FISM 2003 - DAY FOUR

Thursday, July 24, 2003

This morning, some went off to see lectures by Jay Sankey on comedy, Jon Allen on close up and stand up, Boris Wild on close up, and Johnny Thompson filling in for Aldo Colombini, or the workshop on Kids Magic hosted by Magician Carlijn. Others headed into the close up room for some more of the competition:

82: MAGREE - Switzerland - CD.

A card was signed, and Magree vanished a staple (possibly the ultimate in Micro Magic), and the signed card was found stapled to his business card. He performed an ambitious card routine with very clever locations and use of musical accents, but his personality wasn't quite there. The shuffled deck returned to new deck order, Magree walked off stage leaving the volunteers alone, but came back to do a reprise, producing another deck of cards and a violin, then left the stage again with the volunteers still waiting for direction.

83: OS 4 DE PAU - Portugal - CD.

A clever theatrical four person team of magicians, obviously inspired by The Flicking Fingers. A card was signed, lost and then found in a spectator's mouth. Then a professor came on stage and "explained" how the trick was done. Then they did a bullet into card, and also explained that, with tragic consequences. They did a knife thru arm, an exploding lightbulb, and a card ended up in a bottle of water. Good ideas, but a little rough, it looked more like a MagicSports game than a finished routine.

84: J PHILIPPE MICHEL - Spain - CM.

Balloon twisting and playing cards. A fatal combination. He did a great sight gag making a rubber glove into a shark, then went fishing for a signed card (very nice variation on a classic effect). He did a lot of balloon blowing and twisting as the next card was found in balloon dog. The balloon dog was burst, then restored a la Jeff Hobson's method, but he didn't show the paper bag empty before he put the broken dog into it…

85: ROB MOLLIEN - The Netherlands - MIC.

Rob told the story of a "shy, ugly little boy" as he presented some extreme dice stacking. First he stacked 4, then 6, then 10, and finally "went for the record" by stacking a tower of 20 dice! He did include some magic as he vanished some dice, and produced a bottle of drink and a glass from a dice cup. As a beautiful, magical kicker, he snapped fingers and all of the towers fell down on cue.

86: GREGORY WILSON - USA - CD.

Gregory returned with the act that got him a tied third place at the last FISM. Using the premise that card tricks are his job, and the table is his office, he produced a cup of coffee from a card case. He found the four aces and vanished the deck, which reappeared in the case, and then did an unbelievably clean single signed card vanish which reappeared in a photo frame. He dealt a full suit straight with various flourishes, and finished with a card fountain and a five card "finger stab".

87: TOSHI IKEDA - Japan - MIC.

Toshi was very personable and had an interesting close up stand that allowed us all to easily see his cards. He found the aces to music, did an unusual three card monte, a ring on rope which had some very strong moments, but finished with the instant solving rubik cube trick.

88: BODIE BLAKE - Argentina - IN.

Bodie presented a dealers demonstration of four card tricks: A flap card to use in the climax of an ambitious card routine, a gaffed Joker… which looked the same as the one marketed by Henry Evans, a deck which deals red black red black, then red, red, black, black, red, red, then red, red, red, black, black, black… automatically. And a roughed deck that is a cross between an invisible deck and a brainwave deck. Nothing new here I'm afraid.

89: CHRIS JOKER - Germany - MM.

And endearing, interesting and entertaining act about a young man who is seeking advice on what to do on a date. He selected a random volunteer by passing out a red heart cushion. He asked the lady volunteer what he should do before the date, she said "Take a walk", inside the cushion was a card reading "Take a walk". He got her up on stage and asked a series of questions on what he should do on his date and her answers were finally revealed in a letter to the girl which had been on display at all times. Not only that, but he mixed magic with the mentalism very effectively too. He asked her what colour tie he should wear, she said red, and his tied changed to red. He drew champagne on a board on his easel, then plucked a real bottle of champagne off the board.

90: ETIENNE - England - CD.

A lot of this act was for "magicians only". He couldn't burst his balloon to do splash bottle, so he put it down behind his table, stood on it to burst it, and came up with a bottle of wine. He did a matrix with thumbtips… Then finally, the real magic started. Two signed cards changed places then merged to become one signed card. He did bottle through table, then the signed card vanished and reappeared inside the bottle. Funny act.

91: JANSENSON - Argentina - CD.

Very poetic and lyrical as he spouted new age talk about "The search for True Magic!" Then he did card tricks. He found named cards at any number, cut to by the spectator. Then he finished by reciting the order of the entire deck. At one stage, after the audience started to applaud and interrupted his rhythm, he said "Please, pretend we are making love, wait and we can finish together."

92: TOBIAS HEINEMANN - Switzerland - PAR.

