Tag: colin cloud

More Thoughts On Shin Lim…

After having a day to think about the Shin Lim show I saw in Vancouver, I’ve got a few more thoughts. I’m still disappointed that the majority of the show wasn’t him, Colin Cloud (who did the majority of the show) is great and I think he’ll end up with his own big show out … Continue reading “More Thoughts On Shin Lim…”

After having a day to think about the Shin Lim show I saw in Vancouver, I’ve got a few more thoughts. I’m still disappointed that the majority of the show wasn’t him, Colin Cloud (who did the majority of the show) is great and I think he’ll end up with his own big show out of this. However I was buying a Shin Lim ticket, not a Colin Cloud ticket.


First of all, I think one of the amazing things that he did was do close up and actually perform for the camera! Previously magicians had simply done their act, and it just happened to be on camera. While a small shift, what Shin did was perform to the camera, not the audience or people sitting at the table. This makes it soo much more fun to watch.


Playing to the camera is a subtle shift, but will change how magic is done on projection. Just like how David Blaine changed how magic on TV is performed. Blaine turned the camera to the audience and made it about their reaction, this also made it more fun to watch.


Shin performing to the camera feels like he’s performing for you, not that you are watching a performance for other people. I like this, and something that I need to consider as I thing more about putting together a formal close up set.

Shin Lim’s Show…

It was a long day, I went to Canada and back to see Shin Lim’s show. This was the first stop of his tour. I’m going to be completely honest, the show was a bit of a let down. My ticket said “Shin Lim” but the show was Colin Cloud with Shin doing a few … Continue reading “Shin Lim’s Show…”

shin lim magic
pic from www.shinlimmagic.com

It was a long day, I went to Canada and back to see Shin Lim’s show. This was the first stop of his tour. I’m going to be completely honest, the show was a bit of a let down. My ticket said “Shin Lim” but the show was Colin Cloud with Shin doing a few things here and there. Colin is great, but it was sold to me as a Shin Lim show and I really wanted to see what a Shin Lim show was.


Colin opened the show and carried it. Shin has a long way to go to carry a whole theater show by himself. Shin’s opening trick was the “love card trick” that Penn and Teller do, which is a good trick, but not an opener. The worst part was we got halfway through it and they Shin said that he “messed up the math” and told us to throw the cards on the floor. The family next to me was confused. At the end of the show, he also referenced messing up this trick. By that point in the show, we had forgotten about that, and he didn’t need to bring it back up.


Unfortunately every routine that Shin did had something that didn’t work. sometimes it was just a card peeking out that we shouldn’t see, to the Love Card Trick that just didn’t work at all. It was interesting leaving the theater, people were talking about how underwhelmed they were, and that his stuff looked better on TV.


Here’s my takeaway, if your name is on the ticket, you should be on the stage the most. And that simply putting a camera on close up magic doesn’t make it engaging for the audience. There still needs to be more. That’s why Colin Cloud stole the show. I have a ticket to the show for six months from now when it’s in Seattle and I’m excited to see the show, and hopefully what an awesome show in that time it’s grown to!