This blog is about science, pseudoscience, manipulation, magic, and outright lies

Friday 31 July 2009

FISM world championship of magic

I have been absent for quite some time but resent events are making it impossible not to write this entry.
Although a majority of the people in the world don't know and probably don't care the FISM world championship of magic is now finished and the results are interesting. Three years ago the competitions were held in Stockholm and this time it was Beijing. (The championships are held every third year.)
Here are the results:

Comedy Magic
- 1st place … not awarded
- 2nd place … Brynolf & Ljung - Sweden
- 3rd place … Cheff Magic - Denmark

Mentalism
- 1st place … not awarded
- 2nd place … tie - Nicolai Friedrich - Germany - and Rob & Emiel - Netherlands
- 3rd place … Tony Montana - Argentina

Stage Illusions
- 1st place … Julius Franck - Germany
- 2nd place … Magic Sky Group - China
- 3rd place … not awarded

General Magic
- 1st place … Soma - Hungary
- 2nd place … Ma Yanyan - China
- 3rd place … Siebensinn - Austria

Manipulation
- 1st place … tie - Yo Kato - Japan - and Han Seol-Hui - Korea
- 2nd place … Sebastian Nicolas - Germany
- 3rd place … An Ha Lim - Korea

Invention:
- Jorge Luengo - Spain

Most Original Act:
- Charming Choi - Korea

Micro Magic
- 1st place … not awarded
- 2nd place … Vittorio Belloni - Italy
- 3rd place … tie Simon Coronel - Australia and Johan Stahl - Sweden

Cards
- 1st place … Shawn Farquhar - Canada
- 2nd place … Kristian Nivala - Finland
- 3rd place … Olmac - France

Parlour Magic
- 1st place … Marc Oberon - UK
- 2nd place … Charlie Caper - Sweden
- 3rd place … Latko - Argentina


Why is this so interesting? Well it is not because Shawn Farquhar went on to win the Gran Prix in the close-up category or that Soma won the Grand Prix for stage, though congratulations to them both.
Let us see how well the different national teams did:
(Giving 3 points for a gold, 2 for a silver, and 1 for a bronze)

1st place Germany with 7 points
2nd place Sweden with 5 points
4th place Korea and China with 4 points
8th place Hungary, Canada, Japan, and the UK with 3 points
12th place Netherlands, Argentina, Italy, and Finland with 2 points
16th place Denmark, Austria, Australia and France with 1 point

The invention category (Spain) and most original act (Korea) not counted

Congratulations to Brynolf & Ljung, Johan Ståhl, and Charlie Caper