So web 2.0 it makes babies cry.

LONDON (Reuters) – If there’s no such thing as bad publicity, then magician David Blaine’s stunt of starving himself in a clear plastic box in London has been a smashing success.

More than a million satellite viewers tuned in two weeks ago to see Blaine — a 30-year-old American whose previous tricks include freezing himself in ice and balancing for 35 hours on a high pole — enter the box suspended by a crane, where he has vowed not to eat for 44 days.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s Sky television has not one but two channels showing nothing but Blaine, all day, every day. The program will end with an extravaganza when he climbs down from the box on Oct. 19. Sky will not say how much it is paying him.

So far, Britons have taken great pleasure in tormenting Blaine. His cage has been whacked with golf balls fired from nearby Tower Bridge. Eggs were thrown, following by sausages and bacon. Women have shown him their breasts and men their bottoms.

The disdain shown toward Blaine has thrilled some high-brow British columnists, proud of their country’s apparent insensitivity to U.S.-style razzmatazz.

Opinion poll ratings of Prime Minister Tony Blair have dropped sharply in recent months over his strong support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with many calling Blair President Bush’s “poodle.”

‘THE WRONG TOWN’

“You’ve picked the wrong town to be hung in, Mr Blaine,” a commentator in the Sunday Times wrote. “What is clear from the start is that Londoners are not taking Blaine quite as seriously as he takes himself. … Really, it makes you proud to be British.”

There are even Web Sites devoted to concocting ways to annoy him, including shining laser lights in his eyes and tempting him with barbecue smells. One person was charged with criminal damage, accused of trying to cut off his water supply tube.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has added to the interest by declaring that the stunt, taking place just outside his office overlooking the Thames, is an insult to the memory of Northern Irish hunger strikers.

Blaine’s sponsors clearly don’t mind the attention.

“Ninety-nine percent of the public have been really supportive of what David’s doing. When you go down to the Tower Bridge, you can just tell,” said a Sky spokesman.

Sky One’s sister channel Sky News has devoted long newscast segments to Blaine’s German model girlfriend Manon von Gerkan tenderly wiping away yolk from his cage and lamenting the people who just don’t understand his inner nature.

A fruit-pelter drew big headlines after being led away bloody from a fight with one of Blaine’s guards.

But a group of a half-dozen 14-year-olds from the nearby Aylwin Girls’ School said they come every afternoon to see the bare-chested Blaine because he’s “buff” and “wicked.” They brought a pink rose for Blaine’s girlfriend and showed no patience for those who give him trouble.

“This is why England hasn’t won the World Cup (soccer championship) since 1966. Because they throw eggs at him,” said Danielle before being interrupted by one of her friends, who shouted ecstatically:

“Oh my God! I can actually see the hair in his armpits!”

As reported By Peter Graf Reuters Thursday, September 18, 2003; 1:14 PM

I have news for you, we in America are damn proud that he is on the other side of the pond and not pulling his shit here still. I for one can’t stand this two bit hack. If anyone thinks he is living on water alone for this time period, then they should be fed only water for the same period. The reason they got so pissy when some brave soul attempted to screw up his water supply was, get this, it is not just water. What about all of the other shit they are pumping in via that tube?

Through early morning fog I see
Vision’s of the things to be
The pains that are with held for me
I realize and I can see

*That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The game of life is hard to play
Gonna to lose it anyway
The losing card I’ll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

From now on, when Stephanie Majewski wants to get from point A to B, she’ll be doing it on bus or by foot.

The 81-year-old has failed her driver’s test five times in the past. During the sixth time yesterday, she didn’t speed through any stop signs or forget to signal before changing lanes. Majewski’s car barely left the parking lot.

Just before 2 p.m. yesterday, while backing out of a handicap parking spot at Thunder Bay’s McIntyre Centre, Majewski — with her Drive Test examiner in the passenger seat — went about 25 metres too far and went over a steep embankment into the McIntyre River.

Luckily, her four-door 1991 Ford Tempo wasn’t flooded. Only the back end was submersed in the shallow water.

The driver and tester, neither injured, got out of the car on their own. When police arrived, they were wrapped in blankets.

Majewski paced the scene nervously while her female passenger seemed distraught and was being consoled by police officers and others at the scene.

“I’m sorry for her,” Majewski said as she looked in the direction of the tester who was seated in a cruiser with an officer speaking to her while kneeling at her level.

“There’s never been a scratch on the car,” she said.

Majewski’s sandaled feet were caked with mud from climbing the embankment.

When asked what went wrong, Majewski shook her head and explained that she was trying to reverse from the parking spot.

It took a tow truck about 15 minutes to pull the car from the river. As the car was raised, a stream of water gushed from the rear window and back doors.

A rainbow-like stream of gasoline and its distinct odour were the only signs of the accident.

Police investigation continues.

As reported by Cathi Arola – The Chronicle-Journal

LOS ANGELES: A roller-coaster derailed yesterday at Southern California’s Disneyland theme park, killing one man and injuring 10 other people, including a nine-year-old.

The locomotive on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction left the tracks while the train went through a dark tunnel, said officials in Anaheim, California, where the park is located.

An adult man in the first passenger car of the rollercoaster was found dead at the scene by emergency workers.

Disney shut the ride and the area was still cordoned off yesterday afternoon while the coroner examined the body.

“The locomotive itself disconnected from the passenger cars,” Anaheim spokesman John Nicoletti said in a televised news conference.

“How it was disconnected or became disconnected we are not sure at this point.”

Los Angeles television station KCAL 9 said the injured riders ranged in age from nine to 47 years.

Eight of the passengers – four male and four female – were taken to hospitals.

Some passengers left the ride immediately after the accident and it was not clear how many had been on board, Mr Nicoletti said.

“We are shocked and saddened by the incident,” said Cynthia Harris, president of Disneyland, which is owned by Walt Disney Co, the largest theme park operator in the world. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of those involved.”

“At this point, we don’t believe sabotage was involved but we are going to look at everything,” Anaheim police Sergeant Rick Martinez said.

The roller-coaster takes people on a twisting, turning ride aboard what is supposed to be a runaway train in the Old West.

The computer-controlled attraction, which opened in 1979, can carry as many as 32 people. The operator does not ride aboard the train.

Disney last year named a new executive to oversee safety and released a report on efforts to improve safety at the parks, prompted by public concerns in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Disneyland had an estimated 12.7 million visitors in 2002.

Accidents at Disney parks include the apparent drowning at Disney World in Florida in April, 2002, of a man who jumped out of a tower and fell into a lagoon and the 1998 death of a 33-year-old man at Disneyland who was struck by a metal cleat at a dock at the Columbia ship attraction.

A boy, 4, was critically injured after being trapped underneath a car in the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin in September, 2000.

A Utah couple sued Disneyland, saying they had been injured on the Space Mountain roller-coaster when their car derailed during an emergency stop

As reported by The Advertiser