* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Magic New Zealand
* www.watson.co.nz/ezine.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Issue Number: #190
Date: Tuesday 5th August 2003
Editor: Alan Watson
www.magicianz.com
www.alan-watson.com
e-mail: AW@Alan-Watson.com
================================
Hi here is the latest news
================================
 
  1. Editor’s Message
  2. A look back At FISM 2003 - Sue-Anne Webster - Part 2
  3. e-zine archives
  4. Subscription Management

------------------------------------
1. Editor's Message
-------------------------------------
Message from Alan Watson - The Magic One

Due to the large number of requests for information on this years
FISM we decided to publish a Special Issue of the Magic New Zealand
e-zine just on FISM. The next issue will be publish on Sunday as
normal.

Sue-Anne Webster from Melbourne, Australia did a fantastic job in
reviewing FISM 2003. Check out Sue-Anne and Tim's website:
www.MagicUnlimited.com Information on their lecture site go to:
www4.tpgi.com.au/users/katzkin/2002WorldLectureTour.htm

For information on the next FISM in Stockholm 2006 go to:
www1.stocon.se/wms/9/5317.asp

Are you thinking to competing? Better to know the rules!!!
go to: www.fismmagic.com/index_e.asp

--------------------------------
Kiwi Paul Romhany wins PCAM Gold Medal Peoples Choice Award

PCAM Convention held in Vancouver July 31st- August 3rd. On Friday
night 6 performers from the USA, Canada and one New Zealander
competed for the Gold Medal Peoples Choice Award in the Pro
Challenge Competition held at Massey Theatre in Vancouver, Canada.
The end result were that New Zealand performer Paul Romhany won
first place and the Gold Medal Award for his unique Charlie Chaplin
Act.

--------------------------------
Remember if you have any magic news drop me a line:
AW@Alan-Watson.com

----------------------------------
2. A look back At FISM 2003 - Sue-Anne Webster
----------------------------------
Message from Sue-Anne Webster (Aust)

A look back at FISM 2003 - Part 1
Day 1 and 2 refer: Magic New Zealand Issue Number: #189

-----------------------------------
A look back at FISM 2003 - Part Two follows:

FISM 2003
July 21-26, 2003
Den Haag, The Netherlands
By Sue-Anne Webster

DAY THREE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2003.

Those who didn't want to watch the close-up attended lectures
including: Twister with advanced balloons, Jay Sankey on comedy,
Richard Sanders on  close up, Boris Wild on close up and a workshop
on Impromptu Magic hosted by Adam Fields.

A lot of people mustn't like close up as the Van Gogh Hall only
seated 800 and was never totally full. It was a good set up with two
video screens on either side of the stage, but as it was a raised
stage it was hard to see the table surface live, unless you were in
the rear section of the audience. The video cameras were useful, but
sometimes frustrating as they stayed on the performer's face when
you wanted to see the action on the table.

51: PIERRIC - Switzerland - MIC & INV.

Pierric did a clever coins through table routine with a trap door,
and a cloning routine with modelling clay which, when rubbed, turned
into money. He did the cups and balls (two of each) to music, ending
with the balls turning to coloured sand and one cup also turning to
sand.

52: ARISTON - Argentina - INV.

Essentially a dealers demonstration with four tricks and
explanation. A marked deck using an optical principal, another
marked deck, a rising card using a concealed magnet and a named card
appearance using a close-up pad as a card index. The last gimmick
was really good.

53: SHAWN FARQUHAR - Canada - MIC.

A very funny act. Shawn was brightly attired and had a great
personality and stage presence. A selected signed card re-appeared
back inside a resealed case. He performed a cups and balls routine
where the cups ended up being completely solid. A brilliant
performance. Very entertaining.

54: FENDER - Italy - CD.

A blank deck of cards became printed. Four aces appeared. Four aces
were shuffled into the deck and reappeared with royal flushes. Cards
were dealt in red, black order, then pairs, then triples. Magician
used a shuffling machine to show that he was faster than the
machine. Finally, a blue deck returned to new deck order and changed
to a red deck.

55: ROBERT BLAKE - The Netherlands - MIC.

