My personal and humble review,

The event started off as per schedule at 6pm. The Cedar Room at the Garden Hotel was pretty small, but it was a pretty nice setting. I think Jeremy mentioned that he took only a merely 3 weeks to get all of this going, I must say the event was a resounding success.

Nique Tan started out the show wif a couple of his own marketed effects. (Teach In included)Nique as well, being a highly skilled sleight-of-hand artist not only managed to stun the crowd with his magic and also entertained with his humour.

Jeremy Pei followed to introduce one of his latest items. The UFG Pro. He was also kind enough to offer a special price last. (Now you gotta get it off your favourite magic dealer! HA!)

Now, the highlight of the evening. International performer Richard Mo presented his material and also a teach in. His skills are highly impressive, and together with his good understanding of misdirection, he can almost kill you even without you knowing. 2 thumbs up for Richard Mo.

As the programme was coming to a close, it was Showtime!! (My favourite part of the night) Jeremy Pei, Nique Tan, Priscilla Khong and Richard Mo did their individual acts. Personally I feel that this is the best part of the show. Just the nominal fee paid was truly worth it to see their acts.

Jeremy did a cane production act, Nique followed up very strongly with a mentalism act. (Personally, I love the VODOO one!!) The complete silence says it all cos it was either the mouths were still wide open or that they were in complete shock.

Next was truly a very entertaining one. PRISCILLA KHONG. I have heard so much about she and her dad (Lawerence) ever since IF Magic. And trust me, she lived up to all the reputations and now there is one more female stage magician. Last nite was the first time I saw Priscilla did her act, and it was simply breath-taking. The dove production, the bird vanish and re-appearance was nothing short of magical. All in all, I really felt that the she is going to be one of the better stage artist in S.E.A. She and Lawerence will be putting up a show at the Esplanade Theatre, the first of its kind at the Esplanade and also with Mr. John Thompson as the magic director,you simply cannot miss it, that is, if you are only interested in Magic.

Richard ended the show with his recent compeitition act at Shen Zhen where Richard came in first. I belive that everyone enjoyed his "cups and balls" routine. Very Nice.

There were some more "interesting" segments or events that took place last nite, but I figured that they were nothing worth of interest and I can hardly remember so I figured it would better if I let the rest of the participants of last nite's event to mention. Finally, I would like to Thank you very much Redefine Magic for putting such a show like this. Good job to Jeremy and the gang.

dry_gin

Thanks for starting the ball rolling Gordon.

It was actually quite late that I decided to attend Jeremy's event. Since I managed to clear my schedule I thought it might be nice to see somebody from HongKong perform, just to see the difference in styles if nothing else. I added my name at the last minute - just before the Guardian of SMC locked the thread.

I was really worried that I'd end up being there alone but I must say that I was truly fortunate and blessed to have very hardy friends who decided to brave all odds to attend the 'gathering' with me - in spite of the threat of the $70 door fee. Gordon (dry_gin), AdrianLee, Zian (Chan Zian), Jonathan (Jlowhy), Axl (muscleaxl of the NNT), Jasper and Fei - of course! We also met some other familiar faces there - Enrico and Kenneth (llamalamer)were also in attendance!

As always, I will try to objectively spell out the highlights and the downers of this event for me. Whatever I don't mention falls inbetween and doesn't bother me one way or another. Please note however, that these are purely reflections of THIS writer and of THIS writer's HUMBLE (maybe not so) opinions. You are free to disagree with me; nobody's holding a gun to your @$$. :)

Highlights: (aka the stuff I liked/enjoyed)

1) Nique Tan:
Nique's transformation from Finger-Flinger to Commercial State of the Art Mentalist is amazing. It is truly incredible and most delightful to see Nique in action - he has, by all accounts, grown into a truly mature performer who has the chops to deliver devastating diabolique that will not only confound, but also entertain. Therein lies the key (I believe) to successful commercial magic - the ability to confound, mystify and ENTERTAIN. Nique was professionally relaxed and confident in his delivery and established an unspoken rapport with the audience almost immediately in each of his performances.

2) The Fake Hammer:
Crafted out of light wood and topped with a sponge head, I took to it almost instantly. I had NO IDEA what I'd use it for (those of you who know me would probably be besieged by uncontrollable laughter right about now) but it really looked DAMNED COOL. It was a little steep though - even though the price was lowered to $35 from $45. I almost took the plunge but decided that I wasn't going to walk into room and perform 30minutes of gambling stuff and then bring out a sponge hammer.

