Staying Home, Staying Safe: An Update in times of COVID19

Hello!

I hope you have been well and going through the difficult time with a hopeful and positive mindset. As of writing, it seems like the situation in Asia is getting slightly better and several other continents have been dampening down on the numbers too.

It has been a while since I have pen my thoughts on this space, and I thought I should document what has transpired in what we can now call an unusual time. This unusual time is filled with uncertainty, many events have been postponed indefinitely and most of them have been cancelled. This is a tough time for anyone in the events industry.

Making a difference in your own way

While the COVID19 situation has caused the world to go into a pause mode, we should look outward if we have the opportunity and privilege to do so. Rather than lamenting about the lack of events (hence income), I am certain there is something we can all do to spread positivity and hope.

I decided to pivot the resources I had to create mask hooks for frontline workers who had to wear mask over a long duration. The extended usage of the mask caused a numbing sensation behind the ears and these 3D Printed Hooks eases the discomfort. I have seen elderly stuffing tissue papers behind their ears to prevent such pain and decided that giving these away was the right thing to do.

I was very luckily that a local newspaper caught on to the story and gave me a feature, which in turn allowed a larger group of people to reach out to me.

Till date, I have sent over 250 pieces of mask hooks to nurses, frontline workers, delivery men and women, security guards, F&B staff and several others. It has been very fulfilling to be able to use the skills I had for my customization magic into a practical use in COVID19.

I think in times like these, rather than focusing on a “me” mentality, asking for likes and shares on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok, pushing and selling tickets to online performances or selling books that mass produced and changing only the cover, we should all strive to see what real difference we can make in the real world.

This is the reason why I decided to do something that diverges from my core expertise of magic.

My sentiments is summed by this quote I penned in my personal journal.

“While the light at the end of the tunnel may seem dim and distant, if we turn our light outwards, the journey there together will be illuminated and smoother”

Yours Truly

And that is why I have great respect for mentalist Tom Devoe (See article below) who is doing probono performances for frontliners rather than using his opportunity to make a quick buck.

Is magic still relevant in these times?

More than before, we are starting to consume much more content off the internet. While you can watch several of my iPad Magic footage here, I do not actively perform magic on online streaming platforms. I truly believe the core essence of magic is in its interactive and its ability to connect on a deeper level. While this is not impossible to do over a webcam, performing passively over Zoom or a video streaming channel serves no further participation than watching a prerecorded video on Youtube.

While I have done several shows that I do over the webcam (even prior to the COVID19 situation), it is highly interactive and participative where the audiences watching it plays a large role in pivoting and determining the course of the magic. I enjoy such a performance very much despite it being over a streaming portal.

I was featured on The New Paper and gave my honest thoughts on the situation. While I strongly believe there is room for magic in such difficult times, magicians should be very careful about how they craft their performance. There is nothing more boring than watching a performance that feels like it was pre-recorded, time and effort should be spent in crafting an experience rather than a passive demonstration of sleight of hand.

The Light at the end of the Tunnel

Working from home, practicing stringent hygiene, contract tracing is what we call the “New Normal”.

I think when it comes to entertainment, there is room for adaptation and even possibly creating something innovative because of the current situation.

My team and I are continuously working towards the goal of creating hope through our magic, and in the time to come, we will be more than ready to take on live performances when that happens.

View this post on Instagram

Here at Meta Illusions, teamwork makes the dream work. Our magic transcends physical barriers. We miss performing! But that doesn’t mean the magic has stopped. In these times, we’ll be sharpening our skills and getting better every day 💯

A post shared by Meta Illusions ♠️ (@meta_illusions) on Apr 17, 2020 at 4:54am PDT

In the meantime, stay home and stay safe!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. However due to COVID19, he has been working from home, reading and practising his magic. Hopefully the time will come soon when he can be performing in the real world live.

A Gentlemen's Jewelry - Tudor Watch Event

Some weeks ago when Tudor Ambassador Jay Chou came down to Singapore for his concert, I was invited to entertain Tudor’s top VIPs before they left for the concert.

For this event, they were invited to Morton’s Bar in Mandarin Oriental Singapore and was served delicious cocktails and canapés. To bring more delight to their experience, I was asked to engage them with my iPad Magic.

The guests were all expert in fine watches, so I had to work hard to impress them. I designed a piece of magic on the iPad with the Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G and it had gotten wonderful reactions!

It was an amazing night of food, drinks and magic; I am certain that the guests had an even more amazing experience at the VIP seats of the concert!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is known for his storytelling and magic, allowing him to not just capture the eyes of the audience, but also their hearts. Highly demanded by luxury brands, Alexander brings a fresh air of charm and magic to the event

See it for yourself? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

Innovation at Apple Store - Thinking about Magic

In the earlier blog post, I shared about the talk I gave at Apple Store Singapore. In this talk, I went over several aspects of innovation and how you can think about creating something innovative.

Today, I would like to share with you more on the end results of my thoughts and creations. I think the term “end result” is a huge misnomer because what you are seeing is a constant work in progress; technologies change, my thoughts shaped by my experience change, and how I feel about my work also changes. These forces me to rethink about these acts.

