Bob Chua's Magic Lecture II

As it turns out, the lecture 'notes' have become more of a 'book'. At 89 pages, it is jammed packed with 12 effects - 7 of which will be taught during Bob's session.

Bob's book will be sold during his lecture at a special price of $35. This price is only for attendees PRESENT at Bob's Lecture and limited to 1 copy per person. The price of the book will increase to $50 after the lecture.

I have included sample extracts from Bob's book below so you can see the effort and cost that went into the production.

Bob Chua's Magic Lecture I

DATE:14 JUNE 2008
VENUE:Ulu Pandan CC (near Bouna Vista MRT; opp Ghim Moh Market)
TIME: 1900h - 2200h
COST:$18 per person - Basic refreshments will be provided.

Interested parties, do contact me.

To facilitate a smooth process during the workshop, you will be required to bring some materials to follow along:
1) Close up pad. Tables are provided so you can work comfortably.
2) A decent deck of cards - OF COURSE!
3) *Cups and balls props

As this is an intermediate - advanced intermediate level session, you are required to have knowledge of certain handlings and sleights before-hand.

***

Uncle Bob has finally agreed to conduct a workshop for SMC featuring his professional working repertoire! He will not only perform 7 - 8 of his cherished effects - many of which are his original innovations/creations - he will also be conducting a teach-in of all the effects.

For those who don't know, Uncle Bob has lectured in Hong Kong, Jakarta, Bandung, Kuala Lumpur, AND Perth. He is likely to be doing a lecture in Hong Kong again sometime this year and also has plans to do one in Manila.

This isn't one of your 'show-and-tell' type sessions - it is a WORKSHOP designed to take your magic to the next level. It is going to be like a classroom setting - you are encouraged to bring your own Close up pad (tables will be set up and provided for you), cards, and any other materials you might need to follow along.

Finalised structure of Workshop:
The final structure of the workshop is designed to provide a maximum breadth of effects that are not only viable in a professional paid gig, but also provide HIGHLY explosive entertainment. He has designed the flow to match that of his professional gigs and will be sharing many of his ideas on routining a show and the thinking behind the construction of each of his effects.

1. BC Opener
This is the opener that Bob has been using for ALL his paid closeup shows.

2. Cannibals Outdone
An original routine that uses the Cannibal cards plot - this is Cannibals like you've NEVER seen it. It's fun, entertaining and you'll probably find yourself performing this just for yourself, just for kicks. Trust me; it's a keeper!

3. To Reset
Bob's very own version of the RESET effect; this one'll keep you awake for nights.

4. A Dream
Uncle Bob's favourite "Dream Card" routine - a card isolated transforms magically into the spectator's selected card after a number of magical transformations involving the Aces.

5. Professor’s Revenge
Bob's already WORLD famous rope effect. If you haven't seen this, you MUST. Peformed at various local and international conventions, this effect is the one to kill for!

6. Coin Across
A very direct and commercial Coins across effect - the handling is so natural you'll be amazed that it works yourself!

7. BC Cups & Balls
A classic routine made pristine by a classy performer. Misdirection at its very best.

If there is time, Uncle Bob will go through more effects, but to keep things organised, he has decided to first present the effects listed.

*Uncle Bob will be selling his Lecture Notes that will include all of the effects he will be teaching in this workshop AND MUCH MORE.

The BC Close-Up Table

Professional magician Bob Chua - known to us affectionately as simply "Uncle Bob" has long been revered as one of Singapore's FINEST closeup performers and childrens' entertainers. But what we DID NOT know was just how skillful a mechanical 'engineer' he is.

Uncle Bob has been performing closeup magic for over 20 years and he is one of the few performers (like myself...) who use a portable closeup table for his shows. As such, he has gone through great pains in search of the 'perfect' table for use with his closeup shows.

After years of searching and refinement, he has finally decided to MAKE his own.

