On behalf of all the contestants, I would like to thank the organising committee of Legerdemain 2010. It's a job very well done and I must say that there's alot of improvements in terms of the running of the event compared to the last (2007).

Special thanks to Shade who allowed me to do a full run through earlier today as I missed the last rehearsal. Also, thanks to Zian who was very professional with the lightings and music. He helped me alot to create the right ambience for my act. Also, thanks to axl who once again helped me out backstage with all my logistic needs, including the special request of wanting a handheld mic.

Thanks everyone who made this event possible, and congrats to all contestants and winners!

Wow, it was an amazing night. Congrats to all contestants!

Thank you to all the moderators for making this possible! All the hardwork and sweat... it is amazing. This transcends the passion that we have for magic.

Special thanks to the SJI boys, great job. Timothy, Chee Guan (?) and Trevor. Thanks for the help with the set up. You guys did a wonderful job.

Overall, this competition was very very well run, very smooth. Thanks for making this a wonderful evening for me and my friends! =)

It was a night filled with magic. I will say that there is a huge improvement from previous one, alternating the acts are a good idea also, but I guess the audience are not expecting that. So I feel next time the host can mention during the starting to keep the audience noted.

Also, I feel it will be nice to let the audience know what are the prizes involved and the judging criteria, because first, it buy some time, second, the audience have an overall feel of what happening. The trailer can also be played throughout the seating process to "entertain" the crowd while waiting.


As for the ending, kudos to Gordon for coming up to perform the "only" effect he knows, and the nice breakdown speech he gave to entertain us, forget about the screw up, cause we know you didn't come prepared, and the top notch hide inside and sabo you. Haha!! But thanks for the entertaining hosting.

The in between performance by the students, is heart warming, remind us of the young times we had(some of us) when we are performing, things like throwing the deck to an audience and weird lines are what always happen to us when we are young. But we still love them cause they are so cute and got the knack in them. "hi I back again" " this is my life" sweet and nice. No offense, it just reminds me of the things I said in the past.

Another point i want to note is the camera for close up, I know there are certain restrictions, but I guess since there is a close up camera, should show the table then trying to capture everything in one frame. Example is David copperfield's close up performance, you only see the hand and the focus is the magic on the table, cause that's what people from far can't see. Just my 2 cent worth.

Wow, this is getting long. Performance wise. I guess the varieties are limited, I wonder what's with the trend of parasol? Well, it's just me only. And no offend, I don't feel that parasol acts are consider palour where as you can see, they ended up producing parasol that filled up the whole place, which is impressive, but make palour acts like mentalism, sunglasses performance etc to be weaken. (You cannot fly so many in a real palour setting)

I love the sunglasses act but I know that the performer is badly sick and unable to pull off everything, but kudos to him for trying his best.

Okie I guess I stop here. No offend to anyone, just my thoughts.

Larry

I love Legerdemain 2010! All the performers did a fantastic job with their polished acts. I was enjoying myself! Congrats to all the winners and all the participants. You guys rock my socks!

By the way, any plans for a DVD of Legerdemain 2010 like the one in the first Legerdemain? :D:D

Quite frankly speaking, the champion of Legerdemain 10 should be Gordon. He's got to be the most entertaining act of the whole Legerdemain! I cannot understand why he never won the Audience's Choice :(

Because he was doing it while we were furiously counting the votes. Too late to have an re-election.

Anyway... here is something the competitors too.

I did an informal poll at the smoking point with some of the friends I invited (all laymen), and most of them were pleasantly surprised by the standard of the magic, after being fed on a diet Taiwanese TV magic.

It seems, you guys had helped elevate the status of our local magicians in the hearts of our fellow Singaporeans, at least to those who attended the show.

Honestly, I considered we, the mods, as just facillitators to help give the competitors a platform to showcase your stuff. It won't be much of a show if the magic sucks, no matter how hard we worked.

So the truth is, all the competitors deserved a pat on the back too for giving us a great show.

*Although I must say I brought luck to the eventual closeup winner... I think we even had the video as proof.*

I have it on my iphone...you really want me to put it up? Or send it to Shade for editing for eventual recording into the DVD probably in a hilarious moments segment?

LOL.....too bad i missed your Cyril Head dropping act.

A great magical night indeed! Great host with great performers, be it the competitors or shade's students.

Just have a suggestion right here. Maybe the judging criteria could be revealed before the show starts so that at least the audience can roughly know how the competitors are being judged on. Or maybe, after the results are announced, we can have the judge to comment a little on why the winners won so as to allow everyone(including the competitors) know what leads to the result.

Great work again everyone! =D

Only suggestion!!

CHANGE THE BLOODY HOST!!!!

dry_gin

There are so many people I'd like to thank for this event to be possible.

First of all, thank you all, the community members and helpers who made this event such a success.

Shade - Thanks for being very kind to me throughout the event asking whether I was alright.

Gordon - You are such a natural entertainer! My sister adored your wonderful presentations.

Axl - Thanks for always reminding me to off my mic. :X

And so many more members whom I never got the chance to talk to, thank you.

I would also want to thank Shade's students, who are always so comforting to see every time when I am backstage. I look forward to all your future performances!

Timothy - You were very charming on stage and my sister fell in love with your rope act.

Trevor - I had the chance to talk to your mum who was ever so proud of you on stage and how determined you were to make it work!

To everyone else who helped out, thank you so much!

Finally, here's to every single contestant

Aaron - Its such a pity that I didn't get to watch your complete act! Both my partner and my sister were stunned by your magic on stage! I only had a look from the sides of the stage and even then it was so magical. Congradulations!

You are definitely one of the friendliest magician I've met who never fails to greet me with a smile even when you probably don't remember me since the first audition! Hope to talk to you soon!

