Magician David Blaine has set a world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and four seconds on Oprah Winfreys US TV show in Chicago
April 30, 2008
Magician David Blaine has set a world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes and four seconds on Oprah Winfreys US TV show in Chicago.
The star was pulled from a water-filled sphere, and then said he had begun to doubt if he would achieve his goal as he considered his heart rate too high.
The previous record, which was 32 seconds shorter, was set in February.
Blaine, once buried for a week in a coffin, inhaled pure oxygen beforehand to flush carbon dioxide from his blood.
Setting the record was "a lifelong dream", he told Winfrey, which he said had been achieved by being in a meditative state throughout.
"I feel great", he said, as he was pulled out of the water.
"I actually started to doubt I was going to make it because Id never done it with such a high heart rate," he added.
Winfrey asked him what he was thinking about during his time in the water, to which he replied: "You."
Beforehand Blaine said he was more excited than nervous about the task ahead.
Struggle
Blaine failed in an earlier breath-holding record attempt in New York
The 35-year-old had been wearing a silver wetsuit when he went into the sphere, which was filled with about 8,200 litres (1,800 gallons) of water.
Blaine said he had been hoping to make it to 23 minutes, but that he was aware that his heart started beating irregularly towards the end of the stunt.
"Theres no enhancement, no cheating," he told Winfrey, adding that his stunts are not about magic but about pushing the limits of the human body.
Two years ago he failed in an attempt to break the record for breath-holding under water, while simultaneously escaping from heavy chains.
He had started to struggle two minutes before his nine-minute goal, at the end of a seven-day stint under water in New York.
Blaine has also balanced on top of a 100ft (30m) pole, was encased in ice for two-and-a-half days, and fasted for 44 days in a box.
A new biography of a mistress of Frances King Louis XIV has been withdrawn after it was revealed a major source for it was a work of fiction
April 30, 2008
A new biography of a mistress of Frances King Louis XIV has been withdrawn after it was revealed a major source for it was a work of fiction.
The publishers say the book about Madame de Maintenon by Veronica Buckley will be rewritten and then reissued.
In writing the book, Ms Buckley used a fictional diary by a French historian, mistaking it for Louiss own work.
Louis XIV, the "Sun King", reigned in France from the age of four until he died 72 years later in 1715.
Imagination
Louis XIV took his nation to war, did much to centralise power and reigned over an age of great achievement in culture.
What he did not do was write a secret diary recording his life and his relationship with his mistress and eventual wife, Mme de Maintenon.
A decade ago, French historian Francois Bluche wrote The Secret Journal of Louis XIV, imagining what such a diary might be like if it did exist. His book never purported to be the real thing.
Unfortunately, the New Zealand-born Ms Buckley failed to appreciate this when writing a new biography of Mme de Maintenon for the respected London publishing house Bloomsbury.
Her book was due out next week and it was only as advance copies went out to reviewers that her error was spotted.
Now Bloomsbury are delaying publication until at least July so that changes can be made.
Though embarrassing, their mistake does not rival the catastrophic error made by Germanys Stern magazine 25 years ago.
It paid millions of marks to publish what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler. But that turned out to be out-and-out forgery.
In this case, Ms Buckley came across apparent "diaries" irresistible to a biographer and simply failed to check well enough.
giant inflatable pig which floated away during a Roger Waters concert at the weekend has been recovered in tatters in California
April 30, 2008
A giant inflatable pig which floated away during a Roger Waters concert at the weekend has been recovered in tatters in California.
The pig, which measured the width of two buses, was found by two families on their driveways in La Quinta.
They will split the $10,000 (£5,090) reward offered by the Coachella music festival, from where the pig was lost.
The inflatable pig bore the image of a ticked ballot box for US presidential hopeful Barack Obama on its underbelly.
Prototype pig
The animals flanks carried the slogans "fear builds walls" and "don be led to the slaughter", with a cartoon of Uncle Sam holding two meat cleavers.
