Artist or Arse?

So David Blaine failed in his attempt to hold his breath for 9 minutes under water. Oh dear, I’m really gutted for him. Honestly. Fair play though to the ‘magician’ — holding his breath for just over 7 minutes after spending 7 days submerged in water is no mean feat.

It was interesting to see the reaction of the New York crowd after he was pulled out of his bubble. The crowd were cheering, whooping and a-hollering like he was a hero. This in contrast to his stunt in London when he was suspended in a glass case for 44 days and had to endure jeering, boo-ing and eggs pelted at him.

Is it safe to broadly generalise that Britons see through his po-faced smugness and seriousness, whereas Americans interpret his behaviour as mysterious and magical? Whatever your opinion of him, he gets huge publicity and exposure, which I guess is the whole idea of his ‘act’.

Posted 3 years, 10 months ago

The Now Show (radio 4 show, available as podcast) call him the ‘Git Wizard’. Sums it up nicely :)

Andrew · www · 3 years, 10 months ago

In response to the post’s title, arse. Definitely an arse.

That is all.

Mal. · www · 3 years, 10 months ago

Maybe he’s both: an arsetist.

He should stick to card tricks.

Matt · www · 3 years, 10 months ago

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My name is Phil Lindsay, a web guy from Scotland, now living in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. I also run a web design company called Presence. You can email me at phil@xlab.co.uk, read more ramblings on my Twitter stream and view my photos on Flickr. You can grab the RSS feed for this weblog here.