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March 11 An incredibly amazing weekendBlackpool Magic Convention, the World's biggest magic convention, is held annually in Blackpool, England. The convention features top quality magic shows, magic lectures, magic competitions, and magic dealers. The highlight of the event is a world-class gala show featuring performances of magic stars from all around the world. Usually the convention runs for three days and three nights over the last weekend of February each year. The line-up of magicians for this year event were Shimada Haruo, Shoot Ogawa, Mahka Tendo, Fukai, Topas, Scott and Muriel, David Stone, Helder Guimaraes, David Solomon, Michael Close, Lennart Green, and many many more.
I have come to this convention 3 times and it has been always a wonderful event. This year I and a group of 10 members of the magic society at the university went to the convention. We arrived Blackpool at around 2 pm on Friday. After checked in to the hotel, we quickly headed to Blackpool Winter Garden, the venue of the convention, for registration. From this moment three days and three nights full of magic, magic and magic began !!!
We warmed up by looking around the dealers' stalls as we had some time before the first lecture started at 4 pm. The first lecture was David Sousa's lecture. David explained his theory about how to make audience seeing a magician on stage clearly. To me, it was boring as I am not doing manipulation nor stage act. The following lecture was by Valerie from France about quick change. I liked this lecture because I did not have much knowledge about quick change magic and Valerie did a good job in her explanation. We then went out for dinner and came back for the European Magical Close-up Competition.
Twelve competitors were invited to take part in the close-up magic competition. The level of all competitors was extremely high so it was enjoyable to watch. I was impressed by two performers, Charming Choi from Korea who performed a very nice matrix with music and Olmac from France who amazingly showed a very visual card routine. The winner was Olmac and the runner-up was Charming Choi.
The late night lectures were given by David Stone from France and Lennart Green from Sweden. David Stone's lecture was excellent and well prepared. It was informative and very entertaining. David himself was fabulous for both his skill and personality. He explained his one coin routine, bottle production, the methods to produce glasses full of liquid from sleeves. He also demonstrated his new gimmick which makes a signed card appearing in a cell phone. Lennart Green started his lecture by showing a shot performance. He clumsily haphazardly and messily shuffled a borrowed deck but still was able to deal perfect poker hands. He then gave a lecture on card tricks which relied on mathematic principles. The lecture finished at almost 1 am. It was a long day and we were tired so we went straight back to our hotel for a good sleep.
On Saturday, I woke up at 9.30 am. After breakfast, it was already late so I skipped Martin Sanderson's lecture but attended the next lecture by David Solomon. Mr Solomon is a card magician from Chicago. His methods were simple but the effects and presentation were good. I enjoyed all tricks in his lecture especially a very nice Oil & Water routine. Also the afternoon lectures were from J.J. Sanvert, J.C. Wagner, Lior Manor and Geoffrey Durham. However, I decided to skip the lectures to have time for the international close-up magic shows which ran at the same time.
The theme of Blackpool convention this year, once again, was "Close-up Colossus". There were as many as 16 top-notch close-up magicians invited. Because I did not spend time in lectures so I arrived close-up room early and was able to sit at the front row. Eight performers of Saturday included Shoot Ogawa, Kotya Kimlat, Crist Priest, Patrick Przysiecki, Michael Close, Richard Sander, Helder Guimaraes, and Lennart Green. It was a great pleasure to watch these world-class magicians performing their excellent routines live in just a metre away in front of my eyes. I was also lucky to help some of them during the shows. Shoot Ogawa performed spectacular tricks with coins, cards, thimbles and wands. Michael Close showed "card, forehead and salt shaker" routine. Helder Guimaraes did a card routine similar to his FISM act. Richard Sander presented his marketed items including Interlace, Extreme Burn, and his new rope routine called Fibre Optic. Lennart Green performed card tricks in a clumsy manner but bewildered everyone. My favourites of the day went to Shoot Ogawa for his highly skilled sleight of hands and to Lennart Green for his truely impossible tricks.
After the show I had time to wander around in dealers' halls. More than 100 magic dealers from all around the world presented. Two huge halls were fully packed of magic stuff. There were many things to see and buy. I bought a deck of ordinary playing cards, couple of DVDs and a few accessories. I also watched a number of magic items being demonstrated in dealers' halls until the closing time at 5.30 pm. I missed Geoffrey Durham's lecture as my friends and I went out for dinner.