Cigarette tricks and gags. Robert ate cigarettes and smoked from his
mouth. He blew smoke rings and as he grabbed the smoke ring it
changed to a solid ring. Lots of laughs with old jokes, but not much
magic. More of a Parlour act than close-up. After a touch of Manuel
Muerte-like confetti tossing, Robert scaled two cards that were
caught in the deck on either side of a card named by the spectator.

56: JOHAN HENDRIKS - The Netherlands - MIC & INV.

Very funny sequence where a scientist introduced us to his robot
head. After a bit of comedy he downloaded "intelligence" into his
magic robot using an L.E.D. display board. He did everything you
could imagine and more to the numbers which moved along the display:
stopped them, reversed them, jumbled them, even vaccuumed them off
the screen. Other effects included the smoke from the robot's cigar
appearing in a glass, and his finale was a D'lite tulip.

57: TONY PRICE - Belgium - CD.

First Tony asked a volunteer to help, promising her she could stay
in her seat, after she agreed, he told her to come up on stage. He
did a haunted deck isolated on a glass table, and later under a
glass dome, finding several cards including the signed selection.

58: MAGOMIGUE - Spain - CD.

He began by placing a card on the table and asking a member of the
jury (Obie) to name any card, which was the tabled card. A volunteer
was needed on stage so the magician could perform a sequence themed
around the four queens. The cards changed from queens to selections,
then back. Then, the whole deck became queens, then all became
blank. His personality was very Juan Tamariz, and his use of
background music very effective.

59: PETI - Hungary - MIC.

A card case was produced from a silk. He did a coins and purse frame
routine. Blue double backed cards changed into real cards, then red
cards, then four kings to aces. He did a Haunted deck variation to
find a signed card. Then, as the yellow light came on (warning he
had less than 60 seconds left) he went into a coin trick with jumbo
coins to music. Low standard. Went overtime. Disqualified.

60: INAKI - Argentina - CD.

Inaki had two volunteers shuffle a deck, then the four kings were
found and manipulated. They then changed into aces and were signed.
Coins were produced from the aces. The signed aces were shuffled
back into the deck then dealt to a poker hand. A named card was
dealt from deck, then any named poker hand was dealt to any
position. The deck changed to a blank deck and coins were produced
to complete the gambling theme. The audience loved him.

61: NICHOLAS EINHORN - England - MIC.

Nicholas themed his act around "choice". Random volunteers were
chosen with a beach ball being thrown into the audience, whoever
caught it would determine what trick he would do. Oil and Water was
chosen, so he produced large oil and water bottles. Next effect
chosen was his finale, so seven cards were signed, and all found.
(As the rest of his act was so novel and strong, this felt like the
weakest effect). He performed a very clean matrix, and finished with
a signed card pushed visibly into upside down water bottle, which he
gave away as a souvenir. Very strong finish.

62: YOSHIO KITHARA - Japan - CD.

Looked very nervous, but was very funny. He began with two
volunteers choosing and signing cards. The volunteers forgot the
cards. A series of card effects that were hard to follow ended with
the deck back in new deck order. He found the signed cards in a
glass on table. The funniest moment was when, in the middle of a
trick, he knocked his lapel mic off and just picked it up and held
it between his teeth as he continued talking.

63: EMIEL LENSEN - The Netherlands - MIC.

Emiel began with a glass and bottle production, four aces were
produced, turned into a deck and returned to the case. Seven
volunteers brought up to select cards. 1 - at any number, 2 - cut
to, 3 - jumps out, 4 - backhand production, 5 - reversed in deck,
6 - under glass, 7 - Float into hand. Then, the cards changed back
into a box.

64: WILHELM BEETZ - Germany - MIC.

Wilhelm was impeccably themed as an 1890's German policeman. His
whistle turned to confetti, a medal appeared on his uniform, and he
showed us his latest crime stopping technology, a new "notebook" (a
book) with "firewall protection" (fire book). He borrowed an I.D.
card from the audience and cut it up, vanished the pieces, produced
a "cell-o-phone" (a full-sized antique phone), and visibly restored
the pieces. He also played Chinese Sticks with his uniform buttons.
He exited with a flagpole production. Very entertaining. Great
costume and character.

