David Blaine: Drowned Alive? Part IV
Posted By Paul Kotik on 5 May 2006
Even a protein filter!
The stuff in the sphere is, roughly speaking, an isotonic saline solution. Recirculated, filtered for everything in Creation. “There’s even a protein filter !” whispers an earnest young assistant to somebody. Dr. Ruden tells me the 96 degrees Farenheit maintained inside the sphere is actually forcing David Blaine’s body to try to cool itself, 91 Farenheit being the theoretical neutral point for the body’s thermostats. This is news to me. “So he’s sweating like a pig?” I ask. “Sure”, the doctor assures me, “But it’s not doing any good. It can’t cool him".
Copyright 2006 Paul Kotik/DeeperBlue.net
Especially not when the fluid temperature rises to 98 F, as it did earlier today during a filter change. The pumps were stopped, and as the crew marveled at the gunk in and on the filter elements the sun beat down on the sphere. The optical properties of David Blaine’s aquarium are such that the sun’s radiant energy is focussed and concentrated. It got hot in there, and fast. The crew scrambled to cover the sphere with a white sheet. “One of the grips found a point on the ground where the sunlight was focused by the glass”, a security guard recounted, “And he lit a cigarette in it.” Mmmmm….no. Don’t think so, but magic’s magic, so who knows ?
Pat Smith is the PR czar for the event, and he claimed that at 79 hours into the 177–hour schedule, some 160,000 spectators had filed up the ramps and viewed the Person in the Waterball. My own traffic samplings were quite consistent with that figure. “When he wakes up tomorrow”, Smith announced,"He’ll be past the halfway point.” That being the case, any celebrities looking to score face time had better do what Rosie O’Donnell and David Arquette did today and get on down to Lincoln Center. The people who came today did well. David got nearly six hours' sleep overnight and was refreshed and frisky. Very interactive.
Martin reports that the spectators are loving it. “Ninety-eight percent positive feedback. The other two percent are undecideds. There’s the kind that says ‘Hey, I could do that myself ' and the other kind that says ‘What’s the point ?’ . I haven’t heard a single negative comment.” The audiences inside Avery Fisher Hall and the New York State Theatre, bien pensants and congoscenti all, are no different, just on a higher plane: they fill the balconies at intermissions and stare down upon David Blaine and the hoi polloi.
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