Philippe Petit, the crazy bastard who walked a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center, will perform a high-wire walk somewhere in midtown Manhattan this fall autumn.
It will be high, it will be long, and it will be outdoors in a very recognizable location that he does not want revealed quite yet -- arrangements are not final.
Also, the New Yorker has a story in this week's issue (subscribers only) about Alain Robert, another Frenchman with a thing for tall buildings.
Robert is a vertical tourist. He has traversed the planet on a dogged, gutsy tour of the world's high-rises and, then, its jail cells and holding pens. Of the world's ten tallest buildings, he has climbed five. Most of the remaining half are in China, which he has been banned from entering since 2007, when he climbed the Jin Mao Tower.