Chad Long Lecture

The lecture started of with a great gag that looked like high speed sewing and then did a Chad Long version* of the razor blade swallowing trick but with spaghetti lol.

Then he did a really cool vanishing card which involved him eating the card quarter by quarter.

Then there was a cramp moment.

After a swift recovery he performed a clever mathematical* double lift change routine.

Chad then performed his "Flash" trick, if you haven't seen it yet check it out. Great kicker at the end.

He then did a four coin production next which he started of with a crazy four coin palm/holdout, but there was a OMG moment and it fooled most of the magicians in the room.

Then onto as sweet card routine using the old "look in my...." gaffed cards.

Continuing with cards Chad did a "scratch card" themed Chicago opener card routine. Really good thinking again by Chad!

Next was something different, it was a book test with a theasaurus and a book with no cover so all the pages were loose and shuffled up. Really nice fair and powerful trick. Check it out its called "Spine-less"

Last trick was a gag with a spray can and the ball bearing feel out of the bottom and there was no shaking sound.

Overall I thought it was a great lecture, loads of great material was shown and a massive bargain bundle at the end.

Rating: 8/10

- Max Curd (London Magician)

Magic of the Orient

Part one.
1. Yuji Yasuda - projection
Awesome act featuring projected graphics combined with near perfect timing to produce a very clever and original act. I loved this!
Stu: 10 Geoff: 8 Matt: 10 Max: 10 Gordie: 8
2. Yoo Hyun Min -music
for me this was a little contrived, very similar effects all the way through, but nice.
Stu: 4 Geoff: 6 Matt: 4 Max: 3 Gordie: 5
3. Do Ki Moon - back to childhood
quite a nice piece of theatre, lots of effects producing paper windmills. more theatre than magic for me.
Stu: 6 Geoff: 6 Matt: 6 Max: 5 Gordie: 6
4. Kim Tae Won - manipulation standing ovation
oh my god! this fella was incredible. amazing manipulations including a torn and visibly restored card. also featured an incredible section where he produced different coloured fans of cards colour by colour, very impressive which warranted a well deserved standing ovation.
as for the compere, I was really enjoying him, till he started singing. oh well, you can't have it all :)
Stu: 9 Geoff: 10 Matt: 9 Max: 9 Gordie: 9
Part 2.
5. Lee Hun - cans & t-shirts
very orginal act, including appearing cans, costume changes, and t-shirts that changed colour. nice (he'd have got a better score if he hadn't of use Justin Beiber music).
Stu: 7 Geoff: 9 Matt: 7 Max: 7 Gordie: 7
6. Park Eung Kyoung - Carmen
first lady of the evening, enchanting and beautiful. fan manipulations, billiard balls. A nice end to the zombie diamond.
Stu: 6 Geoff: 8 Matt: 4 Max: 4 Gordie: 6
7. Ha Won Geon - manipulations with rewind
slow starting standard manipulation act, but got more interesting when he involved the rewind time function of his magic table.
Stu: 7 Geoff: 9 Matt: 8 Max: 8 Gordie: 7
8. Yu Ho Jin - quick change
when it was announced this guy was the godfather of their country's magic I was expecting more. the costume changes were good, but after seeing david & dania a few times I guess we've been spoilt.
Stu: 6 Geoff: 9 Matt: 6 Max: 6 Gordie: 8
-- Stu

International Close Up Session 1 & Matthias Rauch Lecture

International Close Up Session 1 - Friday



Matthias Rauch Lecture

This was Matthias's First international lecture.
He started off with some manipulation with some balls and a lemon.
Timed and themed really well with the lemony music.
Matthias then explained how to transform 2 balls to 4 along with revealing a few other ball manipulation moves.

Mathias went on to demonstrate a card manipulation move, where you can produce a playing card from your hands in a diamond shape!

Pow there was a cd, Matthias went on to demonstrate how in the motion for looking for an item you can steal another! In this case, in the motion of looking for a silk he stole and produced a cd.

Mathias then got everyone in the pavilion on their feet and showed everyone how to vanish a coin by casually dropping a coin in your pocket! Doing this in clever and unsuspecting way.

Matt then showed us a mick take on every typical street magicians promo!
It was very funny to watch and was spot on to most promos I've seen for magicians between the ages 10-30 that say they are the UK's best street magician!

Before finishing Matthias then went on to have a few quick cheeky comments about David Blaine and Criss Angel. This is something I guess you had to have seen.

A very informative lecture with lots of information on performance techniques.

7.5/10

Ian Barradell Lecture

Wow what a great lecture! As most magicians who were struck with the magic bug at a young age will know Tenyo is great place to start as it's easily available in joke shops. What I'd forgotten was just how clever and well made these items are. I'm a born again Tenyo fan and will be looking to get some of the items Ian so ably demonstrated. The Nintendo DS Magic Fun game was amazing, and I'm disappointed to say I had it but didn't find the hidden effects Ian showed. Although Tenyo can seem plastic they are so inventive.

9/10

Stu

Dealers Demonstration

Geoff gives us an outline of what was covered in the dealer demonstration:

Harry Robson: floating bank note,

Made to measure magic: umbrella breakaway stool, clap o meter - children's magic.

Russ Stevens: Clone Coin, DVD, reset wallet.

Merlins Magic: Crystal casket, magic cane, rabbit cube production cage, flowers production.

Graham Lee: DVDs on balloons, offers lectures to magic clubs.

Trevor Duffy: Thin cards, smoke, mic holder, arrow trick.

Taurus Magic: Jumping stool.

Christian from Finland: Deck switching gimmick. This was the trick of the dealer demonstration for me.

Joshua Jay: Mona Lisa card trick.

Photo Competition

We are running a competition! All you have to do is get an individual photo with each of the bloggers, Matt, Stuart, Geoff and Max. The first person to tweet all 4 @magicbloggers will win a prize (Prize to be announced)...

Friday 17th February 2012

Thursday Round Up

We left Sussex at about 9:30am and headed on our way to Blackpool with Stuart driving in his beast of a people carrier (With enough room in the back for a Houdini (Who?) milk can escape). In the front was Stuart, Gordon (First time Blackpooler) myself and Max in the back. Geoff was meeting us there!

Half way into the journey 3 police cars covered all 3 lanes of the motorway and drastically slowed down to about 15 miles an hour. 2 minutes later a Mazda passed us at speed with a police car in hot pursuit. The reckless driving continued until the police managed to pull the car over. It was like something out of a film car chase!

We arrived at about 4pm and checked into our hotel rooms. Then went for a stroll in Blackpool. In the arcade we had a quick game of camel derby! This is where some lady won 3 times in a row. I dread to think how many friends and relatives have received a stuffed meerkat as a present from this derby diva!

On the way back we thought it was about time to check into the Ruskin to see what was "going down" Me and Max had a great chat with FISM Winner and the star of 'The Magicians' - Jason Latimer. A very nice guy who defiantly lives magic. Which is what you have to do to be one of the best! And Jason really is - one of the best!

Me and Max then caught up with Stuart, Geoff, Gordon, and the rest of the guys at Truffles Steak restaurant! Good food and great company!

It was then time to head back to the hotel for an early night for all the action and excitement for the start of Blackpool Magic Convention 2012.

See you tomorrow,
Matt