65: PEDRO LACERDA - Portugal - CD.

Pedro began with two signed cards changing place in his hands. He
did a three card monte with lots of hand washing. He did an
ambitious card routine which concluded as he tore the corner off the
ambitious card, which rose from the deck and was restored, but now
all the other cards in the deck ended up with missing corners.

66: CHRISTIAN ENGBLOM - Finland - CD.

Four cards were signed as he gave a demonstration of the "invisible
palm". Cards vanished and reappeared on the close-up pad.
Unfortunately, he exposed the method, which was a pity as, up until
that moment he had been fooling most of the crowd. Two signed cards
were returned to the deck and then they vanished, the first card
going to his rear pants pocket, the second to his buttoned shirt
pocket. Then, both of his pockets disappeared!

67: XU - China - MIC.

Xu was an elegantly attired lady magician performing a very nice
classic magic act to music. All of her props were designed in the
Chinese style. She presented the cups and balls with a final load of
rice (a la rice bowls). She vanished a glass bowl under a cloth,
then reproduced it full of water. A second bowl was produced, this
one with goldfish.

LUNCH  BREAK

After lunch, a lot of people headed off to lectures including: Jean
Pierre Vallarino on music and magic, John Carney on presentation,
Jon Allen on close up and stand up, or one of two MagicSports
Workshops hosted by Gaston with Sue-Anne Webster and Thilo. Others
stayed to watch the stage competition (and here is their report -
thanks John!):

68: YAMAGAMI BROTHERS - Japan - SI.

Two impossibly cute 7 year old Japanese boys who burst onto the
stage like Siegfried & Roy in their prime. The danced about and
grinned like two cheshire cats as they performed a blade box, a
wringer illusion (complete with bicycle pump re-inflation), and a
combination sword box/sub trunk. Wow!

69: MARK TAYLOR - England - GM.

Mark had a Peter Marvey look and Greg Frewin's music as he produced
umbrellas and moulded lots of blue D'lites into one floating ball of
light.

70: MURRAY - USA - MAN.

With a great fanfare Murray presented his CD production act. Lots of
CDs were produced, changed size, broke and were restored… but the
audience just didn't seem interested. His costume change at the
start was good, he even vanished his ghetto blaster at the end. He
just didn't seem to connect with the audience.

71: FUJIMOTO - Japan - GM.

Fujimoto did an opening sequence with cigarettes, lots of smoke, but
with only average technique. She blew smoke filled bubbles that
changed into billiard balls, and did a bubble snow storm. The act
was okay, but he had a few technical errors.

72: DAVID - Hungary - MAN.

This was another cigarette themed act, but with a lot of style and
character. David played the "classic" magician, as he encountered a
cigarette girl and produced cigarettes, pipes, and lots of smoke. It
was a well executed act with a real "magician" feel to it,
culminating in the production of a cigarette box castle.

73: PAT PERRY & ARCHIBALD - Switzerland - GM.

After a really weak start where two guys did weak cigarette
manipulation and over-acted really badly, the men went behind a
screen for what seemed like was going to be the slowest costume
change ever. When the screen fell away it revealed a bird's eye view
of two men playing poker… but it was live! They were actually
attached to the wall! Some argued that this was about as magical as
the black art acts, but they used a lot of magical techniques
cleverly concealed to achieve simple things like: dealing out cards,
having a glass of liquid sit on the table without spilling, tossing
a silk on to the floor, etc. They even did real tricks like a
blooming bouquet and card productions under the pretext of the cards
being shot out of the guy's hands. A tremendously original idea,
very well executed. They got a full house standing ovation!

74: BRANDO Y SILVA - Argentina - GM.

Another beautifully constructed scene. Staged in shades of grey,
like an old silent movie, the story involved a flower seller
encountering a pea and shell hustler (although he was using cups and
balls). Very well acted as the two pick pocketed each other, the
flower seller levitated and, as a finale, the whole scene changed to
colour for the romantic conclusion.

75: MASATAKA MAEDA - Japan - MAN.

Masataka was well dressed, had an infectious smile, and did billiard
ball manipulation. He did it very well, but it became quite
monotonous.

