America's Got Talent (Season 10)

Inside the theatre you're welcome to discuss your favorite television shows, musical artists, video games, books, movies, or anything popular culture!
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Lark
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Post by Lark »

I enjoyed Freckled Sky. It was/is my favorite so far. The lights, the water, the drama, was just awesome. Plus they got the golden buzzer.
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Ep2: Auditions



This was a very smooth performance that was fun to watch.



We've seen this style of dance group before, like West Springfield Dance Team, and I like it.



I am at a loss how to process this act.



This can't be real, can it? There has to be a trick to it. Because of the last bit; there's no way the sugar didn't get wet. The rest of it I had heard of before; people that swallow coins and then can bring them back in any order. Before we think about that part though, how are they swallowing and bringing back all this stuff in the first place? That's bizarre/impressive enough. But then being able to get a specific one, I don't see how that's possible. Then like I said the sugar, that's just not possible. I hadn't heard of that variation before and that's what made me start wondering if this is just an illusion.



When Howie said he was going to be a more discerning judge I had a sliver of hope it might be serious, despite knowing there was no way, and sure enough it was only used to kick off a montage of him praising a series of nonsense acts. He'll just never change. Fortunately the other judges have enough sense to veto him most of the time.



I'm confused. All of the judges loved Derek Hughes, but there was an act last season that did the exact same trick and they hated it then if I recall correctly. Why was this one different? This guy has a more likeable personality than the other had, I'll give him that. His overly enthused presentation and stupid humor were fun, but was that all it took to make this a yes when the other was a no?



Oh my goodness!



We've been seeing an evolution in the mixed media dance acts. We saw the perfection of the technical aspects in Kenichi Ebina, then it was taken a more artistic route by Blue Journey. Now this act melds the two into a presentation that is the best parts of both. It has the visual story in the technology and the artistic story in the choreography.

I am really sad I lost the rest of the posts I was going to make on the last season, because my reaction to this act is going to directly build off of them. I had written up several assessments on Blue Journey's performances as they advanced and I can't call up the exact words I had used or precise thoughts I had, but essentially I was expressing a deep appreciation for the artistic genius that was put into the pieces. I thought it was genuinely a visionary act. I realize how strong those words are, but I sincerely meant their use. That wasn't just an act that was visually interesting, there was a real artistic sophistication to it.

This act is more of that, and possibly on an even higher level. Blue Journey was an act primarily about the physical dance, using the projection to highlight different moments. This act looks to have equal focus on the dance and the images. They had a lot of choreography going on, so it wasn't just a 'sit back and watch this light show' performance, but the images weren't just a supplement to the performance they were an inherent part of the piece. Neither approach is right or wrong, it depends on the performance you are wanting to present. Blue Journey's were perfect for what they were doing, and I personally liked their performances overall better than this one, but to work your way through this show you have to forcefully grab attention, and this act's balance more easily does that. To get fully behind Blue Journey you had to consider the artistic elements, and not everyone did that. I think this act can get by on the visuals alone.

Once again though, a complete waste of the golden buzzer. There was no way this act wasn't getting a yes on to Boot Camp, and no way it wasn't getting through that weeding stage to the live shows. They didn't need an automatic pass there. I don't get it. I guess they really did just completely reboot the mentality around using this thing. I should be happy for that, really, because this way only truly special acts will get it so we avoid that worry of wasting spots on question acts if it were used to override a no vote as it was last season; but I just can't shake past the utter unnecessaryness of it. Oh well.
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bookworm wrote:This can't be real, can it? There has to be a trick to it. Because of the last bit; there's no way the sugar didn't get wet. The rest of it I had heard of before; people that swallow coins and then can bring them back in any order. Before we think about that part though, how are they swallowing and bringing back all this stuff in the first place? That's bizarre/impressive enough. But then being able to get a specific one, I don't see how that's possible. Then like I said the sugar, that's just not possible. I hadn't heard of that variation before and that's what made me start wondering if this is just an illusion.
It is an illusion. Again, my brother knows all this stuff (I guess you could say he is a retired magician at the moment =p). It is impossible. It's all just a trick that he makes out to be real.. which I think is annoying. I would have voted no to his act, personally.
When Howie said he was going to be a more discerning judge I had a sliver of hope it might be serious, despite knowing there was no way, and sure enough it was only used to kick off a montage of him praising a series of nonsense acts. He'll just never change. Fortunately the other judges have enough sense to veto him most of the time.
I can't stand Howie. He always goes on these speeches and has a very inconsistent way of judging. I like Howard.. sometimes... but he can be pretty inconsistent too. Sheesh. Howard says no to one act that is actually pretty good.. but yes to a ridiculous act. I don't get it. *headdesk*
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Ep3: Auditions



I thought this was visually neat.



