Blog Marco

Where can you get access to free magic videos? Guess where? YouTube. I can't be stuffed posting each and every magic video I've seen on YouTube here so I'll just give you some pointers on who to look for and what tricks you should look out for... There are three that I totally recommend: Marco Tempest (aka the Virtual Magician), Cris Angel (That Magician that acts like a Goth) and Derren Brown (A Hypotist and NLP specialist). First let's get this straight - magic is about entertainment. Magic is an illusion - it's deception. Making things that seem impossible, possible by tricking the audience. Magic here isn't about Harry Potter magic or Lord of the Rings magic. It's frustrating when people comment on YouTube and elsewhere and they don't just take the magic at face value and enjoy the experience.

Let's do Marco Tempest first. This dude has called himself the Virtual Magician - I think its because he utilises TV and mobile phones in his act... And he's very good at it too. There was one video of him in the street and a TV. The timing of his interactions with the TV was brilliant and the finale spin behind the TV leaves the viewer in awe. I like this guys accent. There as been a few hilarious video responses on YouTube... He has this series called "PhoneCam Magic" where he films himself with a mobile phone camera and does some visual illusions that leave you thinking. He even has additional videos that shows how he did them. This guy embraces giving away his magic videos for free on YouTube.

A YouTube video of an interview of Kristen Bell (aka Veronica Mars) by David JR. She's fun.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's Raped! Like the wild title? The original YouTube video for this clip was "live! Turtle Rape". Enjoy the video of a turtle violently attacking another turtle...

Watch this Indian midget show off his dance moves in this Bombay movie. Original YouTube title: "Little Superstar". Some Interesting Comments: "A Topless Indian Baby Demi-Midget Krumping. ", "Fuck you, asshole. I have the right to my own opinion just like you have the right to sodomise yourself everynight.", "THIS IS PROOF OF ALIEN LIFE", "I saw this movie a long time ago, and that kid is not actually a kid. He's a midget.. and Rajanikant (Guy on the bed) gives him an Indian cigarette... Rajankant says kids shouldnt smoke, and the midget says, im actually 10 years older than you. Hilarious.", "oh my god... is that an Oompa Loompa?"

Look what I stumbled upon: the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) music video for Bebot. (See below) If you have no clue what they are singing about here's the Bebot lyrics and translation.

Wu Tang Clan - Gravel Pit is what I'm listening to at the moment. Care of Soulful Hip Hop streaming radio.

Here's an old school hip hop music video from 1990 from Bell Biv Devoe performing a song called Poison. 16 years on and its interesting to see how fashion, lyrics and dance have progressed.

The next video is from a sitcom called "Scrubs" with Turk (Donald Faison) dancing to Poison by Bell Biv Devoe. Who knew this actor could dance so well?

I thought this YouTube video was blog worthy so here it is. (Thanks Renato!) It's a clip off a british documentary - the best part is towards the end where the host attempts to kick the Mantis style martial artists' groin area (dick) as hard as he can. The result - no injuries. The host even touches martial artists' groin area to see if he actually did retract his dick into his body orifice. Martial arts related blog posts: Fight School - English Reality TV, Street fighter II.

A tutorial on how to throw a Screwdriver like a ninja shuriken. A skill that could be useful if you ever end up needing to kill someone or entertaining your friends at a party. Yet another YouTube video.

Stargate SG-1 recently aired their 200th episode! The sci-fi series is in its tenth season and to celebrate for the 200th episode they decided to go all out and parody plenty of other sci-fi shows and make reference to other shows. (Like in the video clip above there is a reference to MacGyver, there were also references to Farscape, Star Trek, Punk'd, The ever elusive Furlings who seem to remind me of the Ewoks from Star Wars, Thunderbirds, a poke at teenage shows... and more)

Personally, I think the episode sucked... They tried to do too many things and sometimes the comedy just didn't flow. Although it was a nice effort.

The Chaser's War on Everything is simply hilarious. They do spoofs, harass politicians, poke fun at the news and more importantly current affairs programs like Today Tonight and ACA. If you can't catch the episodes of this terrific comedy series on the ABC (Australia) - Fridays around 10pm - you can catch each brand new episode on their video podcast page for FREE! The show is produced by the team behind CNNNN and The Chaser Decides. Even if you don't live in Australia, you may not catch a few jokes but many more apply to anyone.

Last weeks' episode had them spoofing the Ford Focus advertisements where Jackie O places a dog on top of a car. They also tested out Airport security with two scenarios: one dressed as a plastic bag and the other buying e-tickets online with names like Al Keida and Terry Wrist and still being able to board a plane. They also drove a Trojan horse around town to see what buildings would grant them access.

As a followup to Darth Vader vs The Japanese Police YouTube video, here comes Chad Vader... Over 300,000 views @ YouTube... hmm popular. The video is a nice effort... but not as hilarious as the Japanese take on Darth Vader.

Watch the hour long google video above. It's the second updated version of the film called "Loose Change" and its rocking the internet world. Loose Change is a film about the conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 event that terrorised New York City and the World. If you don't speak English, don't fret you can get it in various languages here like French, Chinese, Korean, German...

I think the earlier version of this film was aired on Channel 10 earlier this year on late night TV. Anyhow, its a great film... if you're into conspiracy theories and the like.

Question everything.

The ABC aired a repeat of the eighth Sydney International Piano Competition which was held from 30th June to the 17th July 2004 last night on late night Sunday television. It showed the six finalists, their stories and their final concerto piece which was played at the Sydney Opera House.

The competition brought together some of the world's most promising pianists. Thirty-six competitors were chosen following world-wide auditions. These pianists competed for prizes totalling over A$120,000, as well as engagements in Australia and overseas.

Details of the selection process, jury membership and other information are available on the Sydney International Piano Competition website.

The Sydney International Piano Competition is held every four years, and began in 1977. The Competition is held under the auspices of the Cladan Cultural Exchange Institute of Australia, in association with the University of Sydney.

The biography of the dude, a Malaysian-New Zealander that won:

JOHN CHEN
Born 10.6.86

John began his piano studies at the age of three and has been learning with Rae de Lisle for the past ten years. He is completing his third year of a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at the University of Auckland.
John performed the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3 with Orchestra Victoria under the baton of Vladimir Verbitsky in September 2003. Locally, he has played with the New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Youth and the University Orchestras. John has also been engaged as an orchestral pianist for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and has given solo recitals extensively in New Zealand.

Yet another YouTube video. This time its a flying lawn mower.