FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

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CraigMitchell
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FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby CraigMitchell » July 30th, 2009, 9:27 am

Thursday - Blackpoo Gets FISM 2012
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So - Blackpool officially got the vote with an overwhelming majority at the General Assembly.

But let's analyse what we are getting ourselves in for...

*An ancient convention centre that appears as if its from the 19th century and hasn't seen a spot of paint since.

*Not a single international standard hotel within walking distance ( and ask Richard what he thinks of the supposed 4 star Hilton hotel if you don't believe me )

*A city that is widely regarded as the dump of England. And if you think Fawlty Towers is an exaggeration - you have ZERO idea.

*An event which is taking place a month before the Olympics ( the organisers did not know the dates of the Olympics when asked and announced that they think that this shouldn't be an issue after looking it up. You 'think' it won't be an issue - that's reassuring ) Don't mean to be the bearer of bad news - but watch hotels & airfares skyrocket. And please don't tell us that we will fly into Manchester - 90% of international flights are to Gatwick or London Heathrow.

*An organising committee who cannot spell their own name ( http://www.blackpoomagic.com or have any fundamental understanding of how to type a URL "www.fism.2012.org" - is NOT a website. To register for the Blackpool convention - you need to handwrite a registration form and send a fax. This is the 21st century.

*The organisers of the 25th World Championships of Magic did not have enough bid books for the voting delegates ( and many who voted had not even seen the bid book until 5 minutes before voting. How then do you accurately assess the bid ? ) Their bid book has to quite categorically be the worst document I have seen in my life. Does professionalism ever come into the picture ... it was a physical cut and paste color-photocopied booklet ( with the jagged lines of the cut & paste still visible ) looking as if it had been type set in 1970 ( complete with skew text ). If this is how you present your bid to the world - what possible level of committment and professionalism can we expect? But even more scarily is that they are completely oblivious as to just how cheap and nasty Blackpool is - or that the quality of their efforts thus far is simply sub-standard.

Those who point out the usual Blackpool convention as a track record ( let's not forget that China had no track record and have delivered some particularly impressive things during the convention ) - completely miss the point that Blackpool's success is owed entirely to the fact that it is the cheapest mega magic convention on earth and lasts for 3 days. Those who are happy to stay in a 15 GBP b&b without hot water - are not the ones attending FISM - who are paying 450 - 550 Euros for the privilege of attending an event in a run-down Winter Gardens.

You are dealing with high level international clientele who expect world class facilities. And are paying accordingly.

How can you possibly go from the unbelievable sophistication of FISM China ( or Dresden, Den Haag or Sweden - international cities ) to that of Blackpool, England.

Unfortunately we are all going to have to find out ...

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby CraigMitchell » July 30th, 2009, 9:41 am

GALA BANQUET DINNER
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FISM China have delivered the goods with another *spectacular* banquet dinner. Simply unbelievable. Lavish & oppulent, another beautifully printed menu with drinks and food flowing throughout the evening. Entertainment started off with a full symphony orchestra, Vanessa Mae style band and an award-winning classical opera star. The mind boggles at the military precision that must be going on behind-the-scenes to pull this off. Incredible. And this is the SECOND banquet of this level.

Special FISM awards were presented to Juan Tamariz for Philosophy and Theory ... Bill Kalush received History and Research ( accepted by Richard Kaufman ) ... and Creativity to Jim Steinmeyer.

With the activities of the past few days finally catching up ( and a welcome opportunity to get to sleep before the early hours ) I ducked out early while the rest of the entertainment and merriment followed. Hopefully someone can fill us in as to the balance of the line-up.

In other top secret news - Shawn Farquhar and Marc Oberon are in the finals of the Grand Prix contest tomorrow. A glitch in the in-house TV system resulted in their entire rehearsal being broadcast throughout the convention centre - ruining the surprise of the announcement and making for an impromptu lecture dvd ;-)

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Magic Newswire » July 30th, 2009, 10:07 am

I just wanted to pubically thank Craig for providing these articles to MagicNewswire.com for publication. Sadly, not everyone reads the Genii Forums and I am getting great feedback from readers who were unable to attend.
Thanks Craig!