76: DUO BASTRAKOV - Russia - GM.

This was a very Russian act where the "Babushka" encounters the
street vendor. From his tray he produces an endless variety of
objects, including silks, and boxes of silks, until at the end the
woman is presented with his heart, a new dress, a trophy, and a
necklace of donuts.

77: SAORI - Japan - GM.

Saori began with a dancing cane, then did two dancing canes at the
same time. She did lots of spring flower productions and a costume
change. She had a traditional Japanese look, was very nice, but poor
technique let her down.

78: SASCHA PROCHAZKA - Germany - MAN.

Sascha, dressed in leather, came out to the song "It's Raining Men"…
if you use music with lyrics, be careful, it may give people the
wrong idea… He produced optic fibre lamps, a nice change from CDs…
he produced

D'lites, coins, more lamps, thimbles, balls, and another lamp. His
music chopped and changed throughout his act, I'm sure everyone
heard at least one song they liked, and there was LOTS of confetti
at the end.



79: YURIE NOSE- Japan - GM.

A very young Japanese woman who presented a routine of sympathetic
silks and instant knots. This must be very difficult as the audience
seemed very impressed. After that she did a very loooong billiard
ball routine.

80: PHILIPPE BEAU & DAVID COVEN - France - GM.

Philippe and David presented a dynamic spirit cabinet well
choreographed to music without saying a single word. I don't know if
silence lessens the impact of the trick or enhances it. At the very
end they did an amazing switch where the presenter ended up changing
places with the person tied in the chair in a matter of seconds.

81: PETER YORK - Austria - MAN.

Peter themed his act around astronomy. He did nice card work using
zodiac symbols, and ball manipulation using little planets. He had a
few drops and fumbles, and a nothing finish, but there were some
really nice productions and he dressed the stage beautifully.

After dinner it was time for the Gala Show. This was hosted by The
Napoleons from Japan who did a series of very corny "tricks" which
the audience really didn't respond to. Rafael presented a great
illusion act as a vampire. Ellis & Webster did the Six Card Rap (and
Tim dropped a card in the middle of the routine! D'oh!), Yumi
performed her extremely elegant card routine (possibly the best
female magic act around!). Jonas Zeller did an incredible juggling
routine with diablos. Scott & Miss Muriel absolutely killed with the
Grand Prix act (with the addition of one new illusion). Love & Magic
from Singapore performed their flower act. Wayne Dobson came out in
a wheelchair and did his funny voices routine to a heartfelt
standing ovation. Amos Levkovitch did his dove act. Yunke closed the
show with his horror movie styled act that also got a great
reaction. At the very end, during the curtain call, Scott & Muriel
joined us in pulling an impromptu gag on the audience: They took our
bows dressed as us, and we came on as them. Apparently, virtually
no-one spotted it until Scott & Muriel took off our Rap outfits and
ran across the stage to confront the "impostors". It was a
delightful slow burn gag with 2000 people slowly realising there
were now two Scotts and two Miss Muriels. Stan Allen said it was the
best trick he'd seen at the convention so far!

After the gala we headed back for the Bar Magic where the Dutch
magicians had also organised an "open stage".At midnight, many went
off to see Max Maven, Tina Lenert, and Eugene Berger perform as 'The
Nocturnal Trio'.

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 Quentin Reynolds. 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 despearate 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.

DAY FIVE
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2003

For those who didn't want to watch the competition acts, there were
lectures by Richard Sanders on close up, George Parker on magic into
gold, Michel on 'The Invisible Hand', and Derek Lever and R G Smith
on producing magic shows, or the workshop on Kids Magic with Quentin
Reynolds.

114: PAUL & JACK - Brazil - MIC.

A parachutist delivered a deck of cards to the magician and a bottle
to an audience member. After shaving the back of his head the
selected card turned out to be tattooed on it, I'd like to have seen
him repeat this act! He did a borrowed ring to shoelace, and threw
the ring back to audience member. He plunged his arm through the
body of the parachutist, produced a live mouse from a card case
(which he then ate) and found a signed card in the bottle that the
audience member had been holding all the time.

115: ARMANDO TELL - Mexico - CD.