3) The number of dealers:
There were about 3 or 4 dealers in the room all displaying their wares, including the performers showing off their commerical material. It kept the dull moments down and one could always just take a stroll down the dealer alley for some eye-candy.

4) Richard Mo:
I felt that Richard was a very skillful performer and what he loses out in terms of language (English seems very weird when converted to Konglish) he more than makes up for in personality. He is likeable (in person) and carries himself very professionally. Even though he had his own DVD and materials to sell, throughout his performances he never so much as tried to peddle any of his goods to the audience. Richard loves to perform and it is clearly evident that he LOVES magic. And his energy is infectious - the audience was impressed!

5) Priscilla Khong:
We hear about Ning so often and the marketing strategy that JC has adopted for her had made us forget that there are more than a few female magicians out there. And at least ONE more that has attained international status as an entertainer of magic in SEA.

Priscilla's entrance was nothing short of stunning. Her costume was customised and she moved to a grace that could only have come from total ownage of her own act. In fact, our own Moderator Zian couldn't take his eyes off of her (heh heh). Mind you - she was dressed very decently in an almost victorian style gown intricately embossed and pattered. Carrying a matching mask, she was the figure of poise, refinement and dignity.

I don't think it's fair of me to give her act away by going into too much detail here, but suffice to say her opening act was nothing short of stunning - fiery productions and vanishes; doves and canaries; impossible locations - all this and more chereographed against the backdrop of a musical piece that was non intrusive but lent a distinctive mood to the overall theatrics.

Priscilla then closed with a highly engaging and entertaining closeup act that involved one of our own SMC members Paul. I thought she not only exhibited character and style here, her performing persona was so natural it could only be HER. It wasn't hard to see why it was so easy for her to win the audience.

If you've not seen her in action, you might want to check out the MAGIC BOX, coming up soon.

6) The hotel service:
Jeremy picked a great place - the staff of the hotel kept filling up the hot tea and the coffee and the fried vermicelli.


Downers:
(Stuff that I feel should have been omitted or didn't quite strike the right chord with me)

1) Alex Tan (MC):
Although I'm sure Alex has tried his best, I don't think he was really the best person for the job. He needs MCing lessons. His attempts to rile the audience usually falls flat of sympathy. I am not sure if he speaks that way normally, but it comes off to me as a little false; somewhat strained and is a real turn off. Although there were a number of minor things that bugged me about his performance as MC, I'll just mention the 2 biggest letdowns for me:
i) His overacting (or reacting) and seemingly limited vocabulary - he seems to love the words "MIND-BLOWING". I lost count of the number of times that was used to describe the almost ALL the acts. The over acting (or reacting) was way over the top and every thing seemed to be like an impovished enactment of some C Grade soap opera.

ii) The way he keeps asking each performer how much they are going to sell their material. I think even Richard was caught by surprise when Alex asked him how much he was going to sell his competition act for. It seriously made the performers look like cheap materialistic B@stards.

Please note: I'm not attacking Alex - I don't know him well enough as a person to say anything about his character; it won't be fair to him. I'm sure he's a great guy to hang out with on weekends and probably a very very nice guy. What I felt was mishandled here was the method used to host the event - it was unworthy of the calibre of those performing and somewhat insulting to their magic.

2) COMMERCIALS:
I felt like I had just paid $40 to watch a live info-mercial. It seems that every other opportunity was put to advertising something or other. At one point somebody actually came up (I won't mention names here) and - true to infomercial style - talked about wanting to 'work' with some people to start their own online marketing or something. You have to excuse me if I don't have too many details on this one - I was so cheesed off that I got up and walked out. I felt like I had just been conned into attending some Multi Level Marketing seminar.

Most of the attendees are all adults - I think we don't need the hard-sell to decide if we wanted to get conned.

__________

Well, all said and done, I still feel that Jeremy Pei and his team at Redefine Magic really put in a substantial amount of work into making this event work out. I do want to extend my thanks to them for even having the guts to organise something like that - it's not easy and I sure don't want to be in their shoes.

Kudos to all who supported this event - Magic is such a small community in Singapore, it always helps to have dedicated supporters who are willing to help keep things alive. And the folks at ReDefine Magic have taken yet another step to keeping the flame riding high.

Shade

Shade: I am from hong kong also what... & i could take my eyes off her ok!

Anyway, i have to agree with Shade on certain bits. This is my review in chronological order.

