Toronto: Judges for Best Magician contest

From Arthur Poon:

Here is the information of the judges in the competition "Best Magician Contest 2012":

1. Lee Asher

Lee Asher is one of most popular close up magicians in the world. Over 20 years of experience in magic, his reputation and achievement are both successfully well-known within magic society. Asher has gained his champion in IBM Convention Close up Competition when he was 15 and 16 years old. His signature piece has been chosen as one of “The Ten Most Impossible Trick”. For magicians, his published materials are part of the essentials; at the same time, he always travels to Asia and starts magic lectures for foreign magicians, such as Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan etc. Furthermore, Asher is the organizer of “X-elent Lecture Series” that he brings professional magicians to the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada for lecturing. Recently, he starts to travels all over the world for professional performances and also TV interviews. His magic can be found easily in many countries around the world.

2. Felix Poon

Felix Poon has immigrated into Canada from Hong Kong during the 80s. He is one of the few popular Chinese magicians in Toronto. Felix has studied magic from Len Cooper, the creator of Browser’s Den of Magic, about close up and stage magic. He has developed his unique performance style with theological principles after years of practice. Over the years, Felix has invited to perform for television and some TV specials; he also has performed in some events at CNE and other cities like Hong Kong and Macau. He is specialized in Mentalism, therefore he is expertise in predicting audience reactions and responses. Besides magic, he loves to do researches on magic theories and its history, and also how does it relate to different religions and cultures.

3. Jim Tam

Jim Tam is one of the most famous entertaining magicians in Toronto. Since the age of 7, he started to have strong interests on magic. After he has become a magician, he has performed for many big corporations, and also the Chinese Radio and Television during the important festivals, such as Easter, Halloween, and Christmas etc. In the past years, Jim has been cooperating with many charity organizations in different countries, such as the U.S.A., France, China, Cuba, Japan and Taiwan etc. Moreover, Jim has been invited to design stage magic performances for many Asian celebrities, such as the famous young model Christy Chow. He has also taken the role of magic consultant for competitors during the local talent shows and beauty pageants. At the same time, Jim has spent his efforts in training new generation magicians, for popularizing the Chinese magic society in North American, for example, he has organized two Chinese magician team ---- “Xtreme Illusion” and the current “Classic Force”. In order to allow more people to understand magic, Jim has taken one step forward and become one of the organizers of this competition “Best Magician Contest 2012” in Toronto area.

Lee Asher on The Magic Broadcast

From The Magic Broadcast:

New recordings from globe-trotting, Card Star Lee Asher on his current trip to Shanghai, China.  Lee visits friends, takes shots and eats bugs.

Read more and listen to the recordings and watch the videos.

Keep up to date with Lee's adventures by following him on Twitter #AsherInAsia.

Lee Asher on The Magic Broadcast

From The Magic Broadcast:

Steve get’s a chance to speak with Lee about his upcoming trip to China, his broadcasting live from the convention there and the trials and joys of travel.

Read more or listen to the interview.

Links for 2011-Sep-08

• From Browser's Den: "Nathan Kranzo Mentalism Lecture", "New Card College Clinic", "Auction and Grand Opening party", "Giant Shop Auction"
  
     
• From Jay Sankey: "Orchestrating Focus", "Vivid Language", "The Magic of Gimmicks"
• From Perfect Magic: "Super Stars David Acer and Richard Sanders"
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube (I haven't been able to keep up with viewing, but here are links to the last few weeks worth of videos):
  227. Any Card Named Envelope - DAY 227
  228. Magic Live 2011 Convention - DAY 228
  229. Walter Blaney - Day 229 of 365
  230. Predicting the Lottery - Day 230 of 365
  231. No Sleep Makes Eric Go Crazy - Day 231
  232. Learn the ''4 Criminals'' Card Trick!
  233. Eric Lanthier's 30th! - Day 233 of 365
  234. Coin and Card Quickie - Day 234
  235. Impossible Vanishing Silk - Day 235
  236. Vanishing at IKEA - Day 236
  237. Mind Reading Madness - Day 237
  238. Impossible Bottles - Day 238 of 365
  239. Epic Card to Pocket Reactions! - Day 239
  240. Wedding Ring Magic - Day 240 of 365
  241. Live Mathamagic - Day 241 of 365
  242. Dental Floss Boss - DAY 242 of 365
  243. Cabin # 2 Magic! - Day 243 of 365 - on location at Sorcerers Safari magic camp
  244. Bubble Rehab - Day 244 of 365 - with Chris Pilsworth on location at Sorcerers Safari magic camp
  245. Eric Jones' Silver Coins - Day 245 of 365 - with Eric Jones on location at Sorcerers Safari magic camp
  246. Wayne Houchin Burning his Hand!!! - on location at Sorcerers Safari magic camp
  247. Lee Asher's ''Continental Divide'' - on location at Sorcerers Safari magic camp
  248. Pure Smoke - DAY 248 of 365
  249. Industrial Penetration - Day 249 of 365
  250. Win A PS3!!! - Day 250 of 365
  
  
  

Kranzo's in Canada!

