Oscar Munoz lecture

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It has been a while since I have been able to attend a magic lecture. And so despite having a headache and feeling tired the whole of yesterday, (and knowing that there might be a jam due to the Rugby game on the North Shore), I made the effort to attend Oscar Munoz's lecture. Thanks Alan Watson for arranging this!


And I am so glad I did. Not only did having a rest from thinking about work and other responsibilities was refreshing, the magic was inspiring as was his life story. Coming from a very messed up childhood, (imagine the stereo type Hispanic boy growing up in a broken and violent home) magic was his outlet for coping and it became a means for him to survive and later make a good living.

He is an IBM "Gold Cups" of excellence award winner (only seven people have been given this award since its inception - so you can update the wikipedia entry below to "As of September 2011 instead of August 2006".

Gold Cups - I.B.M. (* from wikipedia)

The most prestigious "close-up" award in the International Brotherhood of Magicians competitions is the I.B.M. Gold Cups International Award of Excellence in Close-up Performance. Along with other anuual awards such as First place, Second place, third place, etc., there is a possibility of this special Gold Cups award being issued if the judges decide that they have witnessed a contest performance of Gold Cups quality. As of August 2006, only seven Gold Cups awards have been made, to:


His magic style is humorous and if you see the sample youtube video below, his style is that of a humorous story teller. And most of what he presented was simple (not the same as easy!) - yet captivating. And his original touches to some classics is "amazing". He did linking rings(the large rings) and linking ropes close up!  Those are basically stage effects but he can do it close up!

BTW, in the video below he looks pretty heavy but that was before he lost 95 pounds (an disciplined effort for health reasons - also an amazing achievement).

Oh and the bonus .... he is not just a superb performer but also a first class lecturer.
Learnt many things and a couple that with good practice I believe are things I could do.

Here's his website: http://oscarmunoz.com/

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