Gladwyne coffee baron Todd Carmichael last winter broke the record for walking, unaided, across 700 miles of Antarctica to the South Pole in 39 days.

His lungs were scarred, his extremities frostbitten. And for his next trick, he'll try to walk more than 400 miles through Death Valley. And he wants to do it in 181/2 days - cutting in half the solo open-desert record of 399 miles in 37 days, set by Louis-Philippe Loncke, a Belgian, in Australia's Simpson Desert.

"I think the record belongs in America," says Carmichael, 46, an owner of La Colombe. He plans to fly on Wednesday to Las Vegas, drive to the Mojave Desert town of Baker, Calif., assemble and pack the custom wheeled equipment cart he calls "the Pig," and head for the hills.

Death Valley's terrain, he points out, is mountainous, adding to the fun. He plans to keep things eco-friendly as he traverses sand dunes, salt flats, and desert washes.

Fortunately, he has a sympathetic wife, singer Lauren Hart: "She may not love expeditions, but she loves me." The couple adopted a daughter, Yemi, 7, last spring.

Carmichael will be thoroughly wired with flexible solar panels, a portable satellite link, a laptop, cameras, a SPOT tracker, even a pulse monitor, and he plans to send podcasts, videos, and photos. Follow him at www.subzerosolo.com.

In other human feats . . .

Jacqueline Y. Eastridge, 49, a Pepper Hamilton paralegal, sets out next week for the inaugural Toubkal Trail Race (www.toubkaltrail.com), an 80-mile nonstop jog to the top of Mount Toubkal in Morocco that must be done in 48 hours. She's raising cash for Children's Hospital.

Royersford's "Humble Bob" Shoudt finished fourth in Sunday's Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. The winner board should be familiar to Wing Bowl watchers: Japanese champion Takeru Kobayashi was tops, with 93 burgers in eight minutes, followed by Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., and Pat Bertoletti of Chicago. Fifth was Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas of Alexandria, Va.

Cinematically speaking

Director F. Gary Gray is a "yes" for the 181/2 Philadelphia Film Festival, and he'll introduce the first of two screenings of his shot-in-Philly thriller, Law Abiding Citizen, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. On Oct. 15, Gray will introduce the 6 p.m. screening at Prince Music Theatre; LAC opens in theaters across the country the next day. Tickets go on sale today to film society members, and Monday to the general public. Director Lee Daniels will be at the Prince to introduce the 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 screening of the fete's closing film, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.

Personal appearances

CBS/Showtime sportscaster James Brown will talk about his faith-based book, Role of a Lifetime, at Mount Airy's Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church (2800 Cheltenham Ave.) in a free program at 6:30 p.m. today. He'll be introduced by the Rev. Alyn E. Waller, Enon's senior pastor.

George Takei, Star Trek's original Mr. Sulu, will do a free one-hour Q&A at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 14 at Drexel U's Mitchell Auditorium (3128 Market St.). It's part of National Coming Out Day; Takei has been out for decades.

TV notes

To mark the eighth year of the breast-cancer awareness campaign Lights for the Cure, more than 100 buildings will glow pink for the month, starting tonight. This will be the first year for a Lehigh Valley light-up; event creator Joanne Calabria of CBS3 was in Bethlehem for Musikfest and noticed red lights pouring from the Sands Casino.

Fox29 reporter Claudia Gomez had good reason to miss Saturday's Mid-Atlantic Emmys, where she won a statuette for general-assignment reporting: Son Matteo Daniel Powell arrived four days before, about three weeks early. She learned of her win by BlackBerry. Dad is Gomez's significant other, lawyer Jason Powell.

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Contact columnist Michael Klein

at 215-854-5514 or mklein@phillynews.com. Read

his blog at http://go.philly.com/insider. He's also on Twitter: @phillyinsider.