10/21/2003:

Manon von Gerkan, the girlfriend of U.S. illusionist David Blaine, smiles up at him as he looks through the bottom of his perspex box suspended from a crane next to the River Thames on day 40 of his 'Above the Below' stunt in London.
The truly committed followers of David Blaine had been in position since three o'clock yesterday afternoon, shivering and counting off the hours until finally there wasn't a man in a plastic box hanging from a crane over a dusty bit of Bermondsey riverbank for no immediately obvious reason.

Blaine's stunt, variously interpreted as performance art, pointless publicity stunt and quasi-religious experience, came to an end just before 10pm yesterday, when the 30-year-old illusionist emerged and spoke briefly, if a little mystically, before being stretchered off into an ambulance and then to hospital.

He had endured heart palpitations, breathing problems, backache and blurred vision, and spectators hurling eggs and insults. He also had the challenge of finding space in his bank account for the profits from television rights, sold to Sky and Channel 4 for a sum rumoured to be somewhere between £600,000 and £3m.
Mild insults were the worst he faced when standing on the top of a pillar for a day and a half in Manhattan. But in London, Blaine has encountered a barrage of psychological harassment: a man beating a drum whenever he tried to sleep, a "flash mob" whose members tantalised him with hamburgers, and a London radio DJ humming his station's jingle through a loudspeaker for 24 hours without stopping.

Shortly after 8.15pm, Blaine hauled himself to his feet, prompting loud cheers, and then began to throw items of clothing out of his box. Caroline Rowley, a waitress from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, caught his grey fleece trousers, declaring them slightly musty.

Then the guy ropes holding the box were removed, and it was lowered and tipped on its side. Blaine, looking thin but hardly emaciated, addressed the crowd in an even slower than usual version of his monotone. "This has been one of the most important experiences of my life," he said. "I've learned more in that little box than I have in years. I learned how important it is to have a sense of humour and to laugh at everything, because nothing makes any sense anyway... I love all of you forever."

Selected Comments:
So he hung out in a box for a couple days and got 3 million
pounds?? whats so magical about that??
- whatta freak

Where did he PEE (etc.) ???
- 7T'sSoFla

He flings POO !
- Monkey inna box.

I see Jeff Goldblum and Mr. Spock had a baby...
- Vul Can

Too bad there wasn't some enterprising person with a well
focused parabolic mirror...could've turned him into microwave popcorn !!
- Miami Mike

Finally, some art that is "inside" the box !
- box cutter

I could last twice as long as that bum,
- Where is my suspended glass box?

If I can make up to $3,000,000 by sitting in a little box
for a month or so, where do I sign up?
- The Youth of America

WHO ? "D" KNEE ?
- I don't think so.

Sea Monkeys are better.
- Comm Ick Buch
PORNOGRAPHY!

(75 Votes- 12% Art, 88% Porn)


Make
Art or Pornography?  
Your Homepage!