Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-34031341-20180305030556/@comment-34031341-20180404001751

So I buzzed two acts: Jamie Raven and Wrecking Crew Orchestra. I'm gonna explain why so it doesn't look random.

Jamie Raven: The problem with his act compared to his audition is the fact that most of the tricks were either easy to figure out / really not well paced. With most magic like that there needs to be some sense of suspension of disbelief but there wasn't any. It was sort of the problem with Blake Vogt's quarterfinal act where he clearly used a plant despite not saying so. The result there was too easy to realize "The audience was a plant." I felt that way about the cards, too, to the point where it would've flowed better if he actually just said "I wrote this down on the card." The helicopter trick was really slowly revealed / didn't have too much punch to it. Idk I didn't like it. Especially since his audition was incredible.

Wrecking Crew Orchestra: Being a light-dance crew means that you have the advantage of being able to disappear / reappear anywhere and most of the routine was really amateur dancing. There were a couple of bits where I almost took back my buzzer, but one or two cool tricks wasn't going to change my mind. I felt this way about their audition, too, (and gave them a very reluctant "Yes") but now that it's the semifinals, even though their gimmick is really cool, I've seen it done better and more professionally and it just felt kind of sloppy.