The entire mini convention really did feel like a mega advertising. Every now and then, Alex the MC would use the UFG to set of some sparks and say 'Commercial Break'. After a few times I got a bit annoyed. There was also one whole section whereby Jeremy Pei went up and promoted his UFG. I thought they were already doing that at the booths. Didn't like that either.

Then it was Nique's performace and short teach in. I really enjoy Nique's brand of magic. Highly skilled sleight of hand artist, with the ability to win audiences over. After seeing him and his tricks, couldn't help but go over to his booth to purchase his DVD and book. Will review those later.

Then the main show, Richard Mo's lecture. Well, i was at his booth during the breaks and hear him interact with other people. I must say he is a really humble guy. He spoke to the older magicians with such respect even though he has never met them before. At the same time, he was kind to the younger ones. He also din't hard sell his item, promoting Pei's UFG during his lecture when he had a similar finger flasher to sell. What a guy. Richard Mo is also highly skilled. Some of the sleights during his tricks eludes me. Too difficult already. But his insights on misdirection and offbeat moments were worth pondering about.

Then came the most awaited section of the convention, which i am very glad Jeremy Pei included. The performance. Pei first came on with a cane production act. Full of gusto and energy. The audience was immersed. It was infectious and at one point i was hoping i could produce such long sticks from bare hands myself.

Nique again came on with his brand of magic. Highly amusing and entertaining. He even taught a girl how to read minds. I wish he had taught me... Should have volunteered.

Priscilla Khong then came on with her act. She is VERY profession and he stage present was just so...intense. Her movement on stage was nothing short of mesmerising. Her act was very commercial, including some renouned marketed effects but her rendition on them was nicely done. Althought i don't really remember the details of the magic part, I really enjoyed myself. I guess it's one of those where you will say 'I don't remember what she did, but i really had a good time.' Right about now i am deciding whether to go for her latest upcoming show 'magic box'. Those that love stage magic with a twist should not miss this one. Although she and Ning are both female performers, which will definitely draw some comparison, but i think they are both into different genres. It would be unfair to compare.

Lastly came Richard Mo and his competition act. Cards and balls. Which became cards and coins. A matrix effect but the premise was very close to what a cups and balls routine would be like. With coins vanishing and transposing under the cards. Very very entertaining, and he also engaged the crowd very well on a emotional level. His personality on stage is infectious and his climax on his act was 'mind blowing' as Alex would put it.

All in all, the event was a success. The response was overwhelming, with so many people attending that they din't have enough chairs for some of us. but the good bits were so good that it kept us on our feets, literally. Thank you Jeremy for putting this together. It's good to see the Singapore magic scene so alive and happening.


ZiAn

P.S. I also came across a very heartwarming thing. When i was just about to leave and went over to say 'bye' to Nique, he was teaching a really young boy how to do the convincing control. Step by step guidance, at no cost. Seriously, i wish i had such guidance when i was at that age.

Hi all,

It was indeed a pleasure meeting all the nice people and those in-between yesterday.

First of all, I do not think I have a problem with my vocabulary, I was communicating and personally to me, good communication is not about using BIG words to obfuscate people.

I was going for middle ground and just for the record, I have only used the word, "mind-blowing" twice the whole night. Whoever heard it more than twice, you must have been dreaming, drunk, you probably hate me or you are a friend who isn't one of one of mine.

About MCing lessons, have you wondered why I was the Emcee while you were sitting there, picking on me.

I was only briefly informed about how the performers wanted to be introduced literally seconds before I'm on stage.

Could I have done it better? Probably...

Like you, I believed I'm smarter than Bill Gates but I have come to terms that I'm probably not.

Secondly, I do not see how an offer to help magicians in their businesses gets confused with trying to rope someone into an MLM program. Evidently, anyone who doesn't understand the role of business skills in being a successful magician just isn't one, and thus completely unqualified to 'dismiss' a genuine offer as a frivoulous attempt to dip into the pockets of the audience.

Just fyi...Jo Han's pockets are definitely WAY deeper than yours and he doesn't need the spare change from a uneducated punk.

I'm never someone who is rude but I am known to be very blunt, if what I wrote offended you, all I can say is, I'm being brutally honest and you better sleep over what you wrote.

Richard is a good friend of mine, when I asked about the "cost' of his act, it was a joke.

Evidently, you don't have a sense of humor.

Grow up, guys... Events like these cost time and money.

I'm not sure how much YOUR time is worth, but I think I have a pretty good idea.

