Rematch? What I would like to see is David Blaine go look in Al Capone's vault while Geraldo holds his breath for 9 minutes.

Exactly what I thought... only caught the end of the show for the breath holding 'attempt', after he failed I fully expected he was going to run back up the ladder and jump in for a another try, which he would of course succeed. The whole trying to walk thing after the failure seemed acted.... and why the hell was the doctor mic'd up ??

[QUOTE=greg9x] The whole trying to walk thing after the failure seemed acted.QUOTE]

I'd like to see anyone here try walking after not using your leg muscles for 7 days.

I think if it was an illusion he would have spent the entire WEEK holding his breath. Obviously everyone would know it wasn't real, and there wouldn't be outrage - just a lot of people trying to figure out how he did it.

If he actually did want to fool people, he could've breathed in pure oxygen before holding his breath. I understand some people can far exceed 9 minutes (actually last somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 to 15) by inhaling pure oxygen, but it would disqualify you for the record.

I have to admit, going into it I thought he was an idiot. But after seeing how hard he trained, I started to respect him like I would an Olympic athlete training hard for an event.

I could be a total sucker, but I think it was all legit.

I've always read that phrase to mean "burned while still alive".

A few years back there was a "masked magician" who revealed a lot of famous magic tricks. One of his shows focused on street magic. I started doing Blaine's levitation and super arm twist for friends after watching it. Fun stuff. Anyway, they showed how the two stunts involved a body double and a very little room underneath. The distraction was some typical misdirection. For the ice, they had to spray it down with something to keep it "optimal." This made the ice blurry for a bit, bit it was enough time to switch places. Under the ice they had food, blankets and whatever else to pass the 61 hours.

I found this link after a quick search so I can't say it's definitive, but I clicked a couple and it was similar to what I expected. Click at your own risk.

http://www.howtodotricks.com/street-magic-secrets.html

As already mentioned, the failure could be for show # 2, and more viewers (did ya hear he failed last time?) more ads, and more revenue.

Lastly, many of the lil side things for the water-ball trick just didn't make sense. They cut to a Dr. who was preparing a syringe. 3 times they cut to him, and each time he depressed the syringe and squeezed out the liquid. No reason for that. And just made him look like a bad actor.

And I think someone said this type of magic makes an ass out of the audience. I don't see it that way. Its supposed ta trick ya. Like a horror movie is supposed to scare ya. But the film that makes ya 'afraid ta go into the water" after seeing it, is a special film. An illusion that has people debating whether it is real, is special as well.

That guy was hilarious. It was so awkward how he kept trying to find a way to talk to the other guy and look "busy".

das

Heard on the radio last night that Blaine brought home $70,000 a day AFTER he paid everyone involved. I guess the two hour special was needed to pay him his chunk. I guess $490k isn't a bad takehome.

Which was my point...he probably shouldn't have been able to walk at all, especially after the failure of his breath holding.... yet he refused to be carried and insisted on walking in a slow heroic manner....acted.

Well he is sure generating alot of press with his failure...so he succeded !!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...ion=cnn_latest

David Blaine out of hospital
New York illusionist had survived a week underwater

Tuesday, May 9, 2006; Posted: 1:12 p.m. EDT (17:12 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Magician David Blaine left the hospital Tuesday where he had been admitted for observation after being submerged in an 8-foot fish bowl with an oxygen mask for a week followed by a 7-minute breath-holding stunt.

Rescue divers jumped into the 2,000-gallon saltwater tank Monday night and hauled up the magician as he struggled to break a breath-holding record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. Blaine, who had spent some 177 hours under water, went without air for 7 minutes, 8 seconds as a finale to his endurance stunt. (Watch divers jump in to save Blaine -- :56)

After being given oxygen, Blaine, 33, looking weak and wrinkly, addressed the large crowd that had gathered around the tank on the plaza of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

"I am humbled so much by the support of everyone from New York City and from all over the world," Blaine said. "This was a very difficult week, but you all made it fly by with your strong support and your energy."

The challenge had taken a toll on the magician's body, including liver damage, pins and needles in his feet and hands, some loss of sensation and rashes, said Dr. Murat Gunel, who heads Blaine's medical team and is associate professor of neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine.