Armando began by cutting to the four queens, then did the Hot Shot
Cut and found a signed card by catching it between two of the
queens. He did an "invisible" Hot Shot Cut, changed an Ace to the
selected card and back as though it was a visual "flashback", then
did a four ace production and the ambitious card. He was a good
mechanic though not 100% clean. He also took a photo of the audience
for posterity.

116: ANTONIO ROMERO - Spain - MIC & IN.

He also took a photo of the audience, as well as a photo of the
spectator that ended up appearing in his wallet. He did a three coin
vanish and a cups and balls with clear cups - but the centre cup was
covered by a paper wrapper.

117: TRICKY NIKI - Austria - CD.

Niki opened by starting to take a photo of the audience then said
"Oh, has that already been done?" He restored a card without tearing
it, then made another in-joke by displaying a card inside a bottle.
He did a backflip off the stage into the audience, then did Triumph,
caused a blue deck to turn red because of the camera flash, did card
in mouth (with touches of Hobson) and finished off by returning the
spectator's watch just before his time ran out.

118: JASON LATIMER - USA - MIC & INV.

Clear glass cups were produced from an empty box. Jason then
proceeded to blow everyone away with an artistic rendition of the
cups and balls done to music… using totally clear cups. This very
precise technical demonstration concluded with the production of
large crystal balls and the finale where it was shown that the cups
were now solid glass.

119: ANATOLI KARTASHKIN - Russia - CD.

Four aces were put into the deck, he dropped a lot of cards (but had
spare cards ready tucked under the edge of the close up mat… he
expected to drop cards and still entered FISM?) Who knows what he
was going to do, the red light came on early in his act and he was
disqualified.

120: DR SZABO - Hungary - CD & IN.

Dr Szabo unrolled his close up mat to reveal a spread of cards
already lying there. He did the ambitious card, turnover queens
which turned into aces, he produced blackjack hands which turned
into royal flushes, then he tried to show that the whole deck was in
order but he'd run over time and had to finish.

121: ALDO DUCE - Chile - PAR.

Aldo got a spectator on stage, then proceeded to ignore the audience
and work only to this one person. He made his credit card fly
(badly) then destroyed it and found it in a sealed plastic bag of
mustard. Yes, the card was returned to the spectator covered in
mustard. He treated his volunteers badly, giving a lady an exploding
pen with which to sign a card, which he found in a bottle. His
tricks may have been good, but who cares?

122: ALVARO QUEVEDO - Chile - CD.

Alvaro cut to the aces, which changed to kings under cover of a wipe
of his hand, the four kings were signed and returned to the deck and
found again. He made four piles of cards, found the four aces, the
cards were back in new deck order. He didn't have a great
presentation and kept using technical terms "As you can see I'm not
using any controls".

123: ARTHUR - Brazil - MIC.

Arthur came on as "An Addicted" (we knew that because a guy came on
with him dressed as a robot and held up a sign). It appeared that we
were sharing in a cigarette or drug addict's hallucinations. More a
stage show than a close up act… well, in scale not in quality. The
judge's saw his act as a good argument against drugs and just said
no. He was disqualified after a few minutes of tripping.

124: LODEWIJK DE WIDT - The Netherlands - CD & IN.

Lodewijk used the jokers to find four selected cards, then the
jokers changed into the selected cards then back to jokers. He did
tend to sniff a lot during his act, so his nose became a sort of
running joke that was very distracting. The signed card ended up as
the reversed card in a pocketed deck.

125: MARIO BOVE - Italy - CD.

Mario used computer patter to produce the aces, which then vanished
from four piles and were found again, one by one, in the deck. He
explained "The four nines have INCREDIBLE powers" but all they did
was change places with the aces.

126: FERENC GALAMBOS - Hungary - MIC.

Ferenc performed a very good act choreographed to the music '77
Sunset Strip'. He was nicely attired and his props looked good, but
we did see too much of the top of his head as he concentrated on the
objects on his table. He did the cups and balls, he manipulated the
aces, and the coloured cards all turned blank in a beautiful
sequence. He also did the rarely seen four little ball trick and
concluded with a coin matrix. A nice touch was his close up table
which was angled so we could all see its' surface.

