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All the people ask me where I buy my magic from. Do I get it local? Online? Sadly there’s no real magic shop in Kelowna. If you’re just looking for some beginner tricks then you do have some local options.

1) Kelowna Costume used to have a small shelf of beginner magic tricks. I don’t know if they still have it anymore, but it worth a shot. They also have top hats, capes, and things like that for kids.

2) If you’re looking for magic theme goodie bags for a birthday party then you can order some from me when booking a magic show (I also have Ali K. Zam Official Magicians Wand’s)

3) Check your local dollar store. Don’t get the little boxes that have like 10 tricks in them for $1 though, the tricks are poorly made and often don’t even work properly, instead get the ones that are $1/each.

4) If you check Zellers or Walmart they sometimes have like 30 piece magic sets. There’s also Loadza Toyz in Orchard Park Mall that has some magic tricks and puzzles.

If you’re looking for some intermediate to professional magic and some quality made props then you have to go online. Don’t worry though, there’s lots of great online magic shops and many offer either major discounts, or free shipping.

1) In Vancouver (On Granville) there’s Clownin’ Around Magic
Not very good for online shopping, but if you call them you can find out what they have in stock.

2) In Calgary there’s The Vanishing Rabbit (Discount for IBM members)

3) My favorite place to shop online without a doubt is The Magic Depot
They have free shipping on orders over $40 (Who orders less than that anyways?), their website is pretty slick, and did I mention that they have the BEST customer service around? Its true!

4) The rest of the time I order magic online, I get it directly from different magic inventors. If anybody needs help finding something online, just let me know by email or on in the comments and I’ll try my best to help you out.

Kind of neat trick. I’m too lazy to try it out myself, but here’s a cool video below of somebody trying this little experiment. This could actually be a fun activity at a birthday party for kids.

I got this from boingboing.

Cirque du Soleil of course! Last night my girlfriend and I went to go see the show “Saltimbanco” at Prospera Place. It was the second best live show I’ve ever seen (Mark Kalin and Jinger’s Magic Show being 1st)

The entire show from start to finish was just amazing. On one side of me was a mom and her 4 year old, and on the other side was a 30 year old girl and her date, and it was amazing to see both of them react in exactly the same way.

I’ve listened to Cirque music before and I’ve never really been impressed by it, but during the show it creates the perfect mood. The sets, the music, the choreography, all of it was just wonderful! My favorite part of the show was when a clown pulled somebody up from the audience and did a “do as I do” pantomime routine. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard before, i was in stitches for a solid 10 minutes.

[Left: This was my favorite costume from the show. Love it!]

At the end of August my girlfriend and I are going to goto Vegas, and now I’m pretty sure that we need to go see “O” while we’re there. I’ve had so many people say to me “Oh you’re going to Vegas? Don’t miss O!” So I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to go see that now.

After coming home from the Cirque show last night I began looking up circus stuff online. I came across this video from the Vancouver Circus School. It has some contact juggling, gymnastic silks, juggling, blue d’lights, and a really neat ring thing at the end that I’ve never seen before. I’d love to learn it though!

Speaking of the circus, I just saw an ad on TV for a new show on NBC called “Celebrity Circus“. The premise is that celebrities learn circus stunts and perform them in just 8 weeks.

I’ve seen one of these in person before. I think it was in the Banff National Park at the ice glacier museum. Instead of being on a stick though, it was against a wall and as you moved your head around, the eyes were always looking at you, and the nose always pointed towards you.

Have any of you ever seen this before?

I’ve seen lots of contact juggling, but this guy is defiantly one of the best I’ve seen. There’s lots of moves in there that I’ve never seen before either.

Contact Juggling - Watch more free videos

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

If you read my last post then you know that last weekend I was invited to speak at the BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting. My mom works at the Westbank Chamber of Commerece and she was attending the event that I was going to speak at! How cool is that? It worked out well because we drove down together, and were able to share a hotel room.

We left a day early so that we wouldn’t have to rush or leave really early in the morning. The drive from here to Whistler was amazing. We went up through Merritt, up to Spenders Bridge, down to Lytton, then up through Lillott, and finally through Pemberton to Whistler.

The 5 hour drive took us 6 hours, but we made it safe and sound. We stayed at the Delta hotel. The room was pretty nice, had a washer/dryer, dishwasher. The extra blanket for the room was lumpy though, the lid for the coffee machine was missing, and the ironing board was broken but everything was fixed as soon as we asked. The service was top notch, as I would come to find out was standard everywhere I went in Whistler. This next photo is the view from our room.

