FISM 2006 - DAY TWO

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

(By Tim Ellis & contestant reports by Sue-Anne Webster)

9.00am - We headed off to see the Stage Competition and there were some really outstanding acts (some outstanding for different reasons... ) While we were watching the acts, others attended lectures by Cellini, Jeff McBride, John Gallo, Armando Lucero, a one-man show by Juan Tamariz or a session on cheating and gambling by Paul Wilson and Jason England.

STAGE COMPETITION

21 - Hugo Valenzuela
Stage Illusions
Argentina
Sponsor – Ray Francas (Entidad Magica Argentina)

This act was a dream sequence that became real. The set was painted to resemble a lounge room complete with a fireplace. The scene began with Hugo reading a newspaper with headlines of UFO sightings. The performer fell asleep and we were aware of time passing through a lighting sequence. The performer ‘woke up’ and saw a red laser beaming though his window. Strange things started to happen when Hugo went to investigate. His newspaper floated, objects in his room were destroyed, his head came off and then reattached itself, so did his leg and he even floated in the air. He tried to deflect the UFO intruder’s laser with a mirror. It seemed to work, the red laser turned white. A round pop-out black blind appeared and the performer experimented with it, making Saturn disappear from a picture on his wall. Hugo brought the white light inside with his new black blind and the performer seemed to attain supernatural powers for himself. He restored the damaged objects in his room, then he floated again and made his head and hand vanish and reappear. Then he took the round black blind and pulled it over himself making his whole body slowly disappear as though he was vanishing into a black hole. There was a lighting change and the performer woke up and took his bows, but the red laser pierced through his window for real. The concept of the act was original, although the performer looked a little uncomfortable and awkward having to act and perform magic simultaneously, this act has great potential.

22 - Arthur Trace
Manipulation
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Dale Hindman (Academy of Magical Arts)

‘Post Modern Art’. An original and very creative routine. A cloth covered a framed piece of artwork on an easel. Arthur entered, pulled off the cloth revealing a piece of modern art in white, black and grey tones. His movements were seamlessly choreographed with his cool jazz music. Arthur plucked a circle from the painting to do ball manipulation with amazing speed and dexterity. The white balls changed to green and he picked another ball from the painting that became orange. Another white ball was added to the mix, all the while manipulating the balls with great speed. A blue silk appeared and turned the white ball blue. Another white ball to red and he put all of the balls back into the painting to colour it up. He wiped the green ball with his hand and smeared green paint on the picture. Arthur dipped a brush into a paint tin and painted a short white line on his black suit which he peeled off. It became a card for manipulation with pure white cards, which then turned to red and blue. He painted a long white line on his jacket, peeled it off and made cards out of the strip for a card fan that turned into a coloured fan of cards. Arthur looked confident and smooth and his moves were clean. A card fountain appeared in front of the painting, and as the cards flew into the air a few of them became a part of the painting. He moved a couple of lines on the painting, took off his ‘prescription’ glasses and threw them on to the painting turning it into a self-portrait. An excellent routine, very engaging. One of my favourites.

23 - Mikael Szanyiel
General Magic
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

Mikael received a well deserved standing ovation! I can’t get this act out of my head! The act was performed in a cartoon style very much like Disney’s ‘Bugs Bunny conducting an orchestra’ piece. The stage was set with a music stand with sheet music. Mikael entered in a tuxedo as “the world’s greatest singer” (mainly opera, but mixing it up for comedy value). We heard an orchestra playing, but the music did not behave the way it should have and so begins the comic battle between the music and Mikael. The music wouldn’t play when it should, the microphone on a stand wouldn’t point in his direction until he freshened his breath with a spray, then he opened his mouth and a female voice came out. He transformed the microphone stand into a machine gun complete with a target piece and opened fire on the misbehaving ‘music’. The microphone cover caused him to sing in a different voice, he changed it and sang differently again, and again. The silk hanky in his pocket was pulled out, but was attached to a string of coloured silks ending with his spotty red and white underpants being pulled off. The microphone became a brush, then a duster, then the microphone took on a life of it’s own and headed off stage with Mikael frantically trying to pull it back (great mime work). The act became more and more frenetic. He let the microphone go and it disappeared into the wings. Throughout the act Mikael’s red bow tie kept vanishing and reappearing. It kept appearing at odd moments without the audience knowing it had vanished from his collar. Once, his bow tie became a buzzing fly, landed on his stomach and crawled up his chest to sit neatly back where it should. His new microphone acted like a flower on his jacket and he could hear his own heartbeat, and panicked when it skipped a few beats. He turned the pages of his music, each time causing him to sing in different styles. Then, his shoe vanished and when he put it back on he danced like Michael Jackson with sparks flying off his feet as he moon-walked across the stage. He tore up the sheet music changing it into a paper aeroplane, tore another page in two when a woman’s voice was singing causing her voice to warp and stop. The music continued with the appropriate male voice and Mikael followed along with a bowtie manipulation routine (similar to card manipulation), ripped off his white shirt under his jacket to reveal a Superman costume (very appropriate at this stage of the act since he was performing the impossible as a ‘singer’). He took the rest of the sheet music, tore it in half and from both hands did a large sheet music ‘fountain’ as a big finish. Excellent work!