127: CHOI HYUN-WOO - Korea Republic - MIC.

Really cute little act. A story about "The Little Mermaid" done to
music with cups and balls underwater (that's right, in a fish tank)
which was in black light (hard to see) with final loads being fish.
He did a card routine with Little Mermaid pictures, where the cards
turned blank, then where spread to show the words "KISS ME", and
then "I LOVE YOU". The finale was the inflation of a huge, plastic
blow up "Little Mermaid". His performance was very "over the top"
and he seemed extremely excited to be there. I'd love to see him
take this act table to table in a restaurant. Perhaps it would have
been better in the Parlour category.

128: JAN DITGEN - Germany - IN.

Very clever, entertaining and funny book test. Jan asked a volunteer
on stage to choose any one of three books (the volunteer challenged
him to work from two, and he did). Due to eating special "knowledge
cookies", Jan could answer any question the volunteer could make up
from any information in the books. The volunteer asked a number of
questions that required factual answers from the magician. Jan was
right EVERY time. He proved the information was in the cookies by
having the volunteer eat one - and the volunteer was right when
asked a question from the huge book. Apparently the trick involves
no electronics, only one person, and it's "all in the books". The
invention is brilliant. Not for sale! He got a standing ovation!

129: FERENC GALAMBOS - Hungary - IN.

Ferenc presented his invention where he could identify which
envelope contains a selected card.

130: CHRISTIAN ENGBLOM - Finaland - IN.

Christian demonstrated a move he'd come across called "The Anti
Faro". Somehow, by just springing the cards, he was able to un-faro
them. An amazing move, but it took him four years to master!

LUNCH BREAK

After lunch there were lectures by David Williamson on… (who
knows?), Manuel Muerte on close up, Amos Levkovitch on doves, and
Johnny Thompson again filling in for Aldo Colombini, or the workshop
Magic, Medicine and Humour with Dr Jaishen Rajah.

131: ROYCE - The Netherlands - SI.

Overall, this act was poorly performed. His candles didn't light,
but he performed the act as if they had, blowing out unlit candles.
He performed huge "Linking Padlocks", which didn't psychologically
work, as we all know that locks can be unlocked. Illusions were
performed badly, except for the mirror penetration which produced an
excellent visual with the magician "stuck" halfway through, but
Royce tipped the method when getting out of it.

132: MAGICAL EMOTIONS - Germany - GM.

This act featured two characters with full puppet-like head masks.
It had a "Once Upon a Time" youth to aging theme. It was an
original, interesting story, but with no strong magic.

133: LIN BIN - China - MAN.

Skilful card manipulation, although every steal was obvious. Good
card magic at first, but the act turned into an acrobatic display
and the magic was lost.

134: JANDRO - Spain - GM.

Comedy illusion act. Strange, but cute, could be tighter. Jandro
cracked his neck, hit himself on the head with an ironing board
until his head vanished, opened a "do not open" box and wrestled
with a wild animal. He was pulled into the box, struggled, and
pulled himself out in tattered clothing. The box opened and we saw
nothing inside, then he pulled out a six foot yellow bird puppet.
Very different.

135: CARLOS HILSDORF - Brazil - MAN.

Carlos did a dove and candle act, but he mistreated birds so badly
as he shoved them into his table that the audience booed and hissed
and the judge's red light came on. He was disqualified.

135: TIPHAINE - France - GM.

Weak act about a burglary in a museum. The lady magician changed
from robber to security guard to a suited woman to an elegantly
dressed woman, all the while magical producing and replacing the
stolen items of modern art. It was unclear as to why the final two
costume changes occurred.

136: ANDY HAUSSLER - Germany - MM.

Andy began by naming the day of the week of any named dates, the
explained he was going to do the Knight's Tour, but finish at any
square called for. He explained "What I am about to do is
impossible." It was. He couldn't do it… and he ran out of time.

137: MIKI UETANI - Japan - GM.

A lady magician who performed three costume changes. Technically
poor magic and some effects just didn't work. She produced roses,
silks, silk fountains, did a zombie flower, and produced more
bouquets.