Joel - Pearllyn and myself probably seen your act at least 5 times since the flyer. And its always entertaining to watch such bold spectators hold out their arms, ever so ready to be zapped. I can never have that kind of courage. HAHAHAHA

Jonathan - You were one of the few friends I made at the flyer and I really have to thank you for being very kind to both me and my partner. We really want to meet you again before you leave!

Kay(I don't think i got your name right! Sorry!) - I thought you had a dynamic performance last night! Even more of a visual feast than back during magicians night!

Jian Fei - You always look so calm and collected! On stage, off stage! I was sitting at the edge of my seat when I saw the lady cut the cards in her own unique way! Congratulations!

Shufi - My partner loved your act the most throughout the whole competition. You were her all time favorite. And she shouted out "WOAH GOT BUTTERFLIES" at the end of your act. I didn't know where to hide my face when she shouted so loudly! I really enjoyed your act dedicated to your late mum! Congratulations!

Matt Lee - I think many would agree that you were one of the most natural on stage and you definitely earned the people's choice award for your bold sense of humor!

Hasif (I hope i got your name right) - Good to see you perform again since the flyer! It was such a creative act! Congratulations!

Alexander - I was so amazed by how beautiful you routined your act. It was so colorful as how Pearllyn would put it. You are such a natural on stage and ever so charming. I sincerely would hope to catch up with you someday. Congratulations.

Why? He's so affable....everyone loves him!


:D

Met up with some magic friends and heard that the standard of magic has improve alot from the 2007 comp, great!

Congrats to all, sad that didnt attend the show, hopefully the DVD is gonna be out so i can get a view of the acts and know the standard compare to many years back!

Cheers!

This is a long overdue post; things were a little crazy after Legerdemain - life caught up. LOL.

Anyway, Legerdemain 2010 was a work in progress for a long time. When we put together the first Legerdemain in 2007, none of us expected the amount of work involved. We never thought we would want to put ourselves through it again, but we did. And it was an amazing experience.

Thanks to all the contestants - you guys were the show: without you, Legerdemain could not happen and every one of you performed beyond our expectations. Many of the lay spectators who attended the event were stunned at how high the standard of magic locally here is; in fact, we had comments from some of them that our guys were as good, if not better, than the people they have seen on TV (you know which Taiwanese Variety show I'm referring to).

However, I want to take a moment to credit a group of people I have had the distinct privilege and honour of working with for the past 5 years. You guys have become more than friends; as Axl so succinctly put it one night during our meetings, you're brothers: family.

From our first gathering to legerdemain, we saw Gordon, Axl and Jerome settle with the women they love; Gordon became a father just weeks before Legerdemain; Axl found himself in a new phase of life with his wife when he finally found a new home and moved in; Jerome took a plunge and found himself a new job and a new phase of life; Adrian also saw major changes in his life when he committed to a new job and a complete shift in his lifestyle. Yet, we continued to meet and work towards the future we shared in a common vision.

I remember all the nights we would spend after work hours discussing details of Legerdemain into the late nights over countless bottles of beer and cups of tea at the usual haunt (the 24h coffee shop across my place). It was a commitment to the craft of magic beyond the natural call of duty - I dare say that I could not have chosen a finer group of people to work with and share my life with.

Axl - Your work backstage and absolute commitment can't be justified in words. TBMIS or not, we could always count on you to be present for us. I don't know how we could have managed any of the show without your steady presence and sense of duty.

Jerome - Bro, you ran the gauntlet with an arm and leg tied - the demands of your new job and new life were almost crippling, yet you still found the time to meet up with us, do the accounts, organise the contestants and contacts AND print the tickets and posters! Outstanding!

Gordon - Despite all of your protestations, you were the perfect man for the job of MC; all the preparation in light of the arrival of your new family member. Alexis would be proud of you - you should regale her with this tale someday when she's old enough. (I'm sure I can get you the video!). The finest of gentlemen; no better friend I will find.

Zian - All the preparations took place during your exam period, yet your contributions were hefty and substantial. Your work in the control room was impeccable - the coordination and effort was tremendous; fantastic job bro. You and Adrian made it look damn easy.

Adrian - You were astounding bro: you seemed to be everywhere, fixing everything all at once. I have no idea what we'd have done without you. On top of all that, you did a banged up job with Zian in the control room! Frekking awesome.

Bernard - Thanks for being the 'official' photographer, ordering the wands and all. You made all the connections possible between us and IBM. And you provided some of the most hilarious moments during the down times!

Thomas - Thanks for lending an extra hand: your presence truly helped and your efficiency was simply nothing short of extraordinary! I hope that you'll be around to help for a long time to come!

I'd also like to thank the Judges: Jeremy Pei, Nique Tan, Enrico Varella, Steven Sim for agreeing to free up their time to come and help us with the competition and Baha for his superb camera work on the closeup category!

Special mention and thanks to the boys who really helped to gel the entire show together - Timothy (you rock bro - I think you got your mini-fan club now; heard you even got a few votes for audience choice!), Trevor (keeping it together even as we went along) and Chee Wan (I know you were a nervous wreck all the way through, but you held your own really well). They worked very hard at their effects, script and delivery and practiced for weeks. Bloody well done boys!

The idea of a guest performer did occur to us, but I was strongly against it because we wanted to showcase the competitors (who were the stars of the show) and we didn't want to have somebody steal their thunder. This was a competition for them - they deserve the spotlight; we wanted them to be the stars and an experience that will be endearing to them for years to come.

Of course, we made mistakes along the way; there's no way we could please EVERYONE. But I believe we did the best we could; and by all counts I would consider this event to be a resounding success.

Once again, a huge THANKS to all who have contributed in one way or another to the success of this event and I do apologise if I had inadvertently left anyone out.

SHADE