On Magic…

A friend of mine just released his magic DVD (or rather 2 DVDs). It’s basically on a technique that is very useful for… eh… winning some money ( no kidding!!). I have no doubt about the quality of the contents inside, as he is after all, a teacher by profession and indeed one of the best cardman I’ve seen… and I’ve seen quite a few. But somehow, he has managed to remain underground for many years.

Anyway, I am not here today to advertise his wares. No, I wouldn’t do that. They are too precious for fall into the hands of laypeople. We magicians do still like to keep some secrets of our own.

Ok, I am digressing here…

Actually the subject I want to bring up here is: What defines a good magician (for laypeople)?

If we ask this question to a bunch of magicians, mostly they would look at technical ability as the main criteria. They would admire the guy who can do the most invisible p**s, the most deceptive DL or back p***ed 50 half dollars in one hand. That’s one of the reason that David Blaine and Criss Angel, who are adored by millions of fans over the world, are generally not held in high regard by most of the magic fraternity. A fact which might surprised you.

To us (yes, for convenience sake, I would call myself a magician for the time), most of the things they do are considered ”commercial effects”, which are mostly mundane, run-of-the-mill tricks, not the high-level, esoteric stuff we are looking out for. 

But Darwin Ortiz in his book, Strong Magic, has correctly pointed out: laypeople is our real audience, not magicians. In fact, magicians are the eaisest to fool most of the time. Just deviate a bit from the standard handling, we would be amazed till no end by that little difference. That’s why in our circle, we have this term called “magician’s effects”, tricks that are designed specifically to fool magicians.

Ok, I am digressing again…

Like the example of my friend above. He is, without a doubt, a highly skilled performer, what we would term as a ”technician”. But is he the best magician to the laypeople? Maybe not… as I don’t think his showmanship is quite there yet.  

There is this other local magician I admire who is a veteran performer with many years of experience. He may not be as techincally gifted as my friend (he admitted it himself), but he has wonderful showmanship. A simple effect in his hands can become a huge enjoyment to watch.

I’d the pleasure of performing with him a couple of times, and I have never fail to be amazed by his ability to make the audience love him (even when he is poking fun at them) But again… is he the best? Could his success with audience more due to his personality rather than the strength of his magic?

Sometimes, I’m afraid we are in danger of diluting magic with too much entertainment. Yet without entertainment, magic can become bore to watch. I am always constantly trying to balance my act by being fun, entertaining and engaging, but without sacrificing the impact of my magic. Admittedly, I am still far far away from it, but I am working…

No Link

Thinking can be such an arduous task when one is deprived of quality sleep. Somehow, my brains ain’t functioning at it’s optimal level these few days… due to my small problem of insomnia. (Yes, I think some of you might be tempted to add that my brains haven’t been functioning that well since day 1…)

You can’t imagine the times I was sitting in front of the computer screen trying to conjure up something smart to write, but to no avail. Just when I thought I could write about the debate of rewarding our world champions, or about the gossips of my magic circle… all the words just elude me. I couldn’t even muster the inspiration for a simple post if my life depended on it.

Again, not that anyone really cares. It was confirmed when a friend told me he wasn’t going to read my blog because I’m always writing about God. I’m sure that is an unfounded accusation. I did not ALWAYS write about God, thought I admit that He is a recurring figure of my blog. I do touch on things like Manchester United, magic and some current affairs. I even included some pictures of beautiful women just to pander to the masses’ taste. But apparently, my efforts were futile.

As I would find out later, his favorite blog is actually one that shows off MANY pictures of beautiful women, mostly in revealing attires and compromising positions. Guess for some men, quantity still beats quality. 

Say, I like the font I’m typing with…

Fav of ‘08

It’s coming to the end of 2008 and here are some of my favourites of the year…

Favourite Footballer (Man U): Cristiano Ronaldo.

If it’s not him, who else? As much as we can question his commitment for the club, there is no doubt he is THE biggest factor in United’s recent success.

Favourite Player (Non-Man U): Fernando Torres

Scored plenty of goals for Liverpool and won the European Championship with Spain. May not be as skillful as Ronaldo or Messi but he does his job extremely well… scoring goals.

