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The following biography
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David Blaine (born David Blaine White on
April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA) is an American
illusionist and stunt performer. He made his name as a performer of
street and close-up magic. His father was Spanish-Puerto Rican and his
mother, Patrice White, was Jewish of Russian origin.
****
Born: April 4, 1973
Brooklyn, New York
Occupation: illusionist, stunt performer
****
Magic career
Blaine began his career by bringing street
magic to the public, performing card tricks and illusions such as
levitation or giving the appearance of bringing dead flies back to life.
He used a small camera crew to record his act live in front of everyday
people which provided the basis for his television specials, David
Blaine: Street Magic, David Blaine: Magic Man, and David Blaine:
Mystifier. He later turned his attention to stunts and feats of
endurance:
Premature Burial
Beginning on April 5, 1999, Blaine spent
seven days buried inside a glass nipple at the bottom of an open pit in
front of a New York City building provided to him by Donald Trump. Water
was poured in, filling the hole, before an acrylic glass top was placed
over it as a cover. The surrounding area was covered in dirt. Passers by
could watch him 24 hours a day. He emerged on April 12 on schedule. In a
homemade video, a shadow on top of the coffin forms a cross, which
Blaine comments on in his book.
Frozen in Time
On Monday, November 27, 2000, Blaine began
a stunt called "Frozen in Time," which was covered on a TV special.
Blaine stood in a closet of ice located in Times Square, New York. A
tube provided him with air and water while his urine was removed with
another tube. He was encased in the box of ice for 61 hours, 40 minutes,
and 15 seconds before being removed [1]. The ice was on a stand, with
space between the ground, and the ice was transparent, to prove he was
inside the ice the whole time. He was taken to the hospital immediately
after being removed because doctors feared he was going into shock.
[citation needed]
Vertigo
Blaine's next stunt was called "Vertigo."
He was to have started training for this particular stunt in Los
Angeles, California, and was scheduled to board an American Airlines
flight from JFK Airport to Los Angeles on September 11, 2001 at
noon.[citation needed] Due to the terrorist attacks earlier in the day
and a nationwide shutdown of airports, Blaine was forced to delay his
training.[citation needed] On Monday 22 May 2002, Blaine performed the
stunt in Bryant Park, New York City, where a crane lifted him onto a 90
ft (27 m) high and 22 in (56 cm) wide pillar. He remained on the pillar
for exactly 34 hours and 23 minutes without food, water or anything to
lean on. With his legs weak from standing atop the pillar for so long,
he ended the feat by jumping down onto a landing platform made of a 12
foot (3.7 m) high pile of cardboard boxes. [2]
Mysterious Stranger
On October 29, 2002, Random House published
David Blaine's Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic. Part autobiography,
part history of magic, and part armchair treasure hunt, the book also
includes instructions on how to perform card tricks and illusions.
The treasure hunt, Blaine's $100,000
Challenge, was devised by game designer Cliff Johnson, creator of The
Fool's Errand, and solved by Sherri Skanes on March 20, 2004, 16 months
after the book's publication.
The Official Solution
The Winner's Tale
Above the Below
On September 5, 2003, Blaine began his
44-day endurance stunt sealed inside a transparent Plexiglas case
suspended 30 feet (9 m) in the air over Potters Fields Park on the south
bank of the River Thames in London. The case, measuring 7ft by 7ft by
3ft (2.1 x 2.1 x 0.9 m), had a webcam installed so that viewers could
observe his progress.[citation needed]
The stunt became the subject of much press
and media attention, due to many people going to the site to watch and
engage with Blaine. For example, Page 3-style girls from various
male-oriented magazines flashed him. It got big attention from the media
when eggs that had been thrown from the crowd were cleared from the box,
when he was meant to not communicate with anyone. British documentary
makers Richard Gordon and Lauren Hannon reported in their documentary
Below the Above that five people lived below Blaine to show their
support for what he was doing.[citation needed]
Blaine emerged on schedule on October 19,
murmuring "I love you all!" and was quickly hospitalized. He appeared
gaunt and he claimed to have lost 54 pounds (24.5 kg) during his
fast.[citation needed]
Drowned Alive
On May 1, 2006, Blaine was submerged in an
2.4 metres (8 feet) diameter, water-filled sphere (isotonic saline, 0.9%
salt) in front of the Lincoln Center in New York for a planned seven
days and seven nights, using tubes for air and nutrition. He concluded
this event by attempting to hold his breath underwater to break the
world record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. Blaine also tried to free himself
from handcuffs and chains put on him upon coming out after the week in
the sphere.[3] He seemed to have trouble escaping from the last of the
handcuffs. Blaine failed in his attempt, only holding his breath for 7
minutes and 30 seconds before showing signs of unconsciousness and being
pulled up by the support divers.
