FISM 2003 - DAY FIVE

Friday, July 25, 2003

For those who didn't want to watch the competition acts, there were lectures by Richard Sanders on close up, George Parker on magic into gold, Michel on 'The Invisible Hand', and Derek Lever and R G Smith on producing magic shows, or the workshop on Kids Magic with Hilbert Geerling.

114: PAUL & JACK - Brazil - MIC.

A parachutist delivered a deck of cards to the magician and a bottle to an audience member. After shaving the back of his head the selected card turned out to be tattooed on it, I'd like to have seen him repeat this act! He did a borrowed ring to shoelace, and threw the ring back to audience member. He plunged his arm through the body of the parachutist, produced a live mouse from a card case (which he then ate) and found a signed card in the bottle that the audience member had been holding all the time.

115: ARMANDO TELL - Mexico - CD.

Armando began by cutting to the four queens, then did the Hot Shot Cut and found a signed card by catching it between two of the queens. He did an "invisible" Hot Shot Cut, changed an Ace to the selected card and back as though it was a visual "flashback", then did a four ace production and the ambitious card. He was a good mechanic though not 100% clean. He also took a photo of the audience for posterity.

116: ANTONIO ROMERO - Spain - MIC & IN.

He also took a photo of the audience, as well as a photo of the spectator that ended up appearing in his wallet. He did a three coin vanish and a cups and balls with clear cups - but the centre cup was covered by a paper wrapper.

117: TRICKY NIKI - Austria - CD.

Niki opened by starting to take a photo of the audience then said "Oh, has that already been done?" He restored a card without tearing it, then made another in-joke by displaying a card inside a bottle. He did a backflip off the stage into the audience, then did Triumph, caused a blue deck to turn red because of the camera flash, did card in mouth (with touches of Hobson) and finished off by returning the spectator's watch just before his time ran out.

118: JASON LATIMER - USA - MIC & INV.

Clear glass cups were produced from an empty box. Jason then proceeded to blow everyone away with an artistic rendition of the cups and balls done to music… using totally clear cups. This very precise technical demonstration concluded with the production of large crystal balls and the finale where it was shown that the cups were now solid glass.

119: ANATOLI KARTASHKIN - Russia - CD.

Four aces were put into the deck, he dropped a lot of cards (but had spare cards ready tucked under the edge of the close up mat… he expected to drop cards and still entered FISM?) Who knows what he was going to do, the red light came on early in his act and he was disqualified.

120: DR SZABO - Hungary - CD & IN.

Dr Szabo unrolled his close up mat to reveal a spread of cards already lying there. He did the ambitious card, turnover queens which turned into aces, he produced blackjack hands which turned into royal flushes, then he tried to show that the whole deck was in order but he'd run over time and had to finish.

121: ALDO DUCE - Chile - PAR.

Aldo got a spectator on stage, then proceeded to ignore the audience and work only to this one person. He made his credit card fly (badly) then destroyed it and found it in a sealed plastic bag of mustard. Yes, the card was returned to the spectator covered in mustard. He treated his volunteers badly, giving a lady an exploding pen with which to sign a card, which he found in a bottle. His tricks may have been good, but who cares?

122: ALVARO QUEVEDO - Chile - CD.

Alvaro cut to the aces, which changed to kings under cover of a wipe of his hand, the four kings were signed and returned to the deck and found again. He made four piles of cards, found the four aces, the cards were back in new deck order. He didn't have a great presentation and kept using technical terms "As you can see I'm not using any controls".

123: ARTHUR - Brazil - MIC.

Arthur came on as "An Addicted" (we knew that because a guy came on with him dressed as a robot and held up a sign). It appeared that we were sharing in a cigarette or drug addict's hallucinations. More a stage show than a close up act… well, in scale not in quality. The judge's saw his act as a good argument against drugs and just said no. He was disqualified after a few minutes of tripping.

124: LODEWIJK DE WIDT - The Netherlands - CD & IN.

Lodewijk used the jokers to find four selected cards, then the jokers changed into the selected cards then back to jokers. He did tend to sniff a lot during his act, so his nose became a sort of running joke that was very distracting. The signed card ended up as the reversed card in a pocketed deck.

125: MARIO BOVE - Italy - CD.

