Believe - Joel Paschall

Sep 3, 2007
2,562
0
Europe
Believe by Joel Paschall

The Official Spam-

A pure, impromptu miracle from the mind of Joel Paschall. A card is selected from the deck, signed, and returned. An indifferent card is shown; the corner is ripped off and placed face up on the table. The rest of the card is set aside, in view.

With a slow, calculated, delicate wave of your hand over the torn corner, it visually changes into that of the spectator's chosen selection. Impossible? The rest of the card - which has been in view the entire time - is turned over as well.

The Video-

I got this effect as a DVD Download, as I don't really mind not having it on DVD. There are probably extras that you get on the DVD, but not the Download, but I just wanted the effect; extras don't really concern me that much. This, after a few problems with MY computer, not the download, took about half an hour- forty-five minutes to download.

The quality of the video, as usual for theory11, was great. I could see everything that was going on as if I was there. At first the video was a bit jumpy, but like always, it was probably my computer. After that it ran perfectly smooth, and I didn't have any problems at all.

Dana and Wayne did a wonderful job editing this. It was put together very nicely, and looked dang cool. They got all the best angles for the teaching and performances. Good job, guys!

The Teaching/Teacher-

Joel is very quickly becoming one of my favorite theory11 artists. He has a nice personality, and just watching him perform makes you want to actually believe in magic. When he performed this effect, I was blown away for the first time in a long time. His patter, his personality, his handling; everything was perfect.

When Joel teaches, he goes over everything you need to know to be able to perform this. He teaches this crazy One Handed Braue Reversal that looks good and gets done what you need done. It's very knacky, so it'll be a while before I'll be doing this.

Joel teaches a very nice One Handed Double, which, like the One Handed Braue Reversal, looks good, but is pretty knacky. It reminds me a lot of Brian Tudor's One Handed Double, if you have seen it. However, Joel's is a little bit easier. This one is going to take a while before I'm doing it, as well.

Angles-

One question I have got since originally writing this review, both on AIM/MSN, and through PM... is how are the angles on this effect? Well, it's pretty darn much completely angle proof. I can't imagine a setting where you're performing and have angle problems with this.

Reset-

Obviously, since this effect is completely impromptu, there is no reset.

Gimmicks/Impromptuness-

The demo video truly does not lie for this effect. Believe uses absolutely no gimmicks, and can be done anywhere, anytime, with any deck of cards. It relies purely on sleight of hand, and demo video is not misleading at all. The change is really that visual, and it really is as awesome as the demo makes it sound.

When first buying this, I really was expecting there to be some PK Ring, magnet, or something else to achieve the change. The real method is almost diabolical, impromptu, and just as visual. The only problem I have with the change, and it is a tiny one, is that the changed piece is slightly moved, and is not in the same place as it was originally. But, if you do this right, your spectators will never notice.

Difficulty-

When going into this effect, I honestly expected not to be able to do it. I thought it was going to be that hard. And the truth is: it's not! It relies on a few basic sleights, plus a few things that are a little to quite knacky; some of which can be "replaced" or switched with other sleights that you already know.

This effect is something that will need to be practiced quite a bit, as it is NOT one that you want to go out and flub up. You want to make this everything it can be, and you need to give it the practice it deserves. Which means I won't be performing it for a couple of weeks. Which, sadly, means I won't be able to perform it at school. But I would rather perform it near-flawlessly next year than try to do it this week and mess it up.

Price-

To be quite honest with you guys, this effect is dirt cheap for what you're getting. I would have easily paid at least $30, probably more, for this. That's how good it is. Your spectators will love this, and you will love performing it. If you aren't willing to fork over the money for this; you don't deserve to perform it!

Performances-

Just for those of you that are wondering, this DVD/Download has one real live performance for real people, a performance "for you" on some concrete steps, and one or two performances (I wasn't really watching that closely; I was trying to practice) in the "Additional Ideas" section. They're all great, and give you an idea of what the effect looks like in real time.

Additional Ideas-

After explaining the basic method and handling, there is a section of the Download/DVD called "Additional Ideas". Joel is sitting outside on some asphalt, in what sort of appears to be an alley. He explains some different versions of Believe that you can do when the subject arises of "reading people's minds" and things like that. These are not extremely hard to do, but will require "lots" of practice.

Overall-

Like I said before, Joel is quickly becoming one of my favorite theory11 artists, and I have a feeling that Believe is quickly going to become one of my favorite effects. Joel goes into a lot of detail of why this effect works the way it does, a little bit of theory, and it all just works. That's all I can say. Get it, now!

By the way, I will be updating this in a few weeks to tell you how the performances are and what the reactions are like.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sep 22, 2007
353
0
Spot On! I agree a hundred percent. I think it is going to be amazingly hard hitting thank you so much Joel and T11 for releasing this.
 
Sep 22, 2007
353
0
What do you mean by a full card? The change cannot be done with a full card but the trick is what it is you have to tear it and its well worth the tear i cant stress that enough!
 
Dec 17, 2007
1,291
2
31
Melbourne, Australia
What do you mean by a full card? The change cannot be done with a full card but the trick is what it is you have to tear it and its well worth the tear i cant stress that enough!

I meant, can I just wave my hand over a non-torn card to turn it into their card.. ie, could this be used as a colour change?
 
Dec 13, 2007
246
0
Yeah... this is a great effect... i bought it and have been practicing it all night... i just showed my dad... and he loved it

i had a little trouble doing the "thing" you have to do in order to change the corner, but i found that if i do it right in front of the spectator before the change, they won't really care
 
Dec 4, 2007
1,074
2
www.thrallmind.com
Believe is quite possibly the coolest card effect I know other than dM's Fatal.

It is as fun to do for you as it is for others to watch. It just looks so clean, and the spec is left with a souvenir to remember the moment.

I never rate effects, but this would have to be a five start effect for me.

-ThrallMind
 
Sep 3, 2007
2,562
0
Europe
Update: Just for those of you that I scared by saying the moves are very knacky; I spoke too soon! For the past 45 minutes I practiced the One Handed Braue Reversal and the One Handed Double Lift, and I nearly have them down pat. They are not as hard as I originally thought if you really put the time into them. Like my P.E. coach said:

"It's not how many reps you do, it's what you put into the reps you do."
 
Sep 3, 2007
2,562
0
Europe
Yeah, it's not like they're expensive to get; if you live in America, that is. And even then you can buy them online for fairly cheap. Unless you perform with Tally's (cough**zachmonky**cough) or expensive cards like Split Spades Lions; you really shouldn't be worried about it.
 
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