Tom Cruise Control: See Andi Gladwin’s Tom Cruise Control in this video clip by the creator. I just got my copy of Antinomy Magazine issue 7 where this appears along with lots of other goodies, like Jack Parker’s Slip Slide Force. You can still get back-issues from the site, and then do yourself a favour and subscribe to this excellent quarterly journal.
FISM 2006 Videos: User TLATV has started to post some of the edited TV footage from FISM 2006 onto YouTube, currently there is an intro clip from the awards ceremony, a clip featuring Lossander and a very cool coin through glass table.
Adam Brindley from Australia brings you his Sleight show which could be the world
Card Magic of Justin Higham, contains a link to buy his current products, Collected Card Notes and Tricks with the Side-Faro False Shuffle and also an archive link where Justin has very kindly put an online archive of articles/manuscripts originally released as published items, here you can read his previous seven booklets published in full without illustrations. These include All Hands on Deck, West End Card Session, Expansions, The KOSBE System, True Magic Via Objectivity, A Brief Analysis of the Twenty-One Card Trick and Related Effects and The Simulation of Miracles.
Magic Info - A new directory of all things magic, listing magicians, through dealers and conventions to miscellaneous other magical places.
FISM 2006 Contestant Scores [PDF]: link to a PDF of the final scores of the contestants, makes for some interesting comparisons!
Sue-Anne’s FISM 2006 Competion Reports are up on hers and Tim’s blog, go and read it from their point-of-view, plus all the stage competitors that didn’t appear here!
For photos of the event, in case you missed it we now have 200 photos in our FISM 2006 Flickr Set. Vista Photo Agency have been posting the official ones. Jorgen Yng from Stockholm has posted his set. Fotograf Gomer also have their set. Andy Reay has also posted some of his photos to Flickr. Naquada’s Flickr Set and also a group set up on Flick for FISM 2006 which I will be adding some of my photos too, if you have any to add please join the group.
Grand Prix Stage - Pilou - France Grand Prix Close-up - Rick Merrill - USA Manipulation: 1st: Dai Binchun - China 2nd: David Soysa - Portugal 3rd: Arthur Trace - USA General Magic: 1st: Eun Gyeol Lee - Rep. of Korea 2nd: Die Zauderer - Germany 3rd: Dion - Netherlands Micro Magic: 1st: Martin Eisele - Germany 2nd: Shawn Farquhar - Canada 3rd: David Stone - France Card Magic: 1st: Helder Guimaraes - Portugal
Saturday was the last offical FISM day and started for me with a lecture from Gaetan Bloom, he started with a trick using an apple combined with the paddle move. Then onto using Salami for a Biting the Coin type effect. Then he showed Quarte his trick with a slate and playing cards, where he has predicted which four cards will be chosen from a suit. He then showed us a few quick ideas, how to crush a cigarette packet smaller than anyone else, how to seperate ice cubes from cola, which looked very cool, with a method to match!
Friday was a bit more relaxed with no close-up competition to get to, it started for me with a lecture by Jahn Gallo. Jahn performed a simple bill production and then he showed us his Osaka Bill Production which allows you to produce 20-30 bills as single units. He then performed a three card monte with beer mats, his ring on rope routine and finished with a very nice simple two deck effect, where a card was chosen by two spectators from two seperate packets out of a red and blue deck, the packets placed in the pocket with the chosen card reversed, and instead of transposing the selected cards he transposed the rest of the packet.
Just got the grand-prix finalists for the close-up from the FISM on-site message board, as follows: Martin Eisele - Germany - Micro Magic Shawn Farquhar - Canada - Micro Magic Helder Guimaraes - Portugal - Card Magic Rick Merrill - USA - Micro Magic David Stone - France - Micro Magic Final will take place tomorrow. Will post today’s update after the banquet!
Thursday started off slightly later at 10:00, when I went to see the full version of the Paul Wilson presentation, as I didn’t have to duck out to line up for anything. Read yesterday’s report to see what he did, he also showed a fooling Jack Deal from Royal Road, his Fan-2-C gimmick, refried poker (his version of the Solomon/Blomberg deal). Then he talked and demonstrated card mucking and a version of a Pit Hartling trick that is on the Unreal Work DVD.
Wednesday started for me with a lecture by Tim Star, a swedish magician who has lived in America and is now back in Sweden. Started off with showing an empty hand and produced a silk handkerchief, and then split it into two. Repeat card to case followed along with demonstrations of a card mucking procedure. He then cleanly vanished the four aces and showed us a gimmick he had come up with to clean up lapping procedures.
Today was a 9.30am start which after getting in very late/early from Tamariz the night before was a bit of a drag, but it soon picked up when the day started with a lecture by Cellini who explained his street act. He started off by explaining how he tailored his suit, then went on to explain his nuances on the Cups and Balls, Linking Rings, Salt Pour, Joe Karson’s Egg Bag, Loop Ball, Wand/Flip Stick vanish, Swallowing Cigarettes, Coin and Silk flurry and finally the Slydini Cut and Restored Rope routine.
The first day of the actual convention marks the 6th Anniversary of this blog, and my 29th Birthday! And what a way to spend it… After working out a complicated system I figured I didn’t need to see Kevin James today, so I went for a wander round the dealers, picked up volume 2 of the Ascanio book, and headed for the close-up room. Like last FISM I will try and give you a brief run down of all the contestants and a little of what they did.
Sunday started with a continental breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then we embarked on a sight-seeing boat trip entitled under the bridges of stockholm which was an excellent way to see the islands and some beautiful buildings, we had an audio commentary for the 2-hour trip, and you can see from some of the photos how picturesque it is. We then tested the journey to the convention center, which is easy enough for us as the central station is right outside the Radisson, we have got a train ticket for the week so you just hop on and its about 3 stops to the convention centre.
Well we got here, after leaving home this morning around 8:00am and its now 7:00pm Swedish time, we took a plane from Humberside, to Schipol, then from Schipol to Stockholm, a short train ride and we are in our Hotel, the SAS Radisson Viking, which has free WiFi internet, and we have a laptop, so hopefully you can expect regular postings with photos etc.! We register tomorrow and hopefully take a guided tour of Stockholm by boat, then the conference starts on Monday.
As you may have noticed I have been absent from posting for a couple of months, again life is getting in the way and other priorities take over, I have been saving up the magic links I have come across however and basically posted them all today in one fell swoop, so at least that should clear my backlog. Obviously the next big thing is FISM which starts on the 6th anniversary of this blog (and also my 29th birthday… I feel old!
LSP: is a french magic site that features some great video-clips including some clips from Arnaud Chevrier who goes by the handle Twins who’s work has also been featured on the MagicVideoDepot. Also if you can speak French check out the rest of the site for reviews, interviews and a forum.