A night at the Disco

Well …. Not really.

But I was at Club Avatar at Mandarin Hotel Singapore last Saturday evening for Chic Magazine’s 2nd Anniversary celebration.

Adeline and Alexander at CHIC's Anniversary

Together with my friend, Adeline Ng from Concept Magic, I think we rocked the club! Burst of laughter and applause here and there despite the blasting music!

It was an interesting event, while the music was rather drowning, being well versed in visual magic allowed me to entertain the guest effectively. I even met a customer from Bar84, it was a nice feeling that she remembers me and my magic (*waves to Kimberly!)

The essence of close up magic

Girl Power!

Love the look of the gentleman on the left!

Who says girls hate good card magic? ; )

A visual treat, coin magic!

Picture credits to: Eileen, thanks!

Alrighty…! This coming week is going to be so exciting because, a good friend of mine just returned to Singapore from USA. I am eager to see his magic because he actually had some magical training while he was there. Awesome stuff!

And! Captain America will be out this week, good stuff! I think I am going to enjoy this movie very much. I love movies where the main character turns from zero to hero, like Peter Paker.

So ta ta for now!

Signing off,

Alexander ; )

Close up magic at Swissotel

I cannot tell you how much fun I had performing for a Japanese company at Swissotel today! Well, I like it when the audience “spars” with me. I should clarify, I don’t mean physical sparring like in Taekwondo, I am a Green/Red belt by the way 😉

Sparring, what do I mean? The special thing in magic compared to other performance is that we have the ability or priviledge to interact with our audience. Some term this as “breaking the fourth wall”. So compared to a play, in which you watch, in a magic performance, you get to actually interact with the ‘actor’. I enjoyed today’s performance because these people are in higher management, and they tend to be more… sure of themselves. Good for me! I enjoyed the interaction I had with them. Ab libs were good too.

So my point is this, in a close up setting environment, or a cozy magic show setting, there are somethings embedded in these environment that cannot be replicated in a stage act. Intimacy, spontaneity, interaction and to a certain extend, scrunity.

This is literally the closest you can get to the 'actor' of the show

Speaking of the Japanese company, I am still doing Bar84 (on Friday and Saturday evening), however my presence there may be a little more uncertain. There will be nights where another magician will take over me. Don’t worry, I think you will enjoy the different type of magic presented, if I am not wrong, its more comedy magic. I will be there this Saturday evening for sure!

Do drop me an email to check if I will be performing there if you would like to see my brand of magic! Or you can call Bar84 to check whether I am performing there, they would know too.

If not, ta ta for now. Long day today, and its time for me to… rest!

Signing off,

Alexander!

Magic at the Bar

Last Friday night, my friends came down to the bar. Thanks for coming Germaine and Canice! Thanks to them, I managed to get some pictures.

A drink from a secret menu

My favourite drink from the secret menu

Yup, Bar 84 has a secret menu, come down and find out for yourself!

Mr "hot-shot-magician" 😉

Me and my friends!

That was an awesome friday night! Thanks for coming down.

I shall now leave you with a song that has been ringing in my head for a while. *Disclaimer, not a HUGE Katy Perry fan, but this song is quite catchy!

Alrighty, so much for last Friday night. TGIF in 2 days! See you soon!

Signing off,

Alexander ; )

A review for M for Magic Live

I know I know… It has a been at least 2 weeks since it happened. But the event got a review which I was told about only recently, and I would like to share it with you. But first of all, some pictures! (Credits to Samuel’s girlfriend, thank you!)

Hold your applause, it only gets better =)

The very nice volunteer, Lenny

Okay, so here is the review by Red Dot Magic.

If you asked me, I think we all did very well. Given that some of the performers do not have such theatre experience. It is interesting to hear these thoughts as it was written by a lay person. Although I cannot comment on the other performers, I felt that she has hit the nail on my segment. She has correctly conveyed what I intended to convey to the audience. And I hope this transcended to the other audience too. It took me about 3 weeks to plan out everything so that it transits smoothly. As a performer, it is important for transitions to be smooth and seamless. At the same time, I deliberately choose effects (Razored Deck) that are not commonly seen by lay audience and even magicians.

I remember Betsy (wife of John Teo, president of International Brotherhood of Magicians, Singapore Ring 115) coming up to congratulate me. It was a really really nice feeling to be given the recognition by your peers. Thank you!

With that said, I am currently in the midst of doing my Honours Thesis for my Psychology paper. I am still in the research stage where there are PLENTY of readings to do. But I will press on!

Signing off,

Alexander ; )

Close up theatre

For the past couple of months, I have been performing at Bar 84 @Gallery hotel. Awesome place! I really like the ambience as well as the drinks.

The interiors of Bar84

I do my shows on Friday and Saturday nights only. Sorry for those who emailed me and asked if I was performing any other day, my apologies.

The setting of the bar is different from most working environment I am used to. The audience will come to the bar counter and I will present my show to them, just them. Thereafter, the boss and excellent magician, Hashi-san will perform another set after me. This is different because it is closer to a formal show. In my restaurant work in places like Hilton (Checkers) and Shangri-la (The Line), I do short routines table to table. Because of the time constraint, not much development of theratics can be found in such a setting. Hence I am thankful to Bar84 for this performance venue.

That being said, if you want to catch me in action, do drop by on Friday and Saturday. You can come on the other days as well, Hashi-san will be performing. And trust me, he is an excellent magician. You will not regret this. =)

Signing off,

Alexander ; )

A Live Show: M for Magic

AWESOME NEWS!