138: LAMBERTINI - Argentina - GM.

Lambertini performed his act to "Hooked on Classics" and produced
batons, musical notes, mouth organs, trumpets and doves. His props
were nice and bright, and there was some clever card work, but the
lighting was too low. Oddly though, he did pretend to play a
recorder while holding it like a flute.

139: LOKI - England - GM.

Bright fluorescent props with an interesting "Nightmare Before
Christmas" look. He threw the dancing cane around so much that it
lost its' magic quality. He did a nice musical note production, the
appearance of a violin and a card stab with its' bow, and a
colouring/music book. His torn and restored sheet music ended in a
snowstorm and, as a nice touch, he produced a snowstorm in a glass
ball as his finale.

140: ROLF REINER - Brazil - GM.

Very average act. More puppetry than magic. His zombie tie comes
alive and becomes a little comical. A nice idea but it went way too
long.

141: KEIKO MUTO - Japan - MAN.

Very nicely performed magic. Elegant, with a couple of surprises:
her earrings appeared, disappeared and were manipulated, she
produced small bells, and worked with fans and umbrellas. It would
have been good to end with a costume change due to the nature of the
act.

142: ROBERT JAGERHORN - Finland - PAR.

Scene played out in an aeroplane. Robert began in his seat, but went
to the bathroom to tidy up. Magic was done with his tie, toothbrush,
toothpaste, shoes, toilet, bottle of water, and climax as he fell
into the toilet and emerged in a basketball outfit and produced a
basketball from his briefcase. Funny and well structured.

143: JORGEN FEVRE - Denmark - GM.

Colour changing cane. Colour changing silk. Colour changing cane.
20th century silks. Billiard Ball productions. Rings… Old fashioned
act, very dated and performed very seriously.

144: CYRIL & JANE - Japan - GM.

Cyril & Jane were fresh and up to date. In a modern setting Cyril
produced canes and money, then performed card manipulation to
Sting's "Shape Of My Heart". The bulb in his lamp failed and caused
Cyril to check the cord. This resulted in a nice performance of
Pavel's Walking Knot.

145: ARSENE LUPIN - Poland - GM & IN.

Arsene has a unique casual style and he began by demonstrating an
interesting block effect, which concluded with the baby gag. Then,
as a tribute to his friend Peter Pit, Arsene did the Pit Sit but
took it several steps further by producing chair after chair. The
multiple chair productions were motivated by his desire to see more
of his assistant who seemed to strip every time she came on to take
another chair away. As a finale, he even multiplied his assistant.

146: KAMYLEON - France - GM.

This act definitely had a "Sylvester the Jester" look. Lots of sight
gags and fun visuals complete with a body twister, compressor,
several costume changes and an exploding lightbulb that changed into
a glowing heart at the end. Cute little routine with engaging
characters.

147: RICHARD FORGET - USA - GM.

Richard began at the phone booth waiting for his girlfriend to
return his call. He manipulated with hands, phones, lamps and did an
amazing zombie with fire. This well presented act concluded with the
production of a girl.

Friday night concluded with a Gala Show hosted by Topas, who did a
great job, especially when the power went out at one stage. Ger
Copper presented a very good black light act. Antje Pode juggled
suitcases with her feet in a well staged scenario.

Raymond Crowe performed his 8 ball tango and his hand shadows (which
got a strong crowd reaction). Phiippart & Anja performed a very
visual sawing in half. Topas presented his toy act that involved the
appearance of a radio controlled plane which flew out above the
audience. The Great Thomsoni & Co performed their classic act.

Sylvester the Jester did a very interesting set that many people
seemed to have trouble warming to.

Philippart & Anja returned with an Impaled on a huge power socket.
Irina from Moscow performed her act from the last FISM competition.
Jan Rouven finished off the night with a series of large scale
illusions including the Drill of Death (made infamous by
Melinda).The night kicked on with Bar Magic and tonight's feature
show was Freestyle Magic with Maarten & Otto. This was possibly the
only lowlight of the convention. The show featured heavily gay
overtones, people on the toilet, simulated oral sex… it was designed
to shock, but not entertain.

