David Blaine Caught Taking Standing-Up Breaks
Tuesday , September 23, 2008
David 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.
Click here for photos
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.
* http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,426008,00.html
Walter Breuning of Great Falls, Montana, says the secret to a long life is staying active. Walt celebrated his 112th birthday on Sunday with about 60 people at the Rainbow Retirement and Assisted Living Community, where he has lived for 30 years. As of Monday, Breuning was the 27th oldest person in the world. The oldest is 115-year-old Edna Parker of Indiana.
Dave Tracy is flabbergasted as to why someone would steal a hood off of one of the Hershey’s delivery trucks he manages. The branch manager at Hershey’s Augusta, Maine, warehouse said “nothing like this has ever happened.” Tracy said the fiberglass hood, at 7 1/2 by 6 feet and 4 feet deep, is “not exactly small.” He said that even if the thieves had a pickup truck, the hood wouldn’t be easy to carry off. Tracy discovered the theft when he got to work Monday morning. Police said the thieves probably needed a hood identical to the one on the ice cream truck.
A Florida woman says she never expected her 10-year-old son’s message in a bottle would cross the Atlantic and wash up on a beach in France. Alex Moody dropped his message in a bottle from a boat off Cocoa Beach, Florida, last year. He recently got a letter from the Nefarre family, of Cape Ferret, France, who found the bottle on a nearby beach and sent him a map of where they are located. Alex is planning to launch more bottles with messages now that his first has met with such success.
Montgomery Gentry's Eddie Montgomery is one of many stars featured in the new book Horse Country: A Celebration of Country Music and the Love of Horses. But Eddie doesn't just stop with horses on his farm. He tells us, "I've got llamas, donkeys, horses, ducks, geese, dogs, cats... That farm keeps me busier all the time when I am off, but I love it. I love fooling with my animals." Chris Cagle is also part of the book. He says, "I think when it's time for me to walk away from music, I'm going to have a horse farm, whether it makes money or not." Other country stars included are Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Tracy Byrd, Willie Nelson, Trent Willmon, Charlie Daniels, Kix Brooks, George Jones and Lynn Anderson. Horse Country will be in stores October 15th.
SOLID, Society of Leaders in Development, is gearing up to launch an eBay auction as part of this year’s “Women Rock For The Cure” event on October 2nd in Nashville. The benefit concert will feature Emily West and songwriters Rachel Proctor (who co-wrote Jessica Simpson’s “Come On Over”) and Jessie Alexander. Up for bid will be a Garth Brooks framed CD, a Jewel autographed guitar, Keith Urban autographed guitar, a Taylor Swift purse and matching clutch, and Little Big Town autographed Tony Lama boots. Find out more at http://myworld.ebay.com/womenrockforthecure Tickets to the concert can be found at www.3rdandlindsley.com Go to www.myspace.com/womenrockforthecure.com to find out more information about the event.
Hank Williams Jr's daughter Holly is definitely carrying on the family tradition. The 27-year-old artist will visit Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’ on October 4th as part of the ongoing "Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy" exhibit. Williams will offer an intimate performance and an interview in the museum's Ford Theater. She’s also the bartender in a video from the group Rehab featuring her father. “The bartender song”
Police in Madison, Wisconsin, said two men were arrested after they allegedly broke into a restaurant and drank a $600 bottle of tequila. Charles Lindsey, 41, and Bill Martin, 47, were charged with burglary after they allegedly broke into Frieda’s Restaurant early Friday morning, drank the expensive bottle of liquor and attempted to escape with several other bottles of pricey booze before they were caught by the restaurant’s owner.
Chris Cagle has agreed to enroll in a diversion program -- which includes anger management classes -- in order to have assault charges against him dropped, according to the Tucson (Arizona) Citizen. The charges stem from an incident in Tucson last year in which Chris was accused of assaulting a man after the man's girlfriend became verbally abusive when the country star refused to sign an autograph. The agreement does not amount to an admission of guilt.
Charlie Daniels, Montgomery Gentry, Phil Vassar, Heidi Newfield and Rodney Atkins are among the artists scheduled to perform at the 12th Annual “Christmas For Kids Benefit Concert.” The concert is planned for November 24th at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The event raises money for the Christmas For Kids organization, which allows children to participate in a day-long Christmas shopping spree. Tickets are available at www.christmas4kids.org
CMT’s new series, “Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling,” will debut on October 18th. The cast of 10 celebrity wrestling hopefuls will attempt to turn themselves into professional-quality wrestlers. Hogan, former World Championship Wrestling president Eric Bischoff, and professional wrestling manager Jimmy Hart will judge the contestants. Contestants include Dennis Rodman, Erin Murphy, Nikki Ziering, Todd Bridges, ButterBean, Trishelle Cannatella, Dustin Diamond, Frank Stallone, Tiffany and Danny Bonaduce.
