FISM North America Close-up Contest

I've now discovered where all the US competitors vanished to ... they've entered "close-up" or in the more accurate sense - "parlour"

Unfortunately the 'glory' days of American 'contest magic' are most certainly over. Not even the close-up category can save the US of A on this 4th July holiday.

KAYLA DRESCHER - USA - a likeable performer in a bartender training school setup ... color changing liquids, appearing cherries, vanishing olives, under developed concept with not enough magic.

BILL COOK - USA - high energy commercial performer but by no means a contest act. Three disparate tricks with no structure to tie them together ending with the cups and balls.

Side note to all contestants - if you do the cups and balls at a magic contest you are certifiably insane or need to be very sure that you are bringing something new, fresh and original to the table - otherwise please don't bother. Same applies to zombie, candles, dove cage, billiard balls, and any other stock standard effect you may choose to perform Do you not realise ( ESPECIALLY at FISM ) how many acts the audience is subjected to ?

ROD CHOW - CANADA - an annoying paint by numbers act which I've never liked. Bill changes, more bill changes and wait for it ... even more bill changes. Please give me something to care about ... mindless fluff.

ED RIPLEY - USA ... cups and balls done three ways ... traditional tuxedo & tails, rap and Forrest Gump. A magician friendly act.

CHRIS HANNIBAL - USA ... storytelling act with appearing silver dollars, candy in a tube and ending with a song from the Muppets. Please don't sing if you can't. The motion sickness from the automated cameras didn't help ;-)

STEFFEN BANTA - USA ... a youngster with a rap based act with moves to boot ... signed card in microphone, ambitious card and coin matrix. The presentation fits Steffen's age and there's definite potential to develop a tight and enjoyable set with the right direction. Probably a little out of his depth - but I'd venture to say more creativity went in here compared to some of the adult contestants we've seen. I hope it continues.

SOEL PARK - SOUTH KOREA ... an audience favourite. Cups, balls and pens in a flurry of eye candy, visual color changes and a voiceover by Michael Ammar. Standing ovation from the magic hungry masses.

MERRITT AMBROSE - USA ... lady luck soundtrack with cards, coins, matrix and appearing whiskey bottle. Impossible to follow due to the poor camera work and black on black.

REUBEN MORELAND - USA ... here's an education. A cup & ball style routine done to a thinly veiled euphemism for oral sex in the form of Flo Rida's Blow my Whistle song. And our naive audience are completely oblivious - does the performer himself even know ? With Reuben being the antithesis of hip-hop it's a bizarre choice. Ending with a dice matrix - the crowd love it ...

Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby
Let me know
Girl I'm gonna show you how to do it
And we start real slow
You just put your lips together
And you come real close

I don't think I'm going to ever be able to look at a cup and ball the same again.

MARTIN BRAESSER - ARGENTINA ... a strange act that made little sense. Appearing teabags, biscuits, strange voiceovers about dreams and flowers - and ending up with a paintbrush I clearly forgot to take my meds this morning.

SHIN LIM - CANADA ... crowd favourite, Shin Lim, returns with his black art card act - gimmicked mat and visual color changes along with dramatic soundtrack. Unfortunately he exposes the black backs of his cards on the big screen which somewhat destroys the illusion. But the crowd don't care ... and up they get on their feet.

Michael DARDANT - USA ... ring manipulation, sponge balls, coin pouches, mini briefcase and an exposed load of a jumbo ball bearing as a grand finale. A little too all over the place for my liking.

ALBERTO LORENZO - USA ... please save me now. The stereotypical one-track magic act. Appearing dice. Little dice. Jumbo dice. Big dice. Baby dice. Bigger dice. Tiny dice. More dice. It looks like he robbed a Vegas surplus supply store. Who cares about dice?


And so ends another lack lustre day of contests. This entire convention was focused around the competition and based on the flawed assumption that there would be sufficient acts worth competing. It's clear that just about any act that entered was accepted.

On the whole - the standard has been poor. The 5 days of contests could have easily been whittled down to a single day ... and the fact that not a single stage act from the USA made the judges' 70% threshold to compete at FISM speaks volumes.

If there is a next FISM North America - it may make sense to just have it in Asia to save on the travel time for the stage entrants ;-)

GALA BANQUET

Any magic convention that has a gala banquet is very brave. Trying to feed the magic masses is no easy task ... and is generally asking for trouble.

The Renaissance Grand Hotel, however, thankfully managed to deliver. The hordes were fed. And the magicians seemed happy.

What is though ridiculous is the never ending stream of speeches and awards, honours, ribbons, chains, medals and noddy badges that the societies insist on presenting each other -- all the while ABSOLUTELY NO ONE AT ALL pays any attention whatsoever. The constant drone of self-congratulatory messages appeared to be more of an irritation to those trying to enjoy their dinner.

If no one is listening - and no one seems interested - then why do it at all? The sheer noise level with which you are competing has got to be a subtle hint that your home printed certificate for a job well done may not be as important as you would like.

I don't think this guy gets the "club" thing. It's not real-world magic performing. It's just a nice, informal way of meeting like-minded people. Relax.....enjoy life for a moment....sheeeeesh.....

Sorry.....I read this review first. So, now that I've read the other four, I'm more in tune with your comments. I guess the most recent always go to the top on MC. If I could delete the first I made on this, I would. All good wishes.