His medical team and trainer said they would talk in detail about his condition at a news conference later Tuesday.

Blaine started training in December, with some help from Navy SEALS. He lost 50 pounds so his body would require less oxygen. The water temperature was regulated to help keep his core temperature near 98.6 degrees, and he ate and relieved himself by tubes. He remained tethered to an oxygen tube.

As early as on the second day of his challenge, Gunel said, there was evidence that Blaine was suffering liver failure; the medical team consulted with medical experts at NASA before stabilizing his condition. Blaine's underwater environment was similar to the weightlessness experienced by astronauts in outer space, he said.

"I told him he needed to get out of the water, and he refused me," said Gunel. "He said he did not want to let the people down." (Watch Blaine's description of what was happening to his organs -- 3:05)

The doctor said Blaine had agreed to allow researchers at Yale to examine him after the stunt to see what they can learn about how the body responds to the environment underwater.

All day long, curious onlookers lined up to walk past the sphere.

Linda Brady brought along a boom box and loudly played Jennifer Lopez's "My Love is All I Have." Blaine appeared to respond by bopping to the beat.

"I just love him," said Brady. "He has a creative mind just like me, and he's crazy just like me."

Another spectator, David Linker, said Blaine symbolized "man's strength to go beyond what normal people can do."

Blaine's previous feats included balancing on a 22-inch circular platform atop a 100-foot pole for 35 hours, being buried alive in a see-through coffin for a week and surviving inside a massive block of ice for 61 hours, all of which were performed in New York. In 2003, he fasted for 44 days in a suspended acrylic box alongside the Thames River in London.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...ion=cnn_latest

JP

http://info.med.yale.edu/neurosur/faculty/gunel.html

Dr. Gunel can be reached at 203-737-2096
or email to [email protected]


Also, I watched it again last night with a friend and noticed that for the entire stunt, they never cut to the camera above the sphere.

And that says what?

I dunno...

I personally thought it was real just for the fact he didn't accomplish it.. I think it was really stupid that he stayed in there for 7 days.. I think that is totally unrelated to his goal? The chains were dumb as well. You have the key?

Anywho, why would bubbles come out of your nose if you were holding your breath? I mean, he went to some sort of breathing specialist so I'm sure there are ways this would happen..

Your thinking about going in a pool and trying for 20 seconds.. Sure you'd see bubbles I'm guessing because you aren't trained to do so..

And I seen bubbles coming out of his nose right before they dove in.

On a side note.. How did he do the teeth trick?

I have no idea. I've posted a couple theories and such, but I am not a magician, nor do I have any real knowledge of how these tricks are done.

However....my guess would be...

Many of these people are "in on it" from the start. Like his pigeon head trick, he palms a lil fake blood and a couple teeth. He reaches into her mouth, shows the fake teeth and blood to the crowd, and a lil "plate" with black teeth coverings is slipped in front of the actual teeth. (I did NOT see her tooth come thru the 'hole' but rather her tongue come in front of her teeth and squished upward, appearing to come thru the "hole.") Then on cue, he blows towards her and her tongue pulls the plate back into her mouth. her astonishment hides the fact that she isn't able to talk well.

Man, it would be so much better if they did the tricks WITHOUT having someone be "in" on it..

i didnt see it but someone told me, during the 2 hr special, they filled it in (not surprisingly) with blaine magic tricks. and one of those was that he picked 4 straight roulette wheel spins - did that really happen?

yep that happened and the chicks he did it for were hot

It wasn't what you think I don't think.. He just guessed RED or BLACK and he did it 5 times. He didn't guess the number..

Yeah, and I kept waiting for security to come up and drag his ass outta there.

big deal...with a little editing anyone could have done the same. im sure he missed a ton of predictios but those never would air.

Of course, he awkwardly picked 5 spins (girl, girl, guy, girl, girl) instead of the much more obvious 6 (girl, girl, guy, girl, girl, guy), likely because it would be much more expensive to film the segment 64 times instead of 32.

das

um...maybe im reading too much sarcasm into that but are you implying david blaine actually has roulette predicting powers?

Predict? Of course not. No one can do that. He telekinetically manipulates the ball to land where he wants.

das

DA!!! Who is this guy anyways?? Sheesh

whoa - thats pretty neat.