24 - Juan Ordeix
Mental Magic
Argentina
Sponsor – Ray Francas (Entidad Magica Argentina)

Juan randomly chose a volunteer by throwing a stuffed toy out into the audience and then gave it to one of the jury members to keep. He asked for a three digit number, an animal and a country. He asked the jury members to name a value of money ($65 was chosen, then it was agreed it would be in the form of a $50, $10 and $5 bill). The last three digits of the serial number of the $50 bill were chosen by the jury, a card (7 of spades) was named, as was a date. An envelope on a stand in full view of the audience was opened by the volunteer. Inside that was another envelope, inside again were yellow envelopes. Inside the first envelope was the date, the second contained the named card, and the third contained the three bills and the $50 had the correct serial number. Juan gave away all of his props, but kept the money as a present to himself. An incredible feat. (The only way to improve the ending would be a newspaper page with the predicted date on it instead of just a sheet with the date written on it).

25 - Retonio & Co.
General Magic
Switzerland
Sponsor – Ralph Kundig (Magischer Ring Der Schweiz)

A big set on stage represented a ‘sleazy joint’ and featured a pimp-like bartender who spent almost the entire act behind the bar talking to puppets. The bartender conversed with an Axtel Lip puppet when ‘Marilyn Monroe’ appeared from a blank picture frame surrounded by red curtains. She danced about the stage and went back into the frame for a quick change into a playboy bunny outfit under the cover of two silver shower pyros from the tops of the frame. She did a dancing cane routine and asked for a drink from the bartender. He poured her a drink, levitating the glass and the drink turned to a red silk. A rose and a bracelet appeared. The lady left at some stage in the act while the bartender pulled a puppet rabbit in a suit out of a hat. The rabbit said he hated magicians and hated the jury! After the ‘berate the jury session’, a lot more hard to understand ventriloquism and no action followed. The part that had most of the audience wondering why the act wasn’t disqualified was when an animated talking skeleton walked on stage pushing a trolley full of drinks and stood there listening as the bartender tried to convince it to have sex with the randy rabbit. The audience suffered watching the bartender come out from behind the bar to a finale that transformed the little puppet bunny into an enormous white rabbit you’d only see in your nightmares, holding the bartender in what was described as ‘the rabbit’s revenge!’

26 - Senko
General Magic
France
Sponsor – Ray Francas (Entidad Magica Argentina)

Senko began the act dressed in a cloak and produced a white silk scarf, then a white cane and a dove. The cane turned red and turned into a red light bulb. He pulled a scarf through his neck and produced two doves. From a red silk he produced a red candle, lit it, then it turned into a lit light bulb. He pulled out the light and caused it to float then shoot back to the bulb again. The red silk split to become two red silks. Then two blue silks produced two blue light bulbs (one of them alight). Senko produced a lamp for his lamp post and two more doves appeared. The doves were all placed on an elaborate Greek style column framed table. He produced another four white light bulbs, then another which turned into a dove. One dove turned into a lit light bulb, then all the doves turned into glowing light bulbs. A nice act.

