issue 14 / volume 40

Abracadabra

» Traditional magic makes a comeback

=

 

Illusionist Murray SawChuck puts his assistant, Cloe Louise Crawford into a magic box // By Cheryl Minns

Cheryl Minns

. Arts Editor
Marts
@theotherpress.ca

M22“ is a form of enter-
tainment that is forever
changing, from classic magic
acts like pulling a bunny out
ofa hat to more elaborate
illusions like the work of David
Copperfield or Criss Angel.
But last year, the film Now You
See Me showed how entertain-
ing traditional magic—like
finding an audience member's
card in the deck, or making
a bunny disappear—can
be. So what better way for
magician and stage illusionist
Murray SawChuck to close the
year than witha traditional
magic show at the James
Cowan theatre, featuring
classic tricks that pay tribute
to the magic he first per-
formed in his hometown of
Burnaby over 20 years ago.
SawChuck began his
show—a routine taken straight
from his Las Vegas perfor-
mances—with a question for

 

: the audience: do you want

: tobe entertained, or do you

: want to know how these tricks
: are done? His show offered

: both, entertaining audiences

: with illusions like making his
: beautiful assistant disappear

: while also demonstrating how
: afew of his tricks are done.

: of flowers disappeared from

: atable when hidden under a

: large cloth, showing that he hit a
: trigger mechanism that sent the
: flowers into the table leg. He also :
: revealed how a double-sided

: domino card canshow a differ-

: ent number of dots each time it’s
: turned over—such as five to one
: to four—with the secret being

: that he covers different dots on

: the card with his hands so it

: appears like the card changes.

He explained how a vase

The show also featured a

: that you might think you know
: how it’s done until SawChuck

: turns around and produces a

: shoe out of the newspaper he

: just reassembled—the same

: shoe he got from an audience

: member at the start of the show!

SawChuck closed the show

: with an illusion that would keep
: people guessing how he did it.

: He got his assistant Lefty (magi-
: cian Doug Leferovich) to lock

: himina large wooden crate with
: industrial chains and then hold

ared curtain in front of the crate.

: Suddenly—poof!—SawChuck

: was the one holding the curtain

: and Lefty had disappeared.

: SawChuck went back to the

: crate and unlocked the chains,

: Opening it to reveal his gorgeous
: assistant and wife Chloe Louise
: Crawford! Lefty was nowhere

: tobe seen, until he returned

: variety of classic card tricks, such :
: as tossing a deck of cards into the :
: air and stabbing the correct one

: witha sword. There were also

: simple illusions, such as tearing
: up anewspaper and then reas-

: sembling it. These tricks showed
: that sometimes simpler is better,
: because the tricks look so basic

to the stage for a final bow.
Magic is all about image

: and entertaining an audience,

: so whether a magician chooses

: a traditional style and performs

: classic tricks or attempts to shock
: an audience with an incredible

: illusion, as long as the audience

: has fun, that’s all that matters.

 

Comic Corner: Going beyond
a cancelled cartoon

» ‘Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond’ review

Brittney MacDonald
Columnists

00000

to the Batman Beyond universe
: will be not be alienated from

: the series. However, it does

: require some basic knowledge
: about the Batman franchise.

f you're not familiar with the

old Batman Beyond cartoon
from 1999, then you're not
alone. The cartoon lasted for
a single season and inspired
polarized opinions from
DC Comics fans; it brought
something different to the
Batman franchise. The comic
series from 2011 maintains
the original feel of the old
cartoon but ina far sleeker,
more adult way, despite the
clunky looking covers.

Hush Beyond, written

by Adam Beechen, takes up
where the cartoon series left

off, allowing people familiar

Batman being taught by an

: older Bruce Wayne, battles

: bothnewandoldvillainsina  :
: futuristic Gotham City metrop- :
: olis. When witnesses start

: reporting seeing Hush—one of
: Batman’s greatest enemies—

: the pair turn to Wayne’s old

: partners like Dick Grayson

: (Robin/Nightwing) for insight.
: It’s fairly obvious that at least a

with the cartoon to enjoy it
while also explaining enough
of the backstory through
flashback so that people new

Terry McGinnis, the new

couple of them remain a little
: bitter towards the Dark Knight
: forthe trials oftheir youth.

Stylistically, the art is

very traditional, but Ryan

: Benjamin and David Baron do
: avery good job of keeping the

: dark, gothic feel of Batman

: without making their panels

: appear overcrowded or muddy.
: However, the covers by Dustin
: Nguyen seem anatomically

: disproportionate. The broad

: chests and thick waists

appear odd next to Benjamin's

: sleeker character designs
: within the graphic novel.

Asa fan of dark futur-

istic settings, I would

: recommend this series for

: fans of Batman looking for

: something a little different.

arts // 7

 

Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly // By James Fisher

Middle Earth sees
a lot of action that
leads nowhere

  

PM julia Siedlanowska
| Staff Writer

OOOO

must admit, I’m not a fan of the literature upon which

The Hobbit films are based. Not because I don’t like the
book, but simply because I haven't read it. Somewhere
around the third Harry Potter book, I left the fantasy
fiction realm behind and haven't looked back since.
However, I have seen The Lord of the Rings movies
and, by comparison, The Hobbit: the Desolation of
Smaug has an apparent lack of consistency and arc.

The awkwardness of doing a sequel to a pre-
quel sets the stage for major disappointment or
further fan enthusiasm—either way, it’s a guar-
anteed box office hit. | unfortunately feel that
the fans were slightly abused with this film.

The first film in the series, The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey, left me excited to see the next film
and hoping for a conclusion; this is something I didn’t
get. My greatest disappointment with the film is that
nothing happens! Stretching one book into three movies
in this case seems to be completely unnecessary.

Full of little Hobbits and nerdy (at times very
endearing) humour and not a whole lot of substance,
the film strings together a plot that is easy to forget
and lose within the constant action. Stories and rela-
tionships with the characters are barely engaging
enough to string together the series of fights and
miraculous recoveries by the team of characters.

You sucked me in once, Peter Jackson, but I
won't come along for the third instalment.

There is no comparing Jackson’s earlier
endeavour, The Lord of the Rings, to The Hobbit.

Ifyou want some light entertainment