Read about Nathan Kranzo's adventures with Lee Asher, Wayne Houchin and Greg Frewin in his post "CANADA eh."

Lee Asher to be interviewed at Modern Manipulator

From ModernMainpulator.com:

We at Modern Manipulator are proud to announce an upcoming live video interview with Lee Asher.

It will be held on the 11th of August at 8PM EST [12AM GMT] on the Live section of our site. It will be one hour long. For the first half we will interview him and for the rest he will be answering the questions of our members.

Read more.

Lee Asher at Convención Mágica 2011

Lee Asher is part of this year's line-up at this year's Convención Mágica, taking place in Buenos Aires – Argentina on September 9th, 10th, 11th 2011.

For more information about the convention, please visit Convención Mágica.


[h/t: MagicConventionGuide.com]

Links for 1-May-2011

• Witness by Lee Asher Magic reviewed by Wizard Product Review (starts about 1 minute in)
  [h/t: @theory11]
   
• "The Faith Healers" iBook by James Randi now available [h/t: @PennJeillette]
   
• Daniel Steep performing at Canada's Wonderland on May 15  [h/t: @DanielSteep]
   
• Lecleric Show episodes on YouTube (I haven't been able to keep up with viewing, but here are links to last week's videos):
  115. Poker Chip Manipulation - DAY 115 of 365
  116. The Floating iPhone - DAY 116 of 365
  117. Sword Swallowing - Day 117 of 365
  118. Royal Wedding - 2T - Day 118 of 365
  119. Mr E Rope Trick - DAY 119 of 365
  120. Jumping Around! - DAY 120 of 365

All-New Jay Sankey Drinking Game

See the new Jay Sankey Drinking Game as demonstrated by Lee Asher!



[h/t: @SorcerersSafari]

Book launch: "The Lives of a Showman"

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending a book launch party for “The Lives of a Showman” by Mark Lewis. (I live tweeted the event with the tag #TLOAS though I missed tagging a few tweets here and there.)

Upon entering Browser’s Den of Magic, I was instructed to direct my attention upward. Hanging from the ceiling were more than a dozen cheerful Lee Asher sign creations containing “Markisms” such as “If they were all the nine of hearts it would look like this” and “You're quite slow, do you work for the post office?” The mood was set!

It was clear that Mark has a tremendous amount of support in the local magic community! I found myself shoulder-to-shoulder with Jeff Pinsky, Jeff Hinchliffe, Ariel Fralich, Mia Ngueyn and Adam Harmes who had all made contributions to, or were mentioned in, the book. Other notables present include*: Gordon Precious, Owen Anderson, Paul Pacific, Chris Westfall, John Pellatt, Richard Lyn, John Michalson, Shawna Ross-York, Dan McLean, Steve Shrott, Joe Schwarcz and young Daniel (one of Mark’s students).

While reading from his book, we were regaled with stories of Mark’s experiences with The Worst Audience Ever at The Blue Angel and his early days of (not so) psychic readings in Ireland with Adam Harmes. Mark also read a piece written about him by Mai Nguyen, winner of the Jerry Gladman Memorial Scholarship in Journalism.

To round out the evening we were treated to James Alan’s rendition of Mark’s “Pig Trick” and then we all laughed ourselves silly through Jeff Hinchliffe’s impersonation of Mark doing his Svengali deck hustle.

It is always a delightful experience to hear an author read his own words. If the rest of the book is even half as entertaining as the launch party, it should be a good read indeed!

To purchase “The Lives of a Showman” visit Mark's website, Browser’s Den of Magic or contact your local magic dealer.


--
* If I’ve missed listing anyone who was there please send me an e-mail or leave a comment below! Thank you to John Pellatt, Ariel Fralich and James Alan for providing attendee intel on the parts of the room I didn’t make it to.