Well, I’ll be away from the 19 to the 27 of December for a break to Jakarta, Indonesia. I’ll take care of any backorders and updates when I get home, so do bear with me.
Meantime, I hope to meet up with some of the magicians over in Jakarta; Pambudi has already very generously invited me to lunch at his home. I’m sure we’ll have a great time. :)
Until I get home, cheers!
Tony came to Singapore this October to present the duo of JC Sum and Ning “MagicBabe” the coveted Merlin awards by the International Magicians’ Society (IMS). Tony is the founder of the IMS and the World president/CEO. He has established himself as one of the biggest names of Magic in the world.
It was indeed an honour and a privilege for Singapore to have such an illustrious and famous magician visit us; and even more so to have two new awardees of the prestigious Merlin award. Surely JC and Ning have put us on the world map with their accomplishments!
It was with great anticipation that I made my way to meet one of the icons of magic on 2 Oct. It was a Monday and I could only make it after my work: I was really exhausted, but the adrenaline in my blood kept my feet moving.
Bob Chua has had a long standing relationship with Tony over the years via email correspondence even though they had never formally met. Incidentally, Bob was also the very first (and only until recently) Merlin Award recipient in Singapore. Bob is also the current President of the IMS Chapter in Singapore. Hence, it was also Bob who caught up with Tony first when he arrived in Singapore.
I found Tony with Bob and Gordon that afternoon filming the sights of Orchard Road in Singapore. He was more than a pleasant fellow and has a highly evolved sense of humour. Tony was a fun-loving and humble guy in spite of his international success as both a film maker and a magician.
We had a great time that day – between sharing meals and the occasional beer, we shared stories about almost everything – from magic to girls (not babes). He even shared with us his theories on the shelf-lives of males versus females. It was truly a rib-wreaking experience for all of our funny bones.
Just a beer (or two; no three) for the road…
I’m really happy for JC and Ning in their success. I think it’s a huge milestone in Singapore Magic and the two of them have done a great deal to put Singapore on the world map in magic. In JC’s blog, he wrote that he helped to ‘pave the way’ for future magicians in bringing Tony to Singapore. I agree with him; though I’m sure not in the way he might have meant.
The workshop at Singapore Press Holdings was a huge success. Many thanks go out to the people who made this such an event to remember for the participants - most of them students from the various secondary schools in Singapore. There were a few parents in the crowd as well and they were equally enthralled!
Enrico Varella gave a fantastic presentation and opened the workshop with a bang! He presented a brief history of magic and shared many of his personal life anecdotes with the eager participants. His performance of the Professor's Nightmare was masterful, as was his 'Hanging Coins'.
Bob Chua adopted a more informal approach and entertained questions from the audience about his life as a professional magician. He also gave an impressive performance as he wowed the crowd with his sleight of hand skills during the break.
The student leaders (from St Joseph's Institution, Raffles Junior College and Xin Min Secondary school) chosen to run the workshop each performed a couple of effects on stage - all of them were nothing shy of Aces. It was truly humbling for me: it was almost a fleeting glimpse into the future as I watched the next generation of up and coming magicians at their best. Some of them made mistakes owing to the tremendous pressure and stress (for most, it was the first time that they had to perform under such conditions), but their quick thinking allowed them to extricate themselves out of the unexpected trouble. All carried themselves very well - with dignity and respect for the art and their audience.
Many thanks to SPH for giving us a chance to be a part of this amazing event - I hope we have in our own minor way contributed to the future of magic in this little corner of the world.
Enrico Varella and Bob Chua
Father and son team
Students enmasse
Braving the humidity and heat magicians of the Singapore Magic Circle took to the streets of The Singapore Management University to help promote an event encouraging youths to take on Social Enterprise for Charity.
The event started at 3:30pm where the first shift of magicians – comprising mostly of the youngest group – took up arms (in the form of cards and close-up tables) and hit the crowd. They were later joined by the people in the second and third shifts which saw everyone exhausted at the end of the day, winding down just shy of 7pm.
I must say that I was very impressed by the commitment level put in by everyone. They worked hard and almost everyone turned up earlier than their scheduled time, making it a really easy event to manage (particularly on my side… :P).
Though the crowd was not as dense as I had anticipated (due to some programme changes in the organisation), our guys did their best to draw a crowd and entertain the attendees. It was an easy and smooth event; our guys were superb – check out the photos: I’ve posted them on a new SMC facebook account I created to make posting material easy.
You can also view the photos here:
