News Day Tuesday: Guinness Records Galore!
He Pingping is 2 feet 5 inches tall. (photo: Watts / Daily News)
Suresh Joachim (left) and Claudia Wavra (right) sat through 123 continuous hours of movies in New York’s Times Square. Actress Susan Sarandon (center) stopped by to personally drop off a copy of Thelma and Louise, the last movie in the Netflix Popcorn Bowl. (photo: PRNewsFoto / Netflix)
The world’s tallest LEGO tower stands 29.48 meters high and required 460,000 bricks to complete. A crane had to be used to position the highest sections. (photo: AAP)
Lately, my hometown of New York City has seen a slight rise in Guinness World Record activity. The world’s shortest man, He Pingping, literally stopped traffic and caused quite a stir when he visited a few weeks ago (I didn’t get to see him though…man!). He Pingping is 2 feet, 5 inches tall (73.66 cm).
There was also a contest going on last week in a glass living room located in Times Square to see who could break the record for longest continuous movie watching. The last two standing were Suresh Joachim (from Canada) and Claudia Wavra (from Germany), who watched 57 films over the course of 123 hours – that’s more than five days, with just a 10 minute break between movies. (They’re still waiting for the record to be confirmed.)
But Vienna, not to be outdone by NYC, hosted a world record of its own this past week when the world’s tallest LEGO tower was built to a height of 29.48 meters (96.72 feet). The platforms for the tower were built by hundreds of children to celebrate the 100 Years of Friends of Children festival (master builders assembled the platforms together for the final tower).
I thought each of these records was inspiring in its own way. He Pingping could have let his height get in his way, but instead he’s choosing to go out there and travel the world and experience life, stopping traffic along the way. 
Suresh Joachim has actually broken more than 30 world records in a quest to spread world peace. And who doesn’t love it when a bunch of kids get together to build the tallest LEGO tower in the world??
Now, I haven’t broken any world records, but I thought it would be fun ask everyone what your personal records are? What’s the biggest, smallest, fastest, slowest, tallest, shortest, greatest, silliest thing you’ve ever done?
I’ll go first. Back when I was in college, during my first semester, I slept for maybe a total of 5 hours (an hour here, an hour there) over the course of 3 days studying for finals. *sigh*…Good times, good times. After that bout of sleep deprivation, I learned to manage my time better. Sort of. (heehee)
Your turn! 
see? Ya’ll can stop calling me a midget now. =)
JenipherI
October 14, 2008OMG! This is incredible! Seems like NY is on the spotlight! [I loved NY when I visited, only wish I could've seen He Pingping around or even that tall LEGO tower!
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I must honestly say I haven’t done anything Guinness Worthy but the craziest thing I’ve ever done? Nothing interesting….let’s think…does staying up late with my cousins for over 24 hours of movies, joking, dressing up and just fooling around reliving our childhood count? LOL