Rating :   73/100

One day, as I was cheerfully negotiating the labyrinthine wynds of Edinburgh’s old town, I was approached by a tall dark figure asking if I wanted to see some magic. Unaware he was talking to The Red Dragon, and that he could have been INCINERATED AT ANY POINT if he failed to impress, he proceeded to unleash a barrage of close-up tricks with cards, coins, and elastic bands. Being no stranger to the dark arts of magic, I had to admit at being impressed by his illusion and conjuring skills, but also his enthusiasm and evident pleasure at entertaining. Magus Negus models himself on the magicians of the Victorian age, replete with top hat and tails, and indeed tries to infuse himself with the somewhat bygone gentlemanly spirit of that romantic age. He recently surpassed his one hundredth show and is currently working on a YouTube project to showcase some of his magic, and also the landscape and iconography of the city of Edinburgh – a city described by a BBC film crew I was once passing on a separate sunny afternoon as ‘one of the handsomest in Europe’.

The rating above represents the quality of his work that I’ve seen, and also the effort he puts into making his magic a pleasant and friendly experience for strangers rather than a case of bombastic showmanship, something for which he should be rewarded. One of his clips is below, and you can see the rest on his YouTube channel. Or, perhaps, you may be able to find him canvassing the streets of Scotland’s capital….

(for magic related films see ‘The Prestige’ 06, both versions of ‘The Illusionist’ 06 & 10 {the latter of which is an animation about a magician in Edinburgh no less}, and, most certainly, Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Magician’ 58)

Rating :   75/100

This is a must see for anyone interested in science and technology. A three part series of one hour long episodes, its premise is to explore how scientists around the world today are using technology to try and mimic many of the amazing things that nature has perfected over millennia. As one example, they focus on the ability of the morpho butterfly (see above pic) to protect itself from having any droplets of water touch its delicate wings, by examining said wings at a molecular level. Learning from this, they create a man made atomic layer to apply to any surface that acts as a series of ridges preventing water droplets from touching the surface of application. Using this creation, all of the circuitry in a mobile phone is coated to make it 100% water proof, and it’s unceremoniously dunked into a toilet bowl on camera to prove it. Similarly, fabrics are coated with it and then liquids which would normally stain them, are shown to run straight off.

The only detraction from the quality of the show is actually the presenter Richard Hammond, who is a little annoying at times, and indeed some of the presentation which has a good deal of unnecessary padding. Nevertheless, lots of interesting things in there and indeed it’s an area of science The Red Dragon has on occasion looked into himself. Well worth absorbing for any budding inventors out there.