27 - Tatu
Manipulation
Finland
Sponsor – Robert Jagerhorn (Finnish Magic Circle)

There was only one kind of manipulation in this act. But, I’ll describe it for you anyway. There was a blue and white spot light on a darkened stage with a ringing sound throughout the whole act that almost left me with tinnitus. The performer stood still and blank faced in the spotlight for most of the act… and naked, except for a white pair of tight underpants and white body paint. He slowly manipulated one ball for a very long time. It might have been considered magic if the moves were at all deceptive. Finally he started to multiply the ball, but this had the audience looking everywhere but where he wanted the audience to look. There are only so many places to hide a ball when you’re naked and itt was painfully obvious where his balls were throughout the entire act. Tatu finally twisted slowly to the floor, rolled on to his belly, onto his back and up to standing position again to display five balls in a final pose.

28 - Rocco
Parlour Magic
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Dale Hindman (Academy of Magical Arts)

Rocco, in his unique style, did a version of his food production act and feasted on the results. He produced and munched on bread sticks, crumbling them in his hands and letting it all fall to the floor, He produced salt and salted the food for flavour, he transformed the bread sticks into pretzels, and bigger pretzels, and a bigger one still. He changed tack and took a silk tie to produce a rose from which he took the bud and put it on his jacket. He produced a white ball and turned it into a cane. Streamers were torn and rolled up into a ball that turned into a candle. He lit the candle and squashed it into a cigarette. Now he approached the microphone and spoke, but wandered away from it still talking as he explained how he can control water. He took a vase of water and poured the water into a bowl and drank from it while still chewing on something. He drank again, christened himself and then blessed the audience. A flower drooped and he placed the vase on his table, but missed at it dropped to the floor. (A trusty crew member rushed on stage to put it back on the table). Now he had two bowls of water and continued to drink from them. The bowls kept filling and he drank and drank and drank and drank. There was a fire in the bowl which turned to red and white confetti. He finished by transforming the bowl into confetti and streamers. (This was the first time Rocco has competed at FISM since winning 3rd Place in Micro Magic in 1994).

29 - Reggie Simon
Manipulation
Sweden
Sponsor – Dag Lofalk (Svesk Magisk Cirkel)

Reggie was dressed in a red and white pin striped suit and cane. He played a cool character, the music was modern and his moves were smooth. He performed an excellent dancing cane routine having the cane dance around his body as he tipped his hat in a ‘Mr.Cool’ sort of way. He took his white silk and turned it into a cigarette. His cigarette box turned into a newspaper he used to hold up to cover his face when the sound of a police siren screamed by. He produced a fan of dollar bills from a small box on a stand next to him and performed a bill manipulation routine (and he still hadn’t removed his black gloves!) He produced another newspaper as he hid from the police siren again. He then produced coins for a manipulation routine, picking up a dropped coin with his shoe. He ended the act by running off stage as the police seemed to have caught up with him.

30 - Brinum-X
General Magic
Latvia
Sponsor – Giovanni Pasqua (Circolo Amici Della Magia Di Torino)

Two performers, a lady and a man, did a bubble act in elaborate costumes. The man began smoking a pipe, blowing smoke into bubbles that kept popping. The lady moved about the stage obscuring the man’s actions, maybe they were preparing for something… or panicking. The man put on a glove and produced a smoke filled bubble which the lady caught and transformed into a white flower she put in her hair. Two acrylic balls were produced and turned into something silver. The lady sprayed the air all over the stage with a solution of some sort (it may have been used to keep the bubbles from bursting). Lots of spraying before the lady stood on a special area for making a bubble curtain around her, which broke. Again, the man tried for a bubble curtain and in a puff of smoke, the lady instantly changed her costume (but it wasn’t as instant as they had hoped and exposed the change). They both began to produce really large bubble ribbons across the stage. Some confetti concluded the act. There was hardly any magic in this act…and hardly any bubbles.

31 - Yamagami Brothers
Stage Illusions
Japan
Sponsor – Junichiro Sejima (Society of Japanese Magicians)

These two young ten year old brothers graced the FISM stage again with their ever so cute smiles and dynamism. (We saw them in 2003 aged seven and they absolutely stole the show with their illusions). One dressed in a blue costume, the other in red and together they performed a levitation over a stylized chair on a small podium which they seemed to have some difficulty with. The ‘red’ brother uneasily floated to the ground from the podium then both performed an upbeat, synchronised dance sequence with cartwheels. Finally, they performed a sword box/sub trunk illusion in the shape of a small pyramid. The ‘blue’ brother locked the ‘red’ brother inside the pyramid, pushed five swords through the box, pulled them out, stood on the pyramid, held up a silver cloth and did an exchange with his brother. Unfortunately, the secret was exposed and the brothers did their best to cover it, then they marched off the stage together. The Yamagami Brothers have fabulous presentational skills.