I must say, when he showed me his initial prototype for the table, I HAD to have one. My heart was so dead set on getting it I told him right then and there that I NEEDED it. And boy was I SO right - the table's quality is truly in a class of its own. I have NEVER come across a better build or design. It is elegant and beautiful to behold; it is light - all the parts are machine precision made in aluminium - the heaviest part of the table is the table top made of perspex; and it is STABLE - you perform any of your heavy hitting routines on this table and it will NOT give an inch. The best part - EVERYTHING is easily disassembled for packing and transport!Don't take my word for it - the pictures speak for themselves. This is the best buy I've made in years.


LEFT: Fully assembled Table

LEFT: With table top removed















LEFT: Everything can be disassembled for easy packing and transport!






Early Prototype of table that used a tripod - you can see the tremendous difference... :P

Axl on the ROLL

I thought Alex's post in response to mine was amusing; Axl's response to HIS post was drop-dead funny. I just can't resist adding it here:

*** muscleaxl fires away ***

Wow... that was a pretty aggressive and unwarranted post by our dear MC for the night. I was quite neutral with Mr Alex Tan till I saw it.

Let me just point out some things here:

1." About MCing lessons, have you wondered why I was the Emcee while you were sitting there, picking on me."

Yes, we were ALL wondering why you were the EMcee. Your jokes were not amusing and you talked too much. I would have gladly take over the mike if I could help it and if you pay me for it.

C'mon , we were were just pointing out things that you can improve on, but you took it so badly like a spoilt kid. To quote from your post: "Grow up..."

2. "...just for the record, I have only used the word, "mind-blowing" twice the whole night. Whoever heard it more than twice, you must have been dreaming, drunk, you probably hate me or you are a friend who isn't one of one of mine."

Sorry, for the record, ALL of us at our side heard it more than twice. Somebody sitting beside me even commented, "there is a lot of blowing going on here tonight..." after hearing the word uttered for umpteen times.

Yes, probably we were dreaming... we were put to slumberland by the Emcee.

3. "I'm never someone who is rude but I am known to be very blunt, if what I wrote offended you, all I can say is, I'm being brutally honest and you better sleep over what you wrote"

Hey, the feeling is mutual.

4. "Just fyi...Jo Han's pockets are definitely WAY deeper than yours and he doesn't need the spare change from a uneducated punk."

I doubt Jo Han himself would have used words like "uneducated punk", he seemed like someone who can take criticism the right way.. someone with more class.


5. "$40 doesn't get you much these days, and even then, rumor has it that you guys actually hesitated in paying your dues.
Pretty shameful IMHO."

So where did you hear that rumor? Can you get that person who started this rumor to come forward and testify how did we "hesitated in paying"? If not, you owe us an apology for making groundless accusation and smearing the good name of SMC. This is not a joke.

Shame on you... IMHO too.

6. "Great, I have wasted 10 minutes of my time. Should I be billing you guys?"

Well, it was nothing compared to the few hours of our life wasted to hear your not-so-amusing jokes... and we have to pay for it.

Yes, you are right about us having no sense of humour.... for your jokes. We really can't sense what's the humor in those "jokes" and it's not just a few of us.

7. Too bad I have waste time and space here to write about this when I wanted to commend Mr Richard Mo for his outstanding use of misdirection, he truly lives up to his reputation.

Also, to Mr Jeremy Pei for his energetic performance. It was the 1st time I saw him in action and I was impressed by the way he timed his act, ending exactly at the point the music stopped.

Lastly, to Nique Tan. What more can I say? I bought his book and DVD.

SOME people! :)

Well, the brutally honest review I posted naturally rubbed some people the wrong way. I thought I was being objectively honestly; he didn't share my sentiments. Anyway, he responded in a less than friendly way. I didn't bother to respond. I thought it'll be interesting for you to read his response though... I found it truly amusing that even in this time and age, there are still SOME of these people around.

"Hi all,

It was indeed a pleasure meeting all the nice people and those in-between yesterday.

First of all, I do not think I have a problem with my vocabulary, I was communicating and personally to me, good communication is not about using BIG words to obfuscate people.

I was going for middle ground and just for the record, I have only used the word, "mind-blowing" twice the whole night. Whoever heard it more than twice, you must have been dreaming, drunk, you probably hate me or you are a friend who isn't one of one of mine.

