[News] Famed Magician In Freediving World Record Stunt

It's great how the Performance Freediving folks are up front in this whole thing. It is really an outstanding opportunity and the whole thing seems orchestrated to really take advantage of it. Very positive! Nice articles Paul.

Maybe some of us should show up there and get Martin and Mandy's autographs

I believe the chains are probably added into the thing as a redirect from the likely fact that Blaine will not make 8'58".

I wish I could see the finale in live. I hope he'll get over 9 minutes.

fogish said:

Just saw something funny in that ABC article Stephan posted.

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Hi, for those who read German and want to have a good laugh, enjoy http://www.heute.de/ZDFheute/inhalt/12/0,3672,3928812,00.html . Its the website of a European TV channel.

Veronika

Are the concepts of "entertainment" and "show business" gaining any clarity out there?

I'm off on another huge story today. You remember the horrific images of destruction in major urban centers depicted in Independence Day ? I've got credible evidence that none of this ever happened. Apparently another government conspiracy, doubtless meant to support Pentagon budget increase requests. I'll get to the bottom of it, just like I got to the bottom of the SETT without any cooperation from the Royal Navy.

There is some news Paul?

Yeah, right Paul. Next your gonna tell me those pink glowy dudes with the super-fast organic subs in 'The Abyss' were just special effects.

Hello Eric.

I think you misseed my point. Again, evidence if you please. I already mentioned this report (if not by name, and I'm sorry for not linking to it), but though your link to this site requires a password, there are other links; but I'm saying that a medical report is just a medical report. What does it SPECIFICALLY say about whether the doctor has any evidence of him NOT using anything except water? Just copy and paste THAT bit.

The fact that others (e.g. your 2 friends) have done in excess of 40 days on water alone (and I'm to take your word here too I supppose Eric as I suspect I'd sound offensive if I asked for evidence? Emotional trump cards eh) just means people CAN, not HAVE. So David Blaine COULD hypothetically do it (and I dare say he may have done) but only evidence will substantiate it. I just observe that without an independent medical person and a sceptic to ensue no trickery, one has to remain cautious. For any record or endurance feat to be given credibility, it needs verification. Several Houdini-esque water tricks enable the... illusionist/endurance artist to breathe mid way, e.g. the 'hanging upside down in a shower cubicle type container'.

It is again a great deviation to show that someone has done something to then make it seem like you can too. Much more fesible and real sounding to be close, than breakng a record by a mile. Again, we just don't/won't know if he REFUSES to allow verification.

I contacted Kirk before the event and his reply to me certainly gave the impression that this was not entirely serious, more fun and entertainment. Happy to send a copy of the correspondence as it wasn't private.

Am I a fan of David Blaine's? Yes.
Do I find all this exciting? Yes.
Do I think this will promote/enhance diving, both free and scuba? Absolutely.
Do I think he's really done many of his stunts for real? Maybe, yes.
Do I think he'll genuinely beat Tom Sietas? The conditions aren't the same for equating it and I am convinced he'd NEED oxygen or some other assistance, so I doubt this one, yes.
So what's my problem? None. Other than requesting support from a claim (by Eric), especially a claim that was itself a refutation to another poster that simply said, remember Blaine, like Houdini was first a magician/illusionist prior to becoming an endurance artist (with the implecation that the two may be related); a reasonable statement (if you follow that )

I wonder if ABC TV would be interested in video of 9 plus minute breath holds (on oxygen)? I guess it would be a bit of a conflict with the Blaine claim that this is the longest any human being has held their breath.

Cheers (again),

Steve

Oh, I collect video of apnea/freediving records and I have a few. I welcome any requests for any I have and would likewise welcome any video or links that I don't have too. I have no women doing any pool (static/dynamic) events either. Thanks.

Gosherooney - I can't speak for anybody else, but you sure got me. Theres just no way to prove that. Speaking just for myself - I give up
:head

In response to how the rest of his skin is:

If I remember my human anatomy right, the hands and feet are the only areas of the body that lack sebaceous glands (for oil secretion), though they do have sweat glands. This could explain how the rest of his skin is holding up, and why the other parts of your body don't get all wrinkly if you stay in the water too long. He's got people working on his hands, but I'd imagine sweat would build up in his dry boots making his feet just as bad.

