This evening, 28 members attended the meeting with 7 guests.
Enrico who was the emcee for the evening, began by introducing the guests – Francis (possibly world’s largest collector of cups and balls) and Ronda Ng; Australian magician Elio Simonetti and his Singaporean wife, Eva; Lestor, Darren and Justin.
Kenneth next updated members on the upcoming trip to Semarang Magic Club, Indonesia. The 3.5 day trip from 11 to 14 Apr 12 is estimated at $500 per person inclusive of air fare, accommodation and meals. Apart from lectures by John Teo, Gician Tan and Jeremy Tan, and Semarang Club’s magicians, those going can also look forward to some shopping and sight-seeing time. He reminded interested members to provide their relevant passport details to him by following Thursday for booking of air tickets.
Adeline informed that JC Sum will be conducting a lecture entitled “3 Sides of Magic” at Sinema Old School on 7 April 12 (Saturday) from 2 to 5 pm. Tickets could be purchased at $35 per pax from herself or Bernard Sim. Those who signed up by the evening would be entitled to a $5 discount.
Enrico shared that Jeremy Tan was recently placed second in the Close up segment of the International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM) Asia Championship of Magic. He also took second spot in the close up magic competition at the International Bangkok Magic Extravanganza 2011. Well done and congrats, Jeremy!
Next, John Teo presented Australian magician, Elio with a copy of IBM Ring 115’s 50th anniversary magazine and a bannerette to welcome him on his first visit to our Club’s meeting.
With announcements and formalities over, it was magic time! An evening of entertaining magic performances followed as magicians paid “Tributes to Magic Greats”. First in the line-up was Derek Lee who awed the audience with Max Maven’s “Lucky 7” and Aldo Columbini’s “15 Card” predictions.
Chew Liang Huat, our regular performer, impressed when he “magnetically” attracted cards with his bare hands in a case of science meeting magic.
John Teo showed how the love between two parties could create a mind connection too in a simple experiment with Elio and Eva. The “Jack of Diamonds” card randomly chosen by the couple through a combination of suit and number would naturally “find” his “Queen of Diamonds”, as John had correctly predicted. Next, he showed how with each clap of his hands, each of the 3 cards in one envelope would take turns to magically vanish and mysteriously travel to another envelope to join 3 other cards already present there.
Charles Choo paid tribute to Phil Goldstein by performing his “Designated Thinker”, a prediction trick using 6 jumbo cards. He then kept the audience guessing the chosen card wrongly with each shuffle of 4 jumbo cards in Ton Onosaka’s “3-card Monte”.
The meeting adjourned at 9.05 pm for refreshment and resumed at 9.30 pm with Satish Kumar and Justin Chua taking their qualifying tests. Satish Kumar mesmerised, misdirected and weaved mystery with his cups and balls routine as he showed how this popular routine had changed over the ages. Justin Chua presented effects with Max Maven’s 6 paper bags (where 5 members of the audience got to randomly choose a bag with a mystery prize, yet he managed to somehow retain the largest prize of $300 for himself), a mentalist act with a 16-page book of patterns and “Get Sharkey” (where he made a randomly selected card disappear and then re-produce it from his pocket).
Following the tests, it was Adeline Ng’s turn to perform. She effortlessly executed her dice stacking skills (learnt from alive and kicking Master Bernard Sim) in “Die!bolic”. She introduced a magical element when she produced 2 red dice and an additional wooden cup in the midst of a challenging stacking act.
Wee Kien Meng aka Mr Bottle, shared some of his little discoveries. He informed that clip markers (possible magic accessories) are available at only $2 per pack at Daiso shops. He enjoyed his visit to the i-Light show along Marina Bay and said it was worth a visit for its optical illusion showcase.
Enrico Varella took time off from emceeing to present Gary Outlett’s “3-second Wonder” where he produced 4 aces in about 3 seconds and Alex Elmsley’s “HofTwister”.
To round off the evening, Jeremy Tan presented his winning “Card under Box” effect from Matt Shulien where he made a deck of cards appear under a supposedly empty box and the “10 Card Poker Deal” by Tim Ellis where he demonstrated how a gambler could be lured to part with big sums of money with the lure of small gains as bait in the first few rounds. It was an eye-opener!
The meeting was adjourned at 10.20 pm after another entertaining evening of magic, interspersed with the emcee’s amusing jokes and quizzes.
Reported by Low Hwee Lang