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby CraigMitchell » July 30th, 2009, 10:28 am

STAGE CONTEST - THURS
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It's the final day of contests - and the past week is slowly beginning to take it's toll.

Image

The end is in sight as we continue our search for FISM greatness.

1. Andost - General - USA
Vanishing lamp to book, color changing lightbulbs, lightbulb to cascade of sand ( beautifully visual ), airborne with sand ending with flashing disco lights. Felt that something was 'missing' from the act.

2. Maia Jiang - Manipulation - China
Clad in black leather & bling, a high powered card manipulation routine including jumbo cards along with flurries of multiple card fountains.

3. Xavier Tapias - General - Spain
Garbage guy ... the creation of a 'live' character from pieces of trash strewn across the floor complete with the coming to life of a 'rubbish bin' dog.

4. Kenneth Chan - General - Hong Kong
Set in a bar - appearing drinks, vanishing bottle to billiard balls, color changing cigards, bill production, jumbo card manipulations, strange pictures of drinks on printed cards ending with a horrible production of a girl from behind the table. Looking at the girl as she moves into position is not very magical.

5. Liu Zihao - Manipulation - China
Dead pan expression as he went through the motions of the now standard card manipulation.

6. Soma - General - Hungary
Soma's telephone booth act has been featured at many conventions of late and is a beautifully executed act - with motivation. Every action, every effect is motivated - from coin manipulation for the callbox to the multiply cellphones. It's theatrically complete and earned a well deserved standing ovation.

7. Han Seol-Hui - Manipulation - Korea
Another recipient of a standing ovation with CD manipulation. Featured at IBM SAM if I recall.

8. Dion - Manipulation - Netherlands
'Spanish dancer' with candle productions, ball manipulation, fan productions

Timo Marc could not perform - his equipment having been detained at Chinese customs.

9. Elana Vok - General - Finland
Appearing canes, costume changes and a one-of-a-kind full frontal 'Sharon Stone Basic Instict' flash !

10. Qu Lei - General - China
Set in a bamboo garden, appearing parasols, flowing streamers, unbelievable production of parasols on one's toes along with costume change.

11.Matsuda - Manipulation - Japan
Cards, card fans, billiard balls ... I'm falling asleep. Some energy please.

12. Leriko - General - Russia
An undertaker wearing sequins with the production of a bizarre circus tent. Our undertaker then produces little cardboard boxes and velcros them all to his costume ( why ? ) and then promptly takes them all of again ( why ? ) Best of all - our mystery tent begins to 'float' off the ground ( please ignore the two legs protruding from the tent holding it up )

13. Gomez - Manipulation - France
A high-energy act with great poential. At 17 years of age, one of the youngest competitors I believe. M&M candy manipulation, growing M&M's - color changing M&M's along with fast paced CD manipulation. Just need to watch sightlines / camera angles.

14. Lord of Darkness - Comedy - Germany
A much anticipated act that was not funny. Although his assistant was a hoot - duct taping her own eyes closed instead of the magician's ! Set in Transylvania, the act was red lighted for being overtime. ( dear Dracula was blindfolded at the time - so was blissfully unaware that the curtains had closed on him as he continued to perform ... it was the funniest part of the entire show )

BIG thank you to Peter Din for sharing his photos with us:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40946626@N04/?saved=1

And also checkout http://www.flickr.com/groups/fism2009 for additional pics from the convention.

Having watched ( and reviewed ) over 138 magic acts ... the overall level has been way down to previous FISMs. While the number of really bad acts has been eliminated - we have been left with a general band of mediocrity and then very few new or stand-out acts. I hope we can reverse this trend in future years.

It's hard to believe but tomorrow is the last day for FISM China.
Friday's programme features lectures by Lennart Green, Rocco, Miguel Puga along with Rocco's One Man Show, Awards Ceremony and Grand Prix finals.

Until then ...

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby CraigMitchell » July 30th, 2009, 10:42 am

Here's the Marc Oberon lecture dvd, sorry rehearsal, being broadcast live :-)

Image

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Kenardo » July 30th, 2009, 10:55 am

Thanks, again, Craig. Your reports really capture your FISM experience!

