I’ve got to disagree, I thought tonight was a bit of a letdown. I was expecting to be wowed, but all through I kept not seeing it. Some of my favorites didn’t shine as bright. Overall, I thought it was a lackluster night with a few shining parts.
Flight Crew Jump Rope: Good start to the night, they were energetic and fun. However, they do ultimately feel repetitive and like a background act. I did spot a couple goofs - the girl didn’t quite get a full flip and the ropes got tangled on the next group’s feet. Still, it was entertaining.
Mara Justine: She did better than last time, a better emotional connection on the song and a better use of varying dynamic (soft and loud). However, although she has natural talent, she could really benefit from some voice training, especially in her lower register. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think she’ll get through.
Bad Boys of [del]Blahet[/del] Ballet: They’re good dancers, but it’s ballet. I just wasn’t thrilled. And while I didn’t think she was gone from the stage that long and don’t think she’s the only part of the act, her disappearance didn’t have any payoff. She’s gone, and comes back and what’s different? She took off her skirt? Oh, and her shoes, which I didn’t notice. Why? But that’s small potatoes, because the bigger issue is that it just isn’t that interesting to me.
Paul [del]Yeti[/del] Ieti: Hey, I haven’t made the yeti joke yet, had to squeeze it in somewhere. I think they judges were right, he had a lot of pitch issues. I think he had an emotional delivery, but struggled with the notes. Not great, and I think Miguel will keep him from getting the girl votes.
Mike Super: First off, taking the time to tell us that there’s no Desmond and all the efforts you’re going through to keep out Desmond is not keeping Desmond out of the act. Second, he said he’s in an enclosed box, but the top is open, which we know because he reached his hand out to put the blindfold on the top, and the side is open because the cameraman came in to show us he couldn’t see through the red cloth. So really, he’s not in an enclosed box, and thus that’s a blatant lie. That said, this part was reasonably entertaining, and I know I keep underestimating the audience’s ability to appreciate magic acts due to their lack of magic sophistication. He was better than before.
Andrey Moraru: I still don’t see how people can vote for him and not for Nina Burri. Plus, I spotted three times he flubbed, though he covered two of them pretty well. Yes, he did a lot of new moves and yes, it is very difficult and very good. Oh, and some of his moves would have been better appreciated if positioned differently. An early move his feet are blocked by the trees, and later, he’s pointed to the left so his legs are away from us, obscuring the positioning. Still, given the rest of the performances tonight, he’ll probably go through.
Miguel Dakota: Better than last time, better connection and delivery. With the girl vote, he’ll go through. It was enjoyable.
Sons of Serendip: The music was excellent, and the reworking of the song was great. I didn’t recognize it until the chorus. It sounded to me like a little rough on the start, but after that the singing was great. Very good performance.
David & Leeman: This one was funny and well-paced. I didn’t really like the starting with three X’s bit, and the line about getting off, but oh well. The D-bag line was hilarious. Having just seen this on Penn and Teller Fool Us, I was perhaps not quite as amazed as I could have been. A couple pointers that were not quite as good:
(1) They said they had a stagehand put a spike in one of the bags beforehand. Sorry, that isn’t as impressive as seeing a spike go into one of the bags. The guy on Penn & Teller did the same thing by having an audience member shuffle the bags so he couldn’t see them, and had a screen so he could shuffle the bags without the audience seeing, so no one would know where the spike went. I think that was a better set up than having us have to trust that there’s a spike in one of the bags.
(2) They did hold Nick’s hand like they were going to use his hand, but then didn’t and said that would be immoral and wrong. The Penn & Teller guy actually did use the volunteer’s hand on this. Penn actually made a comment on the morality of it, which I will spoiler because it talks about the trick.
Penn’s comment was that if any magician does a trick that actually puts someone at risk of real harm, that is immoral and wrong, but that he didn’t think there was any real risk in this act and he trusted that his producers wouldn’t let someone put on an act where there was any real risk. Then they busted how the guy did it, and proved there wasn’t any real risk.
(3) They had Nick select a bag, then gave Heidi the opportunity to swap. I think this is less convincing. Spoiler time.
The traditional hand on spike trick uses careful marking of the location of the spike through some inconspicuous manner. The magician “intuits” where the spike is himself. The gimmick is usually to put your hand over the spike on the last one and at the last second slam your hand onto the other bag. This works by the magician surreptitiously knowing where the spike is. The variation that the P&T guy did was he had the audience member tell him which bag, so he has to smash that bag and not a different bag. By giving the option to switch, it leaves room for the magician to know where the spike is by some means like marking. It is much more impressive if there is no last minute switch, so there’s no place to put in a control for the magician. The magician can’t control which bag, then even if they’re marked he’s still gotta slam his hand on that bag.
Having Nick pick and then Heidi the opportunity to swap is less impressive than sticking with whichever the fourth pick is. That said, there is no risk.
I watched the guy’s hand and thought he might be palming the spike, but looking at it I think there is a disconnected spike in each bag. Whichever the last bag is, he reaches in and inserts the spike into the base and then lifts it out.
Now, having said all of that, I think this was an entertaining act and I think America will be impressed and I think they will go through. And I hope that means that [del]Desmond[/del] Mike Super gets eliminated.
Dan Naturman: There were some funny moments (mom thinks you’re gay), but overall, it was a little dull. Amusing but not hilarious.
Aerial Animation: Crap. I was very excited for this act, I really wanted to be wowed, but I wasn’t. The art was fine, the story was okay, but there just wasn’t as much of her doing things this time. First off, if it’s picking up where we left her, riding the horse, why have her clothes changed? Second, riding the horse to the sky worked, but after she “fell off”, there was a slow bit waiting on the balloons to rise, then her rising with the balloons. That was okay, but I almost think there was an error there, because it wasn’t smooth getting to the guy’s shoulders in the stars, and that was a long dull moment of nothing happening before she deflects the arrow/shooting star. Finally the Moon comes in and offers her a cloth to climb down, so she climbs. The circus tent part was good storywise, but the act was too dull throughout. I wanted more acrobatics out of her. I hope she goes through and fixes that for the finals.
Emily West: FINALLY! Something wowed me. This was superb. Excellent song choice, excellent delivery. She had the dynamic, the emotion, the connection, the range, and the tone. Beautiful, saved the best for last for sure.
My picks:
Emily West
Sons of Serendip
David & Leeman
Andrey Mararu
Miguel Dakota
Aerial Animation
Next:
Mike Super
Dan Naturman
Flight Crew Jump Rope
Mara Justine
Bad Boys of Ballet
Paul Ieti
America could give Mike Super and Paul Ieti a boost. I’m fairly confident my top 5 will get in, but Aerial Animation could get bumped. Sons of Serendip may not score as highly with America.
I don’t see it. Yes, he’s graceful - so was she. Yes he is strong - so was she. She did a two hand stand with her back bent over as well, and did several things with her legs from there.
There are a lot of singing acts in the semifinals, so there are more of them to pick through.
I agree about the sheet, but I don’t think that’s how the trick worked. I think he used a force. When they collect all the cards into the net bag, then shuffle and have Howard pull one, I think it’s a two-sided bag. The cards go in one side, Howard selects from the other side that is all triangles. Technical difficulties, indeed. That’s how Mike can get the triangles onto not only his own hands, but the audience as well. I think that was blacklight ink and they probably stamped the people’s hands on entry somehow. My guess, anyway.
