During my lunch break today, I decided to walk up to Wollman Rink in Manhattan’s Central Park to check out David Blaine’s latest stunt. I have better things to do with my time, to be sure, but I’ve always been curious about David Blaine: Not in that “Oh, he’s so amazing” way, but in that “What is this guy’s deal?” way. Apparently, I’m not the only cynic around. I overheard a few middle-aged ladies walking ahead of me, saying, “He’s just doing a stupid stunt; he’s not a magician.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And it isn’t a matter of stripping Blaine of his magician-ship, it’s that this particular event — Blaine suspended upside down, in the air, for 60 hours, the two-hour finale of which will be aired on ABC tomorrow night — is not magical. It’s a stunt. For publicity. (In the last 24 hours, I’ve received at least four press releases about the event.)
Before you call me a hater, this was the scene at the rink: Scaffolding everywhere, people snapping pictures, at least seven camera crews standing by for a press conference, security guys in suits with Secret Service-like earbuds, and red rope separating the public from Blaine. Meanwhile, the stuntman was not hanging. Nope.
More on David Blaine’s stunt after the jump…
When I got there, Blaine was taking a break. He was thirsty. And it was time for the doctorson hand to check his vital signs. So there he was: standing upright,drinking bottled water. There was no diving and no death (though theformer, which is supposed to be some sort of 44-foot plunge, is to takeplace tomorrow). One guy on his lunch break said to his friend,“Dude gets water breaks?” while another man nearby said, “Itdoesn’t count [if he isn't doing it continuously]. I could do that.”
Finally, after 15 minutes or so, Blaine went back to being upside-down. There wasn’t much to see. He just hung. If you recallChristo’s Central Park installation The Gates in 2005, the saffron flags just hung too,sometimes fluttering in the breeze, but at least the latter was sort of mesmerizing. One young woman standing next to me was justas perplexed: “He’s just going to hang there?” Eh, yep.
After checking Blaine’s vitals, Dr. Massimo Napolitano (who wasasked by the network producer to be a “scientific adviser”) held apress conference. I’m paraphrasing here, but this is basically what he said: "David is doing very well. His vital signs are stable.This is an incredible feat for the body. Don’t underestimate what he’sdoing. He was sort of sluggish last night. He has to urinate againstgravity, which is not good for the kidneys." You don’t say. The docsaid he should be checked on every hour, because this stunt needs a lotof monitoring — which in my mind sort of defies the meaning of aspectacular act, doesn’t it? There’s no need to worry about Blaine’songoing exposure to the sun, either: When it gets to be too much,Blaine’s harness is lowered so that an umbrella man can protect himfrom the rays. Seriously.
I suspect Blaine needs attention to subsist (both mentally andfinancially) — and I’m not saying this to be a jerk, but perhaps I’vefailed to understand Blaine. On the surface, this stunt doesn’t provemuch of anything, except that maybe Blaine is improving his stamina forall things physically counterintuitive. Simply put, this stunt is notmotivated by passion. If you want to see passion, go check out Man on Wire,which is still playing at some theaters. It’s a documentary aboutFrench high-wire artist Philippe Petit, whose dream it was to walk on awire strung between the Twin Towers. It was on his wish list for aboutsix-and-a-half years before his team actually planned out how they wouldillegally gain access to the roof of the towers and then rig the wire.It took eight months to map it out, but on August 7, 1974, they prevailed:Petit walked, danced, and even lay down on a wire suspended 1,350 feet in the air. Hedid not alert the press. He did not have a two-hour primetime special.Doctors weren’t there checking his vital signs, advising him that thiscould be the ultimate Dive of Death. He just did it — a true stunt, andfor those who saw it, a magical one at that.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
Our exclusive (slightly naughty) (monkey-rific) sneak preview video of the new Survivor season.
A countdown of the best and worst moments from Grey’s Anatomy.
The funnier side of…Spider-Man?
Comments (1-30) of 626 Add your comment
I couldn’t have said it better myself. This guys stunts aren’t interesting or entertaining. I just happened upon the post. Who cares.
The sad part about this trickless majician is that there will only be a story he is dies while performing one of these trickless stunts. Of course Donald Trump is his greatest fan!
What I think really sucks is that I thought he used to be a really good magician when he was doing his “street magic”. That was cool, but lately all he does are these strange endurance performances. It’d be nice if he went back to his old stuff.
Id like to see him fall off this damn thing
David Blaine needs to go back to 2001 and stay there.
A great tribute to Phillppe Petit concludes a great criticism of a fraud.
