The episode features Godwin and Timothy, founders of Red Dot Magic . I'll let their performance speak for themselves.
I'm reminded of an amusing anecdote. This happened in about March '06. I was overseas on a community service trip to the Maldives. Apart from the thrill of the sheer beauty of the country, there was this guilty pleasure of skipping an exam :). I was the tallest, biggest of the lot and the locals affectionately called be bodu-be, big brother.
One warm night after dinner, we were chilling with one of the local boys. This was a period where I was rediscovering magic after a hiatus and I nervously suggested performing a magic trick. I did one or two simple ones to "warm up" and I moved on to the climax where a card disappears and appears in my pocket.
As I was talking, making my moves, the card disappears and I look at him, smile and point to my pocket. He's got mixed feelings; surprise and skepticism.
When he puts his hand in my pocket and takes out this warm, slightly bent card with his signature on it, I expect some kind of silent shock, but he quickly snaps at me, "Bodube, are you a messenger?", and stares at me.
I, reflexively blurted out, "No".
Maldives is an Islamic country so Mohammad, believed to be a messenger from god, is held in high esteem. Although you might call him gullible for jumping to that conclusion, I wouldn't.
There is a natural appetite for astonishment in even the most rational of people. Myself included. With the kind of blogs and news outlets I subscribe to, every once in a while, someone claims they have found a miracle cure, som berry that magically makes you lose weight or an herb that can cure cancer. I would really love for that to be true. In fact, I think in an ideal world, doctors would be unemployed, pharmaceutical companies would be poor because people lead healthy lives, have perfect genes and do not fall ill much. Yet, I must defer to the evidence and investigate whether these treatments actually work.
In a similar fashion, the layperson who sees a magic trick may be placed in an uncomfortable position of knowing that someone is performing some conjuring and there is no supernatural force involved, yet wanting to believe there is. I think part of the fun in watching magic, even for myself as a performer, is the tension between the rational and the emotional, and hence my advice to people who might end up watching some live magic for the first time is to simply relax, and enjoy the moment. To take delight in the mish-mash of logic and emotion the performer so skillfully takes you on.
About the Project : Sinema is an independent arts company based here in Singapore. The arts scene here is beginning to flourish and Sinema did their part by coming up with SinTV, an online arts channel. M for Magic is their first installation featuring 14 local magicians. Here's their facebook page and main site.
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