And THAT makes all the difference in how we value it, and why we're not ashamed of plain ol commerce.

$40 doesn't get you much these days, and even then, rumor has it that you guys actually hesitated in paying your dues.

Pretty shameful IMHO.

Great, I have wasted 10 minutes of my time. Should I be billing you guys?

Sincerely,
Alex Tan


P.S. Did you guys catch my topit joke?

Wow... that was a pretty aggressive and unwarranted post by our dear MC for the night. I was quite neutral with Mr Alex Tan till I saw it.

Let me just point out some things here:

1." About MCing lessons, have you wondered why I was the Emcee while you were sitting there, picking on me."

Yes, we were ALL wondering why you were the EMcee. Your jokes were not amusing and you talked too much. I would have gladly take over the mike if I could help it and if you pay me for it.

C'mon , we were were just pointing out things that you can improve on, but you took it so badly like a spoilt kid. To quote from your post: "Grow up..."

2. "...just for the record, I have only used the word, "mind-blowing" twice the whole night. Whoever heard it more than twice, you must have been dreaming, drunk, you probably hate me or you are a friend who isn't one of one of mine."

Sorry, for the record, ALL of us at our side heard it more than twice. Somebody sitting beside me even commented, "there is a lot of blowing going on here tonight..." after hearing the word uttered for umpteen times.

Yes, probably we were dreaming... we were put to slumberland by the Emcee.

3. "I'm never someone who is rude but I am known to be very blunt, if what I wrote offended you, all I can say is, I'm being brutally honest and you better sleep over what you wrote"

Hey, the feeling is mutual.

4. "Just fyi...Jo Han's pockets are definitely WAY deeper than yours and he doesn't need the spare change from a uneducated punk."

I doubt Jo Han himself would have used words like "uneducated punk", he seemed like someone who can take criticism the right way.. someone with more class.


5. "$40 doesn't get you much these days, and even then, rumor has it that you guys actually hesitated in paying your dues.
Pretty shameful IMHO."

So where did you hear that rumor? Can you get that person who started this rumor to come forward and testify how did we "hesitated in paying"? If not, you owe us an apology for making groundless accusation and smearing the good name of SMC. This is not a joke.

Shame on you... IMHO too.

6. "Great, I have wasted 10 minutes of my time. Should I be billing you guys?"

Well, it was nothing compared to the few hours of our life wasted to hear your not-so-amusing jokes... and we have to pay for it.

Yes, you are right about us having no sense of humour.... for your jokes. We really can't sense what's the humor in those "jokes" and it's not just a few of us.

7. Too bad I have waste time and space here to write about this when I wanted to commend Mr Richard Mo for his outstanding use of misdirection, he truly lives up to his reputation.

Also, to Mr Jeremy Pei for his energetic performance. It was the 1st time I saw him in action and I was impressed by the way he timed his act, ending exactly at the point the music stopped.

Lastly, to Nique Tan. What more can I say? I bought his book and DVD.

Umm. Nope. Sorry.

I think as a moderator in SMC, I need to make one point clear. We are not a group of nobodies trying to slam a group of 'somebodies'. We are individuals trying to post a honest review about the event we've attended. That's how things usually work around here.

1)We attend event.
2)We go home and post a review, create awareness, and hopefully encourage other SMC members to attend such events in the future.

We gave a fair share of good reviews and also commented about parts we didn't like. It is a review, not an advertisment. We have to keep things honest. Jeremy Pei certainly did not pay us to say good things about his event, neither did ANYONE pay us to give it a negative review.
Alex, for someone who has such dirty things to say about SMC, it sure bothered you to come here and see what we've said. If you don't like us, fine, pick on us individually, don't insult SMC. You don't see us insulting the entire Redefine Magic crew.

ZiAn

notes:
1. A person's worth is not judged by how deep his pockets are.
2. Magic is not something money can buy. Tricks do not make the performer. The performer makes the performer.
3. I'm sleepy, so I'm going to sleep.

We'll all have to learn how to take negative criticisms. It hurts.

But if it stops coming in, it probably means that people have given up on you.

Also, genuine negative comments don't come easy. Cherish it while it is still there! :)

Hi, i had family commitment, may i know any VCD/DVD for the whole "Gathering"??

Priscilla Khong was the first female magician i come across, long before our babe Ning, Yes, Priscilla Khong act are VERY profession and her stage present was just so...intense.

I had use some of her act for my shows, ha...ha....i love it.

3 cheer for her..

please don't stone me..

Thanks.