David Blain at it again?

Dizzyblabla · 03-05-2006 12:10am #1

Is he just completely stupid?

The 33-year-old magician will perform his latest stunt by living underwater for seven days and nights in a "human aquarium'' in front of New York's Lincoln Center.

taken from here: http://www.1010wins.com/pages/24854.php

biko · 03-05-2006 12:13am

Saw this on the news. He's a weirdo for sure, but good magician imo.

elvis2002 · 03-05-2006 12:15am

There's a good chance he may die next week when he attempts to break the world record for holding his breath under water. thats insane.

el rabitos · 03-05-2006 12:17am

he's stupid alright....stupid like a fox!

jcoote · 03-05-2006 12:25am

its hard to take someone serious when all his tricks are publicity stunts but he is a great illusionist in fairness

YeatsCounty · 03-05-2006 12:44am

biko wrote:

Saw this on the news. He's a weirdo for sure, but good magician imo.

No, he's not a good magician. A magician performs magic tricks. Blaine is more of a master of endurance, and an annoying one to boot. It will be interesting to see if he's able to beat the world breath-holding record though. He'll have a good medical team standing by, so that should be reassuring.

Ruu_Old · 03-05-2006 12:52am

Hes a good is an illusionist, will be interesting. Might watch some of it.

Ivan · 03-05-2006 1:02am

Come on, the guy tried to live inside a block of ice and on top of a pole. In any other country he would be considered insane but no, stick a camera in front of him and he's a "magician" Pfft...

Still, it is pretty neat

chamlis · 03-05-2006 8:06am

Balls. He's in no danger. Just an illusion. Sure there was this program once showing how one would do the block of ice thing. Without naming his name they de-mystified the whole thing.

Merrick · 03-05-2006 8:26am

Bah, he was mildly enterataining for a while, but now he's just annoying.
How was the whole ice thing explained then?

irlrobins · 03-05-2006 8:59am

I wonder if he goes for a piss does he do it public swimming pool stylee. No hiding it from the public if he does!

chamlis · 03-05-2006 9:07am

Well a big block of ice might seem really cold but its actually an insulator. Think Igloos. Also, there was a platform underneath the block that housed another lookalike dude, a bedroll, tv microwave etc. Every few hours they hosed down the ice block cleaning them or re-freezing them I forget. It blurred the whole thing so they could switch. All supposed magic tricks make an awful lot of sense when you think about them. Levitation anyone?

Aquos76 · 03-05-2006 9:12am

Looks like ITV1 has picked up the rights to screen this across the UK

ITV to air next David Blaine stunt
Friday, April 28 2006, 20:22 BST - by Neil Wilkes

ITV1 has picked up the exclusive UK broadcast rights to David Blaine's next stunt.

The illusionist will spend seven days submerged in a human aquarium – a specially constructed clear acrylic sphere – before trying to break the world record for holding breath. The current record stands at 8 minutes 58 seconds.

The stunt takes place in New York next month.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds32186.html

DarkJager · 03-05-2006 9:14am

I have a brilliant idea for David Blaine. Why doesn't he try standing on a 40ft pole on one leg (while naked) above a pool of piranhas and snakes for 5 days? Every second day he could prove how magic he is by letting people throw rocks at him, and magically not falling off the pole?

the whole year inn · 03-05-2006 10:16am

Sooner watch this that BB,holding his breath would be pretty cool.
I remember him saying in an interview that while in the block time went so slow , seconds where minutes and minutes were hours etc he is full of crap but then to be expected!

Any one remember Uri Geller was there when Blaine was in the box.Wonder will he be there this time?

IrishAirCorps · 03-05-2006 10:45am

At the end of the day i suppose thats the way he wants to live his life and thats his "Job"

WhiteWashMan · 03-05-2006 11:32am

elvis2002 wrote:

There's a good chance he may die next week when he attempts to break the world record for holding his breath under water. thats insane.

7 days is a long time to hold your breath.
i dont think i can do more than about 30 seconds!

Silverfish · 03-05-2006 11:36am

WhiteWashMan wrote:

7 days is a long time to hold your breath.
i dont think i can do more than about 30 seconds!

I was disappointed to read that he is not in fact attempting to hold his breath for the duration of 7 days swimming in his own pee, but is just going to conclude his latest....er...illusion by holding his breath for longer than the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds.

Snickers Man · 03-05-2006 11:39am

Just ignore him. He'll go away.

Who is he anyway?

Cactus Col · 03-05-2006 11:47am

Snickers Man wrote:

Just ignore him. He'll go away.