32 - Vidar Strat
Manipulation
Norway
Sponsor – Jarle Leirpoll (Magisk Cirkel Norge)

Vidar wore a black top hat and suit, produced a white cane and a red silk. He changed the cane to a white ball for a ball manipulation routine. He then performed a linking rings routine which was fairly fast paced, making many different patterns with the rings before making another three rings appear. He produced a card fan and performed a card routine, manipulating the deck and plucking cards out of the air. His moves were clean. Finally he produced a red silk and white cane and posed as he did when he began the act. Vidar held the pose nicely as the curtains slowly closed.

33 - Fernando Arribas
Mental Magic
Spain
Sponsor – Vincente Rafaeles (As. Catalana De Mags Ill. Prof. Y Empr.)

Fernando performed his act in the style of visiting an old cinema. He handed out ten tickets to audience members and those with tickets joined him up on stage. The audience members were to randomly choose how the film would be played out and Fernando would then play his film prediction. The options were: 1. Place (I couldn’t understand where) 2. Travel options (train) 3. Wine (Prostos) 4. Menu number (No.13 Mixed turkey bagel) 5. Price (500 pesos) 6. Main course (Pepper rump steak) 7. (I missed it) 8. Dessert (No. 73 Chocolate Mousse) 9. Amount (3392) 10. Time (8:20). Fernando played his film and his predictions were indeed all played out on the film.

34 - Alexandre
General Magic
France
Sponsor – Guy Lamelot (Federation Francaise Des Artistes Prestidigitateurs)

Alexandre skated on to the stage on a skate board to rap music. Dressed in street clothes he did an instant hat change, then another hat change before he produced a can of spray paint. He was about to paint on some transport boxes, but the spray can turned to a bottle of Coke. He took a towel out of a box on stage and produced a large Coke bottle and used his cap to change it into a can of Coke before pouring the contents into a glass. He performed the floating glass, did an instant costume change to a red and black striped shirt and produced a huge Coke bottle. Picking up a large striped cloth, Alexandre stood behind it and ‘stretched’ himself, moving his head from top to bottom of the cloth while his hands held the cloth at the top. He flicked up the cloth to show no-one was there, then produced another young man. The second youth got into an oversized fabric ‘back pack’ style bag and with a cloth, they did an instant change, subtrunk style but with the performer on the floor next to the bag instead of on top of it. Alexandre took his skate board and split it into two boards.

35 - Brando Y Silvana
General Magic
Argentina
Sponsor – Franco Napoli (Entidad Magica Argentina)

Brando and Silvana began this act in period costume, with the lady dressed as a flower seller complete with a basket and man dressed as a street hustler, all costumes and props were in shades of grey. Brando performs a ‘street’ version on the cups and balls on his stand betting Silvana to find the ball. The balls were white (good contrast to the set). The lady kept losing the bets, so she stole a ball and several personal items from the man. He got it all back without her knowing at first, and also took her umbrella. She performed a floating rose effect and he decided to give her money for the flower, as well as giving back her umbrella he stole. She mimed being pulled by the wind with her umbrella, performing a self levitation. She had some trouble standing back upright before Brando threw some colorful confetti over her to do an instant costume change into a beautiful period style purple satin dress and colorful umbrella. He instantly changed into rich colorful clothing also, very bright well-to-do attire. Brando changed the cups and balls stand into a nice park bench before both sat and enjoyed their new wealthy life. A happy story. (We saw them first at FISM 2000 where they were booed for doing an act that appeared to be a copy of Junge Junge. They competed again at FISM 2003 with this act).

36 - EriX
Manipulation
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)
A jukebox onstage played 1950’s music. Erix danced around the stage, threw confetti to produce a milk shake. He produced a few coins and then a white ball for juggling, then did a ball manipulation routine. Clean moves. He finished with a ‘spider’ (soda and ice-cream). The jukebox played up, he changed music, took a black record and changed it to blue, then red. The red colour came off the record to become a red silk from which he produced three small records which all changed to a bigger record, which changed into a mirror. He took off his jacket, produced a card fan and did some card manipulation routine ending in confetti. He produced more cards and changed then into a milkshake. Erix took a cloth from behind the jukebox, held it up to instantly change back into his jacket.

