The world is a shitty place to be right now. Between coronavirus, racial unrest, and the upcoming presidential election, it’s hard to stay optimistic. So we can’t exactly blame a guy for wanting to make life a little better. We assume that’s what magician David Blaine was doing when he staged a stunt today involving 52 helium balloons that lifted him 24,900 feet over the Great Basin Desert in Page, Arizona.
Deemed Ascension, the project was live-streamed on YouTube.
The feat appears to have been inspired by the scene in Pixar’s animated adventure movie Up in which a house is carried away by a bunch of colorful balloons.
According to the New York Post, he’s been prepping for this performance for 10 years and completed 500 airplane jumps during that time. He also studied wind patterns and obtained a hot air balloon license to do the stunt safely – and even then, he still risked both hypothermia and hypoxia (lack of oxygen).
As epic as this achievement was, Blaine still had to come back to Earth. When Blaine landed, he laughed and clapped, screaming, “Wow, that was awesome!”
His 9-year-old daughter Dessa, who had been watching the whole thing, congratulated him over the radio. “That was great! Wow! You did it! You didn’t fall!” she said.
“This was all for you, I love you,” Blaine replied.
Aw.
Other than pleasing his daughter and distracting everyone from the hell hole we currently live in, Blaine managed to get to the No. 1 trending spot on Twitter. Users on the social media platform had mixed reactions regarding his exploit.
Do you guys remember when David Blaine used to be a magician?
Now he just tells people to get a camera while he has a midlife crisis https://t.co/U4W0mrTvfM
— just TK (@theTK100) September 2, 2020
I get that we’re supposed to be social distancing but David Blaine is taking the piss pic.twitter.com/3924Fl77k0
— Jacksepticeye (@Jacksepticeye) September 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/_GNZ_/status/1301178692081790976?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillyD/status/1301199753745584128?s=20
https://twitter.com/KellyDiamond_/status/1301226210656006144?s=20
While there was technically no magic involved here – just good ol’ aerodynamics and a lot of balls – maybe Blaine will inspire some other people to reach, um, new heights. The sky’s the limit, after all. Up, up, and away!
Cover Photo: YouTube
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