This is one of my favorites and it is called, “If Money Grew on Trees”:

To close this topic of innovation and creativity, I would like to share with you the act with the lightbulb that I was talking about in the last post.

I would like to share with you how I reimagined the bulb, and this is what I have came out with

Enjoy!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited to talk at various events and seminars. His creativity allows him to explore various topics in a divergent way and he is is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He enjoys coding and solving problems with innovation.

Want him to speak at your event? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

iPad Magic inside the Apple Store Orchard

Being able to perform my magic at the Apple store has been one of my dreams, and I am thrilled to share that this dream has come true.

I was given the opportunity to share my iPad Magic and coding at the Today At Apple session. The talk spanned for an hour and a half in which I spoke passionately about how I got into magic and how I made it my career. I also spoke about how I create and designed my iPad Magic with coding. The audiences got a treat when they were handed out iPads to try the hands on coding exercise where they would learn how to programme magic on their own.

For those who missed out on this talk, I have taken some time to upload snippets of it in my new Youtube channel. Check it out here:

Let me know what you think! Subscribe to the channel for more content!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He enjoys coding and solving problems with innovation.

Want him to speak at your event? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

F&N Magnolia Taro iPad Magic

It is super fun to create magic for brands. Some time back, I was involved in creating iPad Magic for F&N Magnolia’s Taro Milk. The idea was to incorporate street magic and iPad Magic.

We hit the streets in Orchard Road and did several magic pieces for the passer-bys. We even manage to get a crowd for some of the acts.

At the end of the project, we managed to get 132K Views and 126 Shares on Facebook! This is a huge success for the client and for myself :)

Try the milk! While stocks last!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is known for his storytelling and magic, allowing him to not just capture the eyes of the audience, but also their hearts. In his (little to negligible) free time, he enjoys films by Christopher Nolan, Spike Jones and Makoto Shinkai. The best feeling one can give is to give his/her audience the satisfaction of realization and everything is illuminated.

Got a product to launch? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

Thailand Pattaya: iPad Magic for Mitsubishi Warriors!

The last leg of my iPad Magic Asia Tour brought me to Thailand, Pattaya where I got to perform for the agents of Mitsubishi India.

It was truly a delight to be flown to Thailand for my magic.

One of the amazing discoveries doing international performances is to find out that the different cultures react differently to magic. I was quick to adapt and that enabled me to successfully engage the audiences with my magic.

It was a truly amazing night with great entertainment and magic! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the stay at the wonderful resort too!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. Having a diverse international portfolio, Alexander is able to engage guests of all age and cultures

Got a story to tell? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

HSBC Women's Golf Championship: How I did not get to meet Michelle Wie

If you have been following the golf championships, you would know the name, Michelle Wie. She was the Champion in 2018.

I was booked for the gala reception before the matches for 2019, and I really wanted to meet her. In fact, for this event I created something special featuring Michelle Wie. See it on my Instagram here!

Though I did not get to meet her, it was a wonderful evening of sharing my magic with the wonderful golf enthusiast and golfers!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, he is the best choice for high end corporate event! His easy presence allow him to engage and enthrall your guests.

Got a story to tell? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

iPad Magic Entertainment: ATAC (Australian Travel Agents Co-operative)

Some time back, I did a wonderful event for ATAC (Australian Travel Agents Co-operative). It was a dinner held in Gardens by the Bay and the restaurant housed the delightful travel agents from Australia.

For this engagement, I was asked to interact and engage the guests with my iPad Magic. They also wanted me to make a small gift appear at the end of the performance.

I had so much fun bantering and interacting with the guests through my iPad Magic. It is a pleasure to be able to bring smiles and laughter to these guests from Australia.

Thank you very much for having me! It was a joy performing at this Australian Conference!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way.

Got a story to tell? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

Truly Singaporean Brand: TWG's Anniversary Party

I have always held TWG in high regards because they are the case study I would study in my Marketing 101 when I was an undergrad. A truly Singaporean brand, shining across the world, internationally. What a dream if I could one day be like them!

Back to the event, the event was held in Zouk, amd TWG had their extravagant anniversary party last week where I was invited to perform.

The guests consisted of theco-founders in TWG, Mr Taha Bouqdib, Ms Maranda Barnes and Mr Rith Aum-Stievenard. Also present was the CEO of OSIM Mr Ron Sim. It was a delight to be able to present my iPad Magic for them and their colleagues.

At the end of the performance, Mr Taha Bouqdib came by to tell me that it was a great show and everyone loved it! It was a great moment to be affirmed by someone of such affluence.

Thereafter I unbashingly asked for a selfie with him which he happily obliged to.

The night was made even greater when I left the club and bumped into Mr Ron Sim. He then also told me that he really enjoyed the show :)

It was a wonderful night to be able to perform my iPad Magic and soak in the presence of a great Singaporean success story!

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. He enjoys his tea every now and then with clotted cream and scones.

Got a story to tell? Contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org

My Magic, My Gift

For some, magic is a tool to break the ice or pick up girls. For me, my magic is a gift. It is a gift that allows me to connect with people of all ages and demographics. 