37 - Dream Makers
General Magic
Spain
Sponsor – Guillermo Alcalde Gomez (Club De Illusionistas Des Professionales)

This story of a man trying to woo a lady began with the music “This Business of Love” by Domino. The man was dressed in a pin-striped suit, the lady was dressed in a 1930’s style outfit, sitting on a chair, holding a cigarette held in a long black holder. The man produced a fire to light the cigarette but burned his hand. The fire turned into a glass. He produced a wine bottle and floated the glass as he poured the wine. He poured the drink into a newspaper, vanished the liquid, brought it back and poured it into the lady’s glass. His face was pushed into her breasts, he did a ‘long tongue’ gag, she pulled his tongue out but he retrieved and restored it. He performed the 20th Century Bra trick because he wanted to see her naked. He tried to woo her by dressing up a little, turned a red rose on his jacket to a pink silk he placed in his pocket, he produced a bunch of roses to give to her and took the petals from the roses and put them into a black scarf to produce more buds to put back on the stems. He produced a diamond ring, threw it in the air which ended up on her gloved finger. She took off her gloves and demanded money but he didn’t have any. He pulled his out his pockets to show them empty, but they turned to confetti and some money. A small snow storm from the ceiling of confetti and money fell to the floor as he self levitated (Superman style with one arm out in front). She fawned over him and stole the money as they walked off together.

38 - David Sousa
Manipulation
Portugal
Sponsor – Fernando Marques Vidal (Associacao Portugesa De Illusionismo)

David wore a black suit, red tie and white gloves that turned into a white ball as he took them off, which in turn changed into a white scarf. He produced a cane, put a knot in his scarf that was flicked off into a ball, then attached the ball to the end of the cane as a ferrule. David’s moves are very clean and elegant. He produced a red envelope with the Ace of Hearts inside. He took out the card, vanished it and it ended up back inside the envelope. He took it out and went on to card manipulation ending as the cards turned into confetti. He produced more cards and the card ended up back inside the envelope, more card fans appeared from which he reproduced the envelope. He removed two heart cards from inside the envelope which he changed to a red scarf and back to the envelope again. David produced a large card fan that shrank and vanished to confetti. He showed his hat with nothing in it, but confetti floated out. A very clean, elegant act.

39 - Dion
Manipulation
Netherlands
Sponsor – Ronald Moray (Nederlands Magische Unie)

The music seemed to have been written for this act as Dion performed a neat and polished act. He took a white scarf and produced a ball, which changed into a dove. A piece of string was lit to produce a white scarf which was split in two and tied together. The knot popped off to become a bird. Very nice moves. The dove flew away and returned to Dion who made three birds. He produced fans of cards and manipulated them. He showed his hands empty then produced a green ball that turned into a green scarf, and from it he produced a green fan (not a card fan) which was used to produce a dove. Dion lifted a blue cloth from a stand to reveal a large white ball with which he performed a nice zombie routine. He turned the ball into a dove beautifully, took a shiny cloth, covered the whole stand and made all the doves vanish.

40 - Latko
General Magic
Argentina
Sponsor – Ray Francas (Entidad Magica Argentina)

The act opened on a darkened stage. The sound of a motorbike racing, screeching and crashing was heard. Lights came up and we saw a biker stagger up with his motorbike exhaust in his hand angry at another driver (who we didn’t see) for causing him to crash. Latko’s bike was broken and his act was all about him magically repairing it. He produced fire in his hand, burned up a large ring and turned it into a can. Fire sticks turned to canes that acted as handle bars on his bike. He produced more fire that turned into mirrors. More fire sticks turned into the spokes of his wheel. He produced goggles and lights for his headlights. He threw a black cloth over a piece of machinery I’m not familiar with and did a zombie routine. From a Harley Davison cloth Latko produced a shield for the bike, pyros were set off to produce a helmet on his head, he got on his bike, started it up and went to blackout as it looked like the bike began to move. Very original thinking.

After the Stage Comp ended people rushed to see the Close Up Comp but, as the close up room only seats about 200, getting tickets to sit in the room is almost impossible! You need to line up 45 minutes before the doors open to get your ticket, then when the doors open you rush in like mad to claim your space.

