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Kellar, Houdini and Me — Old Picture

Blaine helps healers. David Blaine is putting his 44-days of inactivity in a glass box to some good by helping doctors improve their understanding of how to deal with hunger strikers. Researchers in the UK said Mr. Blaine helped them gain new insights into what happens to the body during starvation and subsequent recovery.

Jeremy Powell-Tuck, professor of clinical nutrition at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine in London, told a conference today of the biological consequences of Blaine’s fast.

Powell-Tuck and his team treated Blaine after he left the Perspex box suffering from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.

Helped Someone

The research revealed that self-imposed hunger strikers are unlikely to perish within the first 45 days of their protest if they are healthy individuals at the start. The findings form part of Powell-Tuck’s on-going research into disease-related malnutrition and intestinal failure.

Not to be cynical, but let?s pretend that Mr. Blaine only pretended to go without food or vitamins for 44 days. Pretend that the magician ? who knows magic stuff ? used his magic knowledge to feign the 44 days of starvation. Pretend further that Mr. Blaine did not bother to tell the good doctors that he was just doing a stunt. We sure hope the doctors? work is not compromised by any misunderstanding of the true nature of the stunt.

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Kellar, Houdini and Me — Old Picture

Jeremy Powell-Tuck, professor of clinical nutrition at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine in London, told a conference today of the biological consequences of Blaine’s fast.

Powell-Tuck and his team treated Blaine after he left the Perspex box suffering from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.

Helped Someone

Read the full article here.

Bid Early

Disneyland Puts Haunted Mansion Plot Up for Auction. Disney fans who have been “dying” to be a part of Disneyland history have a “once-in-an-after-life-time” opportunity to become an honorary ghostly resident of “Haunted Mansion.” This marks the public’s first-ever chance to be an enduring part of a Disneyland attraction.

The lucky bidder of the online eBay auction will receive:

1. A personalized “tombstone” in the finale graveyard scene of the attraction with a humorous epitaph (inspired by the lucky bidder’s interests and hobbies) written by the team at Walt Disney Imagineering — the creative team responsible for designing and developing the attraction; and,

2. A one-of-a-kind miniature replica of the tombstone and a certificate officially recognizing him / her as an “Honorary” resident of the “Haunted Mansion;” and The successful bidder and a guest will be spirited away from his or her hometown to Disneyland in time for a midnight “burial” ceremony on Thursday, October 28, officially placing the tombstone in the graveyard of the “Haunted Mansion.”

The auction will be featured on eBay at http://www.DisneyAuctions.com and begins at 6:00 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, October 14 and ends Thursday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m. (EST). The winning bidder will be publicly announced on Friday, October 22.

As “die-hard” fans of the landmark Disneyland attraction know, the “Haunted Mansion” is home to “999 happy haunts … but there’s always room for one more!” Proceeds from the auction will benefit selected chapters of The Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

He Survived

Magicians In Demand. Objective Productions, the production company behind the Derren Brown shows and Monkey Magic in the UK, is keeping the magic alive with two new series. The Secret World of Magic will feature Pete Firman and Ali Cook – also known as Monkey Magic?s Tufty and Monkey Boy ? and record their ravel to places such as Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Madrid. A spokesperson for the production company said it will be roughly the equivalent to ?a magical version of Michael Palin?s Pole to Pole, with a range of guests and talent on offer that is strange in the extreme.?

Sky TV has also asked Objective Productions to film and ready for presentation the series Underground Magic, a hidden camera show where a group of illusionists – the Shock Magic squad – use their skills to fool unsuspecting members of the public. Stunts include a person?s dinner date arriving floating in mid-air and ghosts who appear to live in one of the victim?s hotel room. Both shows will air next year.

Why do they like magicians? The production company?s co-managing director Andrew O?Connor told The Stage Magazine: ?These shows are dynamic, mischievous and audacious, they are the next generation of magic entertainment.?

Read the full article here in The Stage.