David Blaine's New Stunt

[Brown]

From The New York Times (registration required): (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/arts/19BLAI.html?8hpib)"Everything I've done before is irrelevant," he said in a recent interview, speaking in a nasally mumble that falls somewhere between distraction and shyness. "This one is going to be different."

"This one" is the latest stunt Mr. Blaine has devised for himself, an endurance test with as few frills as possible (except of course a small television deal and a documentary to be shot by a friend, the filmmaker Harmony Korine).

Beginning Sept. 5, Mr. Blaine says, he will spend 44 days in a Plexiglas box, 7 feet long by 7 feet tall by 3 feet wide, suspended over the Thames River in London.Note: The article might be deemed as "giving away secrets," but Blaine denies it.

[Diamond]

Originally posted by Brown
From The New York Times (registration required): (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/arts/19BLAI.html?8hpib)Note: The article might be deemed as "giving away secrets," but Blaine denies it.

I'd like to see someone survive on just water for six weeks. I have a feeling that Blaine might pull out for "technical reasons"

[reprise]

Hmmmm. I wonder how amenable Blaine would be to letting skeptics monitor his "water" supply. Not very, I suspect.

"I believe it is completely possible to exist peacefully with absolutely nothing, as it was in the beginning and as it will be in the end"

*cough* Really David? Then how about you exist without the "water" during your stunt.

Anyone want to place bets on how many Million Dollar Challenge applicants we're going to get wanted to be tested for this same "ability"?

[homunculus]

It's getting a bit boring (to me). He just keeps doing the same stunt over and over again.

Paul.

[Dogwood]

look at the bright side. At least no one has to worry about running into him on the street for 44 days.

[rustypouch]

His stunts are all similar, and the have been done before, and better.

Does the name Shipwreck Kelly ring any bells?

[homunculus]

Shipwreck Kelly? Nope....

Paul.

[reprise]

My next challenge, or performance piece, is based on confronting that fear directly. It's called Alone . It has to do with being solitary, completely isolated from everything, for a very extended period of time - 44 days and 44 nights, in isolation. With no food. Just liquid with vitamins in it.

from Guardian UK interview (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4548153-110648,00.html).

[Silicon]

Disclaimer... I know nothing about David Blaine's techniques.

But COME ON. This is DULLSVILLE. Gee, that sleeping bag can't possibly be filled with beef jerky.


This guy isn't a magician. He's a stuntman who learned to palm a snickers bar.



What's next, he volunteers to survive a week without air by ballooning out his cheeks and pursing his lips? HEY BLAINE! I CAUGHT YOU BREATHING THROUGH YOUR NOSE!

[Phil]

If his stunt is called Alone, why does he have to do it hanging over the Thames? Couldn't he lock himself in his back yard, or in his basement where he would actually be alone, and not an eye sore for everyone crossing the bridge.

I don't think he's as sincere about testing his limits, as he is about perpetrating a spectacle. I think it's all a show. Possibly a dangerous show, but a show nonetheless.

[tonygraham]

And I wonder whether that water is really just water and vitamins, or maybe it has a little sugar or amino acids or or or or or .........

Anyway, I really can't see that it's such a great spectacle, sitting in a box. Mind you, as well as people firing eggs and golf balls, some girls have been showing him their breasts, so he probably doesn't feel that alone. I wouldn't.

[Richard G]

Kind of like watching the grass grow. While the stunt has technical, and puclicity creating merits, I'd give it a "D minus" in the showmanship department.