We settled in then left the hotel to do a little exploring. This village is gorgeous, and we quickly found a little sushi restaurant that was fairly busy so we stopped for dinner.

The next day was registration. We were early, but my registration package hadn’t been put together yet because I was one of the speakers. I ended up getting it later on the same day. My mom went around networking with people that she hasn’t seen since last years event. I pulled her away for a moment and got somebody to take this picture of us.

The first day started out with a lunch, routine opening ceremony type stuff for the AGM, in the afternoon there were a few speakers, followed by a fancy dinner and a few more speakers (Detecting the theme here?).

The next morning started off with a breakfast, then the first policy session. This is where Chambers submit policy that the BC Chamber will pass onto the Government. The Westbank Chambers resolution was to increase the number of campsites. There were a few small language changes that had to be made so it wasn’t passed. In the afternoon there was a lunch, more speakers, then dinner, and more speakers. At night there was a little party where I took the time to break out the magic and perform.

For For Immediate Release

May 27, 2008

Local Magician Inspires with Entrepreneurial Message

Kelowna, BC - Leif Thordarson, better known as Ali K. Zam the magician, spoke at the BC Chamber of Commerce AGM during the “Best and the Brightest Entrepreneurial Success Stories” panel this past weekend in Whistler, BC.

The speakers for the panel were nominated by their local Chamber of Commerce’s after winning a Young Entrepreneurial award in their local communities. Thordarson was nominated after winning the 2007 KEY Business Young Entrepreneur award.

Thordarson who started his career at the young age of eight, highlighted the importance of loving what you do, recognizing that challenges are an opportunity for further growth, and that motivation is paramount to being successful. According to Thordarson, “I absolutely love magic. It’s Amazing. It’s easy to stay motivated when you love what you do.” His future goals include continuing to perform at birthday parties, family events, and corporate dinner parties. His ultimate goal is to continue to perform magic professionally for the rest of his life.

Thordarson mesmerized the audience when he performed his popular “Metal Bending” illusion, where he bends and twists a fork using only the power of his mind – this routine won him second place at the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians Convention in Calgary. “The convention hall later asked me not to bend their cutlery” says Thordarson jokingly “Everyone got a real thrill out of it.”

-30-

For more information:
Leif Thordarson
Ali K Zam Productions
Tel: (250) 575-7469
www.alikzam.com
High res pictures available at: http://www.alikzam.com/presskit.html

[Performance at the BC Chamber AGM during the Inaugural Chair's Dinner]

I’m sure by now that most of you at some time have come across “TED Talks” presentations online. Below is a talk given by Ken Robinson posing and discussing the question “Do schools today kill creativity?”

http://www.ted.com A must-see for every parent and teacher. Education guru Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. Sir Ken Robinson is author of “Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative,” and a leading expert on innovation in education and business. (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.) More TEDTalks at www.TED.com

A Rube Goldberg machine that is used to squish a Creme Egg. It goes around the walls of our lounge.
This is an entry in Cadbury’s “Unleash The Goo” competition, in which entrants must find the most creative way to break a creme egg.

The music is by the Jews Brothers Band - they are awesome: http://www.jewsbrothers.co.nz

Here are some answers to questions people keep asking me:
- the ringing ball comes out of the red flipping box.
- the painting tilts, which causes the top ball to run down it.
- a keen eye will notice the egg unravels out of its foil wrapping.

Cool!

Special edition newsletter for the Kelowna Magic Club.

Next OSM meeting:
Tuesday June 3rd 2008
6:00-8:00pm
We’ll meet in the backroom at Moxies Bar and Grill
1730 Cooper Road, Kelowna, BC

Did you know???

Did you know that we currently have 30 people subscribed to the OSM monthly newsletter? Thanks to everybody who’s helped keep the magic scene alive in the Okanagan!
(Please forward this email onto anybody with an interest in magic!)

edit: the newsletter subscription has been taken out. I’m moving the newsletter service to a different company.

Download the files of pictures from the 2008 Valley Wide Afterhours

This past week I performed some mingling magic at the Valley Wide Afterhours event at the Cove Lakeside Resort. Once a year all the Okanagan chambers get together and host a networking event with trade show style booths, wine tasting, and entertainment. This years theme was “A New Beginning” to mark the birth of the newest city in the Okanagan Valley.

As you can see by the photo’s below, it was gorgeous out with approximately 600 people!

I also helped setup for the event, which was fun because I got to help people bring in their equipment with a golf cart. I had never driven one before, so it was kind of exciting.