Favourite Babe (local): Ong Ai Leng

 She may not have the prettiest face on Caldecott Hill,  but she possess this certain sex appeal that would make any guys take more than second look at her. Except if you are gay…

Favourite Babe (international): Yvonne Strahoski

The lead actress of the series, “Chuck”. Just look at her picture and you’ll understand why she is the main reason why I even watch the show. Enuff said.

 Favourite Magician: Darwin Ortiz

I don’t like him for his magic per se (as i think he can be quite boring), but rather his theories on magic. Totally love his books.. intelligent, thought-provoking, practical and makes a lot of sense

 

Favorite Book: Designing Miracles (Darwin Ortiz)

It’s hard to describe the merit of this book. You can only fully appreciate it if you are a performing magician and not  those “youtube/ bedroom magicians”.  Guarantees to bring your magic to the next level. 

 

 Favourite Personality: Pastor Joseph Prince

Yes, he is charismatic and entertaining, but that’s not what make 18,ooo people go to his church every sunday. The point is, he preached the true gospel of Jesus and people wants to hear about Jesus… and it helps to have an annointed preacher like him to get the message across.

Jealous of Who?

Recently, I came across a clip on a popular video-sharing website in which a very famous black female TV host talking about her “disllusionment” of the church. 

To cut the story short, she claimed she was upset when she heard her pastor telling them that “God is a jealous God”… and  she thought, “What? God is jealous OF me?… ” So with that in mind, she decided she would have nothing to do with this insecured God and went on to start a new religion on her own, claiming to bring God out of the “religion box”.

I don’t know about you, but I think it is one of the most laughable thing I’ve ever heard. Apparently, she must have been sleeping in her services or never bothered read her Bible. Because if she did, she would never made such ridiculous statements, right on national TV no less.

Firstly, does God, the Creator of heavens and earth, the Maker of mankind, need to be jealous OF a puny human? Does God, who has been around for eternity, worshipped by millions, exalted by kings and queens, need to be jealous of a finite being who might need Botox injections just to make herself look younger? It’s like a beggar who claims Bill Gates is jealous of him? Duh… jealous of what????? Of him able to sleep on the streets?

Secondly, the verse, “God is a jealous God…” actually came from the second Commandment where God instructed the Israelis not to make any idols to worship, because He, “the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” It’s this statement that freaked out our TV host .

But let’s me try to explain the verse this way:

Imagine you have a child whom you have nurtured, fed, clothed and loved as a baby. Wouldn’t you be jealously guarding your child from all the bad influences outside… the drugs, the pornography, the alcohol (false gods and idols of the world)? 

Let’s roll back to the time when God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses: God had just led the children of Israel out of the slavery in Egypt, performed miracles after miracles to save them, showering them with food and water to sustain them in the deserts.  Wouldn’t it be most natural to warn the Israelis of the dangers of worshipping idols, which neither love them nor save them like He does? Isn’t God just ”jealously protecting” His own children instead of “jealous OF his children?

For the life of me, I could not understand how can anybody even misunderstand that , if they have read the Bible. But obviously, the TV host has a different kind of mind… pray for her.

Cynic’s Post

This must be the most cynical post I have ever written… and why not? I mean, ain’t now the days where I can simply write what I want, say what I want just because I can? C’mon, they even have a term for it: Freedom of Speech. 

If anybody has anything against what I am writing, that’s discrimination and guess what, it is bad, it is politically incorrect, it is against human rights and you dare go against the rights of the people? Human are always right…. and the more humans on your side, the more right you are.

Anyway… Obama has, as expected, become the next President of United States. Wow… big deal. Not that he is going to work miracles and with a wave of hand turn the financial crisis around, eliminate all the terrorists in the world and create permanent world peace (that would be boring.. what are the Miss Beauty Pageants going to hope for if that happens?). He is just a human… and humans can’t do miracles, only God does.

Oh, I just forgot that insisting there is a God would made me a fundamentalist, a religious fanatic and quite possibly a terrorist. After all, so many wars are started in God’s name right?

