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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Try again? Don’t hold your breath

David Blaine
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From Wire Reports The Spokesman-Review

Illusionist David Blaine was unconscious and having convulsions when he was rescued during an underwater breath-holding stunt.

“If we hadn’t intervened, he would still be at the bottom of the sphere doing a breath-hold,” trainer Kirk Krack said Tuesday.

Blaine, 33, had been submerged in an 8-foot aquarium with an oxygen mask for a week. He was rescued Monday as he struggled to break a breath-holding record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds – making it to 7 minutes, 8 seconds.

Dr. Murat Gunel, the head of Blaine’s medical team, said he was crying following the rescue, adding: “He still feels today that he let people down.”

Gunel said Tuesday that Blaine’s liver and kidney functions had suffered but were improving, and his skin, which was peeling Monday night, “looks much better today.”

He said Blaine plans to try the stunt again, without spending the week submerged first.

Smells like wee-‘un spirit

Britney Spears has gone from Curious to Fantasy to In Control.

Those are the names of the pop star’s fragrances with Elizabeth Arden over the past two years, an anniversary she celebrated at a press conference Monday.

Spears, reportedly pregnant with her second child, says In Control – with notes of loquat fruit, midnight orchid, creme brulee, black vanilla bean, sugared sandalwood and musk – is her favorite.

The scent conjures up happy memories of babies, she adds, probably because she was in the midst of testing it when her son, Sean, was born last September.

NYPD … pink?

Elsewhere on the celebrity baby beat, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and his wife, Lisa, welcomed a baby daughter Sunday, the couple’s second child.

Gosselaar, who appears in “Commander in Chief,” and his wife met on the set of his 1989-1993 teen comedy series “Saved by the Bell,” in which he played Zack Morris. He also starred in “NYPD Blue.”

But a happy moron

And Adam Sandler became a real “Big Daddy” over the weekend when his wife, Jackie, gave birth to the couple’s first child (reportedly a girl).

A posting on the actor/comedian’s Web site read: “Kid is healthy!! Wife is healthy!! He’s still a moron, and that’s all that counts!!!”

And that ain’t diddly

The New York Supreme Court has declined to hear Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ appeal of a lower court decision ordering him to pay more than $19,000 a month in child support.

The hip-hop mogul was ordered last year to pay ex-girlfriend Misa Hylton-Brim for the care of their 12-year-old son, Justin.

Combs also pays child support to model Kim Porter for their son, Christian.

The birthday bunch

Sports announcer Pat Summerall is 76. Television announcer Gary Owens (“Laugh-In”) is 67. Singer Donovan is 60. Singer Dave Mason is 60. Singer Bono (U2) is 46. Model Linda Evangelista is 41. Bassist Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) is 41. Rapper Young MC is 39. Actor Erik Palladino (“ER”) is 38. Actor Kenan Thompson (“Kenan and Kel”) is 28. Singer Ashley Poole (Dream) is 21.