In the last few months i’ve been to India, Bangkok (no it wasn’t flooding where i was), France, Korea, Malaysia (Penang/ Malacca) and now in less than 24 hours, i’ll be off to Kuwait!

Kuwait Towers (Wikipedia)

I’ll be back soon and then off to Malaysia again! I’m still available to take parties in between though.

I can’t celebrate CNY due to family reasons this year, but still I’d like to wish everyone a happy birthday for RenRi (in case you’re wondering what’s that, RenRi is the seventh day of the year – myth has it that a goddess made humans out of clay on that day, so it’s humankind’s birthday!).  Have fun doing the tossing of yusheng!

Gotta pack – post soon!

Kinetic Gal's Family of Superheroes

Right.. maybe not superheroes.

Anyways, so greeting in Korean: KAMSAHAMIDA!!!! (I think i spelt it right… i hope so!) I went for 8 days, so just posting some photos… I’ll write about it later!

In traditional Korean costume

Made Snowman(Boy)!!

Me @ Jeju island

I think it is important for family to spend good time together… I’m glad i got the trip and soon during CNY, my whole BIG family will be out on a cruise!

WEEHOO!!

Well, for all of you hoping that i was kidnapped – tough luck, i’m back already safe and sound! :p Actually i had been just so busy from the India trip and my Kinetic Gal alter ego (the real person called Adeline Ng) had to go Bangkok for work just last weekend so it’s been mad crazy. At the same time, i got food poisoning and have just only recovered… (“The Merlion” takes on a whole different meaning when you have food poisoning)

Anyway, about India! I’ll let the pictures tell the story…

Airticket… First time to India, and all alone!

Traffic is waaaaaay different here. All jam-packed and honking non-stop!

I got a nice hotel place to rest. GRT Grand! It’s a nice comfy place (and big – i got two beds!) where service staff were really awesome!

Day 2 – Out early!

The parade to the library…

Library front before we opened and it was cramped.

Nice little rocket study table – and you know what, there are i-pads for the kids to use! I wanttttttt!!! 

Everyone getting ready for the show! Whoo-eey! 

Well, obviously i could not take pictures while i was performing but i’m sure Hippocampus people will soon be posting those online! I also met interesting people, like Roopa who is a local author for a fantasy novel series.

With Roopa! I bought her book too! :p

Thanks to all the children and the Hippocampus staff and all! I enjoyed myself in Chennai! Looking forward to being back there again some time soon!

Did you know that Chennai used to be called Madras or Madarasapatinam (whew! that’s a tongue twister!)? Chennai is the number 6 city in India with the most number of people! The number of people in the city as of 2011 is 4.68million! That’s almost the same as Singapore already! Singapore (as of 2011) has about 5million people. That’s why India is one the countries with the highest population – Chennai only ranks 6th and it’s only one of its many cities!

Chennai is the third most visited city in India after Delhi and Mumbai. I’ve actually stepped foot in Mumbai before – albeit only at the airport for a stopover! Some of my friends have told me that part of Chennai is along the beach and they have BEAUTIFUL beaches there!

Did you know too that Chennai has a snakepark within their National Park and it’s one of the major source of antivenom serum? Although i’m not too iffy about snakes, i’d prefer to visit a zoo (which they have too!) then a snakepark… :p

Can’t wait to be in Chennai! (Flying off tmr, at 920am!! Wheeeeee~)

PS. Chennai is two hours behind SG time, so i’m going to reach there at 11am in the morning although the flight time is almost 6 hours! How cool is that!

The library that will be launched is a model children’s libraryin the city of Chennai, India. The library is an initiative of Hippocampus Children’s Experience Centre and Max Mueller Bhavan as an open and safe public space for children and youth for learning, and communicating, while focusing on the informational, educational and recreational needs of younger generations.

The launch for the library is on the eve of children’s day – 13th November 2011, so there are going to be activities for the children and Kinetic Gal’s magic show is one of them!

Chennai is well connected and wifi is widespread so i’m sure i’ll be updating from there soon!

http://magic.about.com/b/2011/10/03/please-stop-performing-the-bra-trick.htm

The main gist of the article was about a magician who did a”bra trick” on a female board member which was shown on TV. Why was it so bad? Well,  as per the article mentioned, the “bra trick” is an infamous gag where a performer appears to pull the bra from an unsuspecting female volunteer. It was met with stunned silence (duh) and the author of the post, Wayne asks magicians to “retire this cheap and disrespectful gag”.

