YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    David Blaine goes high voltage with latest stunt

    By ALICIA RANCILIO | Associated Press – Wed, Oct 3, 2012 1:12 PM EDT

    NEW YORK (AP) — David Blaine is spending the days leading up to his next stunt lying low.

    "I'll mostly be relaxing, meditating and playing with my daughter ... and trying not to deprive myself of sleep," the illusionist said at a Tuesday press conference after demonstrating the stunt at low voltage.

    He will need the rest. Beginning Friday, Blaine will spend three days and three nights standing in the middle of a million volts of electric currents streamed by tesla coils.

    The feat is called "Electrified: One Million Volts Always On" and will take place at Pier 54 on New York's West Side. It will be open to the public, and spectators can type messages to Blaine, control the electricity around him and basically help keep him alert.

    "Electrified" also will be streamed on YouTube, thanks to computing company Intel. Viewing stations will be located in London, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney. Viewers at the stations will also be able to control the coils.

    Blaine, who said he lives nearby, joked that he hopes to walk home after it is all over.

    Safety is a bigger concern now that Blaine is a father. He has a 20-month-old daughter.

    For the stunt, the 39-year-old will wear a chainmail bodysuit as a barrier between himself and the electric currents. He will have a wire helmet on, a visor to shield his eyes, and hearing protection for his ears. The air he is breathing will be monitored.

    Blaine won't be able to eat but will have a tube for water in and another tube for water out, so to speak. Because he is fasting for days beforehand, he doesn't expect any other bodily waste.

    "I don't know how I could ever top this," he said. "This is an overly-ambitious idea, and I'm literally shocked that it came together. This is one of the craziest things that I ever dreamed up, and I don't know how I could go beyond it."

    Blaine's last stunt was hanging without a net high over New York's Central Park for 60 hours in 2008. For other stunts, he held his breath underwater for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, was buried alive for a week in a see-through coffin and was encased in a block of ice for 63 hours.

    ___

    Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar

    News for You

    • The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

      NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.

    • Woman on Trump: 'Somebody had to stand up to him'

      CHICAGO (AP) — An 87-year-old woman who alleges Donald Trump cheated her in a skyscraper-condo sale told jurors Monday she had qualms about suing the real estate mogul and TV celebrity. But, she quickly added, "Somebody had to stand up to him."

    • Disney-owned ESPN cutting hundreds of jobs: source

      By Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - ESPN, the sports channel that is Walt Disney Co's most profitable unit, is cutting 300 to 400 jobs across the company and closing a small Denver office, a person with knowledge of the cuts said. The job cuts, comprising 4 to 6 percent of ESPN's staff of 7,000, include open positions that will not be filled, said the source, who asked not to be named because the information is not public. But ESPN will continue hiring for other open positions, the person said. The channel has recently won rights to exclusive coverage of the U.S. ...

    • Man pleads guilty in Picasso vandalism case

      HOUSTON (AP) — A man accused of vandalizing a 1929 Pablo Picasso painting in a Houston museum — an act that was caught on cellphone video — agreed Tuesday to a two-year prison term as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

    • NY Cuomo letter warns Kardashian over T-shirt logo

      ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sent a letter to Khloe Kardashian informing the reality star the logo on her T-shirt line may be violating copyright law.

    • A diversion in the air for 'Today'

      NEW YORK (AP) — Two charter airplanes carrying the "Today" show anchor team and their crew from Hawaii to Yellowstone National Park were diverted in the air to Oklahoma for coverage Tuesday of the catastrophic tornado outside of Oklahoma City.

    Show More