SINGAPORE RING 115 - Oct 2021 Magic Meeting Report
IBM Singapore Ring 115’s October meeting was conducted over Zoom. Co-hosted by Enrico Varella and Curtis Choy, and attended by 29 members, the theme for the evening was “Magic with Rope, Silk and Ring”.
Enrico outlined the meeting’s agenda and shared some book titles related to the evening’s theme, such as The Great Wong Routine for his Chinese Linking Rings, written by Tudor Brock, 4 volumes of the Encyclopaedia of Silk Magic, and Abbott’s Encyclopaedia of Rope Magic.
John Teo presented a rope trick using a deck of playing cards. The backs of the cards had a piece of a rope drawn on them. The entire deck of cards represented a long piece of rope. A card was chosen and then lost in the middle of the deck.
When the deck was spread, a picture of a knot magically appeared in the middle of the spread. When the knot card was turned over, it proved to be the chosen card. When a rope is cut into two, we join them together by tying a knot. However, a magician can slide the knot off or vanish the knot altogether and restore the rope. When the selected was turned over, the picture of the knot disappeared and could not be found anywhere in the deck! In his next effect, he had a card selected from the same deck. It turned out to be the King of Hearts aka the Suicidal King as this king was depicted with a dagger plunged behind his head. The volunteer inserted this card between two random cards in the deck. The two random cards were the 7 of hearts and the 4 of clubs. When the King of hearts was turned over, instead of the back design, it showed a picture of the 2 daggers behind his head piercing 2 miniature cards – the exact 2 cards selected by the spectator! This King of hearts was not the suicidal King after all, but a magician king!
Enrico performed a long-time favourite effect, ‘The Professor’s Nightmare’, also known as Three Ropes and a Baby. He performed his version of rope ‘origami’, producing two or three ropes from a single one, transformed their lengths from equal to varying, transformed a few ropes into one long one, and then from a single rope into three varying sized ropes, confounding the audience along the way. He also recommended among other things, ‘Rope Sensational’ as well as the rope magic of Francis Tabary as good reference works on rope magic.
Kenneth Chia illustrated a gospel message using apiece of rope with 2 beads. The 2 beads represented man and God. They were separated by sin, represented by a metal ring knotted onto the rope in-between the 2 beads. A small cross was slid onto the rope. The ring magically unknotted itself and fell off the rope. The cross, representing Jesus Christ, brought man and God together.
David Fillary spoke of the challenge of sneaking a coin into and out of his hand quietly now that he wore a wedding ring (metallic). However, he overcame it as his magician wife had put some magic into his wedding ring. Its ‘magnetic power’ could attract a coin silently and it also had a built-in ‘trapdoor’, the coin could vanish inside the ring and be reproduced. He even used the ‘magic essence’ of the ring to transform the coin into a wearable ring, rounding off his routine with a gigantic coin production for his big finish!
Steven Lim, an ex-member of IBM Ring 115, was introduced by Jeremy Pei as his mentor and life-saver. Steven spoke on ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’, an apt topic amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Positivity was a choice and happiness depended on the quality of thoughts we put into our minds. Our negative thoughts on the other hand, could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. He added that one should try to do something good for someone now and then. He himself had met many trials and tribulations in his life and having been blessed with business success, he now helped others in the form of educational bursaries/scholarships. He also expressed respect for Robert Kee, one of our patrons, who was a trained engineer turned philanthropist and who founded Operation Hope Foundation, a charity for third world countries.
Goh Yin Xian introduced some items in his dealer show such as the “Quick Change Bag”, the “3 to 1 Rope” Pro version, the “Switching Tri-Purse”, and “In Case Of Emergency”. He also announced the forth-coming Fujii Akira’s Singapore Zoom Lecture.
After the break, Jeremy Pei performed a series of effects based on our theme. He produced a string of small silks from a small wooden Silk Wonder Box, changed the inside of a bag using Henry Evans’ Fusion Colour Changing Bag, and a rope routine using a piece of rope where knots appeared and disappeared, and a ring magically went on and off the rope. He concluded with a linking rings routine using the small Ninja Rings.
Kenneth Chia came on again, this time dressed as the masked Game Master in the highly popular Squid Game, complete with the characteristic ‘deep’ voice. Using the 3 phase “clash Of Symbols” effect involving ESP cards inside ESP envelopes, by Max Maven, he invited 3 volunteers to each play a game with him. All 3 of them lost, and were “eliminated” in Squid Game fashion.
Jeremy Pei rounded off the evening with his dealer show. He demonstrated “Mystic Wand” (reviewed this month by John Teo), his very own “Eternal Ropes”, “Dream Ropes”, pin-stripe silk blendo, Redefine unique, hollow stainless steel Chinese linking rings, and Ninja Rings. Interested members went into a Zoom breakout room with him at the close of the evening.
As the lucky draw randomiser had some technical issue, the lucky draw was postponed to the next meeting and the meeting drew to a close after an eventful, interactive session.