Former Pink Floyd star Waters said "thats my pig" as it drifted away during Sundays gig.
The inflatable appeared at the Coachella festival in California
Enlarge Image
Coachella spokeswoman Marcee Rondan said: "It wasn really supposed to happen that way."
The pig was tethered to the ground with ropes and floated away as Waters was playing Pink Floyd song Pigs on the Wing.
Pink Floyd had used inflatable pigs during their concerts in the past, and the lost animal was the same prototype as all the others, according to Ms Rondan.
The two families who found what was left of the inflatable have also decided to share four life tickets to the Coachella festival that were offered as part of the reward.
American Idol judge Paula Abdul has left people scratching their heads after giving feedback on two songs to a contestant who had only performed once
April 30, 2008
American Idol judge Paula Abdul has left people scratching their heads after giving feedback on two songs to a contestant who had only performed once.
In a change from the norm, the judges made notes and passed on feedback after everyone had given one performance.
But when Abdul came to discuss Idol hopeful Jason Castro, she referred to having heard "two songs" from him.
The star said she was confused by her notes as the changes to the judging were made at the last minute.
"Oh gosh, weve never had to write these things down… fast enough," Abdul said, shuffling through her pieces of paper.
"Jason, first song, I loved hearing your lower register, which we never really hear, um… the second song, I felt like your usual charm wasn - it was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty.
"The two songs made me feel like you
e not fighting hard enough to get into the top four," she said, before being told by fellow judge Randy Jackson that only one song had been performed.
Strangest show ever
After realising her blunder, Abdul said: "Oh my god, I thought you sang twice!"
Host Ryan Seacrest tried to smooth over the situation by saying, "You
e seeing the future, baby!", before cutting her off and asking another judge, Simon Cowell, for his comments.
The remaining five contestants in the talent show then all performed a second song for the Neil Diamond-themed night.
"This was officially the strangest show weve ever done," Cowell said at the end of the programme.
The incident has prompted fans to speculate on the programmes messageboards if the show was scripted or fixed.
A spokesman for the Fox TV channel declined to comment.
There was "massive demand" for the new Coldplay single, available as a free download, which caused problems for some fans who rushed to hear it
April 30, 2008
There was "massive demand" for the new Coldplay single, available as a free download, which caused problems for some fans who rushed to hear it.
Violet Hill was made available from the bands website at 1215 BST on Tuesday.
A spokesman described the response as "incredible", adding: "Massive demand slowed everything down in the first 40 minutes of the download going live.
"But that was quickly fixed and Coldplay.com is delivering tracks to fans at full speed."
Violet Hill is the first material to be heard from the bands fourth album Viva La Vida or Death and all his Friends, which is out on 12 June.
In an online poll of 1,400 people on the Coldplaying fan site, some 60% gave the song nine or 10 out of 10.
The band are still to announce details of three free concerts - in London, New York and Barcelona.
Radiohead will not repeat the pay-what-you-like offer used to launch their latest album In Rainbows, singer Thom Yorke has told an interviewer
April 30, 2008
Radiohead will not repeat the pay-what-you-like offer used to launch their latest album In Rainbows, singer Thom Yorke has told an interviewer.
The "honesty box" idea was a "one-off response to a particular situation", he said in The Hollywood Reporter.
"It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do," he said.
"I don think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again."
Trafficking campaign
The rock band allowed fans to enter any amount from nothing to £100 to download their seventh album.
"It was a moment in time," Yorke added.
His comments came as Radiohead unveiled a new video to raise awareness of human trafficking.
The band collaborated with MTVs End Exploitation and Trafficking (Exit) campaign to create the video for their song All I Need.
MTV will premiere the video globally at 0600 BST on Thursday.
