Stuntman David Blaine was unconscious and having convulsions when he was rescued from his 2.4-meter aquarium during a breath-holding stunt, his trainer said last week.
"I wasn't focused on records; I was thinking of a rescue," said trainer Kirk Krack, a free-diving expert. Blaine was convulsing and "unconscious when we brought him to the surface. If we hadn't intervened, he would still be at the bottom of the sphere doing a breath-hold."
The 33-year-old illusionist had been submerged in the aquarium with an oxygen mask for a week. Rescue divers jumped into the 7,570-liter saltwater tank Monday night and hauled him up.
He was rescued as he struggled to break a breath-holding record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. Blaine, who had spent some 177 hours underwater, went without air for 7 minutes, 8 seconds as a finale to his endurance stunt at Lincoln Center, which was televised live on ABC.
Blaine checked himself out of Roosevelt Hospital the next day. Friends took him out of the hospital in a wheelchair and then helped him walk to a waiting car.
At home, he took a hot shower, played cards and was able to eat.
But "he was crying" Monday night, said Dr. Murat Gunel, the head of Blaine's medical team. "He still feels today that he let people down."
Blaine's liver and kidney functions had suffered while he was submerged but are now improving. His skin, which was peeling Monday night, "looks much better today," said Gunel.
His team concluded that strenuous training and losing 22.5 kilograms so his body would require less oxygen left Blaine too tired before he entered the sphere.
They said Blaine wants to try the breath-holding stunt again.
Former James Bond actor Sean Connery was voted Britain's sexiest male pensioner in a survey published Tuesday.
Despite being 75, the suave Scot had just over half of voters swooning in a poll to find the sexiest man in Britain old enough to draw a state pension, according to personal finance firm Virgin Money.
Star Trek -- The Next Generation actor Patrick Stewart, 65 in July, came second with 19 percent, ahead of the 68-year-old Silence of the Lambs actor Anthony Hopkins.
Fellow screen veteran Michael Caine, 73, was fourth with evergreen singer Cliff Richard, 65, in fifth.
The sexiest female pensioners were all actresses, with Helen Mirren, 60, topping the poll on 21 percent.
Former Bond girl Honor Blackman, 78, was a close second on 19 percent, ahead of Diana Rigg, 67, Julie Christie, 65, and Dynasty television star Joan Collins, 72.
Meanwhile 80-year-old former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was voted the least sexy pensioner in Britain.
Survey group Tickbox.net questioned 2,423 people during April.
O.J. Simpson as the star of the new candid-camera program Juiced pulls a prank involving the infamous white Bronco, drawing criticism from the family of murder victim Ronald Goldman.
In the scene taped as part of the one-hour, pay-per-view show, the former US football star pretends to sell the Bronco at a used car lot and boasts to a prospective buyer that he made the vehicle famous, according to a segment aired last week on US television show Inside Edition.
"It was good for me -- it helped me get away," Simpson said, referring to the slow-speed, televised police chase that preceded his arrest on charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Goldman, her friend.
Goldman's father, Fred, told Inside Edition he found Simpson's comment "morally reprehensible."
Simpson was acquitted of murder. A civil jury later held him liable for the killings and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to the Brown and Goldman families.
Much of that judgment remains unpaid.
A series of dramatic news items dropped last month that shed light on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attitudes towards three candidates for last year’s presidential election: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Terry Gou (郭台銘), founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). It also revealed deep blue support for Ko and Gou from inside the KMT, how they interacted with the CCP and alleged election interference involving NT$100 million (US$3.05 million) or more raised by the
A white horse stark against a black beach. A family pushes a car through floodwaters in Chiayi County. People play on a beach in Pingtung County, as a nuclear power plant looms in the background. These are just some of the powerful images on display as part of Shen Chao-liang’s (沈昭良) Drifting (Overture) exhibition, currently on display at AKI Gallery in Taipei. For the first time in Shen’s decorated career, his photography seeks to speak to broader, multi-layered issues within the fabric of Taiwanese society. The photographs look towards history, national identity, ecological changes and more to create a collection of images
At a funeral in rural Changhua County, musicians wearing pleated mini-skirts and go-go boots march around a coffin to the beat of the 1980s hit I Hate Myself for Loving You. The performance in a rural farming community is a modern mash-up of ancient Chinese funeral rites and folk traditions, with saxophones, rock music and daring outfits. Da Zhong (大眾) women’s group is part of a long tradition of funeral marching bands performing in mostly rural areas of Taiwan for families wanting to give their loved ones an upbeat send-off. The band was composed mainly of men when it started 50
While riding a scooter along the northeast coast in Yilan County a few years ago, I was alarmed to see a building in the distance that appeared to have fallen over, as if toppled by an earthquake. As I got closer, I realized this was intentional. The architects had made this building appear to be jutting out of the Earth, much like a mountain that was forced upward by tectonic activity. This was the Lanyang Museum (蘭陽博物館), which tells the story of Yilan, both its natural environment and cultural heritage. The museum is worth a visit, if only just to get a
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