Latest Card Magic Creations

1: Impromptu Ninja Move + Ambitious Houdini

2: It's a Zen Thing

3: A.S. Transposition

4: Whispering Collectors

5: Continuous Zen Change

15 Maneuvers

This small collection of some of my previously published works in Chinese, along with some new items will be available in early 2007.

Table of Content

Sundry Moves

Instant Zendwich – [Zeal]

Zenter Flippant – [The Best of Hong Kong’s Card Magic 2004]

Hot Shot Pass – [Zealotry]

A Shock from the Coffin

Misdirection Tenkai Palm – [Evocation Monthly Newsletter]

Two Card Transpositions

Deja Vu

Fortune favors Bold – [Zealotry]

A.S. Transposition

Revelations

Double Revelation [Evocation Monthly Newsletter]

Simplified J.C. Four at Once [Evocation Monthly Newsletter]

3:1 Revelation

Alternation

Routines

Triple Twisted Zendwich [Evocation Monthly Newsletter]

Eight Cards Opener [Zeal]

Random thoughts at the time of writing this booklet

Card Thru Table

The Visitor

藝術家?

這是和我關係比較微妙的兩位女孩子最近跟我說的﹐不會吧?這是因為你們兩個都太現實了吧? 我打算明年花些時間到世界各地旅遊而已﹐這種事當然要乘年輕時去做呀﹐總不能等到我七老八十才做吧?
那什麼是藝術家性格?熱愛自由﹐為了理想和個人夢想可以放棄一切全心全意地追求?
我又沒打算真的要做職業魔術師﹐但(免費)環遊世界的機會真的不是每一個人都能遇上﹐再說我自己也想旅途上有人作伴﹐只是因為沒有人能陪我而已。加上這次的旅程有一半也是在工作﹐也不全部都是在玩啊。
唉。。。我知道我已經26歲了﹐的確是應該考慮一下將來的生活。重新做一次九型人格測試吧。。。

有一件事使我感到有點兒恐怖﹐有天鄰居突然敲門﹐問我是不是魔術師﹐我回答說不是﹐只是會幾個紙牌魔術而已。鄰居是中國來的留學生﹐他跟我說在國內的時候曾經很喜歡紙牌魔術﹐只是後來沒空﹐沒什麼機會經常練習。言談之間﹐他突然很認真的問我是否聽說過一個很出名的香港魔術師現在也我那間大學唸書﹐問我知不知道他是誰﹐有沒有跟他見過面。。。這也太邪門了吧。

還有一次跟一個澳洲的魔術愛好者在一間餐廳吃飯﹐這是我第一次跟他見面﹐旁邊那桌的男孩子突然問我是不是Zenneth﹐我有點兒錯愕﹐心想不會吧。。。原來他是一個在悉尼長大的魔術愛好者。

最近有幾個韓國魔術師來了悉尼﹐Benny 和 Joko帶我去跟他們見面﹐然後見面時我沒告訴他們我的真名﹐用了一個睨稱﹐打算扮一個普通的魔術愛好者就好。誰知道一見面﹐他們馬上跟我說很高興認識我﹐因為三年前已經看過我在網上的表演片段。

我開始有種被人監視著的感覺﹐要顧及自己的形象﹐不能太過隨意。

2006年的香港魔術界

今年整整一年沒有怎麼在香港待過﹐ 但是香港魔術界發生的事情還真不少﹐ 聽來都是些相當負面的新聞:

1﹐2006年FISM世界大賽使香港名震天下﹐香港魔術道具參展商在會場偷拍參賽者的表演流程﹐售賣盜版產品﹔
2﹐ 本地的大學魔術會一系列讓人皺眉的不愉快事件﹐﹐有什麼心靈魔術表演者表演欠妥以致其他魔術師站出來呼籲該位表演者停止表演﹐還有什麼香港學界好手抄襲香港魔術家協會比賽獲獎者的比賽流程﹔最重要的就是這些事都在一般初學者最常去的論壇里鬧的漫天風雨﹔
3﹐某魔術店負責人在電視節目上公開魔術產品及魔術套路的秘密。。。
4﹐緒川隼人來香港辦講座時﹐拿出來讓觀眾傳閱的扑克牌消失的無影無蹤﹐以致他氣憤地表示未來的五年內不會重臨香港。

順帶一提就是有某人在論壇中談及東方魔力﹐說Kif如何長短﹐說沒有香港的行家會理會我。其實﹐香港人本來就把別人的是非當成是茶餘飯後的聊天話題﹐對這種近乎於娛樂新聞/誹聞的東西有一種原始需求。這種所謂的風雨自從我幾年前出版了錄影帶之後就一直也沒有停止過﹐多少的人身攻擊也見過。

香港魔術界常見的問題就是傾向於藏在暗角﹐然後在網上搬弄是非﹐對人不對事地作各種批評﹐包括了香港魔術家協會某部份以“正派”自居的會員﹐他們和那些完全藏起來的人的分別就在於敢以自己的真實身份見人﹐不過﹐所做的還是人身攻擊﹐出口傷人﹐這種器量﹐真不知道何以作後輩的典範。前輩和長輩更應該用成熟的態度來教導後輩﹐不過﹐算了﹐這和我也沒什麼關係。

看多了﹐見多了﹐能說什麼呢?說什麼也沒有用。在某種程度上而言﹐我要感謝那位指出香港魔術“行家”不願意理會我這一點﹐這是件好事﹐說真的﹐我真的不太願意被這些所謂的香港魔術行家們所理會,最好就是完全不要和我扯關係﹐也不要把我和香港魔術界的所謂行家混為一談。

哈。。。香港魔術界。。越來越可笑了。。。。

Guest Magician

Hi Guys!

