Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
They keep records for everything, apparently.
Claudio Paulo Pinto is looking to break an eye-popping record. Literally. Pinto can pop his eyeballs out of their sockets at least 7 millimeters (0.3 inches), a national record for eye-popping according to RankBrasil, an organization modeled after the Guinness Book of World Records that lists Brazilian records.
A former driver, Pinto got a job scaring visitors in a commercial haunted house in Belo Horizonte, 210 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. But he recently was laid off, and now he seeks international recognition for his ability.
"I was measured by an opthamologist on television in January. I could pop my eyes out 7 millimeters," Pinto said by telephone Saturday. "Since then, my capacities have improved over 50 percent."
That could put Pinto close to the record. The title of "furthest eyeball popper" in the Guinness Book of World Records currently belongs to Kim Goodman of Chicago, who can pop her eyeballs 11 milimeters (0.43 inches) out of her sockets.
You can find a bigger version of the picture at the link, if that's your sort of thing. And the current record holder, who (I kid you not) discovered her talent after taking a blow to the head during a hockey match, is here.
TrackBackThe woman with the record used her ability to get a gig doing TV ads for some eyeglasses place a few years ago. Something about "our prices are so low, they'll make your eyes pop out".
Posted by: Matt F at September 18, 2006 11:05 AMSomeone oughta get these two together. There could be a reality TV show about their marriage and eye-poppin' offspring.
Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist at September 18, 2006 01:01 PMOoh, better idea -- a sitcom about Señor Pinto's marriage to a strong-willed American redhead and their relationship with their downstairs neighbors/landlords, a frumpy older couple from Queens.
Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist at September 18, 2006 01:34 PMMy question: can they do it basically at will just by opening their eyelids really wide or something, or do they have to squeeze with their hands or something like that?
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at September 18, 2006 02:36 PMThe record-holder, at least, doesn't need to use her hands or anything. From the look of it, she just squeezes the muscles around her eye sockets and they pop right out. They go back in the same manner.
Posted by: Matt F at September 18, 2006 04:53 PM