Oslen on Breakfast Television

Watch Oslen's interview on Breakfast Television Vancouver, following his first appearance on Canada's Got Talent:

Montréal: Trompe-l’oeil May 5th

From Marc Descartes:

The show is based on a concept I imagined inspired by Robert-Houdin, a 19th century sleight of hand magician who performed an intimate show in a private room of the Palais-Royal in Paris.

Read more and purchase tickets.

Watch a short video of the show:

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.

Toronto: Morrissey Magic is moving!

From Morrissey Magic:

I will have more information soon, the new shop will still be on Dufferin, just slightly north of our current location.  As soon as I can I will update this page with all the info on our new location. 

And when a store moves, chances are there's going to be a sale.

Got Talent: Montréal and semifinalists

The Montréal Canada's Got Talent auditions featured a fun act by Benoit Fournier and David Gaudet.

The second episode of the night had the judges reviewing the 244 promoted acts and attempting to select only 36 acts go to the semifinals. 

Here's a big shout out to all of the magicians featured on the show: Vladimir the Great, Neil Croswell, Ryan Joyce, Mike D'Urzo, Warren Toaze, Jordan Murciano, Edward Stone, Lucas Wilson, Oslen and Benoit Fournier.  You all did a fabulous job of representing the magic community and raising the profile of magic in the mainstream media with your appearances on CGT!

Unfortunately, of the 36 acts, there was a glimpse of only one magician.  It went by fast and looked like it could have been Oslen from the Vancouver auditions.

Congratulations Oslen!  We're rooting for you!



Edited at 7:00am to add:

• From Canada Newswire:
  
  With Canada's overwhelming number of talented performers to choose from, the judges could not contain the number of semifinalists to just 37. Subsequently, two additional acts from the You Tube 'Last Chance Auditions,' sponsored by Nissan, will also be included, bringing the total number of semifinalists to 39. These two acts - the highest vote-getter and one selected by the judges - will be revealed during the first live results show on April 3. 
  Read more.

Got Talent: Who will we see in Montréal?

There was a flash of what looked like a magic act in the trailer for Canada's Got Talent: Montréal auditions.  Any guesses as to who it will be?

Following the Montréal show tomorrow night, the semifinalists will be revealed.  How many magicians do you figure will perform in the live shows?

Guinness World Record holding magicians

Did you know that Canada has THREE Guinness World Record holding magicians?

• Doug The Great:  Heaviest Stilts Mastered.
• Scott Hammell:  Highest Suspension Straitjacket Escape.
• Lucas Wilson:  Fastest Suspension Straitjacket Escape.

 

Lucas was recently featured in the Simcoe Reformer:

Wilson escaped from a straitjacket and chains while hanging upside down as the audience watched with rapt attention. He performed the stunt in 43 seconds, shaving more than 11 seconds of the previous world record. Wilson did the same trick at last year’s Norfolk County Fair.
Read more.

Rumours abound that there's soon to be a fourth!  Who could it be?