People: Don't Hold Your Breath for Entertainment Value

SELF-INDULGENT
A DREAM FULFILLED
Submerged in a water-filled sphere on the stage of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" during a live broadcast, David Blaine held his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds. That bested the previous record of 16 minutes and 32 seconds, set Feb. 10 by Switzerland's Peter Colat. "I feel great," he said after, later adding that breaking the record was a fulfillment of "a lifelong dream."

TAXES
ADMITTING HE WRONG HURT MORE THAN THE MONEY
Senate candidate Al Franken said he will pay about $70,000 in back taxes dating to 2003. Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances.

SAD
BROKEN FOOT, MORE BROKEN CAREER
Mya, who was to have made her Broadway debut next month as Velma Kelly in "Chicago," has broken her left foot. She would have begun her nine-week engagement May 12.

POLITICS
EX-GOV GETS SMUG INDIE DOCUMENTARY TREATMENT
A book about the rise and fall of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, co-authored by the makers of a book and documentary about the fall of Enron, is being published by Penguin Group. Peter Elkind, who helped write the 2003 best-seller "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," is collaborating on the Spitzer book with filmmaker Alex Gibney. Gibney and Elkind will also work on a documentary about the law-and-order Democrat who resigned last month over allegations about his connection to a $5,500-per-hour call girl ring.

» Pictured right: He couldn't look more like a Muppet if he tried.

COSTUMES
THOSE ROBES ARE SO COMFORTABLE
Ian McKellen will again take up the robes of Gandalf the wizard in the cinematic adaptation of "The Hobbit," a British film magazine reported Wednesday. But McKellen's publicist warned that final arrangements were yet to be made. "Of course he wants to do it, but nothing's been agreed or signed," Clair Dobbs said. The 68-year-old British actor previously told The Associated Press that he would hate to see anyone else play the role.

With contributions from The Associated Press
Photos by M. Spencer Green/AP; AP