Either way, I don't want to be in his shoes...so to speak.

~JMP

sceptichristian said:

Hello Eric.

I think you misseed my point. Again, evidence if you please. What does it SPECIFICALLY say about whether the doctor has any evidence of him NOT using anything except water? Just copy and paste THAT bit.


Steve

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The same link to the New England Journal of Medicine says right there:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/353/21/2306

"Blaine ingested only water during his fast."

Now, if you don't take the doctor's word for it, just read the report. It says that Blaine's hydroxybutyrate levels were ASTRONOMICAL, which only happens in the absence of carbohydrates for weeks.

I read an interesting e-mail today.

"First time not on-site with David Blaine at this moment. Things are going well here and he's in great spirits. Finally got some good rest last night, snored for about 5hrs straight through the comm system, so we assume its good REM sleep. His hands and feet are pretty mangled, but not as bad as we thought they'd be. We're using special creams that seem to ... work quite well. He's found a cycle with his breathing and living in the sphere so his adaptation seems to have settled. Only have to trouble shoot other problems along the way as they crop up.
Too bad people on DB can't enjoy the spectacle for what it is, entertainment :>) Please feel free to pass this information along.............
Kirk Krack"

Aloha
Bill

I must admit I was a bit angry at first, but now i'm enjoying all the coverage. It's a bit like Big Brother. You hate the concept, swear you'll never watch it, curse as the housemates arrive in the house, then within a week you're hopelessly hooked on it living parallel lives with the housemates.

It still makes me mad hearing all the different media sources from around the world, as well as mates in the pub last Friday, talk about how the bloke in the water bubble will break the world record for holding your breath. All us freedivers know the difference between what Blaine is doing and what the world record entails, it's a shame that the rest of the world does not care for such subtle differences like drug testing and other protocols. And I certainly don't like the misdirectional promotion of himself leveraging off Tom's efforts by saying he'll hold his breath longer than any human being. Apples and oranges, quite philosophically similar to the recent debate over Patrick Musimu's no limits dive.

But hell, it is fun to watch.

Pretty cool entertainment too. Just the plexiglas ball by itself is worth a look. I'd love to get out there at 3 am and have a cappucino. New York in the wee hours is a trip.

I've been reading this thread since the start but have to admit I can't take the stunt seriously.Blaine's trick is good entertainment though. I personally don't think David Blaine is human,I've been trying to levitate for years and can only get one foot off the ground at a time.Something about that guy ,He isn't right.

ive been reading this thread from the beginning, and its made for very interesting reading. i see it as purely entertainment, and take it at that level, i would also hate to be in blaine's shoes right now, but, gotta admire him for what he does, he entertains, and does a very good job at it.

It is a smart angle on Blaine's part to do the whole living underwater in bubble thing for a week prior to the underwater escape bit. If he turned up and announced he'd hold his breath for up to nine minutes whilst escaping from chains and only do that I'm sure most people would have missed it. Now it's on the media, and has 7 days of building up to the finale he is guaranteed a huge audience. Also the word of mouth thing really helps build it up. "A guy living underwater in a bubble, in NY really ?"
Then people want to check it out, read it about or look up articles photo's etc.

He certainly knows his show business, I'll give him that.

Wal

Bill said:

Too bad people on DB can't enjoy the spectacle for what it is, entertainment
Kirk Krack

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It is too bad that somehow it has been taken, or passed on, to Kirk that people on DB are not enjoying the event for what it is. Is there anything other than speculation that suggests this? In the last few posts of Paul Kotik 3 postings have had nothing but sarcasm for people in this thread, belittling and speculating why people are saying what they are and how they feel overall to the event. What is he trying to defend so badly? It seems he misinterpretted other peoples' postings in this thread from the beginning, so why so adamantly pushing forth? Being in contact at New York with the PFI team, it may even be his suggestion that Kirk's response is targetting. It seems rather inconsiderate of how everything was speculation originally and only now are we starting to gather pieces of what the objectives and circumstances actually present. If these people were so concerned about the DeeperBlue community enjoying for entertainment, it could have been conveyed right from the beginning that the event wouldn't tresspass on any serious standards of the freediving community. Afterall that is really what all the opinions and suggestions in this thread sum up to; an interest that this event not be taken too seriously... sounds exactly the same as what Kirk and Paul are wishing for.