Blaine did claim to have succeeded in
setting a record for being fully submerged in water for more than seven
days straight (177 hours), however this record is as yet unrecognized by
any record-keeping institution.
Blaine underwent multiple short hospital
visits after the stunt ended and has entered an agreement with doctors
from Yale University to monitor him in order to study the human
physiological reaction to prolonged submersion. [4] During the stunt,
doctors witnessed skin breakdown at the hands and feet and liver
failure.
In an interview on the Howard Stern Show on
Sirius satellite radio, Blaine spoke of the week-long fasting he did
before the "drowning alive" stunt, to avoid having to be concerned with
defecation. For urine, he wore an external, condom-style catheter.
Gyroscope
On Sunday, November 19, 2006, Blaine
announced his next stunt. He told reporters that he would be suspended
50 feet[5] in the air while strapped by shackles inside a giant
gyroscope. His goal was to escape from his shackles after the gyroscope
had been spinning for 16 hours. The gyroscope was constantly spinning at
a rate of eight revolutions per minute while hanging above an empty lot
in Manhattan near Times Square.
Blaine's latest stunt began Tuesday
November 21, 2006, with Blaine declaring, "This one's exciting for me.
This one's a fun one." After spinning in shackles in the gyroscope for
two days, Blaine emerged with a crash only a half hour after being
allowed to try. [6] As a result of his success, Blaine led 100 children
selected by The Salvation Army on a shopping spree at Target. Each child
received a $500 gift certificate from the retailer.
Blaine said the stunt was particularly
important since The Salvation Army had provided him with clothing while
he was growing up.
"This challenge is close to my heart,"
Blaine said.
Personal life
Currently dating Israeli actress Agam
Rudberg.
He has dated Fiona Apple, Madonna, Josie
Maran, and Lonneke Engel. The New York Post reported on July 4, 2006
that Engel ended the relationship. [7]
He attended Passaic Valley High School in
Little Falls, New Jersey.[citation needed] Blaine graduated in 1991.
Trivia
During his appearance in Last Call with
Carson Daly, he pretended to pull his heart out and fainted. The segment
was staged but NBC almost cancelled the illusion. It was told that the
audience was completely shocked and some members ran away crying or
screaming.[8]
He has the concentration camp number,
174517, of Primo Levi tattooed on his left forearm.[9]
Was a key figure in the South Park episode
"Super Best Friends".
In the final episode of the satirical
television series Time Trumpet, which is set in the year 2031, a story
is given of David Blaine's demise: "Magic man David Blaine hooked all
his nerve endings up to the Internet, so he could be controlled online
for forty days by anyone who connected with him. The public killed him
in less than three seconds."[citation needed]
British TV and Radio comedian Marcus
Brigstocke has often voiced his dislike of David Blaine, usually calling
him "the gitwizard".
Has a full reproduction tattoo of Salvador
Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross" on his back
There have been many allegations towards
Blaine that he is in fact the AntiChrist and or a demon because of his
use of magic.[citation needed]
His childhood hero was Uri Geller, whom he
met in the late nineties.
References
-
Mysterious Stranger,
Blaine's autobiography published by Vilard Books and Channel 4
books. ISBN 0-7522-1989-8.
-
BBC news pages on
Blaine's time in London - 1 2 3
-
Korbonits M., Blaine D.,
Elia M., Powell-Tuck J., "Refeeding David Blaine: studies after a
44-day fast", New England Journal of Medicine 2005;353:2306-7. PMID
16306536.
-
^ http://www.magicdirectory.com/blaine/frozenintime.shtml
-
^ Vertigo. Magic
Directory.
-
^ Blaine Out For Record,
Sky News, 2006-05-01
-
^ Cnn.com - David Blaine
out of hospital
-
^
http://www.malibu.in/2006/random/david-blaine-and-his-gyroscope-stunt-in-new-york/
-
^
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/23/AR2006112300753.html
-
^ Liquid Lust, New York
Post, 2006-07-04
-
^ Video of Blaine pulling
out heart.
-
^ Jews With Tattoos -
Boston Globe Aug 15, 2004.
****
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