But if we all ignore him then he'll just try even harder to get our attention

Diarmsquid · 03-05-2006 11:49am

He'll cheat.
And could he not just go in the tank for 8 minutes 59 seconds? That would beat the record? Why 7 days?

Merrick · 03-05-2006 11:52am

Cactus Col wrote:

But if we all ignore him then he'll just try even harder to get our attention

So what we do is continue to ignore him whatever he does, and he will eventually go away, or die trying to get attention.

Blisterman · 03-05-2006 12:08pm

Why does everyone hate David Blaine so much? I'd like to see any of you guys do his stunts.

Crucifix · 03-05-2006 12:14pm

Diarmsquid wrote:

Why 7 days?

To make a spectacle of it I'd guess.

Snickers Man · 03-05-2006 12:20pm

Blisterman wrote:

Why does everyone hate David Blaine so much? I'd like to see any of you guys do his stunts.

Interest word stunt. According to dictionary.com the noun has the following two meanings

1 A feat displaying unusual strength, skill, or daring.

2 Something done to attract attention or publicity.

The first meaning implies something of merit. Something that is exciting or awe-inspiring to watch and that not everybody could do.

The second meaning implies something tedious or annoying. Like an attention-seeking child screaming at the top of their voice for another ice cream.

Which of the two meanings most typifies Blaine?

Unusual strength? Nah
Skill? Gimme a break
Daring? Well if he's really trying to hold his breath for a week that would be daring but we all know that's humanly impossible so he's doing it some other way.

No. He's just an attention seeker. One who demands that we find the idea of sitting in a glass cage at the top of a pole for several weeks inherently interesting when in fact it's no such thing.

So I couldn't, or more correctly, wouldn't do what he does. Why must I be impressed by what he does?

Would anyone here be impressed if I ate a plate of my own faeces and then demanded their respect because 'I'd like to see you try it'?

I don't think so.

Darth Ratz · 03-05-2006 12:21pm

Stupid David Blaine, it just reminds me of that episode of South Park where he lead his suicide cult on Washington

Kinetic^ · 03-05-2006 12:23pm

Moron - that is all

DaSilva · 03-05-2006 12:31pm

YeatsCounty wrote:

No, he's not a good magician. A magician performs magic tricks. Blaine is more of a master of endurance, and an annoying one to boot. It will be interesting to see if he's able to beat the world breath-holding record though. He'll have a good medical team standing by, so that should be reassuring.

No, he's a good magician. He's not reallygoing to hold his breath for several days or whatever the hell his stunt is, he's going to make people think he did. Thats what magicians do.

Blisterman · 03-05-2006 12:35pm

He's not holding his breath for 7 days, he has an airtube.
And snickers man, going 44 days without food seems pretty difficult to do, to me.

Merrick · 03-05-2006 12:39pm

Blisterman wrote:

going 44 days without food seems pretty difficult to do, to me.

It would be hard, but I reckon it's a matter of willpower rather than skill.

astrofool · 03-05-2006 1:16pm

Darth Ratz wrote:

Stupid David Blaine, it just reminds me of that episode of South Park where he lead his suicide cult on Washington

Maybe Jesus, Moses and Mohammed will be there at the finale to put him out of his misery?

DaSilva · 03-05-2006 1:20pm

Merrick wrote:

It would be hard, but I reckon it's a matter of willpower rather than skill.

I very much doubt he actually went 44 days fasting. Even though he did give a nice dramatic ending to his supposed fast, he looked quiet fleshy for someone who had fasted for so long, my friend who was in hospital for a few days and couldnt eat because of some infection, had to be fed from a drip or something ended up loosing massive ammounts of weight.

Put it this way, if he's doing his endurance tricks legitametly, then he's doing them the hard way.

Blisterman · 03-05-2006 1:55pm

He lost 50 something pounds doing it.

Merrick · 03-05-2006 2:10pm

I think a few fish or a shark should be added to make this thing actually worth paying attention to.
.
.
No, wait. Jellyfish.

Bard · 03-05-2006 2:17pm

He is... in the words of a british comedian... a tosser.

[ Listen here ]

Bacchus · 03-05-2006 2:31pm

I feel silly posting this but are there people here that actually think he's trying to hold his breath for 7 days! That's a bit ridiculous TBH and I hope ye are just pulling the piss. The 7 days is just a publicity stunt, another one of his sensory depraivation stunts and there is no real challenge to it. He has all the air and food he needs to survive thanks to his tube. Still though, I'd like to know what he's doing about his piss and poop. And, is the water being constantly circulated and cleaned. I imagine after 7 days (piss and poop aside) the water would be pretty filty.
The world record for holding breath has already been posted (something like 9 minutes). That is what he is going to try to break at the end of the stunt.

