Who Are the Real Idiots?
Posted by: leodini on: February 28, 2007
As a Filipino magician, I have never developed a taste for politics. More than anything else, politics boils my blood. A discussion going into it promptly turns me into a demented carabao.
Politicians also make me laugh with their antics. I make it a point to watch them on television mouth inanities every time I need a good laugh.
But today let me put aside my magic wand. I won’t say the magic words, nor cast my spell on my audience. Let me, instead, take pot shots at politicians and the multitudes who want to be politicians. Everybody else seems to be having fun doing that. Read the rest of this entry »
A Packet of Cookies that Warms my Heart
Posted by: leodini on: February 23, 2007
Okay, it’s a Microsoft Power Point presentation.
But wow, what a presentation! It’s awesome! In fact, it’s awesomely awesome!
Now those are three exclamatory sentences in one paragraph already, and I’m not finished yet.
Here’s more.
The presentation is crisp! The message is beautifully simple! And the production is superb!
The classical music in the background melts my heart, too.
Okay, first the presentation warms my heart, now the music melts it.
I know, I know. I’m tangled in confused figures of speech here. That means I’m really going bonkers over this presentation. If you get this mental image of me intravenously fed with happiness, you have a good picture of what’s happening to me.
Here’s the file that uplifts me today. It’s in power point, so if you don’t have the program on your PC, shame on you.
By the way, to those who know the title of the classical music that scored the presentation, please drop me a line. I’ll be forever grateful.
Leodini
Something Funny Happened while Changing my Costume
Posted by: leodini on: February 22, 2007
Performing magic shows in somebody’s house, even if it’s in Ayala Alabang Village, can be tricky for me.
I’m talking about the part when I change into my costume and secure the doves into body loads.
Usually the host would invite me to use the bathroom for this ritual. However, I’m always leery about accepting the invitation. If you have been inside a millionaire’s bathroom, you would know my reason. A millionaire’s bathroom is studded with imported soap and perfume. If one other guest would filch a bottle, I don’t want to end up on the list of suspects.
So ever since, I have been performing my costuming and body-loading ritual inside my Toyota Corolla, a place not engineered for this purpose. It’s hot and cramp in there. When I come out of the car, I’m usually one disheveled, sweaty mess of a magician. Read the rest of this entry »
The Prestige: A Movie About Magic and Stealing Someone’s Act
Posted by: leodini on: February 15, 2007
Right off the bat, I’d say go see the movie. Despite its out-of-sequence story telling, it’s a stylized movie about rivalry and deception. That the story happens to two renowned magicians of their time is a bonus for us lovers of magic.
Illusion builder Harry Cutter (Michael Caine) opens the movie by explaining the meaning of the magic parlance, the prestige, to a small girl.
Cutter says, “All great magic tricks are composed of three acts: The Pledge, where the magician shows the audience something ordinary, but is probably not; The Turn, where the magician makes the ordinary act extraordinary; and The Prestige, where there are twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you’ve never seen before.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Illusionist: The Magic of Love
Posted by: leodini on: February 14, 2007
Hollywood’s penchant for magic-themed movies set in Victorian era puzzles me. They did it in The Prestige. They did it again in The Illusionist. Now I’m twice puzzled.
Still, since The Prestige and The Illusionist are films about magic, the Pinoy magician that is me went to see them.
I’m a certified sucker for anything that has remotely to do with magic. Not only did I watch the movies, I wrote a review of The Prestige. To add weirdness to my already weird behavior, I’m now cobbling my thoughts on The Illusionist.
The two films have curious similarities. Their luxuriant settings showcase period splendor: gowns rustling on the street, horse hooves pounding the pathways, and gas lamps somberly lighting the streets.
But let me dwell on the contrasts, too. I find them equally fun. The Illusionist’s setting is not as sumptuous as The Prestige’s but still provides enough opulent feel to dazzle my Filipino magician’s jaded senses. Read the rest of this entry »
How To Catch the Woman of Your Dreams (Part 2)
Posted by: leodini on: February 13, 2007
- In: Humor
- 2 Comments
So you want to catch the woman of your desires?
Follow these ancient secret seduction techniques. I have divulged these only to select Filipino magicians. There are very few practioners of these techniques even here in the Philippines, where they have been discovered and refined over the centuries.
You may not be a magician, but I’m sure these tips will serve you in good stead in your quest to perpetuate your genes. Study and master them at your own risk. Read the rest of this entry »
How To Catch the Woman of Your Dreams
Posted by: leodini on: February 12, 2007
ALONG, LONG TIME AGO, when human beings were still savages, man never gave much thought to the mundane chore of getting himself a female mate.
In those times, the courting ritual was a lot simpler than today. Ugh would simply go to the cave where Agh, the lady of his heart, lived. Finding her, he would grab her by the hair and drag her back to his cave. If a third party got in the way–say, Egh, his rival—he simply would clobber him with his club and dispose of him.
Live on Radio: Wife Catches Husband Cheating
Posted by: leodini on: February 10, 2007
- In: Humor
- 2 Comments
Infidelity is normally a heartbreaking experience. But today I stumbled into an audio clip that turns marital unfaithfulness on its head and convulses me with uncontrollable laughter.
As a Filipino magician entertaining family audiences in Metro Manila and provinces, I’m always on the lookout for humorous material. My find today more than compensated the hours I spent trawling the Internet.
The audio clip is supposedly a live recording of a wife who catches her cheating husband over the airwaves. Read the rest of this entry »
An Interview with Mr. Santa Claus
Posted by: leodini on: December 14, 2006
- In: Commentary
- 1 Comment
I espied him behind the bookcases on the second floor of the National Library. A ponderous figure wearing a red ermine-trimmed suit and elf like cap, he had a flowing white beard and ruddy complexion of a man who has had one bottle of beer too many. Read the rest of this entry »
The Scandal of Filipino Time
Posted by: leodini on: February 28, 2007
You probably have heard it before from the experts. Procrastination leads to
jumbled schedules and leaves you disorganized in life.
Procrastination is a form of brinkmanship. Those who practice it inevitably fall victim to its twin evil—tardiness. Alas, among Filipinos, this has become a hall mark of our culture. In fact we have a facetious tag for it: Filipino Time.
What is it? It is time scandalously several minutes, hours even, after the appointed time. Read the rest of this entry »