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Saturday morning started out with a buffet breakfast, then CEO and Foundder Brian from 1-800-Got-Junk? spoke and it was really quite interesting. Then there was another panel discussion, then finally the Best and the Brightest panel where I would be speaking with 3 other entrepreneurs. The others were Christopher from Mow & Snow Land Care, then Bob Wells and Scott Swanson from My Tech Guys.

15 minutes goes by really fast when you’re up there speaking, so I didn’t get a chance to cover everything I wanted to. Still though, I think everybody got the message I was trying to convey.

In the afternoon there was another policy session that I didn’t need to attend so I decided that I’d go out and explore what Whistler had to offer. Somebody was telling me about the “Zip Line” tours you could go on where you zip from tree to tree. I’d never really heard of anything like that before, but it sounded fun so I signed up for the Ziptrek Ecotours. Unfortunately I went by myself (although you go out in groups of 10), I had a blast and it was so much fun. If you ever get a chance to go, do it! The entire trek took about 3 hours, just in time to make it back for the final big dinner party back at the hotel.

At the dinner my mom found out that her chamber received a certificate for honorable mention for Chamber of the year. She was soo excited and that single moment was the highlight of the entire event for me!

After dinner I had a bunch of people come up to me and ask me to perform for their tables with I happily agreed to. A little later the band March Hare performed and they were excellent! They were high energy and kept everyone on the dance floor until 1am.

The next morning we were set to go back home, but before we left we decided to explore Whistler a little bit more. My mom and I decided to take the gondola up to the top of Blackcomb mountain.

Then we drove for 6 hours all the way back home. The end

This week I was fortunate to perform on Kelowna’s Executive Houseboat The Boardroom once again. I was hired to perform some mingling close-up magic during the cruise on Okanagan Lake for a group of Lawyers and Accountants from all over Canada who were in town for a conference.

As soon as I started performing I knew it was going to be a great group. Everyone was in such a great mood since it was absolutely gorgeous out. A perfect day to be out on the lake for sure. Right at the start of the cruise we went up along the new bridge construction and I took a few photo’s for my dad to see. He loves that kind of stuff. These photo’s don’t really do it justice. It was a perfect day to be out on the lake.

Here’s a testimonial from the event coordinator, the event manager, and some of the guests.

What a great show. I’m looking forward to working on Kelowna’s Boardroom again!!

Derren Tries to get a girl to kill a cute little kitten!

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Thanks iTricks for rounding up youtube clips of all the magicians that performed on Letterman’s Magic Week. You’ll notice that Friday nights performers, Penn and Teller are missing. They performed what seems to be their new “signature effect”. I had heard about it, but never seen it, so it was a joy to finally see it myself.

Here’s the clip roundup:
David Letterman-Lance Burton-May-5-2008

David Letterman-Mac King-May-6-2008

David Letterman-Magician Steve Wyrick-May-8-2008

Dirk Arthur on David Letterman 5-07-08

And again, sorry no Penn and Teller I looked for the clip just like iTricks but wasn’t able to find it either.

I forgot that all this week its been “Magician Week” on David Letterman’s Late Show. Tomorrow night is Pen and Teller. If I come across any clips of the magic acts I’ll try and post them.

I’m a huge fan of Derren Brown (Who isn’t?) and he’s just come out with his new season of “Trick or Treat”.

Trick or Treat S02E01 Part 1

Trick or Treat S02E01 part 2

Trick or Treat S02E01 part 3

Trick or Treat S02E01 part 4

I’m glad I found it online, this show only airs on Uk’s “Channel 4″.

Here’s some clips from Celebracadabra S01E02: (SPOILER ALERT! You find out who was eliminated in the clips below)

Here’s a clip from Celebracadabra Episode 2 speak peek: Ant’s clown freakout. As with all the clips from the VH1 site you need to be in the USA to watch them.

video.vh1.com

Thinking about Mars or playing on the Monkey Bars

After the original post on itricks it looks like there’s another better quality version of the final minutes of David Blaine’s stunt. Check it out:

Here’s a quote from Brian C. who was in the Oprah audience during the stunt:

I was very lucky to have been in the Oprah audience and see David break the record. Here are just a few comments regardng the event. When we entered the studio, the first thing you noticed was that the temperature was very cold. We were informed the studio temp was lowered to help David lower his own body temp before entereing the tank.

In the show warm up it was explained to us just how dangerous this attempt at the record really is and that it was not a “magic trick”. Then they had everyone in the audience raise their hand and hold their breath. When your breath ran out, you lowered your hand. One woman made it to the 2 minute mark, but that was it. Most people never made it past 30 seconds or so.

From the time the show began and David entered the tank, the tension was thick. You could hear a pin drop and during the commercial breaks Oprah would try to make jokes about how quiet everyone was being. Nervous laughter scattered the crowd and you felt the tension release just a little, only to build again once we were back on the air (this was broadcast live in the Chicago market). I am not sure if the tension came across in the braodcast or not, but in the studio everyone was very tense and really into it.

When David released his feet and floated to the top of the tank at about the 16 minute mark, people began to cheer him on. As the 16:32 mark past and the record was broken the woman in front of me was pleading to “get him out!” It was very exciting to watch the clock and see it move to over 17 minutes.

We also had a view of the heart monitor screen the whole time and that was fascinating as the heart rate angle played up to make the story even more compelling.

Listening to the comments of the people on the way out of the studio, I think David and his people should be proud. The comments all comfirmed that the drama was good and the show a sucess. For me, it was a great morning watching a master showman.

(Thank you Holly for getting me the reservations and puting up with nonsense.)

Very cool It was one of the best things I’ve seen on TV for a long time.

A bowling ball magically appears

Today and Oprah David Blaine set the new world record for holing ones breath underwater. The old world record was 16 minutes and 32 seconds but David set the new time of 17 minutes and 4 seconds.

While I was watching it I had no idea if he was actually going to make it or not. Just 30 seconds before he beat the record he moved up to just below the surface of the water and I thought “oh this is it, he’s not going to do it”. He managed to break the record though and last a bit longer. David was even really impressed with himself because his heart rate was so much faster than what he’s used to. He said he was nervious about the audience and being aware of breaking the record. I’m glad he was able to do it, I find his stunts inspirational.

You can read more on about.com, Reuters and Oprah.com.

Coins magically fly from one hand to another…