I am pleased to announce that we have just started a special guest session with Zenneth Kok.Fast becoming known as a super card magician, and respected by many top magicians, TMW has him first.Check out his bio, and a video of Zenneth in action here-http://www.themagicwoods.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=20757

I hope you are all well!

Edd Withers
www.themagicwoods.co.uk


Yup, starting from now on, I will log on The Magic Woods forum http://www.themagicwoods.co.uk very often for a week or two weeks as a special guest. For those magis who aware of the existence of this blog, if you have any magic related question, instead of email me in private, feel free to ask me over there.

Cheers,
Zenneth

Cards You Softly - The E book

Very consistent with my philosophy of life, I have made another new experiment and this time I decide to publish the first set of my english lecture notes-- Cards You Softly as an ebook. It is currently available at:

http://www.lybrary.com/cards-softly-p-390.html?osCsid=35222babff457f9a9c19d7553548e48b

When I get back to Hong Kong, I will build an official website and make it available on my own website as well.

Yes, I fully understand the risk of e-publication and I know how easy to get your materials spread around the world for free when it appears in the form of ebook. Well, I will have to test the water, am I right?

While they don't represent my actual reputation in terms of sleight of hand card magic but I do love the materials in Cards You Softly, because everything inside are not difficult to do, highly practical and commercial, something people can actually use in their performances.

This set of lecture notes will be available in both hard printed form as well as in ebook form, let's see which medium will bring me more revenue.

Here is the introduction of Cards You Softly- International Edition:

Introduction


Spectators always applaud skills, and good skills will make you more viable as a magic performer. Fortunately, we don’t always have to be a sleight of hand master in order to amaze and amuse our spectators. Routines that are technically easier in execution do not necessarily mean they are inferior to those which require technical excellence to perform. However, I don’t believe skills can be completely substituted, so please take some time in order to obtain good skills. To tell the truth, I understand not every magician is interested in those knuckle-busting routines, they can be fascinating to watch, unfortunately not always fun to do.

All the effects included in these lecture notes are within the reach of the intermediate card student. These routines are also packed with entertaining presentation and patter lines.

I have introduced what I call ‘One Two Punch’ here, it is combination of two routines which flow into each other. Incidentally, the two One Two Punches all use a presentation which involves money, making them more “commercial” looking, so to speak.

My friend “Benny the amazing card surgeon Lau” has kindly contributed an item to this set of lecture notes, it’s his take on the classic Biddle Across effect, and it is brilliant! Imagine a presentation that allows you to have your spectator pick a card by his or her nose! I am very thankful to Benny for his permission to include this effect here.

Finally, special thanks to Joko, who suggested the creative title of this set of lecture notes.

Enjoy!

Zenneth

31-8-2006

Notes for International Edition:

In the Melbourne stop of my Australian Lecture Tour, I had the honour to get to know Charles Gauci, who generously shared his invaluable ‘3S principle’ with me:

Strong Effect, Simple [easy to do] and Small [packs small, plays big]

After some consideration, I decided to replace a technically demanding routine in the original set with other items, and I hope you can find some material which lives up to the 3S principle in this set of notes.

Zenneth's News Update 5-11-2006

Just moved from City to Banksia, which is much more Australian than the city. This comes to me in a totally unexpected manner, the rent in city apartments went up, I'll have to pay extra $20 AUD per week, well..no deal!

So I am far away from the city and share a room with Braydon, who recently just broke up with Rita, urm....poor soul, sorry to hear this.

Haven't had a chance to go around Banksia to see what are available here, I have a feeling that it doesn't really have anything, but I'll find out whether or not I have the potential to become a mentalist.

Okay, now the exciting good news, in year 2007, I will do/have:

1, My first english magic book- Philsopher's Stone published in early 2007

2, Two english, one Cantonese DVDs with MagicEast

[2.5], Not confirmed, but yes, probably another two english DVDs with an American publisher

3, Two english booklets/lecture notes: The Seven Deadly Sins + The Zenneth Code

These two booklets, together with Cards You Softly and The Seven Cardinal Virtues will eventually make up my second english book.

For those who have purchased Cards You Softly and The Seven Cardinal Virtues, don't worry, you won't have to pay for what you have already paid, you could just buy The Seven Deadly Sins and The Zenneth Code separately to get all the contents of my second english magic book.

Unlike some other magicians, I never like the idea of doing a Best of the Best or Ultimate Best collection after a Best collection just published in one or two years.

4, Asia Lecture Tour in late March - late April, below are the currently confirmed stops:

Macau
Shen Zhen
Guang Zhou
Shang Hai
Taiwan
Singapore
Malaysia
Hong Kong

Hopefully I can get few more stops, but I'll have to see what happens in the next few months. I'll see if I can get a better deal from Beijing, which I had quite an unpleasent experience last year. hmm..maybe Joko could get the Indonsia stop for me as well, that would be great if I could do it, I have never been Indonisa before and would love to visit there.

5, UK Lecture Tour in July 2007

That's all for now, I'll post up the latest updates.