A nice idea as Tobias presented himself as a horror movie buff. After showing a clip from Psycho on the video screens, Tobias played the murderer, the volunteer was the director, the selected cards were the victims and the murder weapon was a knife. He did a card stab and found the first two cards but, after the table fell, he had no way of finding the last card.

93: LARRY - USA - IN.

Larry demonstrated a digital clock he'd modified so that you could pluck the numbers off the L.E.D. display using a D'lite. Unfortunately a little weak after Johan Hendriks' amazing L.E.D. display yesterday. Larry also did some card tricks that were confusing and seemingly unrelated to his invention.

94: FERRY GERATS - The Netherlands - MIC.

Ferry performed his magic in a fiddly way. As he dice stacked, he produced his bow tie and kept replacing it on his neck. It was a clever running gag, but lessened the impact of his other magic because I just kept watching his bow tie, wanting to catch him out rather than watch his routine. I believe he did a coin through hankerchief, borrowed ring from rope to key chain held by spectator, and a signed card where two signed backs swapped faces. (Why do so many magicians ask women who are signing cards to "add your phone number too", do they realise how desperate that gag makes them look?)

95: GUSTAVO RAILEY - Argentina - IN.

Gustavo had two inventions: An old style radio which, when covered, changed instantly into a modern ghetto blaster. And a Coke can which was cleverly modified to become a "change can" with two compartments and a sliding ring pull. He demonstrated by pulling a silk from full coke can, and pouring the sugar out of regular Coke to make it diet Coke.

96: ALAIN NU - USA - MM.

Alain did an act entirely of spoon bending (which prompted comments that he thought it was "Metal Magic" not "Mental Magic"). Many bends looked identical and the audience was not very impressed. Even though he twisted one spoon like a doggie, and another unbent visibly, it was a very average act that didn't connect with the audience at all.

LUNCH BREAK

After lunch, many went to lectures by Manuel Muerte on close up, Michel on 'The Invisible Hand', David Berglas on mystery, The Fred Kaps Lecture, or one of two MagicSports Workshops hosted by Gaston with Sue-Anne Webster and Thilo. As I was again working, here are comments "gathered after the event".

97: DR MARRAX - Germany - SI.

The curtains opened to reveal NINE extras on a stage filled with props, and Dr Marrax entered in a cart pulled by a duck. It was like a stage play. Dr Marrax was spruiking the wonderful benefits of his Marraxafax medicine, and he produced wine, pulled mushrooms from a man's toes, did knife thru arm, head twister, then chopped off someone's head Dedi style. In the end, he changed the entire cast into rabbits.

98: DANNY COLE - USA - GM.

Danny's act included two costume changes and two tie changes. He did nice, clean CD manipulation, and did an amazing effect where a photo of a bird in a magazine became animated and flew away. He did lots of flipstick moves with the rod of a coathanger, and some good stuff on the premise of pulling images from magazines that become real.

99: MISS KATHY - Hungary - MAN.

Miss Kathy was a female magician in tails, who remembered to put her pants on! She had a fly away dove, and did magic with canes, candles, balls, and parasols. She had quite a few drops, fumbles and a very obvious steal of an appearing cage. Her final effect was ruined as she attempted to produce a parrot but it got tangled up prompting boos and hisses from the anti-animal section of the crowd.

100: CHRISTIAN GABRIEL - France - GM.

Christian Gale made a FANTASTIC entrance from the audience with security guards, screaming fans, confetti cannons launched from within the crowd… he must have had two dozen extras. Then he did ventriloquism. Ten minutes of ventriloquism. Some was good, some looked like Ronn Lucas's stuff, but it was ventriloquism… Oh, he did do a D'Lite at the very end, but the red light had already come on indicating his time was up. He was a ventriloquist…

101: MAJINGA THE MAGICIAN- ???? - MAN.

Majinga began by playing a didgeridoo, then he did multiplying candles. His partner came on and they danced around. They did silk magic and a zombie with a gimmick (don't get excited… they just held it with their hands) and they did lots of arty dancing about. The audience was bored but the judges didn't push their buttons. The judges were cruel.

102: JEAN PAUL - ???? - MAN.

Jean Paul had an interesting approach. He pinned all his loads to his shirt and pants instead of his jacket, so whenever he moved, we got a sneak preview of what he was about to produce next. He was well co-ordinated with his music and sound effects, but the surprise element of his act was sadly lacking. He was very poorly received, so poorly that when his finale aero cannon went off, he turned (coat all bunched up at the back, caught on a ball dropper I think) and wandered off the stage visibly dejected.

103: DUO - Belgium - PAR.