Ed,
That’s mean. Hater!
You see, if you guys knew anything about “magic”, David happens to be quite a good close up magician.
C’mon Dave, We are not impressed. Come on down and go home and go to bed. Maybe that will get you a round of applause!
Come on people, both him and Chris Angel both use TV magic. Editing works wonders. Only good magician is one who does the trick in front of you, not from the TV in front of you!!
Well, I also spent an hour there today watching Mr. Blaine. What surprised me is within that hour he only spend maybe 25 minutes of it hanging upside down. He took 2 drink breaks, 1 bathroom break (he’s not peeing upside down, he was stood upright and had a blanket around him). He also spent most of the time when he was hanging with his head held up by a ‘hammock’ type brace for his head. He even looked somewhat comfortable!
The whole thing was ridiculous, and like a fool, I stood there fascinated. lol
The whole thing was ridiculous, and like a fool, I stood there fascinated. http://www.baidu-seor.cn
http://www.xinyangmed.net
I agree. All his stunts in central park are endurance events (boring); not magic.
What a dope…Blaine, not the writer.
There is a Yogi named Pilot baba who will be visiting NYC on October.
Pilot Baba has been buried under the earth for 5 days…He has been under water for 3 days also.
more at http://www.pilotbaba.us
What a joke this guy is. He’s actually upright every so often so as to be checked? So, when all is said and done he won’t have been hanging there for 60 FULL hours. This guy has some dire need for attention. To bad he can’t make himself disappear!
Hey Vanessa, your article was superb! Well written, and excellent finale there. I’ve read several items on Blaine’s stunt because I, too, am unfortunately drawn in by how mesmerizingly pathetic this ordeal is. I’d love to say I would rather spend my time doing something for me or my work or my family, when somehow I’ve already spent one hour trying to understand if this stunt is really popular with people and why people care.
Seems we’re all in that boat.
Your article is the first I’ve read that’s got both the “been there, seen it live” journalism and the one-eyebrow raised awareness of how moronic this thing is. With that, I’m getting off the computer.
David Blaine has survivor guilt. His mother suffered from cancer and lived a most torturous existence during her final months.
This is his way of handling it.
He should go back to magic.
David Blaine is one heck of a close-up magician, and he knows a lot about the history of magic. The thing with these “endurance” events is that similar feats were done by magicians of old (Houdini, etc) and those of us working in the field can appreciate what he’s doing.
Maybe to laymen, these aren’t as entertaining as his “magic” performances, but they’re much more difficult. Every magician has the same props and can do the same sleights, bravo for Blaine for doing something different.
Hey idiots,
David Blaine NEVER said ‘60 hours straight’ he said ‘60 hours’ as in TOTAL
hours. All of you are missing the point of this stunt. ITS THE DIVE TO EARTH WITHOUT A NET THAT IS THE TRUE STUNT, NOT HANGING ABOVE THE EARTH!!!
Freakin’ get your info straight.
I really agree with your comments. When Blaine first started to do all these stunts they captured the minds of everyone around. However, it seems that his stunts anymore lack imagination and people are tired of hearing about them. He’s an amazingly good street magician and should stick to doing more of his early specials of walking around the streets amazing people with his amazing tricks. As for your Man on Wire comment. I just saw the film the other day and it was truly one of the most amazing documentaries I’ve seen. Phillipe Petit’s stunts were some of the most amazing and beautiful things to see. Truly more impressive, amazing, and imaginative than Blaine’s recent exploitations.
David Blaine is an extremely disciplined man that should be respected in awe. I love to see you hypocrites even dare just one of the stunts he’s performed. Become educated then maybe you can judge. – Jo Z.
Please let this be the end of this douchebag’s career.
The only reason this stunt was interesting is because it generated this article. If not for that, I wouldn’t have even known the “stunt” happened. TV “magic” is like the WWF… fake and only appealing to “certain” people.
Lame. I loved his “Street Magic” until it was shown that they used some camera tricks for some scenes despite the disclaimer (go Google it).
Sitting in a box, being underwater, or hanging up-side-down doesn’t prove or do, well, anything? Not interesting or entertaining. NEXT!
Fill
I wish Blaine would suck my blls for 60 hours straight. That would be a lot more entertaining.
Yeah you’re definitely a hater. I want to see you try to hang upside down without any breaks. Get real dork.
At least Chris Angel has showmanship…
oh god
let the man be, he wants to hang upside then let him hang upside, wat is it to u guys???
ur the ones standing right side up anyways lol
This is like Harry Houdini if he had no imagination and sucked.