David Blaine "Drowned Alive"

This is a little late, but I just have to blog this: Did you watch the David Blaine "Drowned Alive" special on ABC? I had absolutely no intention of watching it, and I should have followed through on that, but there I was on Monday night, knitting and watching the preparations for this horribel stunt. In case you missed it: David Blaine is a magician who pulls off these intense feats like being buried alive without food for a week or standing up inside a block of ice for five days, not to mention the more traditional magic stuff that he does. So, this time, he lived in a water-filled bubble in Lincolcn Center for a week. THEN, on Monday, he tries to break the breath-holding record (WHILE STILL INSIDE THE BUBBLE!) while freeing himself from 150 pounds of chains and 8 sets of handcuffs. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Have we gotten to the point in this country that we cannot just settle for being a little bit better than the last guy? We must absolutely obliterate the other guy's record! As they were getting the audience (myself included) primed for the spectacle, they showed video of a professional diver trying to free dive for 8 minutes and she DIED! Is this good for me to watch? No. Am I still watching? Yes. So, I changed the channel immediately because I do not need to watch such things while I'm home alone and Jeff is on deployment flying over the Pacific Ocean everyday. But, with every commerical, I would hit "Channel Return" just to see what was happening in the bubble. It was like a car wreck that I just couldn't pull myself away from! I was rewarded by seeing the last minute of his struggle to free himself AND hold his breath. At 7 minutes he was turning blue, shaking, and struggling with the chains. AHHH! He'll never make it. And he didn't. Right then, he let out a big set of bubbles and the guy in charge of the whole thing says, "Go, go, go!" to the two divers who are poised to rush in to save him. Now comes the interesting part... the first diver jumps in and puts her hand over David's mouth and nose so that he doesn't breathe in any water. The other diver goes down to unlock the rest of the chains, which takes him about 20 seconds. That's 20 seconds of brain damage people! (Arguably David Blaine is already brain damaged after attempting so many of these stunts - and then wanting to do it again!) I just couldn't believe there wasn't a quick release lever on those things. And shouldn't they have gotten another magician to do that part? I mean, who would do it faster: a professional swimmer or a professional escape artist???

In the end, he survives - I think. I couldn't find anything on the internet about how he's doing now. Oh well. Needless to say, I survived, but with some pretty considerable, self-induced freaking out. But I got a LOT of knitting done!