Hello everyone!
Since there are allot of people out there asking questions about the TA set im going to write a review about the set to the people who are thinking about if they should spend 300 dollars on this set or not.
So what is the True Astonishments? True Astonishments is a 9 dvd set which features Paul Harris and some of his friends like Andrew Gerard, Wayne Houchin, Bro Gilbert, Jeff Mcbride, Eric Mead and David blaine and they share some of the best close up magic that has ever been released to the magic community.
The quality of the product is amazing, the dvds comes in a expensive looking wooden box with all the props you need to performe the material on the dvds, the dvds are very well produced shoot in full HD so you can expect the same quality as the dvds from T11.
I will review some of my favourite effects here, i will not review every effect since i feel that this set is about so much more then just the effects.
Chengs Change : This is a version of "Zapped" where you bring out a bad poker hand and with just a snap or a wave the cards morphs into a royal flush right infront of their eyes. This version requires no gimmicks and it is not thard hard to do, however it requires a small set up but with a little bit of work it can be done infront of them.
This is a really great effect and it really blows people away, they have seen it in movies and thought it was trick photography and when you do it in real life they will freak out.
Chengs riser : This is the best ACR ending that i have seen and the most practical one aswell, it requires no gimmicks and can be done with a borrowed deck of cards.
There are two versions, one is faced down and it will look like Raise rise but way more vissual and it is very easy to do, you put the card almost at the bottom of the deck sticking out and while your holding it with one hand it rises to the top with no wierd moves at all. Card can be signed.
The second version is the same effect but its faced up, this one is allot harder and needs a small set up, this is a great version aswell but i feel this is better for a quick visual trick then a ACR ending.
So if your looking for a visual riser effec for your ACR routine this is the best one out there, both in how practical it is and how visual it is.
Naked strange : This is a version of Strange travelers, David Blaines favourit effect, but this one is done with normal cards and can use a borrowed deck if you want to.
You show a packet of 10 cards and have them just think of one of the cards and you give them another packet of cards. In the first pile its now just 9 cards and the card that they just thought of has now vanished and traveld to the other packet of cards which is in their pocket.
This one is an instant classic, its super easy and practical to performe and really gets great reactions.
Andrew Gerards Extraordinary proof : You give someone a deck of cards and ask them to deal cards and to stop wherever they want, and while they are dealing they can shuffle as much as they want. When they are done you tell them you knew that they were going to stop on that card.
Ofcourse they think you are joking and no one will belive you, then you turn over your hand which the spectator have been hodling from the start of the trick, and you have the prediction written in your hand.
This will really freak people out, some people on the video even thinks that it is real and does apogy Bro because they think he was joking and tells him that they never thought they would meet someone with this kind of "abbility".
The set up for this takes about 2 seconds and is done infront of them, the rest of the effect is self working and only needs a strong pressenation.
Dunn´s Deal : This is a great Out of this world effect. This Out of this world is 100% impromptu and the spectators can shuffle the deck before the trick as much as they want. Its very easy to do and requires no wierd dealing procudures, it is very straight forward and clean.
Water Trap : A signed coin is very clearly placed in the spectators hands and they closes their hand to make sure the coin wont go anywhere, you puts a match book on fire and cools it down in a glass of water, the spectator opens their hand and the coin is now gone and the coin can be found in the match book in the water.
This is really what it looks like, no wierd moves or coin vanishes, the coin clearly is placed in their hand as they close their fist and then its gone without you even going near. If this was on a Criss Angel or Blaine speciall people would swear that the part when "it all happend" was edited out. It needs about 10 second set up and then you are ready to go.
SOS Son of stunner: This is the best Triumph i have seen, you will think that all other triumphs are super boring after watching this one.
You talk about deck switches and how people think that magicians are switching in fake decks etc and you are telling them that is way to hard to do, but you explain that one thing that magicians do is to use marked cards and that you want them to try to find it.
You then shuffle half the deck faced up and half faced down and your telling them that to make it easier for them you will tell them that the marked card is faced down. So your start to go through cards and have them to stop you at the card they want and as you go trough cards they can clearly see that the cards are mixed faced up and faced down. Once they stop on a card you reveal that they did stop on the marked card and your showing them that you had it written down. Sounds like a pretty cool effect right? But it has not even started.
When they picked out the "marked" card you imeadlity hands out the deck of cards to the spectator, seconds later you will reveal that the cards have now "unshuffled" and every card is face up again, the only explanation for that is that you did the impossible deck switch that you told them was way hard to do. No one will belive you but when you ask them to turn over the deck they are now hodling a new deck of cards with a different back. You are 100% clean.
This is a killer effect, i had people almost fall out of their chairs when i did reveal that the deck was switched.
There are much more great material on the set but theese were my favourites, but i will use most of the other material aswell.
The great thing with this set is that it moves away from the technical and flashy magic that is the big trend in magic right now.
Paul talks about that on some of the interviews on the dvds. He talks about that there is a big difference between an astonished audience (which is where most magicians wants to get their audience, to make them astonished but most have a hard time getting there) And an audience that is impressed with you and your skill.
Because is there really something astonishing about most of the flashy "look at me" Magic? Because if your showing that you have allot of skills with flashy moves and tricks, no matter how good the trick is, the method is obviously you and your skilled hands.