CLOSE UP COMPETITION

9 - Lodewijk De Widt
Card Magic
Netherlands
Sponsor – Ronald Moray (Nederlandse Magische Unie)

Lodewijk entered to music carrying a clipboard with paper on it and he drew a box. He then pushed the box from the centre of the sheet and it became a blank card case leaving a hole in the paper where it was. He opened the case and took out an entirely blank deck. He then printed four queens, front and back, and put them in his pocket. He printed the case, and the cards inside it as well. He had four cards chosen and torn into four pieces by volunteers. These pieces were put into a fishbowl and he then took four pieces out and presented his own version of a mismatched 'Reformation'. He fused four different card corners together, including one that was face down, and handed it out as a souvenir to the judges. It was a very nice effect, if a bit angly and his whole set was a little slow moving, but a great improvement from his act in FISM 2003.

10 - Stuart Lightbody
Micro Magic
South Africa
Sponsor – Christine Tait (South African Magic Council)

This young man had real personality, polish and presentation. He entered wearing a bowling hat and offered his volunteer a cup of tea from the pot sitting on the close-up table. He vanished the tea cup as coins appeared and he went into the first matrix of the week. One coin was initialed and it vanished and reappeared inside a sugar packet. He had a card chosen and signed and it reappeared in his hat while the rest of the deck changed colour. He performed card to mouth and then discovered the tea in the pot had vanished leaving only a flower which he presented to his volunteer.

11 - Martin Kaeppel
Mental Magic
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)

Martin began by lighting a candle and inhaling the smoke from the match he used. He then held his hand over the flame for an uncomfortably long time as he spoke about what he was going to do. He brought out a big nail wrapped in a blood covered cloth and chose a spectator to play a "very, very funny game." He put the nail under one of four cups and as he explained the game in a very evil yet seductive character smoke pour out from his pants legs as he rested his feet on the table. He had his female volunteer slam her own hand down on any one of the cups. He assisted her for the first cups but once it was down to only two he left her on her own to choose the right cup. She did and it got a very strong reaction from the crowd. Unfortunately, from my angle, the method was exposed but still the theatricality of the piece was played very well indeed.

12 - Kif
Card Magic
China
Sponsor – Richard Dooley (Society of American Magicians)

Kif was a very well dressed young man who began by showing a photograph of his master, the one who taught him how to gamble. He borrowed a bill and had the corner torn from it, then he changed it into a different bill (no corner missing) which he kept. He was speaking very fast so it was a little hard to follow but he produced some good hands for poker, then had a card chosen and signed (a king) and then changed the kings to aces and found the aces in his pockets. Four volunteers shuffled a quarter of the deck each. He then took the cards back and a volunteer named a four of a kind. He dealt out five hands of poker and they got their four of a kind and he got a royal flush. He then dealt all of the hearts and the signed king was found in the card case. Finally the spectator’s bill, with corner missing, was discovered in the frame with the photo of his master.

13 - Mathieu Bich
Inventions
France
Sponsor – Crispon Jean Claude (Cercle Francais De L’illusion Jules Dhotel)

Mathieu presented one card effect. A very strong one too, that he was selling at his stand in the dealers room. He had a completely blank deck and tossed the card case to an audience member who he asked to name any card. They chose the nine of diamonds. He spread the deck and three cards were face up. These cards had the words printed on them 'Your', 'Card', 'Is The'. He then spread the deck and written on the face of the spread was 'Nine of Diamonds'.

14 - Gianfranco Preverino
Cards
Italy
Sponsor – Vanni Bossi (Club Arte Magica-Milano)

First he showed a deck of blank cards and printed them. Next he showed the backs were red as was the case. He had Boris Wild choose a card (6H) and then found the aces while doing 'Rollover Aces' blindfolded. He then produced four royal flushes and separated the reds and blacks. Obie O'Brien named the 7H and Giancarlo found it quickly by cutting. He repeated the effect as Obie named the 4C. Unfortunately his deck switch was not as deceptive as he may have hoped for, however he found the card and separated the reds and blacks again. Then, when he spread the deck face down, Boris's card, the 6H, was written on the back of every card.