With the release of Kenny Chesney’s “Lucky Old Sun” still a month away, the first track from the album will be released today on iTunes as part of the “Countdown To Kenny Chesney’s Lucky Old Sun” event. One song will be premiered each week leading up to the album’s release. “Nowhere To Go, Nowhere To Be” is the first single, set for release today, followed by “Key’s In The Conch Shell” on September 30th and “Spirit Of A Storm” on October 7th.
Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore released his latest documentary for free online yesterday. The feature length film titled "Slacker Uprising" encourages young people to get out and vote. Admittedly, Moore would prefer most of the people vote Democrat, but he said, quote, "The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters at the polls in November." The film documents Moore's tour of swing states during the 2004 presidential election year. The film can be downloaded for free at SlackerUprising.com. Moore earned an Oscar for his 2002 documentary about gun control "Bowling for Columbine." He also won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival for his picture "Fahrenheit 9/11." http://slackeruprising.com/
"ER" producers can stop paging Dr. Ross. A rep for George Clooney says the Hollywood superstar has no plans to don his TV scrubs again for the final season of the NBC medical drama. "ER" executive producer David Zabel tells "TV Guide" that the producers have created "a really good storyline for every character" from the show's past, but it looks like the show will have to go on without Clooney, who shot to fame as "ER's" Dr. Ross. Clooney's reps say the Oscar winner "is busy making movies." The 15th and final season premiere of "ER" will air tomorrow night on NBC.
In celebration of National Customer Service Week (the first full week in October), Wachovia has launched its second annual “Who Would You Thank?” contest, encouraging people to say thank you to someone special in their lives. To honor the universal spirit of gratitude, the contest is open to everyone. Anyone 18 years of age or older is invited to share first-hand, compelling stories of someone they would like to thank and why. Wachovia will then help one grand prize winner bring that thank you to life with a $10,000 prize. This year’s entries must be 250 words or less and can be submitted by visiting www.wachovia.com/thankyou or www.wachovia.com/gracias An independent panel of judges will select one grand prize winner and 15 additional winners to receive cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to thank their nominees. Contest rules are available at http://www.wachovia.com/thankyou/rules
Dennis Quaid has wrapped his role as "General Hawk" in the G-I Joe film that hits theaters next summer. He'll have an action figure in stores, and he tells us the film is geared toward kids. Quaid says, "In the '60s, 'G-I Joe' came out and was basically a 'Ken' doll, but with an Army uniform on it. But if you're like 38 or younger, I think you're really into the cartoon. Now 'G-I Joe' is [in] some sort of international military special-ops unit.
Tyler Perry, who grew up the poor son of a carpenter in New Orleans and was homeless for a time, has donated enough food to feed 1,000 families for two weeks in Atlanta, where he now lives. Perry spent part of yesterday morning unloading and packaging food at Hosea Feed the Hungry and the Homeless care center. Perry stood side by side with volunteers and said he felt pulled to visit the center after hearing about it on the news.
Unusual Jobs From A To Z
CareerBuilder.com has announced its most unusual job survey results. More than 8,700 workers revealed the most unconventional jobs they’ve held during their careers. This year’s top picks are:
A - Autopsy assistant N - Nuclear electrician on a submarine
B - Bartender at the Liberace mansion O - Opera singer
C - Cat nanny P - Parachute tester
D - Donkey trainer Q - Quality control/taster for chocolate factory
E - Elf at Santa’s workshop R - Romance specialist
F - FBI Fingerprint examiner S - Scratcher (scratched backs for patients)
G - Grave digger T - Turkey wrangler
H - Hurricane hunter U - Undercover vice decoy
I - Ice sculpture carver V - Video game tester
J - Junk mail machine operator W - Wallpaper peeler
K - Kitty litter box decorator X - X-ray technician for zoo animals
L - Laser tag referee Y - Yawn counter at a sleep clinic
M - Magician’s assistant Z - Zamboni driver
Research in Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, is preparing to launch the long-anticipated touchscreen version of its BlackBerry smartphone. The device will be called the BlackBerry Storm 9530 and will feature “global capabilities,” according to Verizon. While no word on an exact launch date, Verizon said it would be “soon.”
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