Saturday's evening show in the Blackpool opera house was called "UK vs the rest of the world". The first half of the show consisted of six acts from UK performers. Bob Wooding started the show with his very entertaining balloon twisting act. Danny Hunt and Annette did an escapology. Graham Jolley did a funny mentalism. Brian Sefton showed a classic manipulation act. John Archer performed a hilarious yet strong mentalism. Martyn James closed the first half with an illusion show. The second half consisted of another six performers from outside the UK. Fukai from Japan produced light at his finger tips and mouth. Rafael from Belgium performed a very nice "Vampire" act. Shawn Farquhar from Canada did an excellent ambitious card routine with the song "Shape of my heart". Roxanne from Germany presented her "Spider web" act. She did colour changing costume, colour changing rose, colour changing lips before levitating herself on a big spider web. Topas, also from Germany, played bongo while manipulated billard balls. The last performer was Japan's Shimada Haruo performing his well-known manipulation act with cards, candles, and doves. The show finished at 11 pm. My friends and I went to a bar in Ruskin hotel for drinking and chatting. We then went to bed around 2 am.
Sunday morning, I managed to wake up and have a breakfast early, while all my friends were still asleep, as I wanted to attend the morning lecture by the current FISM champion from Portugal, Helder Guimaraes. It was an excellent lecture on card magic. I particularly liked the card across routine which invloved two signed cards, two wine glasses and two different colour decks. After the lecture, it was still early so I went to close-up stage to find the best seat for today's show.
There were another eight performers for Sunday's close-up show but I saw only one session which consisted of only four performers, J.J. Sanvert, Will Houston, David Stone and Lior Manor. David Stone was, no doubt, my favourite. He performed coin routine, bottle production, signed card in cell phone and ended with the productions of his own shoes.
In the afternoon there were lectures by Shoot Ogawa, Kotya Kimlat, Michael Close and Richard Sander. I attended all these lectures. Shoot Ogawa's lecture was crowded because the lecture was very good. Shoot showed and explained his thimble manipulation, matrix and reverse matrix, a nice and easy wild card routine, and also muscle pass technique in detail. The methods were apparently more amazing than effects. I was really stunned by his quick and so skilful hands. Kotya Kimlat explained his lightning fast culling technique and also gave advices for working close-up performers. Michael Close taught two card tricks, one of them was his version of torn and restored card routine. Richard Sander demonstrated his new rope trick, "Fibre Optic". I and my friends then went out for dinner in preparation for the gala show so I missed the second half of his lecture.
International gala show at the Blackpool convention has always been superb and this year was no exception. Mahka Tendo from Japan began the show with his FISM card manipulation act. Rafael performed comedy dove and linking rings routines. Antje Pode, a female juggler from Germany, juggled two big suitcases and a purse with her feet while she laid on her back. She was the only non-magician but she stole the show with a thunder applause from the audience. Scott and Muriel from Holland performed a comedy twister, sawing in half, and chair suspension. David Sousa from Portugal presented his award-winning manipulation act. Valerie performed quick change. Topas produced a dozen of large speakers out of an empty box. He then produced an extra large speaker and Roxanne(!) to finish the first half. The second half started with the world's youngest illusionists from Japan, Yamagami Brothers. The two cute and talented siblings did floating a light stand, rope penetration, vanishing a stereo, sawing in half and spiker illusion. Scott and Muriel performed again with a funny cowboy act although it was a mime rather than magic. Topas re-appeared on stage as a boy in a toy room. He manipulated wooden balls, made a teddy bear growing up, floated a horse stick, and vanished a rocking toy horse.
Finally, the legendary, Shimada Haruo, ended the show with his parasol and dragon act. I have long waited to see this act and I was not disappointed. It was one of the best performances I have ever seen. The act was spectacular with costumes, props, and fire effects. From the quality of the performance, I could not believe that Shimada was almost 70 years old. He and his beautiful assistant both dressed in traditional japanese. At the beginning he magically produced several japanese umbrellas from thin air. Later he put on a kabuki mask and his costume changed colour. Then a large chinese dragon came out. Shimada in kabuki mask brandished a samurai sword to fight the dragon. The dragon used its tail to catch him and cover his body. As a finale, a person under the dragon's head was revealed as Shimada and the person under the kabuki mask became his assistant. A fantastic exchange ! A great act to close the convention.
That's it, another wonderful time at Blackpool. However, I missed a number of lectures and performances. The main reason was that the lectures and performances overlapped so no one could possibly attend all of the convention. I was also too tired to do everything I wanted to do. In some events I was just not interested such as the children's entertainer competition, kids' show lectures, and the lady's event for magicians' spouses.
