David Blaine again!

[trux]

I am sorry, but you need to differ between deception or illusion and an outright lie. In case of the last Blaine's stunt, it was full of the later, and there was very little of the former. Telling that you are going to beat the longest ever breath-hold while telling it is 9 instead of 10 minutes, is not a deception, it is a bold lie. And telling you are going to beat the record while doing it after breathing oxygen, and hiding the fact (hence not measuring with the 10 minutes longest air apnea, but rather with the 16 or even 20 minutes O2 apnea) - that's also no illusion or deception, that's a lie and a fraud.

EDIT: back to your example with a lift - finally magicians who levitate also do not claim they are beating high-jump records

 

[Pastor]

rofl this is a great thread!

 

[Fondueset]

pastor - where'd ya get the bug? Its really cool.

Trux - I understand and respectfully disagree. I think you are holding Blaine to a higher standard than the one under which he is working. The best historical parallel to what Blaine does is the Middle eastern Fakir - these guys are usually a combination of sleight of hand and sometimes particular yogic abilities they've worked on - like standing on one leg for a week, staring at the sun all day etc.

Blaine's unqualified announcement of holding his breath longer than the world record is just that. He doesn't say anything about how and he adds a whole bunch of theatrical qualifiers (ie- doing it after hanging out in a bubble for a couple weeks, fasting etc.). Its just old-school showmanship - the event IS the purpose. Its not a real record attempt - theres a whole different set of rules for that - and a different purpose. The context makes deception and vagueness part of the performance.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

"I wouldn't be doing my predecessors justice if I didn't lie, cheat, and embellish liberally,"- Jim Rose (Jim Rose Circus)...... Just part of the genre

 

[apneaboy]

particular yogic abilities they've worked on - like standing on one leg for a week, staring at the sun all day etc.

Why would they do that? Silly Fakirs

I notice that Eric and Trux moved there technical discussions elsewhere. I think my 'how did he get that card in the basketball' question finally stumped them.

rofl

 

[wes]

All,

From what I have read looking forward to this stunt and ignoring the past stunt, David Blaine seems to be much more transparent and upfront about his goals. According to his press releases:

"David Blaine will try to break the Guinness World Record for underwater breath holding during a live appearance on Oprah April 30th. The Guinness World Record is currently sixteen minutes and fourteen seconds."

To me this is very clear and "true". He will try and do this stunt on live TV and the Guinness Book people will decide whether it is an "official guinness world record or not". The only detraction I can think of from this is that he might be doing something unsafe or showing people to do unsafe things and I don't think he is, he will have two (very good and experienced) safety divers with him and I am pretty sure there will be EMT medics etc on the set just in case.

What I hope for is that during the 16 minute breath hold, people get a little bored of Blaine and get to hear some of Mandy and Kirk's story which to me is much more interesting.

Cheers Wes

 

[trux]

"David Blaine will try to break the Guinness World Record for underwater breath holding during a live appearance on Oprah April 30th. The Guinness World Record is currently sixteen minutes and fourteen seconds."

To me this is very clear and "true".

I am sorry, but again that is not true. The current Guinness World Record in oxygen apnea is 16:32 and it was done under Guinness and AIDA judges supervision by Peter Colat (Switzerland) in February 2008. More info about it here: Spezial 08

Well, it is not a big difference, but one would expect Blaine puts the facts together correctly this time before doing the record attempt!

 

[azapa]

who will judge the attempt? personally I would like to see Trux there to make sure there is no "funny business"

 

[Pastor]

Fly me over and buy me some beer and I'll judge it. I'll even wear my "Never believe what an illusionist shows you!" Tee shirt!

 

[trux]

who will judge the attempt? personally I would like to see Trux there to make sure there is no "funny business"

Personally I do not think there will be any fraud during the attempt. Now, it is a completely different question, what chemical/medical preparation will precede the attempt. There are far too many substances that are not on any anti-doping watch list and can help with apnea. Besides it, I do not think Guinness unlike AIDA performs any anti-doping tests.