Mario used computer patter to produce the aces, which then vanished from four piles and were found again, one by one, in the deck. He explained "The four nines have INCREDIBLE powers" but all they did was change places with the aces.

126: FERENC GALAMBOS - Hungary - MIC.

Ferenc performed a very good act choreographed to the music '77 Sunset Strip'. He was nicely attired and his props looked good, but we did see too much of the top of his head as he concentrated on the objects on his table. He did the cups and balls, he manipulated the aces, and the coloured cards all turned blank in a beautiful sequence. He also did the rarely seen four little ball trick and concluded with a coin matrix. A nice touch was his close up table which was angled so we could all see its' surface.

127: CHOI HYUN-WOO - Korea Republic - MIC.

Really cute little act. A story about "The Little Mermaid" done to music with cups and balls underwater (that's right, in a fish tank) which was in black light (hard to see) with final loads being fish. He did a card routine with Little Mermaid pictures, where the cards turned blank, then where spread to show the words "KISS ME", and then "I LOVE YOU". The finale was the inflation of a huge, plastic blow up "Little Mermaid". His performance was very "over the top" and he seemed extremely excited to be there. I'd love to see him take this act table to table in a restaurant. Perhaps it would have been better in the Parlour category.

128: JAN DITGEN - Germany - IN.

Very clever, entertaining and funny book test. Jan asked a volunteer on stage to choose any one of three books (the volunteer challenged him to work from two, and he did). Due to eating special "knowledge cookies", Jan could answer any question the volunteer could make up from any information in the books. The volunteer asked a number of questions that required factual answers from the magician. Jan was right EVERY time. He proved the information was in the cookies by having the volunteer eat one - and the volunteer was right when asked a question from the huge book. Apparently the trick involves no electronics, only one person, and it's "all in the books". The invention is brilliant. Not for sale! He got a standing ovation!

129: FERENC GALAMBOS - Hungary - IN.

Ferenc presented his invention where he could identify which envelope contains a selected card.

130: CHRISTIAN ENGBLOM - Finaland - IN.

Christian demonstrated a move he'd come across called "The Anti Faro". Somehow, by just springing the cards, he was able to un-faro them. An amazing move, but it took him four years to master!

LUNCH BREAK

After lunch there were lectures by David Williamson on… (who knows?), Manuel Muerte on close up, Amos Levkovitch on doves, and Johnny Thompson again filling in for Aldo Colombini, or the workshop Magic, Medicine and Humour with Dr Jaishen Rajah.

131: ROYCE - The Netherlands - SI.

Overall, this act was poorly performed. His candles didn't light, but he performed the act as if they had, blowing out unlit candles. He performed huge "Linking Padlocks", which didn't psychologically work, as we all know that locks can be unlocked. Illusions were performed badly, except for the mirror penetration which produced an excellent visual with the magician "stuck" halfway through, but Royce tipped the method when getting out of it.

132: MAGICAL EMOTIONS - Germany - GM.

This act featured two characters with full puppet-like head masks. It had a "Once Upon a Time" youth to aging theme. It was an original, interesting story, but with no strong magic.

133: LIN BIN - China - MAN.

Skilful card manipulation, although every steal was obvious. Good card magic at first, but the act turned into an acrobatic display and the magic was lost.

134: JANDRO - Spain - GM.

Comedy illusion act. Strange, but cute, could be tighter. Jandro cracked his neck, hit himself on the head with an ironing board until his head vanished, opened a "do not open" box and wrestled with a wild animal. He was pulled into the box, struggled, and pulled himself out in tattered clothing. The box opened and we saw nothing inside, then he pulled out a six foot yellow bird puppet. Very different.

135: CARLOS HILSDORF - Brazil - MAN.

Carlos did a dove and candle act, but he mistreated birds so badly as he shoved them into his table that the audience booed and hissed and the judge's red light came on. He was disqualified.

135: TIPHAINE - France - GM.

Weak act about a burglary in a museum. The lady magician changed from robber to security guard to a suited woman to an elegantly dressed woman, all the while magical producing and replacing the stolen items of modern art. It was unclear as to why the final two costume changes occurred.

136: ANDY HAUSSLER - Germany - MM.

Andy began by naming the day of the week of any named dates, the explained he was going to do the Knight's Tour, but finish at any square called for. He explained "What I am about to do is impossible." It was. He couldn't do it… and he ran out of time.