I absolutely AGREE with Wayne! I think that a performer (no matter what kind) should respect their audience! I absolutely DO NOT LIKE people who treat their audience with disdain or disrespect. If one is an entertainer, one has no job if one has no audience! And as a kids entertainer, i think it’s doubly important because children can be exceptionally sensitive to these kind of things. Even if unintentionally the child is seen as being made fun of, it can become something he/ she will remember forever (and obviously not in a good way…)

That is really why i strive never to have this kind of act in my show!

You know what’s stunning to me? The stunning part is that I’ve actually seen this trick in action in Singapore. I can imagine in America, under the right circumstances, in the right kind of event, there are possibilities to pull this trick off.. But in Singapore, where the local culture is very different, one has to be very mindful of the sensitivities. Please, no underwear, panties, bra kind of gags especially if it is on the spectator!

Not too long ago, i also posted on my thoughts on Crass Humour: http://singaporebirthdayparty.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/no-to-crass-humour/. A reader, Black Claw also shared similar views on the topic in the comments.

What are your thoughts?

Childrens’ day has just passed and i did some shows for that special occasion dedicated to children. In fact, i did a show for Boon Lay Garden Primary School during their celebration, and surprise! I actually met my cousin’s girlfriend who was teaching there. Anyway, the children responded very well and I’m now pondering if my upcoming show at Parc Vista (just down the road!) might be affected if the children are all from Boon Lay Garden Primary :p

Those celebratory shows aside, i’ve also been doing my regular shows and my November and December are already starting to look real hectic.

Every once in a while, i meet up with my magic friends – kind of like a Hogwarts gathering where you see cards and coins flying etc, and i sometimes get the question: what was your most difficult show you’ve done? Well it used to be that i’d tell them about three shows on the same day, when i was terribly sick and throwing up off-stage but have to turn on the on-stage persona the next min. But honestly that wasn’t as hard as the string of 3 back-to-back shows i did two wkends ago.

It wasn’t that the children were ‘naughty’ or boisterous. On the contrary, they were very well behaved. I wasn’t feeling well, but that wasn’t the main thing either. My grandma had just passed away, and i was running the shows while her wake was on-going. My heart was heavy, but i knew i had to be professional. It made me want to cry though, when i saw the birthday kids’ grandmother hugging the kid. Because i knew mine was gone. Since this is a blog on work – parties and magic, i guess i won’t go on any more with this. But i still wanted to share this, because Childrens’ Day has passed, but did you know that Grandparents’ Day is coming around the corner?

Grandparents’ Day falls on 27 November (Sunday).

Kids, if your grandparents are still around, cherish them and tell them how much you love them. Don’t wait till it’s too late.

Love you, Grandma.

Did a birthday party for Alessandra (Alex) who was turning 3, for Breanna turning 10, Carissa turning 8 as well as Zara turning 5 and Nyla turning 3! It is always extremely fun for me to perform for girls (majority at least) and all turned out very well!

10 years old children are a tricky bunch to perform for… on the one hand, they are ‘grown-up’ already and yet, they still like some children stuff (without really wanting to show it). Luckily for me, my show has always been great for all ages (generally) and my style of presenting can go either way. Sometimes i do some close-up onstage for the older kids which also always turns out very well!

Anyway, i will be really busy coming up and you know what? Do come by Tony Roma’s when you’re free, cos yours truly will be performing there regularly soon!

Also keep a lookout on Chic Magazine… I’ll be having a photoshoot for Chic soon!

For the last week especially, i’ve been reading on magic (learning never stops), and as i told my friend: “The more i know, the more i know i don’t know!” It’s been an interesting process of learning! Anyway, i came upon a book which talks about believing your audience knows the difference. It got me thinking because i know of a widespread thinking (at least i think this is the widespread thinking) that kids DON’T know the difference, at least not beyond a certain level. I agree and disagree to a certain extent.

First off, on the disagree part, i believe kids DO know the difference. Very simply – does the kid like the magician or not? There must be a difference in the magicians that the kids recognize, for if not, there should be no difference to them! Clowns and magicians are different to kids. I have kids who come up to me and said: You’re a REAL magician! Well there must have been a difference between me and someone else they’ve seen~!

Now on to the agree part – beyond a certain level, kids can’t tell the difference. If i do a certain trick in a certain way that is more sophisticated but ends up the same, the kids don’t know the difference. I think and i believe that may be possible.

However, i know the difference! And i choose to believe that the kids will know the difference, because only with that belief, will the magic show improve. Do you think if your kids know the difference?

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