So this is videomapping, as opposed to dancing to a 'static' projection which we see a lot of these days. (It's my understanding there is a difference between the two, though I'm not quite clear on what it is.) We have seen this done before, by SensEtion (Audition, Quarterfinal), but they used it in a completely different way. They were a videomapping act that created and played with various images. This is a dance act that uses videomapping as part of the choreography.
I liked that they weren't just throwing up random images like 'Hey isn't this cool' but each had a purpose to the piece. The performance was telling the Creation story.



This was scary.



I generally have one of two reactions to a good magic trick we see on this show. I'm either 'How did they do that?' in an amazed way, if it's a neat visual trick, or I'm 'No really, how did they do that?!' in a freaked out way if it's a crazy mind trick. This one was the latter.
The first trick I figured out after watching a second time, but it's still very impressive because it was expert slight of hand. Even though I know what he must have done, I can't see him do it. The second one strays into mind reading trick territory, which always scares me, and I have no idea how he did that one.



I don't believe I've ever seen a marching orchestra before.



I was very disappointed by Mel's choice for the golden buzzer. Not just because it was a singer, though that certainly didn't help me get behind it, but if you're going to use it on a singer it should be someone who has a powerful performance and presence, and I really didn't think this one was very impressive. She was fine, but she didn't wow me to where I would go 'Yes, this is definitely the one.' The judges clearly all got that impression though from their reactions, so maybe it just didn't connect with me personally.
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I really have no comments. I'm actually getting bored now with AGT. =|

And is it just me, or are there gonna be less rounds this season?
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Ep4: Auditions



It seems like I say this about every magic trick on here, but seriously how did he do this?



It's good I keep asking that though, it means we're seeing good stuff.



This was very neat.



It was like an old movie come to life! I can't believe he actually moves that fast, it's so unnatural I always thought scenes with that kind of movement had gotten sped up because of how the film used to be processed or something.


I've actually seen Metal Mulisha in person! They're the group I was referencing here. As I said, it is something you really don't fully appreciate unless you're there. These jumps are truly spectacular, but it doesn't come through properly on tv.



This is awesome!



Real life Iron Man!



I am with Howard on Pyro Boy.



It is ridiculous, but for some reason I really loved it. It was like a scene out of some kind of scifi action movie where a robot guy blows up or something. It's not a winning act, of course, but I truly did enjoy it. I'm glad the girls were persuaded to put him through, because I just want to see this again at Boot Camp. He shouldn't go on further than that, but there's no reason not to let him perform again there.



Dr. Danger's act was insane. Not just the stunt, but everything about it, even the people. I was just like 'is this for real?'

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bookworm wrote:It seems like I say this about every magic trick on here, but seriously how did he do this?
I have a vague idea.. :-

@the latest AGT:
I laughed out loud when the hypnotist failed to hypnotize Michael Bublé. xD HA HA HA. :roll:
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Ep5: Auditions



He said he wanted to freak people out; mission accomplished.



I get scared enough just by general magic tricks that have mind reading elements. When it's straight up mind reading like this forget about it.



I thought letting that singer start over was the right move. A mistake doesn't mean you're done with the performance (as long as it doesn't get you buzzed), it just maybe hurts your chances of advancing after analysis.
And speaking of the analysis, wow Howard got me. His reasoning was exactly correct, so part of me, most of me really, is glad he went that way because it shows he understands the big picture mentality a judge needs to have. But another part of me disagreed with it. Not with it, his thinking was right, but I disagreed with the certainty he had in it. He decided definitively that she wasn't ready, and so said no. If that conclusion is accurate then he did the right thing. But I personally didn't think we knew that for certain yet, so I would have given her one more look. And we're going to. If she still doesn't seem ready cut her then, but there's a chance now that the nerves are confronted she'll show great improvement. We have to see her again to find out.