I have been selected to perform for the M for Magic Live show! Now, there is a charm in watching magic live and on video. On video, you might not be able to experience the full personality of the performer compared to in real time. Also, there is that added dimension of interaction when you watch a live show, and that is something that I always enjoy.

I remember when I was performing for this older couple in Hilton a couple of months back, the lady said to me “You have done well, my husband never enjoys magic as much as he did today”. A very warm moment for me. And it is true, the husband was quite skeptical initially, but I think it was the way I frame my magic that soften his ‘hard’ side and allowed him to fully enjoy it. Talk about magicians who “knows-it-all”, not a good way to break the ice.

Anyway, I digress. Here are some details for the show!

Date: 13 May 11 & 14 May 11

Time: 7.30pm and 9.30pm daily

Host: JC Sum

Featured Magicians: Adeline Ng, Alexander Yuen, Alvin Terrence, Kyle Ravin, Matthew Lee, Ming Da & Samuel Sim

I will be performing on the 14th May 2011.

Signing off,

Alexander 😉

Yay! I got the 1st Runner up for Legerdemain 2010!

Yup, as the title claims, I did win the 2nd prize. It was awesome. An awesome experience. I sincerely thank all my friends who were came down to support me, thank you all!

Because what I did for the competition was not published in any magic books nor in any DVDs, the one question I got the most after the act was “How did you think of an act like this?”

The answer lies in…. The Japan Cup.

The competition I took part in the Japan Cup really did give me a boost and motivation to create something that is out of the norm. The effects that I did in the Japan cup included Coin production, vanishes, enlargement of coins and a coin transposition type effect. After the competition, the judges told me one thing… It broke my heart. They said, “Your act is TOO average. It is now 2010, not 1970s, if this was 1970s, you might have won something, but now, I don’t think so”.

It was quite a shock to hear such reality hit you. But it was good cos it spurred me to do something different from the norm, different from what was available for other magicians. Something that I can truly call my own. For that, I am grateful to the judges in the Japan Cup.

Nuff said! Here are some pictures that I liked. Enjoy!

Alrighty! Thats for now.

Special thanks for my friends, Johnson, Audrey, Justin, ZhiYang, Joel, Kien, Pamela, Huron and Eileen who came down to support. Thanks guys!

Signing off,

Alexander ; )

Did you catch me at the Singapore Flyer?

Hellloooo!

First of all, I would like to thank all the familiar faces who came down to support my magic. Thank you. It was a really great pleasure to be performing for a crowd mixed with friends and strangers.

Performing at the Singapore Flyer is really awesome. Its quite causal and relaxed, it was fantastic.

They say a picture paints a thousand words… so heres 3 thousand ‘words’ for you.

Magic before show time!

Close up magic

A display of skill

Thats all for me at the Singapore Flyer! Hopefully you’ll get to see me perform at other events!

Anyway, at the Singapore Magic Festival, there are other awesome magicians performing too. One of them is Ice, who is world renowned for his Dove Magic. He is performing his special one time only dove act on Wednesday (23rd) 5pm. And then the other days he will be doing close up magic.

This is truly a performance not to be missed!

Signing off,

Alexander 😉

Been to the Singapore Flyer lately?

Hello!

A few days ago, I was near by the Singapore Flyer, and guess what I saw! I saw this….

Look its me!

And I was pleasantly shocked. At the same time, half worried if people would regconize me in person from this banner.

Either way, I decided to take a picture of it with myself. You judge for yourself!

Spot the difference?

 

Well, but one thing must be said, I have grown and become more mature (looking) since that picture was taken. If you find the picture familiar, it is because, it is from the pictures I took as Marco the Adventurer. 😉

Oh yes, I met Sebastian Nicholas from Germany, excellent magician! Manage to take a picture of him doing his rope routine.

Sebastian Nicholas, FISM winner!

 

Alrighty, I am really excited about performing at the Singapore Flyer this week! There will be many fellow magicians there as well.

The dates that I am performing are,

15th Dec: 5pm-6pm and 8pm-9pm

16th Dec: 8pm-9pm

17th Dec: 8pm-9pm

Hope to see all of you there!

Signing off,

Alexander ; )

World Class Magicians at the Singapore Flyer!

Helloooo!

Its the school holidays already! Its really exciting when it is the school holidays, when I was a kid, it entails family outings, moives, a lot of games and a whole lot of fun!

Well, if you aren’t too sure what to do during the December, we’ve got a suggestion for you!

There is a wonderful magic festival held at the Singapore Flyer from the 5th to the 30th December! Admission is free too, so come on down to take a look.

That’s right! I am performing close up magic there too! For more information, you can check out here. I will be doing my brand of close up magic from the 14th to the 18th. Other world class performers will be there too, like Sebastian (International Magic Winner), Ice (from America), Mr Bottle (from Singapore) and Huron (excellent magician from Singapore too! Now who says Singapore doesn’t have talents!)

Anyway, it is great to be performing at the Singapore Flyer once again, I was requested to perform there a sometime back when it was first offically opened. I felt so proud to be a Singaporean! Here are some pictures taken back then!

Look at the Crowd!

Magic up close!

 I look forward to be seeing all of you there!

And if you do see me there, do say hi! Don’t worry, I won’t turn you into a rabbit. =)

Signing Off,

Alexander ; )