I am rather surprised that the main reporter for DeeperBlue is so unforgivingly ready to belittle people in these forums, which appear to be leading to blanket statments of the DeeperBlue community at large, at least the freediving community of DeeperBlue. This really doesn't help the community to be conveyed in a very positive light. When a person outside the community came in and voiced his view of what was transpiring in this thread, I tried to shed some light that was constructive criticism for everybody involved, yet DeeperBlue (through Paul Kotik's messages) has actually just negatively critiqued DeeperBlue while it was made known that this thread is trying to be understood by those outside the community. Seems pretty odd to me and I am sure is pretty easily interpretted by some to suggest the interests of DeeperBlue as an organization have been more to support a one off show than the community. I doubt Paul's comments are helping to promote DeeperBlue's image in the eyes of PFI. It has already been suggested that they stay away from DeeperBlue because of their feelings towards the participation here. Postings such as Paul's and if there was any misconstrued information passed on directly to them, I am sure does not promote their future participation either.

I would say the slate needs to be swept clean. Is it only me that recognizes that the individual participation in this thread, dramatically dropped as it was unveiled what the circumstances of David's performance will be? Doesn't that suggest that people were placated by information and now are just sitting back enjoying the entertainment, or not interested any further. So, can't we let this thread have its opinions, thoughts, feelings, and that this is part of critiquing entertainment? This doesn't suggest people are not enjoying the entertainment, and it doesn't suggest people should enjoy it either. If it sucks, they have a right to be bored. If it is spellbinding, then they have a right to get excited by whatever tickles their fancy. The idea of being the center of an audience is giving the audience the right to appreciate you or not. So, casting tomatoes goes with the show. How that got turned around to Paul and Kirk critiquing this community... I don't get it.

As soon as I heard that 150lbs of chains were involved in the 9 minutes, I started viewing it for pure entertainment. Before that, just skepticism, but not disapproval. I look forward to seeing the finale, whether he blacks out and is dramatically revived (that's my vote), or uses O2 and succeeds, I'll be entertained.

I think what may have really bothered us was that if the "celebrity icon" of David Blaine could actually, without cheating, break the world record after training for only a few months, then it would belittle all that freediving means (which is a lot to some of us). It would belittle freedivers, making our accomplishments practically null and void. Robbing Tom's record of its true merit. That's not something any community would be happy about. But now that we know it must be a hoax, a clever one at that, our credibility is no longer threatened. Just my thoughts...

~JMP

BennyB said:

And I certainly don't like the misdirectional promotion of himself leveraging off Tom's efforts by saying he'll hold his breath longer than any human being. Apples and oranges, quite philosophically similar to the recent debate over Patrick Musimu's no limits dive.

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The difference being of course that in the case of Patrick Musimu, nobody has ever presented any claims of going deeper than him, whereas in the case of Blaine, we all know that there is that 10+ minutes thing that Tom did.

When Patrick says that he has gone deeper than any human being on one breath, he is almost certainly correct. The AIDA record he does not have, but he never claimed to have it.

If Blaine does 9+ and claims to have broken the world record or to have held his breath for longer than any man, he is lying. With a 9+ performance without adhering to AIDA rules, he does not have the AIDA record. With a 9+ performance, he has very likely not held his breath for longer than any man, because Tom has claimed to have done 10+ and we have no reason not to believe him.

Patrick I respect very much for what he has done. Blaine I respect for doing the very hard thing of staying submerged for a week and then doing some apnea. I do not like his lies about record breaking though, but I guess in showbusiness anything goes, even bending the truth a little.