I couldn't believe what happened with the bird lady: the judges got it exactly right for once!
She was great; definite talent. However, not the kind that this show is about. There are bird calling competitions, that's her scene she would probably be great in those. Here we need something more substantial. So although she was actually a good act, she shouldn't have been put through in context of this competition, and she wasn't. For exactly that reason. The judges didn't dislike her, they acknowledged her talent, they said it just wasn't right for this.



I wonder if this kind of thing has happened before.



An actual do over, not just start over. It hasn't in any season I've watched so far that I recall.
And how ironic that they had mentioned improvising if something goes wrong. Doubly ironic if you consider that the guy who said that was the one that went down, and he had also said you can't stop you have to pull through. Obviously not in this situation though, he was talking about a mistake in the routine, this was a real injury.



I would have liked to see more of this performance.



I'm not the biggest tap dancing fan, but it looked like these guys were doing something neat with the choreography.



I also would have liked a longer look at this one.



I love the costumes! As Mel said, it's art come to life. They emerge from the backdrop, do their thing, then go back in. Really cool.



Oh Heidi. I don't like this golden buzzer choice at all.
Mostly it's just because of personal biases. This is literally about as least exciting a type of act possible for me. First, of course, because it's a singer. On top of that it's opera, which I am not a fan of. And then it's a kid, which I'm not against entirely but I'm more readily supportive of adults who have put a lot of time into crafting their act. So pretty much three strikes you're out; if I were a judge I never would have used the golden buzzer on this act.
Moving grumpy me aside though and looking at it objectively, I still think it was an iffy choice. You have to be careful with kid acts, simply because they're so young and inexperienced you can't be sure what you're getting. Yes, some have the poise of a person who has been performing for decades, and this girl may well be one of those, but we can't know that from one audition. What if she goes to the next round and cracks? This is a huge experience, you don't know how a kid will handle it. I definitely think you need to evaluate any kid act a second time before the live shows to make sure they have what it takes.



Oleksiy was interesting. It's just like what we'd see from a usual hand balancing act, except that his partner is a dummy. It seems to me, though I'm not sure it's accurate, it makes the performance more difficult that he's not working with a live person, because where they would usually be working to offset your pressure to keep you steady here nothing is moving so it's all on him to stay balanced. Then again, because nothing is moving that might actually make it easier to balance, I really don't know.



Alex Boyé was fun, I'll like seeing his group perform again.
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Post by Lark »

I actually missed episode three, and my adobe player crashed, otherwise, I would comment.

Post for bookworm's sake.
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I was so disappointed they showed so little Animation Crew that I looked them up, and it turns out they were on Korea's Got Talent, so I was able to see that full performance plus two others. Interestingly, when they were on that show they didn't start out with the illustration theme, they simply went out and danced in their audition.




I hope they go several more rounds on AGT, I want to see as much of them as I can. I absolutely love their look, and I like this style of dance and they do it very well.
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Yeah, they were really fun.
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Ep6: Auditions



I thought the opening sequence was neat.



A little glimpse behind the scenes.



I liked this a lot.



We see a lot of mixed media dance acts these days, you would think it would start to get repetitive, but it hasn't for me yet because each one uses the technology in such a unique way.
This one was a perfect blend of the images and dance in a way that both parts really complemented each other and neither dominated the performance so much you only noticed one or the other. Very well designed. And it was a great pairing of animations and dance movements too, they really went together in a perfect way.



The hat juggler was entertaining. Howie would be right in being wary that it was just one thing if he wasn't a circus guy. I'm sure this isn't his only trick, just the one he was doing today. He'll bring something new to it next time.



Hey, this guy again!



I can't figure him out, because his performances seem like just big jokes, but the things he does are actually intriguing. His YouTube channel has videos of some other things he does, like spontaneously igniting papers and stuff like that, which apparently he'll do in his next performance here. Unable to decide if a good act or a bad one, but definitely an interesting one.



The trick riding act was impressive, and I'm sure it didn't translate well through the tv, it must be even more amazing to see in person.



Extreme slip and slide; coming soon to the X-Games.



That crane jumper is insane. Why would you do that.



What even was this?



That's not a talent. Daredeviling can be, but this stunt wasn't. It wasn't even really a stunt, she just sat in there, she had no involvement in what actually happened. Was the talent supposed to be surviving the explosion? I really don't get it.
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