks interesting. Must say i loved Houdini doing this, and I love MMA. So a win/win scenario0 -
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
Really enjoyed the special..lots of great magic and the bullet catch was exactly what I'd hoped for..its a pity the actual Dive of Death went tits up though
Heres the Kimbo Slice gut punch and the Bullet catch,in the same clip
0 -
-
-
-
-
-
I thought the pre-recorded levitation think was a complete cheat, may as well be just movie special effects.
And then I saw this interview live at the time and thought him a complete tosser.
I am impressed with some of the endurance stunts, though it seems you always have to read all the "small print", such as these breaks etc.0 -
-
Advertisement
-
![[Deleted User]](/applications/dashboard/design/images/defaulticon.png)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luKmoQ79260
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeddPlj2D4E
Advertisement