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Author Topic: David Blaine's Drowned Alive Stunt Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 05-08-2006 05:05 PM                    I don't really understand this guy, although I do find him mildly interesting. Anyone going to watch tonight? Too bad it's on during 24, which means that I'll probably miss it.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-08-2006 05:50 PM                        I may have to watch it purely for the entertainment factor. David Blaine's street magic TV specials are supposedly pure BS. Everything is set up in advance and carefully controlled. Completely bogus.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-08-2006 09:54 PM                     Frankly, I don't see how it is "magic" or even "illusion." The guy spends a week in a water-filled ball. Or a month in an elevated box. Whoopie-doo! I have a good trick for the guy to try. Let's have David Blaine try to eat 400 pounds of powdered mildew within an hour without dying -or throwing up. That would be some trick. I might tune in for that. I might also tune into a show where David Blaine gets beaten about the head, neck and chest by midgets wielding hard rubber mallets. Joe R. might tune into that too...at least if it's on broadcast TV. He ain't paying for any damned cable!  |  IP: Logged Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 05-08-2006 10:20 PM                        Yeah -- SNL had a couple funny jokes about it on Weekend Update. 1) David Blaine is going to break the record for the world's most shriveliest penis. 2) David Blaine is going to spend X number of days in a ball filled with water. When he gets out he might actually do something magic.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 05-09-2006 11:10 AM                    Well, apparently he almost killed himself. He failed at holding his breath for nine minutes, and failed at escaping. Quality TV at its finest. I have more fun watching my turtle swim in his tank.  |  IP: Logged Steve Scott Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1300 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Sep 2000 posted 05-09-2006 11:28 AM                     But he succeeded at killing time between sponsors & distracting some of the nation for a week! Houdini never took a week. People must have had better things to do back then.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 05-09-2006 12:07 PM                    Well, that's certainly true. I wonder how the ratings shook out.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2006 03:55 PM                     The human brain will begin to suffer irrepairable damage if deprived of oxygen for 3-5 minutes. Assuming that, holding ones breath under water, a person has 2-3 miutes of reserve air, that still leaves him/her 1 minute OVER the limit. The way I see it, Blaine could NOT have done the stunt without using drugs (to slow the heartbeat, etc. etc.) or using some secret device to supply him with oxygen. Therefor, he MUST have known that he would (or had a significant chance to) fail. I didn't watch because I have never seen Blaine do a stunt or an illusion that couldn't be bought at a Hank Lee's or Tannin's magic shops. I had no interest in seeing a stunt that was either doomed to fail or was a complete sham. My first impression of Blaine was when he used a Svengali Deck to make some skanky steet ho' jump up and down and scream because she thought he read her mind after she (was forced to) picked the Queen of Spades. (This is a trick that most kids learn in 8th grade!) The guy's a hack with a good P.R. man. Nothing more.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-09-2006 04:54 PM                        He did hold his breath for 7 minutes and 8 seconds. I think he was stupid for doing this, not only did he risk brain damage, he also possibly risked nerve damage in his hands and feet (for being in the water for 7 days straight). Since he was going for a Guiness Record, it was for real - it was not magic. I prefer magic to stupidity.  |  IP: Logged Steve Scott Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1300 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Sep 2000 posted 05-09-2006 05:20 PM                     If I remember correctly, he had a breathing apparatus that he wasn't trying to conceal. Either that or I just took it for granted. Yes, its quite the feat, risking excessive prune skin & skin disease, but Blaine's stunt comes off as attention-whorish when you consider other forms of stunt entertainment.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-09-2006 05:51 PM                  David Blaine is a dumbass for risking his life like that for a stupid stunt. I wonder what George would say about Blaine's "shrinkage"...? I watched "The Apprentice".  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2006 06:22 PM                     I didn't see the stunt. I only saw one 15 second spot for it on TV. It didn't impress me. I didn't pay attention. He could have use a "Window Sleep" technique, wherby he secretly substitutes a double for himself at opportune moments when nobody is watching. (Except for a "security guard" who is actually on the magician's payroll.) The technique comes from the Vaudeville days of magic. When a new mage came to a town he would often stand in the public square and "hypnotize" a willing subject from the crowd. (Actually a paid stooge.) The stooge would be put to sleep, laid in a bed and displayed in in the front window of a department store or some other prominent building in town. A "Security Guard" (Another stooge) was paid to sit there and make sure that the sleeping person stayed in bed. He would "swear" that the person never woke up. Three days later, the sleeping person would be brought to the theater and dramatically reawaken in front of the audience. It was GREAT publicity for an otherwise unknown magician or mentalist! The secret was that all the important parties were paid off well in advance. The "sleeper" would be allowed to secretly leave his bed and could spend his/her time as he wanted as long as it was out of the public view. A body-double or a mannequin would take the place of the sleeper when the townspeople weren't paying attention. The only time the "sleeper" needed to actually be in the bed was a few hours during daylight times and at the beginning and end of the stunt. Point being: Blaine probably could NOT have survived 7-8 days being submerged in water with little or no clothes on, even with a respirator. I don't care how warm the water is. I don't care how much food or fresh water he was given. He HAD to urinate or defecate at least once! There is NO way for a person to survive that long without sleep, yet still be sentient enough to perform a death-defying stunt like an immersion/drowning test. I propose that Blaine never spent all that time under water and that he never inteneded to successfully complete the stunt in the first place. I believe that this is a publicity stunt for some bigger event down the road. It's just like the way Evel Kenevel would try to jump over a row of busses at Wembly Stadium, full-well KNOWING that he wouldn't make it. He only did it so he could grandstand afterward and pitch his NEXT big stunt... Jumping over the Grand Canyon! (Which he never actually completed, either!)  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2006 06:38 PM                        quote: David Stambaugh Everything is set up in advance and carefully controlled. Completely bogus. You just described every magician in the history of the universe.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-09-2006 06:44 PM                     It's been widely reported, at least in all the stories I read, that Blaine had an attachment bag of sorts to pee in. As for #2, I think he read he once fasted for 40 days and didn't need to go #2 so...  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-09-2006 08:02 PM                        Considering that people eat worms and spiders and all forms of vermin and drink even worse cuisinart blended stuff on Fear Factor without concern for whatever bacteria and viruses known and unknown could be present in this vomit, Blain's risk was small to middling. Seems there is no limit to what people will do to get on TV -- risk seems to be irrelevant. In fact, in terms of real danger, it probably was less risky than what others have done for their 15 minutes of fame. I give you Timothy "Bear-nip" Tredwell, tempting humgry bears on camera, almost defying them -- "betja can't eat just one limb" --to make him their Happy Meal, and then a couple of ill-tempered, massive brown bears serving him up as so much claw-lickin good snack food (would you like fries with that?). How's that for wending one's way to Infamy Through Stupidity? I say, in the scheme of things, it's not really as terrible as it might sound at first blush -- hey, it's just nature's evolutionary way of weeding out the morbidly stupid from the gene pool.  |  IP: Logged

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