Former UB40 singer Ali Campbell is to be replaced in the band by his brother Duncan, with reggae singer Maxi Priest also bolstering the line-up on tour
April 30, 2008
Former UB40 singer Ali Campbell is to be replaced in the band by his brother Duncan, with reggae singer Maxi Priest also bolstering the line-up on tour.
Ali Campbell, who fronted the group for 30 years, quit in an acrimonious fall-out earlier this year.
Another brother, guitarist and vocalist Robin Campbell, is also a founding member and is still with the group.
Duncan said he asked for Alis blessing to join the band, but stressed they were not otherwise on speaking terms.
"I told him if he objected strongly, I wouldn do it," Duncan said.
Fresh wounds
Ali replied that he was "disappointed but didn object", according to Robin.
"But I haven spoken to him since," Duncan added. "The wounds are fresh."
The band are giving away a version of their new album, Twentyfourseven, with the Mail on Sunday newspaper this week.
The 10-track CD is the last work recorded with Ali Campbell.
An extended version with seven further tracks recorded since Alis departure will go on sale in June.
It includes contributions from Maxi Priest, who will also perform with the band on tour in the UK, Europe and US later this year.
Priest is best known for his late-1980s and early-1990s hits such as Close to You and Wild World.
Blindness, a thriller starring Julianne Moore, is to open the Cannes Film Festival in France next month
April 30, 2008
Blindness, a thriller starring Julianne Moore, is to open the Cannes Film Festival in France next month.
Based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, the movie focuses on a town which is hit by a sudden epidemic of sight-loss.
The comedy drama What Just Happened, starring Robert de Niro, Bruce Willis, and Sean Penn, will close the festival.
De Niro will also present the Palme dOr prize, awarded by the events special jury, on 25 May.
Actor Sean Penn leads this years jury, which also contains actress Natalie Portman and former Harry Potter director Alfonso Cuaron.
Between them, they will decide which film takes home the prestigious prize.
Last years Palme dOr went to the Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
Outside the competition, the new Indiana Jones movie - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - will receive its premiere at the festival, while Woody Allen will screen his latest romance, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
The festival, which is the 61st in Cannes, begins on 14 May.
Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed he will reprise his role as Gandalf in the film remake of JRR Tolkiens The Hobbit
April 30, 2008
Sir Ian McKellen has confirmed he will reprise his role as Gandalf in the film remake of JRR Tolkiens The Hobbit.
"Yes, its true," he told Empire magazine. "Its not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf."
Two Hobbit films are planned for release in 2010 and 2011. They will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson.
Guillermo del Toro has been named as the director of the movies, to be made back-to-back in New Zealand.
"I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role," Sir Ian said.
He also said del Toro would be starting the script in about six weeks after he has finished filming current project, Hellboy 2.
According to studio New Line, the first film will be an adaptation of The Hobbit and the second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy.
"As to how its going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet - I can tell you its going to be amazing though," Sir Ian said.
Actor Kris Marshall is expected to be back at work this week after being hit by a car on a night out in Bristol, his co-stars have said
April 30, 2008
Actor Kris Marshall is expected to be back at work this week after being hit by a car on a night out in Bristol, his co-stars have said.
The 35-year-old former My Family star has been in rehearsals for West End play Fat Pig, with comedian Robert Webb and actress Ella Smith.
"Im sure hell be back in rehearsals on Thursday," Smith said.
Marshall is now out of intensive care at Bristol Royal Infirmary, the actors agent Rupert Fowler confirmed.
The accident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning.
"Last we heard hes doing very well - apparently he has the day off tomorrow and then hell be back," Webb said on BBC Ones Breakfast on Tuesday.
"We think its a just a big ploy because he hasn learnt his lines… but no, hes fine and we really look forward to having him back," Smith added.
Marshall, who comes from the Cotswolds but lives in Windsor, starred in the film Love Actually and played detective Luke Stone in ITV1 drama serial Murder City.
He played hapless Nick in BBC One sitcom My Family for five years from 2000.
Fat Pig is due to open next month in London.
Music Festivals
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