David Blaine is pretty cool when he’s doing magic. His low key personality and willingness to approach anyone make his brand of street magic unique and realistic. I saw a special on cable that featured Blaine levitating a foot off the ground. The different groups of people who saw him do it up close really believed that he had some kind of supernatural power.
When the novelty of street magic wore off a few years ago, Blaine started pulling Houdini-type capers. He was buried in a coffin in New York city for a week in 1999, enclosed in a glass of ice for three days in 2000, and stood on a platform for two days straight in 2002. Blaine tried to bring his stunts to new masochistic heights by encasing himself in an acrylic box over the Thames River in London without food or entertainment for 44 days in the fall of 2003. The stunt was successful but foolish and Blaine drew mixed reviews for his public sacrifice. Drunken Londoners ridiculed him and hurled food and beer at his see-through box.
Blaine now plans on living in an aquarium for seven days in New York City’s Lincoln center.
He will conclude by attempting to hold his breath underwater longer than the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds.
The finale of his latest stunt will air live in a two-hour ABC special on May 8 (8 p.m. EDT).
The guy is trying to cling to his fading star by pulling yet another outrageous stunt. It’s unnecessary and stupid, and if he wants to make a pile of cash he can surely tour Vegas instead of toturing himself for our entertainment.
It’s obviously incredibly hard to hold your breath for that long under water, especially after your body is totally worn out from being submerged for a week. I saw a super-fit guy who had been training for years try to break the record for holding your breath under water on “Wetten Das?” He fell a half minute or so short of the record when he was distracted by Bon Jovi flirting with his girlfriend on the other side of the glass.
Blaine has supposedly been training with the Navy Seals for the stunt, but we doubt he will successfully hold his breath for that long.
His last gig was as the spokesperson for the 2006 New York City summer reading program, though, so you can hardly blame him for trying to remain relevant.
Here is Blaine “bringing magic to libraries” as part of NY’s summer reading program:
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