Most of the crowd left before the show was over. At midnight many
people headed upstairs to see the final session of The Nocturnal
Trio

DAY SIX
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2003

This morning people saw lectures by Mahka Tendo on manipulation, Jon
Allen on close up and stand up, and Boris Wild on close up. At 11.00
am we moved into the Alexander Hall for the Award Ceremony, and the
winners were..
_____________________________________
THE WINNERS
Manipulation
1 - Norbert Ferré - France
2 - Eun-Gyeol Lee - Korea Republic
3 - Kenji Minemura - Japan

General Magic
1 - Pat Perry & Archibald - Switzerland
2 - Simon Pierro - Germany
3 (tie) - Danny Cole - USA
3 (tie) - Mirko - Argentino

Illusions
1- Not Awarded
2 - Prince of Illusions - The Netherlands
3 - Dr Marrax - Germany

Mental Magic
1 - Not Awarded
2 - Aaron - Belgium
3 - Chris Joker - Germany

Card Magic
1 - Mago Migue - Spain
2 (tie) - Gregory Wilson - USA
2 (tie) - Inaki - Argentina
3 - Etienne - United Kingdom

Close-Up
1 - Jason Latimer - USA
2 (tie) - Nicholas Einhorn - United Kingdom
2 (tie) - Shawn Farquhar - Canada
3 - Ferenc Galambos - Hungary

Parlour Magic
1 - Not Awarded
2 (tie) - Ken Bardowicks - Germany
2 (tie) - Chris Joker - Germany
3 - Robert Jagerhorn - Finland

Prizes for Invention presented to:
Jason Latimer - USA - for his clear cups and balls.
Jan Ditgen - Germany - for his book test.
Arsene Lupin - Poland - for his block trick.

Prize for Comedy Presentation
The Great Nardini - Scotland

Most Original Act
Pat Perry & Archibald - Switzerland

Due to the new judging process, in order to award the two Grand Prix
titles (close up and Stage) the first place winners in each category
would perform again on the Final Gala and compete for the Grand Prix
prizes. Due to his very high score, Eun-Gyeol Lee was also added to
the final competition.

Ali Bongo & Tim Ellis causing trouble on the Jury.

After lunch, people again chose between lectures from David
Williamson, Richard Sanders, Jay Sankey, a workshop on magic into
gold, or they attended the General Asembly of FISM. Many chose to
take this last opportunity to spend up big at the dealers.

At 4.30 pm it was time for the MagicSports final show, with
celebrity judges Mike Caveney, Stan Allen, Bob Sheets, Gene
Anderson, Magic Christian, and Max Maven. There were some fantastic
games as Tim, Sean and Gaston played against Thomas, Topas and Ben,
but the final Make-A-Trick performed by Sean and Gaston was so good
it forced the other team to come out and surrender (well, they'd had
exactly the same idea for their Make-A-Trick).

At 6.00pm the decision on where the next FISM would be held was
made. It was announced that the next FISM would be in Stockholm,
Sweden in 2006 and many people (including us) rushed the booth to
sign up and register.

The final Gala Show was hosted by Ronald Moray and Sylvia Schuyer.
Mago Migue and Jason Latimer performed their acts on stage, with the
jury as their audience and the images shown on the theatres video
screens. Competing for the Stage Grand Prix were Pat Perry &
Archibald (whose act really suffered on the second viewing as all of
the surprises were gone), Eun-Gyeol Lee (who gave a better showing
than in the competition), and Norbert Ferré (who wasn't quite as
sharp as he was during the competition). The second half of the show
was presented by Hans Klok. Beautiful laser effects, spectacular
illusions, lots of dancers, and Hans. Finally the winners were
announced:

The winners were:
Grand Prix - Stage
Norbert Ferré - France

Grand Prix - Close Up
Jason Latimer - USA

There was A LOT of celebrating and partying went on until the early
hours.

It was sad to see FISM 2003 come to an end, but to be honest, I
think most people will need three years of rest before they are
ready for the next one. It really was a truly magical week and a
much needed recharge and inspiration.

If you missed out this time, sign up for FISM 2006 before it sells
out www.fism.com and we'll see you there!

Article © Magic Unlimited 2003

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