About MCing lessons, have you wondered why I was the Emcee while you were sitting there, picking on me.

I was only briefly informed about how the performers wanted to be introduced literally seconds before I'm on stage.

Could I have done it better? Probably...

Like you, I believed I'm smarter than Bill Gates but I have come to terms that I'm probably not.

Secondly, I do not see how an offer to help magicians in their businesses gets confused with trying to rope someone into an MLM program. Evidently, anyone who doesn't understand the role of business skills in being a successful magician just isn't one, and thus completely unqualified to 'dismiss' a genuine offer as a frivoulous attempt to dip into the pockets of the audience.

Just fyi...Jo Han's pockets are definitely WAY deeper than yours and he doesn't need the spare change from a uneducated punk.

I'm never someone who is rude but I am known to be very blunt, if what I wrote offended you, all I can say is, I'm being brutally honest and you better sleep over what you wrote.

Richard is a good friend of mine, when I asked about the "cost' of his act, it was a joke.

Evidently, you don't have a sense of humor.

Grow up, guys... Events like these cost time and money.

I'm not sure how much YOUR time is worth, but I think I have a pretty good idea.

And THAT makes all the difference in how we value it, and why we're not ashamed of plain ol commerce.

$40 doesn't get you much these days, and even then, rumor has it that you guys actually hesitated in paying your dues.

Pretty shameful IMHO.

Great, I have wasted 10 minutes of my time. Should I be billing you guys?

Sincerely,
Alex Tan


P.S. Did you guys catch my topit joke?"

A review on "ReDefine Magic - The Gathering"

I attended a 'convention' of sorts organised by local magician Jeremy Pei recently at the Garden Hotel on LABOUR DAY - 1 May 08.

I wrote a review and posted it on the Singapore Magic Circle Forums as well. Here it is.

It was actually quite late that I decided to attend Jeremy's event. Since I managed to clear my schedule I thought it might be nice to see somebody from HongKong perform, just to see the difference in styles if nothing else. I added my name at the last minute - just before the Guardian of SMC locked the thread.

I was really worried that I'd end up being there alone but I must say that I was truly fortunate and blessed to have very hardy friends who decided to brave all odds to attend the 'gathering' with me - in spite of the threat of the $70 door fee. Gordon (dry_gin), AdrianLee, Zian (Chan Zian), Jonathan (Jlowhy), Axl (muscleaxl of the NNT), Jasper and Fei - of course! We also met some other familiar faces there - Enrico and Kenneth (llamalamer)were also in attendance!

As always, I will try to objectively spell out the highlights and the downers of this event for me. Whatever I don't mention falls inbetween and doesn't bother me one way or another. Please note however, that these are purely reflections of THIS writer and of THIS writer's HUMBLE (maybe not so) opinions. You are free to disagree with me; nobody's holding a gun to your @$$.

Highlights: (aka the stuff I liked/enjoyed)

1) Nique Tan:
Nique's transformation from Finger-Flinger to Commercial State of the Art Mentalist is amazing. It is truly incredible and most delightful to see Nique in action - he has, by all accounts, grown into a truly mature performer who has the chops to deliver devastating diabolique that will not only confound, but also entertain. Therein lies the key (I believe) to successful commercial magic - the ability to confound, mystify and ENTERTAIN. Nique was professionally relaxed and confident in his delivery and established an unspoken rapport with the audience almost immediately in each of his performances.

2) The Fake Hammer:
Crafted out of light wood and topped with a sponge head, I took to it almost instantly. I had NO IDEA what I'd use it for (those of you who know me would probably be besieged by uncontrollable laughter right about now) but it really looked DAMNED COOL. It was a little steep though - even though the price was lowered to $35 from $45. I almost took the plunge but decided that I wasn't going to walk into room and perform 30minutes of gambling stuff and then bring out a sponge hammer.

3) The number of dealers:
There were about 3 or 4 dealers in the room all displaying their wares, including the performers showing off their commerical material. It kept the dull moments down and one could always just take a stroll down the dealer alley for some eye-candy.