Overall, Blackpool convention was absolutely breathtaking. I had an incredibly amazing weekend in which I could hang around with friends who love magic in a magical atmosphere. It was a great experience to be in such a convention which is second to none in the world. I will not be able to go to Blackpool next year because I am going home for good but I hope I can be back to Blackpool convention again in the future. February 28 MagicSoc Gala TrailerAn introduction movie to MagicSoc Gala show at the University of Nottingham. Three members of the magic society magically transform from normal students into smooth looking magicians.
Starring Chris M, Chris R, and me July 01 Shuffle, crazy shuffle, genius shuffle and unshuffleSome of my favourite card routines
 Crazy shuffle, Genius shuffle
Unshuffled "Crazy shuffle" is my presentation of a simple card trick. "Unshuffled" was created by Paul Gertner and is explained in the book: Paul Gertner's Steel and Silver [Kaufman, 1994] Video by Irene, Thank you June 03 Balls, chairs and handkerchiefsA couple of my favourite stand-up routines.
I learned the "odd ball" routine from Marc Oberon lecture at Blackpool convention.
Oddball And a "teach a trick" trick. Hanky trick Albert, thanks for recording these clips May 28 Derren Brown: Mind readerAmong the modern mentalists, Derren Brown is the crème de la crème. Derren Brown presents himself as a man who can read and control people's mind. He became very famous in UK and in the world in recent years from his sensational mental effects. For those of you who don't know him, let's take a look at a couple of clips from his TV series.
In the Tube Experiment, he made passengers forget which tube station they're getting off at.
Add to My Profile | More Videos This clip is from his recent TV show. He controled people's mind to accept blank papers as money.
How To Pay For Anything With Blank Paper (Derren Brown - NLP) - For more of the funniest videos, click here and many more like these.
I believe that his stunts are actually magic tricks in which no psychological suggestion, hypnosis, or mind control technique whatsoever is really used. However, he has so great showmanship that audience are convinced that he possesses such psychological abilities. Whatever he is, I consider him as an entertainer, so, despite having the scepticism, I wanted to watch his show and I did at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham.
The evening started with an introduction to a small locked box hanging above the stage in full view, followed by an amusing video testing some funny psychological experiments with the audience. Derren Brown then entered the stage and greeted his audience.
The main show consisted of two halves. The first half was a modern mentalism show which involved lots of audience participation. To avoid possibility of using stooges, DB choosed the participants by throwing out frisbees to the audience; those who manage to catch a frisbee would join him on stage. In the first routine, six audience members were choosen. Each of them wrote a name of any object on a paper and kept it secret in their pocket. DB played a "20 Questions" game but he asked only 3-4 questions or so and told them exactly what they had written down. Next, a girl was selected and seemingly transmited her thought to the audience. It's funny because the whole audience knew how the trick was done except the girl on the stage. DB then taught her some techniques. Unbelievably, she correctly guessed the three different cards which were choosen by another audience members. Then, another person was selected to go on the stage. He was asked to call his friend by his mobile phone. DB predicted a three digit number and tried to get the person on the phone to guess this number. He failed two times consecutively, so DB gave up but offered a £10 banknote to the guy on the stage. At the end, DB told him to open the banknote to find that the numbers said from the phone actually matched the six digit serial number of the banknote in correct order. Before ending the first half, a covered box containing the money of either £500 or £5000 was presented. An audience member guessed the amount of money in the box. If the answer was correct, he would win that money. That night, £5000 was guessed. However, when the box was uncovered, it contained £500. I think no one could win this game. lol
During the interval, audience members were asked to write a question about anything on the paper, seal it in the provided envelope and put their initials and seat row letter on the front. They then placed their envelope into a glass bowl on the stage. The envelopes were later used for an experiment in the second half. I didn't really want to try, so I didn't take part in the experiment.
While the first half was full of playfulness the second half was a bit more serious. It seemed like a spiritual show in the Victorian period. DB demonstrated a ritual to call spirits of dead people to move a table and make it float. He then proceeded to act as the "oracle". The envelopes collected during the interval came into play. He randomly picked up one envelope at a time and called random people whose initials appeared on the envelope to stand up. He then told them the answer of the question that was written inside without seeing it. Later he even blinded himself with a bandages around his head and still was able to continue with the act. Not only did he answer their questions but also revealed many private information about themselves which he couldn't be possibly have known; their full name, their zodiac sign, their pet's name, their occupation, their plan to propose someone etc. This was the most astonishing part of the show. To my magic knowledge, there must be some tricks involved but I remained in an ignorant and was totally dumbfounded
 . The act finished when he fainted as if the spirit left him. It's a very impressive act. It's that amazing. You have to see to believe !  At the end of the show, DB did a very nice add-the-numbers trick. Several numbers were written by several audience members, all numbers were added up and the total was coincidently equal the date of the show (ddmmyy). For the finale, the hanging box above the stage was openned. Inside the box was a roll of long paper. The paper was unrolled by a girl from the audience to reveal the predictions of many things that actually just happened in the show ! An excellent finish.