Last Friday, Hari Raya, I was asked to do a show for the less fortune at the Istana. I instantly agreed. While the usual corporate international shows are great (together with the fancy hotel suites and cocktails), its always a privilege to offer my magic to those who might not had the chance to experience it. 

When I performed my magic for the audiences, it bridged an instant connection between myself and them, we are on the same page and we know that we are both going to experience something wonderful and amazing. 

I am really glad I was able to rope in The Strangers and Joel to be a part of their experience. They performed wonderful close up magic for them and brought joy to them.

At the end of our performance, we were also had a chat with Mdm President Halimah and First Gentleman, Mr Mohammad.

Here is a short footage of my iPad Magic at the Istana. Have a glimpse of how the West Drawing Room looks like:

It was truly truly a special thing to give our time and talents for those who have lack moments of wonder, or those who no longer believe in magic. As magicians, we must never forget that.

Signing off,

Alexander Yuen (iPad Magician)

Imagination and the Child

Seems like an odd title to use for a blog post isn't it? Let me dwell more into this since this this post was inspired by a recent performance I did.

It was not my usual high-end corporate event, it was a 9 year old boy's birthday party. For the most parts, I always reject birthday parties for children because my show is not a kids magic show where children would be screaming and laughing at colorful, silly things.

However, I took up this party because the boy's mom tried really hard to convince me that her son is a huge fan of my magic, and had watched all my videos and would be so so happy if I could come to his birthday party to perform. While I was not fully convinced that I would have a "huge fan", I really wanted to also meet the boy who sat through "all" my videos.

I met the pleasant birthday boy, he was very polite and well mannered. I could see his face light up every time something amazing happened. I could see that in his mind, he was imagining the endless possibilities that magic could bring. It was a beautiful moment for me.

When I went to my 3rd act, this boy literally recited the lines I had for that piece of magic even before I said it. I was impressed and honestly quite surprised. This boy did watch all my videos and even memorized some of the lines to heart :)

At the end of my show, I gave him the lightbulb that I made appear from the iPad. He held it in his hands as if it was a fragile bird, with great care.

And I know that if I could inspire one child to innovate and never stop imagining, the future would be a brighter place. 

Here is what his mother had to say at the end of the performance:

"Dear Alexander

Thank you for your kind text, really appreciated and we were all enthusiastic about your show, kids, in particular P, spoke about your talent with everybody until evening. For sure next time we’ll do a show for adults, we’re thinking at a private event at home with all our friends so I’ll be delighted to keep in touch with you. Congratulations again and thank you for making P’s birthday party a special and magic moment for all of us"

Always a special thing to bring joy for a child of all ages. 

Yours sincerely,

Alexander Yuen

Booked by International Luxury Brands: iPad Magic for Moet & Chandon

Peers and laymen often ask me how I get booked by luxury brands like LVMH, Kenzo, Heineken, F1 Paddock Suite, Hennessy, Roger Dubuis, Mercedes Benz and most recently, Moet and Chandon.  

The truth is, I work really hard on creating original content and present them in a manner as original as possible. When compared to other magicians who are trying to intimate the same thing, these discerning high end brands have a keen eye on originality. 

There is no easy way to stay original, more often than not, young magicians who have just started out often copy successful magicians. While they might claim to be original by changing superficial features of their act, like the color of the prop, the bulk of their work is stolen (or as they claim, inspired by) from their predecessors. 

In contrast, it is an uphill challenge to create and innovate being the first-mover, since it is so much easier to copy and intimate the works off the originator. 

Despite these challenges, I have been very fortunate that the high-end brands still recognizes the quality of my work and trust me with their prestigious products for a magic launch. Most recently, I was flown to Colombo to do a session for Moet & Chandon's prestigious guests comprising of the top executives of Hennessy and Moet & Chadon, Socialites and Media. 

The event was a huge success with an the guests were left with an experience like no other. They even requested for an encore performance at the end of the night which I abide to. 

This event was also covered by the local newspapers like The Sunday Times and Esteem Magazine with a special mention of my magic.

All in all, more than just having original materials, I can pat myself on the back for doing a fantastic job. Here is a raving review from the organizer herself:

"Dear Alexander,

Hope you landed safely in Singapore. Just wanted to say THANK YOU. You were the star at our event and our guests absolutely loved you. Your performance was a total hit in Colombo and we have had three inquiries this morning!

Thank You Alexander. Even the media was thrilled to interview you and they called us this morning and complimented your act. We will try secure more events for you in the near future and be in touch with your shortly.

Once again THANK YOU! It was an absolute pleasure to work with you and we look forward to seeing you again in Sri Lanka in the near future.

Warm regards,

Organizer of the Moet & Chandon Event"

 

So it does pay to innovate and be original ;)

Signing off,

Alexander Yuen 

Asia's Top iPad Magician

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Alexander Y. is Asia’s Top iPad Magician, who has been invited performing in several countries such as Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, India. He is often sought after by clients who wants their brand stories to be told in a fun, engaging and memorable way. While his work is often copied by others, he is unfettered by them as he knows that they can never copy his style.

For any enquiries, do contact him at alexander@ipadmagician.org