4) Richard Mo:
I felt that Richard was a very skillful performer and what he loses out in terms of language (English seems very weird when converted to Konglish) he more than makes up for in personality. He is likeable (in person) and carries himself very professionally. Even though he had his own DVD and materials to sell, throughout his performances he never so much as tried to peddle any of his goods to the audience. Richard loves to perform and it is clearly evident that he LOVES magic. And his energy is infectious - the audience was impressed!

5) Priscilla Khong:
We hear about Ning so often and the marketing strategy that JC has adopted for her had made us forget that there are more than a few female magicians out there. And at least ONE more that has attained international status as an entertainer of magic in SEA.

Priscilla's entrance was nothing short of stunning. Her costume was customised and she moved to a grace that could only have come from total ownage of her own act. In fact, our own Moderator Zian couldn't take his eyes off of her (heh heh). Mind you - she was dressed very decently in an almost victorian style gown intricately embossed and pattered. Carrying a matching mask, she was the figure of poise, refinement and dignity.

I don't think it's fair of me to give her act away by going into too much detail here, but suffice to say her opening act was nothing short of stunning - fiery productions and vanishes; doves and canaries; impossible locations - all this and more chereographed against the backdrop of a musical piece that was non intrusive but lent a distinctive mood to the overall theatrics.

Priscilla then closed with a highly engaging and entertaining closeup act that involved one of our own SMC members Paul. I thought she not only exhibited character and style here, her performing persona was so natural it could only be HER. It wasn't hard to see why it was so easy for her to win the audience.

If you've not seen her in action, you might want to check out the MAGIC BOX, coming up soon.

6) The hotel service:
Jeremy picked a great place - the staff of the hotel kept filling up the hot tea and the coffee and the fried vermicelli.


Downers:
(Stuff that I feel should have been omitted or didn't quite strike the right chord with me)

1) Alex Tan (MC):
Although I'm sure Alex has tried his best, I don't think he was really the best person for the job. He needs MCing lessons. His attempts to rile the audience usually falls flat of sympathy. I am not sure if he speaks that way normally, but it comes off to me as a little false; somewhat strained and is a real turn off. Although there were a number of minor things that bugged me about his performance as MC, I'll just mention the 2 biggest letdowns for me:
i) His overacting (or reacting) and seemingly limited vocabulary - he seems to love the words "MIND-BLOWING". I lost count of the number of times that was used to describe the almost ALL the acts. The over acting (or reacting) was way over the top and every thing seemed to be like an impovished enactment of some C Grade soap opera.

ii) The way he keeps asking each performer how much they are going to sell their material. I think even Richard was caught by surprise when Alex asked him how much he was going to sell his competition act for. It seriously made the performers look like cheap materialistic B@stards.

Please note: I'm not attacking Alex - I don't know him well enough as a person to say anything about his character; it won't be fair to him. I'm sure he's a great guy to hang out with on weekends and probably a very very nice guy. What I felt was mishandled here was the method used to host the event - it was unworthy of the calibre of those performing and somewhat insulting to their magic.

2) COMMERCIALS:
I felt like I had just paid $40 to watch a live info-mercial. It seems that every other opportunity was put to advertising something or other. At one point somebody actually came up (I won't mention names here) and - true to infomercial style - talked about wanting to 'work' with some people to start their own online marketing or something. You have to excuse me if I don't have too many details on this one - I was so cheesed off that I got up and walked out. I felt like I had just been conned into attending some Multi Level Marketing seminar.

Most of the attendees are all adults - I think we don't need the hard-sell to decide if we wanted to get conned.

__________

Well, all said and done, I still feel that Jeremy Pei and his team at Redefine Magic really put in a substantial amount of work into making this event work out. I do want to extend my thanks to them for even having the guts to organise something like that - it's not easy and I sure don't want to be in their shoes.

Kudos to all who supported this event - Magic is such a small community in Singapore, it always helps to have dedicated supporters who are willing to help keep things alive. And the folks at ReDefine Magic have taken yet another step to keeping the flame riding high.