My friend and I enjoyed the evening so much. The show was very entertaining as well as baffling. Derren Brown presented the best mentalism act I have ever seen. The standing ovation that he received was definitely deserved. May 23 Will's tricksMy friend, Will, performed coin and card tricks during a weekly meeting of the magic society. He is the youngest British champion of close-up magic and was one of UK representatives who took part in FISM World championship of magic 2006 in Stockholm.
Add to My Profile | More Videos [http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2031168187] Thanks, Will May 08 Meet Shaun MurphyI went to Crucible theatre last Saturday to watch the world snooker championship semi-final, Shaun Murphy vs Mark Selby, and luckily met Shaun Murphy that morning when he was arriving the venue.
April 13 Dove magic: Channing Pollock & Greg FrewinAs dog is human's best friend, dove may be magicians' best friend. Most people think magicians produce pigeons but actually they usually produce doves. The main reason is that a pigeon is about two times the size of a dove, which is unsuitable for a magic act. I've never practiced with doves but watching dove magic always delights me.
Channing Pollock was a pioneer of dove magic. He wasn't the first one who performed magic with doves but he was the one who created a dove act that inspires magicians worldwide. His dove routine became a classic act in which he performed immaculately in an elegant, debonair style. Several doves were made to appear from nowhere as if they were really materialised by his hands. Many magicians today imitate his act but the original one is always the best. Sadly, no one could see Channing Pollock's live show anymore as he died on March 2006, aged 79.
[http://www.metacafe.com/watch/512695/channing_pollock/] On the other hand, Greg Frewin's dove act is a modern one. This act won the world championship at Yokohama FISM in 1994 and is probably the world's best dove act nowadays. Most, if not all, of the moves in his routine are original. Dove from a catapult, dove from knot, and juggling balls to doves etc. are truly amazing. Everything is dynamically done with a great precision. The instant appearance of a girl after a cage full of doves has vanished is totally unexpected. I watched Greg Frewin's performance at Blackpool convention early this year. It's awesome. In that show, there's slight difference from the clip. He also splited a dove into two by a sward in midair!
Greg Frewin - A funny movie is a click away ข้อมูล Channing Pollock จาก "ชอบมาพากล" ส่วน clip ได้จากพี่ชาลี ขอบคุณมากครับ
 ผมลองหา clip ของ Greg Frewin จาก website อื่นที่ไม่ใช่ YouTube แล้ว แต่หาไม่เจอ แล้วถ้าเจอจะเอามาเปลี่ยนนะครับ หรือลองกลับมาดูใหม่ตอนที่ดูได้แล้วก็แล้วกัน อันนี้น่าดูจริงๆ นะ
 ขอบคุณพี่สุมิตรมากครับที่เข้ามาดูแล้วเอา clip ของ Greg Frewin ไปไว้ที่ Metacafe ให้ April 01 Paul Daniels: Chop cupChop cup is a classic magic. Basically, a small ball is made to appear and disappear a number of times under a cup and finish with the appearance of a large object(s) under the cup. Many magicians do Chop cup but only a handful can do it well. The routine in the clip was performed by Paul Daniels. To me, this is the best of its kind. I doubt that there is anyone else in the world can do this trick as good as him. Some months ago I went to see his live show in London. The Chop cup was, of course, one of his repertoires among the others like electric chair, six card repeated, find a lady and self levitation. I never like Chop cup routine until I saw his performance and I was hooked immediately. At that time, although he was 20 years older than his age in the clip, he was still terrific. I also met him after the show and had a few words with him. Lucky !!
. However, I had to sacrify by missing the last train back to Nottingham that night  . Anyway, thanks to Metacafe, I can watch this act again and I can share to you too. Enjoy !
[http://www.metacafe.com/watch/509168/paul_daniels_chop_cup]
Now Chop cup is one of my favourite effects. I'm practicing this routine but still far far away from the master.
March 28 Hiding an elephantA simple trick from Paul Daniels, one of my favourite magicians.