137: MIKI UETANI - Japan - GM.

A lady magician who performed three costume changes. Technically poor magic and some effects just didn't work. She produced roses, silks, silk fountains, did a zombie flower, and produced more bouquets.

138: LAMBERTINI - Argentina - GM.

Lambertini performed his act to "Hooked on Classics" and produced batons, musical notes, mouth organs, trumpets and doves. His props were nice and bright, and there was some clever card work, but the lighting was too low. Oddly though, he did pretend to play a recorder while holding it like a flute.

139: LOKI - England - GM.

Bright fluorescent props with an interesting "Nightmare Before Christmas" look. He threw the dancing cane around so much that it lost its' magic quality. He did a nice musical note production, the appearance of a violin and a card stab with its' bow, and a colouring/music book. His torn and restored sheet music ended in a snowstorm and, as a nice touch, he produced a snowstorm in a glass ball as his finale.

140: ROLF REINER - Brazil - GM.

Very average act. More puppetry than magic. His zombie tie comes alive and becomes a little comical. A nice idea but it went way too long.

141: KEIKO MUTO - Japan - MAN.

Very nicely performed magic. Elegant, with a couple of surprises: her earrings appeared, disappeared and were manipulated, she produced small bells, and worked with fans and umbrellas. It would have been good to end with a costume change due to the nature of the act.

142: ROBERT JAGERHORN - Finland - PAR.

Scene played out in an aeroplane. Robert began in his seat, but went to the bathroom to tidy up. Magic was done with his tie, toothbrush, toothpaste, shoes, toilet, bottle of water, and climax as he fell into the toilet and emerged in a basketball outfit and produced a basketball from his briefcase. Funny and well structured.

143: JORGEN FEVRE - Denmark - GM.

Colour changing cane. Colour changing silk. Colour changing cane. 20th century silks. Billiard Ball productions. Rings… Old fashioned act, very dated and performed very seriously.

144: CYRIL & JANE - Japan - GM.

Cyril & Jane were fresh and up to date. In a modern setting Cyril produced canes and money, then performed card manipulation to Sting's "Shape Of My Heart". The bulb in his lamp failed and caused Cyril to check the cord. This resulted in a nice performance of Pavel's Walking Knot.

145: ARSENE LUPIN - Poland - GM & IN.

Arsene has a unique casual style and he began by demonstrating an interesting block effect, which concluded with the baby gag. Then, as a tribute to his friend Peter Pit, Arsene did the Pit Sit but took it several steps further by producing chair after chair. The multiple chair productions were motivated by his desire to see more of his assistant who seemed to strip every time she came on to take another chair away. As a finale, he even multiplied his assistant.

146: KAMYLEON - France - GM.

This act definitely had a "Sylvester the Jester" look. Lots of sight gags and fun visuals complete with a body twister, compressor, several costume changes and an exploding lightbulb that changed into a glowing heart at the end. Cute little routine with engaging characters.

147: RICHARD FORGET - USA - GM.

Richard began at the phone booth waiting for his girlfriend to return his call. He manipulated with hands, phones, lamps and did an amazing zombie with fire. This well presented act concluded with the production of a girl.

Friday night concluded with a Gala Show hosted by Topas, who did a great job, especially when the power went out at one stage. Ger Copper presented a very good black light act. Antje Pode juggled suitcases with her feet in a well staged scenario. Raymond Crowe performed his 8 ball tango and his hand shadows (which got a strong crowd reaction). Philippart & Anja performed a very visual sawing in half. Topas presented his toy act that involved the appearance of a radio controlled plane which flew out above the audience. The Great Thomsoni & Co performed their classic act. Sylvester the Jester did a very interesting set that many people seemed to have trouble warming to. Philippart & Anja returned with an Impaled on a huge power socket. Irina from Moscow performed her act from the last FISM competition. Jan Rouven finished off the night with a series of large scale illusions including the Drill of Death (made infamous by Melinda).

The night kicked on with Bar Magic and tonight's feature show was Freestyle Magic with Maarten & Otto. This was possibly the only lowlight of the convention. The show featured heavily gay overtones, people on the toilet, simulated oral sex… it was designed to shock, but not entertain. Most of the crowd left before the show was over.

At midnight many people headed upstairs to see the final session of The Nocturnal Trio