Whether he is a fool or not... I don't care. He's got the personality of a plank and his "stunts" are pretty stupid and just a ploy for attention (this latest one being the most obvious since there is no challenge at all for the first 7 days). I don't think I'v been impressed by anything he's done and I don't see the appeal.

EDIT: Actually no. The thing he did standing on the pole for what was it 2 days. That was an impressive show of endurance and strength

RandolphEsq · 03-05-2006 3:38pm

gob_smacked wrote:

Sooner watch this that BB,holding his breath would be pretty cool.
I remember him saying in an interview that while in the block time went so slow , seconds where minutes and minutes were hours etc he is full of crap but then to be expected!

Any one remember Uri Geller was there when Blaine was in the box.Wonder will he be there this time?

You just reminded me about Big Brother. Its starting soon, I can't wait

shabbyroad · 03-05-2006 4:29pm

Oh Christ on a BIKE.

People please ignore this guy (and his identical twin... you do know that's how he does these stunts don't you ?)

Please ignore them - maybe they'll just go away.

Blisterman · 03-05-2006 4:59pm

Boy you guys are hard to impress.

Binomate · 03-05-2006 7:00pm

I think he's an amazing performer.

armitage_skanks · 03-05-2006 8:05pm

Hmm, not very interesting. Other than his skin getting a bit shrivelled and blistery, theres nothing particularly difficult about what he's doing.

Ive heard that he has trained to actually become pretty good at breath held diving, but the 8min59sec record was done by a guy taking a deep breath (of air). David Blaine will presumably have access to pure oxygen via his respirator. So, beating that record wont be particulary difficult. Ive heard of people holding their breath up to 20mins after hyperventilating on pure oxygen.

Still, at least he's better than that fat boyzone-type magician on the smart ads

YeatsCounty · 03-05-2006 8:54pm

DaSilva wrote:

No, he's a good magician. He's not reallygoing to hold his breath for several days or whatever the hell his stunt is, he's going to make people think he did. Thats what magicians do.

I know he's not going to hold his breath for seven days........he's going to try it for just over 8 minutes and 59 seconds. That is achievable and it does not make him a magician.

monkeyfudge · 03-05-2006 9:20pm

His record won't be recognised if Guinness don't have full access to the thing under controlled conditions... that's hardly going to be the case after a week in an aquarium.

slipss · 03-05-2006 11:39pm

I don't know why so many people hate the bloke so much, if you don't want to watch his stunts then just don't, of course theres a trick to a lot of the stuff he deos, hes a magician, thats his job. I thought the standing on the pole thing he did seemed pretty hard to do, I couldn't do it, I've a hard enough time staying vertical in bank que's.
I think hes a good showman but not a great one. Now there was this kid in my class in senior infants in school that could walk on his hands, dislocate both his tumbs AND suck worms up his nose and spit them out his mouth still wriggling, now he was a GREAT showman.

mad m · 04-05-2006 12:15am

After a few days he will probably be like the goldfish I had in my youth after a few days and being over fed in fishbowl,belly up....:D

Bard · 04-05-2006 9:02am

mad m wrote:

After a few days he will probably be like the goldfish I had in my youth after a few days and being over fed in fishbowl,belly up....:D

We can but hope...!

Snickers Man · 04-05-2006 9:09am

slipss wrote:

I don't know why so many people hate the bloke so much, if you don't want to watch his stunts then just don't

My sentiments entirely. And I won't be watching. But the thing is: what's to watch? some guy sitting in a tank for 40 days? I don't care how 'impressive' it is. I would rather watch paint dry.

And when you compare it with other so-called spectacles that last an interminably long time: at least with cricket you can always watch the grass grow.

Hobbes · 04-05-2006 9:15am

Stephen Colbert said it best.. "David Blaine is proving once and for all that mankind is capable of watching anything."

shabbyroad · 04-05-2006 7:21pm

where do I hand in my notice to 'mankind' ?

Snickers Man · 09-05-2006 9:57am

Ha Ha Ha Giggle Giggle Snort Snort Snicker. Na Na Na NAA Na.

Blaine has failed.

Har de Har de har nyak nyak nyak. Chortle Chortle Chortle.

Here's a thought: how much more of this do I have to do to set the record for the longest ever sneer? And will I become famous if I do?

Feck it: if some dumbass can expect world-wide coverage for sitting in a perspex box on top of a pole, then the least I deserve is an interview on the Tubridy show.

Yuk Yuk Yuk. Tee Hee Hee. Snigger Snigger Snigger

David Blain at it again?

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