This clip was shot continuously in one time, no film editing, no mirror, no trap door. In an open field, where did the elephant go ?. March 21 Jerome Murat et le tete avec moiThis act is called “Jerome Murat et le tete avec moi” (Jerome Murat and the head with me (?) – I don’t know French [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1uvcd_jerome-murat]
ข้อมูลจากพี่สุมิตร ขอบคุณครับ March 01 Blackpool magic convention 2007สวัสดีครับ เมื่อสุดสัปดาห์ที่ผ่านมา (23 – 25 ก.พ.) ผมไปเที่ยวงาน Magic Convention ที่ Blackpool มาครับ งาน Blackpool Magic Convention ปีนี้จัดเป็นปีที่ 55 แล้ว ใหญ่และสนุกมากเหมือนครั้งที่ผ่านมา (ผมไปมาสองครั้งแล้ว) ครั้งนี้เน้นกลระยะใกล้มากขึ้น เชิญนักมายากล close-up มาตั้ง 16 คนทั้งแสดงทั้งเลคเชอร์จนไม่มีทางที่จะเข้าชมได้ครบเพราะมีเวลาแค่สองวันครึ่ง ตารางเวลาเลคเชอร์กับเวลาแสดงก็ซ้อนทับกัน คนเข้างานก็ต้องเลือกเอาเฉพาะที่ชอบ ตอนค่ำก็มีประกวดกลทั้งระยะใกล้และเวที แล้วปิดงานด้วย gala show ที่ยอดเยี่ยมเหมือนทุกๆ ปี นักมายากลดังๆ ที่มาแสดงปีนี้ที่ผมรู้จักก็มี Greg Frewin, Juliana Chen, Henry Evans, David Roth, Simon Lovell, Jay Sankey, Aldo Colombini, Gregory Wilson, Dirk Losander, Omar Pasha, Michael Rubinstein และอีกหลายคนที่ผมไม่เคยรู้จักมาก่อนแต่ฝีมือดีทั้งนั้น ปีนี้ผมกับน้องๆ ชมรมมายากลของมหาวิทยาลัยไปร่วมงานทั้งหมด 10 คน น้องๆ ทุกคน (ยกเว้นผม) ไม่เคยไปร่วมงาน magic convention ที่ไหนมาก่อนเลย ถือว่าโชคดีมากที่ได้มีโอกาสไป Blackpool เป็นที่แรก แล้วก็เสียค่าใช้จ่ายน้อยเพราะมหาวิทยาลัยสนับสนุนค่าที่พักและค่าเดินทางให้ เริ่มงานบ่ายวันศุกร์ บูทขายของเปิดขายตั้งแต่เริ่มงานมากกว่าร้อยบูท ส่วนใหญ่ก็มาจากในอังกฤษกับยุโรป แต่ทางอเมริกาก็มีมาบ้างเหมือนกัน Ton กับ Mahka จากญี่ปุ่นก็มา Tora จากอิหร่านก็มา ประเทศจีนก็มาเปิดบูทประชาสัมพันธ์และรับฟังความคิดเห็นเกี่ยวกับงาน FISM ผมมีเวลาเดินดูได้ไม่มากเพราะกว่าจะเดินทางมาถึงก็บ่ายสามแล้วเข้าเลคเชอร์แรกของ Marc Oberon ตอนบ่ายสี่เสร็จแล้วต้องไปกินข้าวเย็นเตรียมตัวดูแข่งกลระยะใกล้ตอนค่ำ ผู้จัดเชิญนักมายากลมาแข่ง ก็เลยได้ดูกลดีๆ หลายคณะ ที่ยังเด็กอยู่ก็มีฝีมือและการนำเสนอดีมาก ปีนี้คนชนะเลิศชื่อ Jerome Burgeon จากฝรั่งเศส เล่นแก้วสามใบประกอบดนตรีและเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับความทรงจำในวัยเด็กที่หัดเล่นมายากล เสร็จแล้วเป็นเลคเชอร์รอบดึกของ Ian Rowland เกี่ยวกับกลจิตวิทยา แล้วต่อด้วยเลคเชอร์กลไพ่ของ David Shimshi จากอเมริกาคนนี้ยังหนุ่มๆ อยู่ผมไม่เคยรู้จักแต่ฝีมือดีทั้งกลระยะใกล้ทั้งกลเวที คืนแรกเลคเชอร์เลิกเที่ยงคืนครึ่งแต่กว่าจะได้นอนก็ประมาณตีสองน่ะครับ
เช้าวันถัดมามีเลคเชอร์กลเหรียญของ Michael Rubinstein แต่ผมไม่ได้เข้าเนื่องจากตื่นสาย (แหะ..แหะ บ่ายวันอาทิตย์ทุกคนสนุกกับเลคเชอร์มาก
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. Produced by Matt D. Thank you all !
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