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The David Blaine Aquarium at Lincoln Center
By
Jen Chung
Published May 1, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 1, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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There's crazy, there's insane, and then there's David Blaine. After hearing about his latest stunt where he'd do a one-week residency in a water-filled sphere in Lincoln Center and then try to hold his breath for 9 minutes under water, we imagined people would be plotting various ways to foil his attempt. And when we headed up to Lincoln Center for his immersion today, we weren't wrong, as people around us guessed someone with a BB gun would be getting set up across the street and the credentialed camera people stepped on cable that was bringing him oxygen in a frenzy to film him - oops! Here's what we learned:
- The stunt is no longer just a week underwater (but he does have oxygen and will be fed nutrients by tube) followed by holding his breath for 9 minutes - it's now a week under water, get dragged out of the water and then get shackled wtih 150 pounds of chains, put back in the water to hold his breath for 9 minutes and break out of the chains
- He does have a catheter to take away his number 1; he hasn't eaten solids in a week because he doesn't want to do number 2 (ew!!)
- He's wearing special boots that seem to have weights (or else he'd be floating at the top); he is wearing pants, though people wondered if he had on diving pants underneath
- There are medical types and diving specialists monitoring him; he supposedly lost 50 pounds because the skinnier you are, the less oxygen you need or something (he did look pretty skinny)
David Blaine will be at Lincoln Center for a week, until his live show next Monday on ABC (yes, it's May sweeps time!). We're considering visiting him every day - one day with a picture book, another day with a goldfish - will you? New York magazine has a cool look at building the sphere (which was made by City Aquarium ); we are disappointed there are no sting rays to swim around the sphere with him. Here's our set of photographs from today and here are some pictures of Blaine testing his aquarium at Bandit the Pirate's Flickr page.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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