15 - Hoperman
Micro Magic
Japan
Sponsor – Maki Kitami (Japanese Professional Magicians Association)

Hoperman performed to music with a table set up like an office desk. His sign saying he was at a meeting changed to say 'On Vacation' and he performed a seated cups and balls routine with two cups and some nuts. Water appeared from the cup, and then a little coconut tree as well. He was recreating the picture on his vacation sign right there on his desk. He produced mini bushes, a tiny life buoy, and a mini deck chair. He pulled a coconut from a drawing, cracked it open and his wand became a straw. The addition of a tiny umbrella made it a tropical cocktail. He changed his glasses into sunglasses and held up a world map with a spirit hand attached (at one point he had three hands!) to do a costume change behind it. Nice idea, a lot of fumbles though especially with the costume change at the end.

16 - Inaki Zabaletta
Card Magic
Spain
Sponsor – Rene Oscar Hernando (Centro Magico Platense)

Inaki shuffled the cards, then took the cards out of the case. He did a rather obvious add-on as three cards were selected and he found the aces. The aces were signed and he went through an elaborate stacking procedure before dealing poker hands with the signed aces going to him. He put the aces back in the deck and dealt them to himself again. The volunteers choose a four of a kind (queens) plus an odd card (4S), they chose the number of players (3) and the winning hand (player 2). He dealt the cards just as requested. (Some of the effects were similar to those in his FISM 2003 performance which won him equal 2nd place in Card Magic with Gregory Wilson).

17 - Tobias Heinemann
Parlour
Switzerland
Sponsor – Ralph Kundig (Magischer Ring Der Schweiz)

Tobias presented a very different act which began by showing a clip from his favourite horror movie 'Psycho'. He had three cards chosen which were to be his "victims". He spread the deck face down on a table and found all three cards by doing a card stab with the third card being found after the cards were covered by a sheet of newspaper. (Unfortunately, when he performed this routine at the last FISM, he failed to find the third card.) An entertaining presentation by a very likeable performer.

18 - Ivan Amoedi
Micro Magic
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Dale Hindman (Academy of Magical Arts)

Ivan began entering to the wrong music. He handled it well by saying "Thanks, I'll use it next time!" to the sound operator. Once that was sorted out he began his pool themed act by producing a pool cue from a flat Crackerjacks box. He did a series of billiard ball manipulations and had fun with a magic 8 ball. He used the pool cue tips as thimbles and did a very nice sequence of vanishes and reproductions integrating the pool cue, chalk and a purse. He produced three rubber balls from the purse, then three pool balls and as a climax flipped his close up pad to make it a mini pool table which was then lifted up to reveal a giant pool ball. A professional performance that was well themed and quite entertaining.

19 - Woody Aragon
Cards
Spain
Sponsor – Jose Roma I Sainz De La Maza (Sociedad Espanola de Illusionismo)

Woody began with a great line. "Sorry about my bad english, I learnt it from a Lennart Green video." He had a whole pack of Jokers with red and blue backs. He shuffled them under the pretense that he would memorise the order of the backs. Oddly enough, the sequence seemed to be red, blue, red, blue, red, blue etc... He apologised and shuffled the cards again. Once more they were in sequence. He repeated this increasing the difficulty each time and each time it became more amazing. As he dealt the cards they could change from one red one blue, to two red two blue, or three red three blue at will! As a finale he shuffled the cards and just as we were expecting another alternating sequence he dealt the cards and each back was now a completely different colour! An amazing display of skill with a very entertaining presentation.

20 - Chase Curtis
Micro Magic/Inventions
U.S.A.
Sponsor – Dale Hindman (Academy of Magical Arts)

This act involved not just a special table, but a special booth behind which the performer sat. He began entering to music (the same music Ivan Amoedi got unexpectedly) carrying a torch. He vanished the batteries and the reappeared in the torch but his sleeving was a little rough. He moved into the booth and performed multiplying batteries at his fingertips, he had four batteries and four little globes and as he moved the batteries near the globes they lit up. He did a matrix with lit globes (which was his invention) and dropped the four globes into a zip rip bag to change them into a big globe. He disassembled three torches which became cups and balls. Very nice idea, but the routine he then performed with them was very standard, the originality of the torches to cups demanded a more original routine. His final loads involved very obvious cup switches. He brought out two big Dolphin torches and placed a 6v battery in one which vanished with a thud and reappeared in the other torch. Finally, he did a zombie 6V battery which climaxed with a car battery leaping up from behind his desk into his hands. Chase appears to be a very personable and competent performer but he deserves better material than this.