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby naquada » July 30th, 2009, 11:05 am

I'd also like to thank Craig for giving us permission to publish his reports on www.magicconventionguide.com and link back here to genii

I'd also like to thank Andy Stone who is tirelessly reporting for us on the ground..

Also to Tim Ellis and Shawn Farquhar who have also allows us to report their posts as well on our site.

and everyone who's been sending us photos to pop into the pool of photos from China..

excellent work.. and amusing in places too ;)
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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Juha-Matti » July 30th, 2009, 5:05 pm

Craig Mitchell wrote:Here's the Marc Oberon lecture dvd, sorry rehearsal, being broadcast live :-)

Image




Is it just me or doesnt it smell a little sneaky that finalists are knowing and practising before all competitors even had a change to compete??? Especially in case where some competitors happen to know pretty much every judge there is??? Just doesnt feel right...

I have nothing against Oberon nor Farquhar and I have seen both of their acts on youtube and Ron MacMillan competition and I agree that they are good, but still it seems kinda wrong that some finalists get to know they are into finals before the competition is even over :(

Juha-Matti
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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 30th, 2009, 9:11 pm

I think the close-up competition ended the day BEFORE the video footage of the rehearsal accidentally aired.
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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Shawn Farquhar » July 30th, 2009, 9:32 pm

That would be correct Richard. Stage had an extra day but all the close up acts had finished the day before ... there's nothing that "smells a little sneaky" and I would love to know which of the competitors "know pretty much every judge"? What a foolish thing to write Juha-Matti ...

Here in Beijing, it's only hours until they announce the results ... but it is a shame a TV glitch would allow people to speculate on the results ... but perhaps the results are not what they expect ... then again maybe they are ...

Cheers,

Shawn
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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Kenardo » July 30th, 2009, 9:38 pm

Thanks, Shawn. Good luck!

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Tim Ellis » July 30th, 2009, 10:19 pm

The Close Up rehearsal is scheduled for immediately AFTER the awards are presented at noon today.

Why it was decided to rehearse yesterday is a mystery to everyone...

If they had stuck to the published schedule, this "leak" would never have happened.

Personally, it's very upsetting and really ruins the awards ceremony in my opinion.

I'm sure Shawn and Marc would have been happy to wait until after the awards were announced at 12 to rehearse. They still would have had 6 hours before they needed to perform again in the Grand Prix final competition...

Oh well, there's still a little suspense as no-one (not even the jury) knows who will become World Champion...

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby David Scollnik » July 30th, 2009, 10:20 pm

Good luck, Shawn. I saw you perform at CAM several years ago, and I was blown away.

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby CraigMitchell » July 30th, 2009, 10:56 pm

Juha-Matti - you unfortunately are wrong. Close-up ended on Wednesday - and all judging processes would have been completed before informing any of the parties that they were eligible for the Close-up Grand Prix.

The only way we know this - is due to the TV glitch which showed 2 of the competitors rehearsing for the finals tonight.

To make ANY suggestion of impropriety against either the performers or the judging panel is ludicrous. The jury has some unbelievably talented and knowledgeable people on it who I am sure have spent many long, long hours debating and deliberating. FISM have some pretty intense regulations - and the jury deserve our thanks ( before we know the results ) for being amongst the most important people at the event ... for without them - there is no FISM. Thank you jury !

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Tim Ellis » July 31st, 2009, 3:27 am

Thank you Craig! ;)

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby CraigMitchell » July 31st, 2009, 4:08 am

Gala Banquet Dinner pics thanks again to Peter Din:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40946626@N04/?saved=1

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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Richard Kaufman » August 5th, 2009, 12:18 am

Has anyone pointed this out before:

http://www.blackpoomagic.com/

Some enterprising person with a sense of humor has capitalized on the "Blackpoo" spelling error, bought the domain name, and put a picture of the cast of Fawlty Towers on it!
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Re: FISM DAY 5 - Thursday

Postby Kenardo » August 5th, 2009, 2:27 am

Now, that's funny! Thanks, Rich.


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