Two guys came on, thinking the stage was a street, and they yelled a lot, did ping pong balls from the mouth (every possible variation) then started doing cups and balls and yelling their own music as they did it. They didn't seem to connect with the audience because as people started booing and whistling, they just started blowing whistles of their own and getting even louder. The judges button mustn't have been working as Eric Eswin (Secretary General of FISM) went up on the stage and had the curtains closed on them. He's the man!

104: MAKATO TANAKA - Japan - MAN.

Cute pool themed act. His pool cue shrank and he did flipstick with it, then some cigarette moves with it as it multiplied. He did card fanning and doves, then produced a full set of snooker balls. He was a young guy with a great smile. He did have a few drops, and some sleeving was obvious, but the audience liked him and he finished with an appearing pool cue.

106: SIMON PIERRO - Germany - GM.

What an amazing act. With a full set Simon entered as a bus boy washing up dishes to the song 'Uptown Girl'. He juggled plates, multiplied them, changed their colour, and changed a whole stack of plates into a small Statue of Liberty. The story played out that he got the midas touch, and soon he became successful as everything around him turned to gold. There were way too many effects to list here, all of them good and most looked original too. In the end, at the peak of his success, he himself turned into a gold statue. Finally he reappeared from the audience as the lowly, but happy, busboy.

107: DEREK - Canada - GM.

Derek began as the shadow and produced several knives. After a nifty costume change into a white jacket and hat he did a lot of productions and some juggling. He even did a vest change as he opened an umbrella. He did a lot of card productions and finished with a confetti cannon, but the act still has a way to go.

108: KYOKO - Japan - GM.

As the curtain rose to reveal this Japanese female magician posed in black leather with a matching cowboy hat, the crowd went wild. Her magic was good, but failed to live up to the initial impact of her entrance. She multiplied guns, cards, roses and used bullets as thimbles. Her glittery tube top changed colour several times and she did a torn and restored poster of a wanted criminal who, when restored, was in handcuffs. She had a few fumbles but generally performed with the style of a fashion model.

109: WAVE- Germany - MAN.

This act had games as its' theme. He produced a games book, used chess pawns as thimbles, molded billiard balls into the shape of a man, and did some card manipulation. He also had a huge chess set and caused pieces to appear, disappear and move about. The act was very clever, but unfortunately some of the moves were just too obvious.

110: AIKA - Japan - GM.

Another Christmas act! Aika began as a "little match girl" character with multiplying candles then, thanks to a snowstorm-blowing Christmas tree, became Mrs Santa. She did multiplying balls with Christmas tree ornaments, produced silver playing cards (as hard to see as CDs), produced stars for the tree, lots of tinsel, and finished off magically changing into a silver gown and producing a cake with burning candles. The choice of music ('SOS' by Abba) added to the oddness of this quirky act.

111: KEN BARDOWICKS - Germany - PAR.

Ken presented a great corporate routine where he gave a speech on how to be successful. He produced a bottle and glass, he did the Professor Cheer's rope trick but the finale was his tie instead of the standard underpants (what a great idea!) and, as his finale, he talked a glass into suicide! (You had to see it) and as he left, his glass topped table exploded as well. Very nice commercial material.

112: EMIKO IKARASHI - Japan - GM.

Another female Japanese magician, this time dressed in tails doing quite an artistic act. Emiko specialised in producing lots of realistic looking flowers and bouquets, with the odd dove thrown in for good measure.

113: JAKUB KROULIK - Czech Republic - MAN.

Jakub added a cravat to his ruffled shirt to create quite a unique look… his graceful movements added to this effect. He performed a dancing cane, multiplying lightbulbs, card manipulation, and the linking rings (which he allowed the audience to examine). He received a slow hand clap from the audience for his efforts.

Tonight was the real test of FISM 2003, the Dinner Party, this is where many FISMs fail or are made. This one was amazing. Using the vast Bar area underneath the convention centre, 2000 people all enjoyed the time together as one group. There was literally something for everyone: Puzzles were set out to be solved, Massages, Haircuts, and Make up were available free, Frank Wilson on one stage and there was a disco at the other end of the building, the floor show was Robot Sound Effects man (yes, his volume was just a little too loud to be enjoyable), there were Casino games you could play with your own money, as well as a "Cheating Blackjack Dealer" who allowed you to play for free, and there was plenty of food and free drinks until 11pm. They even handed out toothpicks made to look like tiny little magic wands! The only small complaint was a lack of seats, but the aim was to get people to mingle instead of just sit down and stay in one place so they certainly achieved that aim. It was really a great night!

At midnight, many people headed upstairs to catch The Nocturnal Trio, and at 1.00 am Juan Tamariz put on an unscheduled show that was, according to reports, mind blowing.