Now let’s see which are the ones: WW1? Oh, that was started by the Prussians, not the Vatican.  How bout WW2? Oh not that too… heard it was started by some short guy with a funny moustache and self-image issue.  The Korean War? It was between the evil communists and the democratics.  Vietnam War? OOps wrong again. It was our dear Uncle Sam wanting to wipe out the “evil”  Vietcong.  But eh… we will just blame God for it anyway. I mean since He can’t come down and defend himself, He would just have to be a convenient scapegoat. 

But didn’t the smart. logical and scientific athiests told us that God is after all, just a figment of our imagination, a social need, a clutch to find meaning for our pathetic lives? So if God isn’t real, how can He be blame? Guess there is always an exception… when it comes to pushing the buck.

Hey but wait a minute… haven’t I read it somewhere that we humans are all divine in nature and we created our world from our imaginations? Then, we better find that a**-hole who is thinking of all the financial problems in the world, beat him to a pulp and all our issues will be solved. 

But I wonder why I still haven’t got my date with Scarlett Johansson yet… after all these months of “sending my vibes to the Universe” (whatever that means). Must be I am not positive enough or maybe it’s God’s fault again…

Vision

I used to think a “leader” should be the strongest or toughest or smartest or richest or at leat the best-looking guy around. But after all these years, I realized a leader need not be the best member of the team… he shouldn’t be. Look, I am sure there are millions of people in the world smarter than Bill Gates, but guess what, most of these smart guys would love to work for him!!

The reason that Bill Gates is the boss and not the smart guys is that he is the one with the vision. He is the guy who has the picture of how Microsoft should be. He may not be the best programmer around, he may not be the best in running a company, but he definitely are among the best in selling his vision to others.

Musing..

As I am writing this, there is a lot of bantering and clowning around the office right now. Usually, I would have join in the fun, but this time, I decide to stay out of it and write my blog in a quiet corner of my office.

Not that I have become a recluse all of a sudden, but I think there are times that one should stay away from people who will not eventually contribute to your life. I mean, will my colleagues ever buy an insurance plan with me? Not very likely… Would they be celebrating my success like I do? Perhaps… Would they be helping me in materializing your dreams? Not in a million years…. unless my dreams are in line with theirs.

No, I am not trying to be cynical here. I do love (some) of my colleagues, but as much as they can make merry with me, they cannot really help me. In my line, fortunately or unfortunately, we are very much on our own.

But as always, I would remind myself that my God is by my side, helping me, leading me and caring for me.

In All Fairness

A friend: “According to the Bible, all those who believes in Jesus will go to Heaven?”

Me: “In a short answer, yes.”

Friend: “Including the murderers, child-rapists and the drug dealers?”

Me: “In a short answer, yes.”

Friend: “Wa… so unfair!!”

A you can see from our dialogue above, that’s the general impression people have when we tell them about Jesus’ salvation. It sounds so counterintuitive that the ”baddies” can go to Heaven whereas the “good guys” could be languishing in the Hot Place Below just because they don’t believe in Him. Contradicts everything we are taught since young about “reaping what you sow” or in Buddhism, “Karma”.

Let me try to illustrate it this way…

Eg: Govt came up with a new medical insurance scheme where it reimburses 100% of your medical bills (no, they didn’t). It’s open to ALL Singaporeans, regardless of race, language or religion, and the only condition is to sign up at the CPF Board. 

Suppose Mr XX Tan chose to not sign up because he hated the Govt, but one fine day, he unfortunately chalked up a huge hospital bill due to a chronic disease. “Bo bian”, he had to ask the Govt for help, seeking to have his expenses reimbursed through the new medical program, only to find his request rejected. Now, can he complain in the Speaker’s Corner that the Govt was unfair? 

And what if the govt had acceded to Mr XX Tan’s request? Wouldn’t it have made a mockery out of all those who bother to sign up? After all, since EVERYBODY gets the benefits… so why bother in the first place?

In our example above, it had been made clear that ALL Singaporeans qualified for the new scheme, but you have to TAKE UP the offer. By not sigining up,  which is the only condition, you have choosen to reject the offer and the benefits.

So what’s so unfair?