Upside-Down Fruitcake

In his insightful book “The Image,” Daniel Boorstin defines a pseudo-event as a happening that:

1. Is not spontaneous,
2. Is planted primarily for the immediate purpose of being reported,
3. Is ambiguous,
4. Is intended to be a self-fulfilling prophecy

In other words, if magician David Blaine packages his hanging upside down for 60 hours as “news” then guess what? It’s news. He may be right. A quick Google search for “David Blaine Upside Down” returned 4,810 results. I think I’ll still file this latest feat of "magic" under Pseudo-(from the Greek word meaning “false”) Event.