And since Blaine, unlike freediving champions who set previous records, is not a sportsman, but rather an illusionist with a record of previous lies, and with likely much higher budget available for his preparation, I have much less confidence about the fairness of his preparation, than I have for the attempts of our fellow freedivers.

I may be wrong, but finally as others already wrote, it has really little importance - it is just a show

 

[drea]

"From that perspective they are not any more lies than the fact that Johnny Depp is not really a pirate. "

i think it's HILARIOUS how you compare blaine's silly stunt to acting.
as far as anything, i agree with trux's point of view. but, it is a magical trick and should be looked upon as such.

trivia: i wrote to oprah last year and asked her to come out and do a thing on triple depth or some other funky thing that Freedivedahab organise but needless to say, i did not get a reply.
i didn't have mr. blaine up my sleeve.

 

[Blue Straggler]

i think it's HILARIOUS how you compare blaine's silly stunt to acting.

I think 95% of posts about David Blaine on this forum are hilarious.

I've seen the same thing going on other forums, when someone that's world-famous takes up a pastime that people like to think is their own specialisation, whether it's Jack Osborne rock-climbing, or Mickey Rourke boxing etc (the amateur astronauts in particular are up in arms about Tommy Haas' bid to become the first pro tennis player in orbit)

I am going to put special effort into not becoming famous, so that I am allowed to participate in a wide range of activities without random Internet armchair participants typing bad words about me.

 

[tbgsub]

why doesnt Blaine take a ride on Virgin space, and at 30+ thousand feet take a 4minute space walk outside the plane in a space suit; apnea style! that would at least be a record of something, and the prep budget would be astronomical wouldnt it? He could dope up all he wanted and the results, well sensational!, for a guy to go into the stratosphere and hold his breath for as long as most people smoke sigarettes on the planet and take a few leisurely steps for apnea kind!!

mabe he could tour schools in the US and hold his breath at public events under water? isnt that what Apnea people do? I didnt think so, what is really degrading is that he is doing this to prove what exactly?

personally if you can put a card on the otherside of a shop window in front of onlookers, and into a basketball, what more could you want to accomplish unless you are bored with things that are only apparent and wish to be believed on a grander scale to where what he does seems real.

yeah right, he is an illusionist by trade, profession, and design, nothing more.

 

[drea]

'I am going to put special effort into not becoming famous, so that I am allowed to participate in a wide range of activities without random Internet armchair participants typing bad words about me.

'

i couldnt agree more. and i laughed too which is always good.

(sorry i dont know how to do the fancy quoting everyone seems to use but me.)
oh surprise surprise, the quoting worked. im well pleased.

 

[Blue Straggler]

i couldnt agree more. and i laughed too which is always good.

Wow I made Andrea laugh! What a result

Hope you are well. Maybe I can send you The Annotated Alice to finish off some time...

 

[salibandy]

Haha. Fancy quoting indeed.

 

[drea]

i think we've gone totally off topic here so im sure we'll get into trouble for it (always good fun), but the Annoted alice...hmmm..the alice in wonderland one?

 

[Blue Straggler]

i think we've gone totally off topic here so im sure we'll get into trouble for it (always good fun), but the Annoted alice...hmmm..the alice in wonderland one?

Yes, that one. You slagged off the annotations a little bit, but all things being relative, and you being you, I think that means you liked them

I think we can go off topic, the thread is otherwise just repeating itself. Variety is the spice of life, or some such cliche

 

[salibandy]

Since we're going off topic... I like spices.

 

[Blue Straggler]

Since we're going off topic... I like spices.

Actually there is a chilli pepper that has been bred to have the appearance of a mild chilli but actually it's quite strong.

As the chilli is effectively performing an illusion, it has been called Blaine.

Absolutely true.


It was on the INternet and everything