Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Liu Chien

For the past few months, I often find myself glued to Channel 56 for the Magic Show. One of the judges, Liu Chien left a very deep impression on me. Based on Liu’s performances, dialogues with contestants and past accolades, I find him (among other professional magicians) to be the most humble yet highest skilled magician.

Some of the magician judges are downright arrogant (though it may be for show), humorous (but mediocre in magic) or is simply there for the sake of money.

If you have watched Liu Chien’s criticism towards contestants, you would find several commendable traits in him:

He is absolutely a master in his profession.

He takes A LOT of pride in his job and expects others to respect this occupation as well.

His criticisms towards contestants are meant to educate and reform, rather than impress and entertain, which many other judges (non magicians as well) are guilty of.

He looks beyond every magical performance and gives recognition to contestants who put in rigour and heart into their preparation, though the performance may be a flop.

He is an articulate speaker and his words are often apt and concise, backed with strong convictions.

He is respectful towards any performer on the stage even though some of the contestants are really crappy.

The above traits are worth learning. How many people, being a master in a subject can still be humble, patient towards other learners?

Liu Chien actually did not aspire to be a professional magician. After graduating from university with a Japanese language major, all he wanted was to work in a Japanese MNC or become a translator. However, due to unfavourable circumstances, he couldn’t find any company willing to take him in.

Liu Chien decided that perhaps he could give magic a try, since it is something he is good at from young

The rest is history.

Liu Chien’s career accomplishment is a classic textbook example of pursuing one’s passion /finding one’s niche/ pursing one’s dreams/ when one door closes, the other (or bigger one) open etc.

I am quite inspired by his one size fits all classic example. Finance being my passion could possibly be my next career path. Do not be surprise if you find SBC writing analyst reports on SBC!! Haha! Do look out for my classic superman logo though!!

If you have never seen Liu Chien or you are curious how he looks like and his brief history, check it out below. He will perform a illusion at the 3rd minute. Do let me know if you know how it is done!

7 comments:

Eunice�� said...

Liu Chien is simply amazing ... I have no idea how he did it also.

Have you seen this guy from Japan? http://webinspirations.blogspot.com/2007/09/simply-amazing.html

They both are simply amazing .. Wow :D

Everlearning said...

Truly impressive. From the west, we have David Copperfield. Liu Chien surely is promising. Not bad to have someone from the east to perform so well.

Thanks sgbluechip for putting it up for viewing.

Sgbluechip said...

Hi HG and EL, hope you enjoy the video!

littlecupid said...

My guess is... he sliced the bottle, that is why he need to cover his tracks by cutting the bottle to retrieve the handphone...:)

JW said...

He has cut a slit in the bottle while everyone's notice was on the handphone. After he has put it in, he declared that those are not his, so he has to cut open the bottle to take it out, hence destroying all evidences in the process.

Sgbluechip said...

Hi JW and LC, thanks for the insights. It definitely made sense, but the question is how and when? It was almost in a split second when he did it!

Perhaps a small blade hidden at his thumb or somewhere..

JW said...

It's at the 4mins 43 seconds part. The only tell-tale sign is the sound from the bottle because of the promixity to his mike.