IBM SAM Day 6

[CraigMitchell]

[CraigMitchell]

Welcome to the final day of IBM SAM ...

On to the magic this morning with the FFFF Lecture Session ... A great line-up with some of magic's best - Henry Evans, Shawn Farquhar and David stone ... Each sharing some of their pet routines.

I am remiss though not to mention the great job Shawn Farquhar did as MC in yesterday's contest. He had done the necessary prep - kept the audience entertained throughout and not once did we have to resort to reading out the schedule Kudos.

The finals of the close-up contest followed along with a people's choice vote. It shall be very interesting to see who the crowd favourite is with such a varied line-up.

Dani daortiz is currently holding court in his 3 pm lecture ... And then the magic of Korea gala show to look forward to this evening which is sure to be a hit.

In looking back over the last 6 days - the organisers can be proud of just how smoothly everything has gone. The amount of work needed to pull an event off of this size is enormous and everyone has thoroughly enjoyed themselves. When you consider especially the amount of moving pieces, the number of attendees, the various groupings and competing demands - its impressive just how smoothly everything has run. We take it for granted when everything 'just happens' ... A lot of people have worked exceptionally hard behind the scenes - They deserve our thanks. It's been great to reconnect with so many friends and without the tireless efforts of those pulling it together, we wouldn't have the opportunity to share in this art that we all love.

Looking forward - it will be interesting to see if the combined model will change. The whole focus of the combined event has been the contests and with fewer and fewer quality US entrants - it is becoming exceptionally difficult to sustain.

Perhaps the six day model is a stretch too far and trying to emulate FISM not advisable. A shorter, tighter event may be the key ... And possibly allow more to register ? Taking a full week off work to attend a magic convention is a luxury which not all can afford.

On a side note - the race for FISM 2018 now appears to be on ... see http://www.fism2018finland.com/

TBC

[Richard Kaufman]

Incredible gala show tonight from the Koreans.
Amazing does not begin to describe the uniform excellence and diversity of the acts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CraigMitchell]

The results

IBM Awards

Close-up
1st - Michael Dardant
2nd - Alberto Lorenzo

Stage
1st - Hun Lee
2nd - Den Den

SAM Awards

Close-up
1st - Soel Park
2nd - Reuben Moreland

Stage
1st - Den Den
2nd - Hun Lee

FISM North America competitors

Trevor & Lorena Watters
The Reed Sisters
Tim Wright
Trent James
Trigg Watson
Christian and Katalina

Shin Lim
Alberto Lorenzo
Reuben Moreland
Hannibal
Michael Dardant

People's Choice Awards

Close-up - Shin Lim
Stage - Hun Lee

[CraigMitchell]

The Magic of Korea Gala show certainly delivered ... Offering a taste of everything that this country has become known for in magic including a new sleight of hand segment from Yu Ho Jin.

Interestingly Ted Kim with his animated act got one of the biggest ovations of the evening ... even surpassing in a way Yu Ho Jin. I have seen Yu a number of times and there is normally an instantaneous wave of eruption ... the impact is tangible. Tonight seemed a touch reserved ... An ovation he certainly received but I wonder if more in the audience have now seen his performance compared to Ted Kim's - thus diminishing a little of the surprise element ?

Nevertheless it was a high impact show that left the audience happy including one very surprised Gay Blackstone who received a joint award from both Ice Macdonald and Shawn Farquhar.

It was a pity that the final awards show could not take place in the beautiful Peabody Theatre which adds so much gravitas to such a ceremony compared to the relative sparse surroundings of a hotel ballroom ... But unfortunately commercial theatre overtime rates nixed that idea.

The full results listing has been posted above.

There were no major surprises in the main awards ... there was however a larger than expected number of candidates endorsed to represent the US in the stage category at the next FISM ... Only Trevor and Lorena Watters from Canada made the top six of all competitors - so already the balance of the US stage contingent have been overshadowed by the entrants from Asia. It will be interesting to see how these acts develop in the year that remains until Rimini.

Disappointments:

*diminishing number of quality competitors which does not bode well for future events
*Being unable to see any of the afternoon lectures ( of which there were some good ones. ) which clashed for those watching the competitions

Personal highlights

*The Fat Bros show
*FFFF showcase
*Magic of Germany gala show ( which so many disliked )
*catching up with so many friends from around the globe

IBM SAM was an enjoyable week of magic shared in the company of so many wonderful people ( and maybe one not so stable one.

A huge thanks to organisers Bill Wells and Mark Weidhaas and to the many people behind the curtain for making the magic happen.

Louisville, Kentucky in 2017 ? Or will the US accept Domenico Dante's challenge of hosting the World Championships of Magic in 2018 ?

See you there.

-- photos and videos can be found at http://www.facebook.com/fismmagic as well as the IBM SAM Combined Covention FB page

[Scott Wells]

Great job of reporting, Craig. Always good to see you and talk with you. I wish we would have had time to record something together. Perhaps next time.

To hear my podcast for the last day of the combined convention, see photos, and more, visit the Magic Word at http://themagicwordpodcast.com/scottwel ... ntion-2014

[striker]

Here's my random thoughts on Convention:



Competition

Thought is was great they had the competition in such an amazing theater.. very nice, first time I've seen this happen. Many top talent in the competition mixed with some no so top talent.. I was very surprised as to some of the "winners" of the awards. I felt one winner in particular should not even have been a finalist. And some finalists should not have been finalists.

One of my favorites was Anson Lee, a cutting edge card manip guy. I've never seen anyone do what he does period. Wow! ( but not even a finalist, & I think he placed about 4th at FISM..) hmmmm
Alberto Lorenzo also sticks out to me with a great close-up dice act. Cleanly executed !
Polished.. Shin Lim, awesome visual magic, but had some flashes.

There were some very original manipulation acts that were brilliant. Some were completely overlooked, while others where recognized for some reason..

Makes me wonder about the politics that may be involved at these top conventions. Why were unoriginal, standard, or low level acts rewarded, while other great act were not? What is really going on behind the scenes.. It saddens me. If you were there, you know what I mean.
Also, makes me wonder who is judging these things? Have they been on stage, even performed??

Shows

Alex Ramon.. nice new look for illusions, did stuff I have not seen.. kudos


But, the first time I fell asleep during a magic show was during the German show. How did this show get booked???. wow.. I enjoyed the first manip act, but all else was boring & jargon to me.

Korean Show stole the convention:

Korea is the benchmark for visual magic. Enough said. Most of the acts where great. T-shirt guy, projection guy


Overall

With so few things to do during the day, the convention should have been half as long. Really
What's the reason for stretching it out so long?

Location was great though.

[Rick Ruhl]

Great job of reporting, Craig.

Reporting, no. Commentary or Editorial, yes.

True reporting would be to be entertaining with the facts of each act. Commentary is opinion on the facts..

In a report on the show, I want to feel like I'm sitting there with the reporter, watching the show, and form my own opinion from a colorful factual description of the acts.

An article like that was in an older Genii written by Bill Larsen about Le Grand David. I felt like I was there with him watching. The details of the act were factual and entertaining.

Alas, today, journalism is more about entertainment that facts. I went through that some of the changes when I was in radio and doing news reporting for smaller newspapers years ago.

Rick

[Brad Henderson]

the LAST thing magic needs is more descriptions of acts that lead people to believe "a good time was had by all". If something was terrible, that needs to be made known. Good and bad. Both are commentary. Without them you have no clear idea of what actually happened - without an idea of what actually happened you have no reporting, you have fantasy.

isn't it time magicians stopped deceiving themselves?