21 - Helder Guimaraes
Card Magic
Portugal
Sponsor – Fernando Marques Vidal (Associacao Portugesa De Illusionismo)

Helder had a very bright costume and began with nothing more than his “mystery card” (a folded card resting under a glass) and his “mystery bag” (which contained an ‘Invisible Deck’). He performed a variation of the classic effect where the named card was shown to be face down but the rest of the deck was entirely blank. He had someone name a card (2D) and he found it. Well, it was completely blank but he told us it was the 2D and it signed by a spectator. He located all of the other 2s in the deck (also blank) and had the spectator sign those also. From there he went into a version of ‘Travellers’ as the four signed cards vanished from the deck and appeared in his pockets. He repeated the effect but only three signed cards went to his pockets, the fourth turned out to be the folded card under the glass. The rest of the deck then appeared to have printed itself and finally the folded and signed card was shown to now be the real 2D with the spectator’s signature on it’s face! This was one of the most talked about tricks of the convention.

22 - Radini
Inventions
Norway
Sponsor – Jarle Leirpoll (Magiske Cirkel Norge)

After Helder’s effect, Radini presented essentially the same effect with a very different method. He had a spectator sign a card and he placed it into a clear plastic envelope tinted red. We could see the signature on the face of the card through the red plastic. Then he had the spectator choose a card (7D). Next he slowly pulled the card out of the envelope and it seemed to visually become the 7D with the signature on it. The method was a little obvious and the audience didn’t seem that impressed.

23 - Stonkel
Card Magic
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)

This was a very funny act where the performer was continually interrupted by a noisy audience member. He began with a coin and the heckler yelled out that it was the card competition not coins, so he changed it into a deck of cards. He asked anyone to name a card, the guy yelled out “Jack of Hearts”, he asked for any number and he called “Six”. The performer counted down six cards and sure, enough there was the Jack of Hearts. The stooge kept challenging the performer to make the effect more difficult and he ended up standing on one leg on a chair facing the wall producing a glass of beer and a specific brand of cigarettes. A real volunteer chose and signed a card and when it was returned to the cards the deck had become a solid block of plastic. The signed card turned blank and reappeared in the card case. Then the stooge joined him on stage and did some very funny interaction with the volunteer and a big perspex box. It may not sound funny, but it was hilarious, and the finale involved the signed card appearing in an envelope held by Boris Wild. This was a very different act to the Stonkel we saw on stage at FISM 2003, were they even the same people?

24 - Timothy Trust & Julie
Mental Magic
Germany
Sponsor – Wolfgang Sommer (Magischer Zirkel Von Deutschland)
Timothy Trust, dressed in an outrageous suit and cartoonish top hat, began by introducing himself as a “Psychic Policeman” and his partner Julie as a “Psychic Shoplifter”. This reference to the earlier stage act of Eduardo Kozuch got a good laugh. He had a dry way of delivering some great lines including, referring to Julie as she had a blindfold examined by the audience, “She is one of those women who by her slow way of walking has made fast professional progress.” From there he went into an incredibly fast two-person telepathy act where the blindfolded Julie described all manner of objects handed to Timothy in the audience. They were very entertaining but had to end their act very quickly when the yellow light came on. Their last effect, naming the birthdates of four people, was a little lost as a result.

During the Close Up Competition Paul Daniels presented his Malini Show, but once those two events finished the schedule suddenly got a little thin for most of the registrants. The Dealers Room was closed, and Gazzo kindly put on a street show in the foyer at 6.00pm but other than the 7.00pm Close Up Gala Show for Group C (1/3 of the registrants), there was nothing for the other 2/3 to do until Stevie Starr, regurgitator extraordinaire did his 30 minute show at 9.30pm.

It was at about this time we heard quite a bit of grumbling from registrants complaining about bad organisation and scheduling, as well as complaining about the quality of the Close Up Gala and the AV support in general. We'll have to wait until the end of the week to see how it all pans out.

As expected, Stevie Starr was the 'hit' of the convention. Magicians were intrigued and amazed as he swallowed gases, liquids and objects and regurgitated them on command. He was rewarded with a loud and very long standing ovation.

After this some people went back into the city centre by train to see the Bar Magic at the Scandic Sergel Plaza, tonight featuring Bill Malone, Michael Vincent and Gazzo from 11.00pm. Since the last train back to our hotel is about 11.42pm we decided to call it a night.