This will really make you think about what you performe and how you present your magic.
The dvds are also full of interviews with some of the greatest magicians in the world that is amazing. The theme in allot of the interviews is about finding your character and what YOU wants to do with your magic and not to always listen to other magicians no matter how great they are and how much you look up to them and do what you feel is right.
I think this set is so much more then just amazing magic effects, in some way i feel it is more about finding yourself as a performer and who you wants to be, but thats just the way i feel.
This set has really changed how i look at magic.
Since there are allot of people out there asking questions about the TA set im going to write a review about the set to the people who are thinking about if they should spend 300 dollars on this set or not.
So what is the True Astonishments? True Astonishments is a 9 dvd set which features Paul Harris and some of his friends like Andrew Gerard, Wayne Houchin, Bro Gilbert, Jeff Mcbride, Eric Mead and David blaine and they share some of the best close up magic that has ever been released to the magic community.
The quality of the product is amazing, the dvds comes in a expensive looking wooden box with all the props you need to performe the material on the dvds, the dvds are very well produced shoot in full HD so you can expect the same quality as the dvds from T11.
I will review some of my favourite effects here, i will not review every effect since i feel that this set is about so much more then just the effects.
Chengs Change : This is a version of "Zapped" where you bring out a bad poker hand and with just a snap or a wave the cards morphs into a royal flush right infront of their eyes. This version requires no gimmicks and it is not thard hard to do, however it requires a small set up but with a little bit of work it can be done infront of them.
This is a really great effect and it really blows people away, they have seen it in movies and thought it was trick photography and when you do it in real life they will freak out.
Chengs riser : This is the best ACR ending that i have seen and the most practical one aswell, it requires no gimmicks and can be done with a borrowed deck of cards.
There are two versions, one is faced down and it will look like Raise rise but way more vissual and it is very easy to do, you put the card almost at the bottom of the deck sticking out and while your holding it with one hand it rises to the top with no wierd moves at all. Card can be signed.
The second version is the same effect but its faced up, this one is allot harder and needs a small set up, this is a great version aswell but i feel this is better for a quick visual trick then a ACR ending.
So if your looking for a visual riser effec for your ACR routine this is the best one out there, both in how practical it is and how visual it is.
Naked strange : This is a version of Strange travelers, David Blaines favourit effect, but this one is done with normal cards and can use a borrowed deck if you want to.
You show a packet of 10 cards and have them just think of one of the cards and you give them another packet of cards. In the first pile its now just 9 cards and the card that they just thought of has now vanished and traveld to the other packet of cards which is in their pocket.
This one is an instant classic, its super easy and practical to performe and really gets great reactions.
Andrew Gerards Extraordinary proof : You give someone a deck of cards and ask them to deal cards and to stop wherever they want, and while they are dealing they can shuffle as much as they want. When they are done you tell them you knew that they were going to stop on that card.
Ofcourse they think you are joking and no one will belive you, then you turn over your hand which the spectator have been hodling from the start of the trick, and you have the prediction written in your hand.
This will really freak people out, some people on the video even thinks that it is real and does apogy Bro because they think he was joking and tells him that they never thought they would meet someone with this kind of "abbility".
The set up for this takes about 2 seconds and is done infront of them, the rest of the effect is self working and only needs a strong pressenation.
Dunn´s Deal : This is a great Out of this world effect. This Out of this world is 100% impromptu and the spectators can shuffle the deck before the trick as much as they want. Its very easy to do and requires no wierd dealing procudures, it is very straight forward and clean.
Water Trap : A signed coin is very clearly placed in the spectators hands and they closes their hand to make sure the coin wont go anywhere, you puts a match book on fire and cools it down in a glass of water, the spectator opens their hand and the coin is now gone and the coin can be found in the match book in the water.
This is really what it looks like, no wierd moves or coin vanishes, the coin clearly is placed in their hand as they close their fist and then its gone without you even going near. If this was on a Criss Angel or Blaine speciall people would swear that the part when "it all happend" was edited out. It needs about 10 second set up and then you are ready to go.
SOS Son of stunner: This is the best Triumph i have seen, you will think that all other triumphs are super boring after watching this one.
You talk about deck switches and how people think that magicians are switching in fake decks etc and you are telling them that is way to hard to do, but you explain that one thing that magicians do is to use marked cards and that you want them to try to find it.
You then shuffle half the deck faced up and half faced down and your telling them that to make it easier for them you will tell them that the marked card is faced down. So your start to go through cards and have them to stop you at the card they want and as you go trough cards they can clearly see that the cards are mixed faced up and faced down. Once they stop on a card you reveal that they did stop on the marked card and your showing them that you had it written down. Sounds like a pretty cool effect right? But it has not even started.
When they picked out the "marked" card you imeadlity hands out the deck of cards to the spectator, seconds later you will reveal that the cards have now "unshuffled" and every card is face up again, the only explanation for that is that you did the impossible deck switch that you told them was way hard to do. No one will belive you but when you ask them to turn over the deck they are now hodling a new deck of cards with a different back. You are 100% clean.
This is a killer effect, i had people almost fall out of their chairs when i did reveal that the deck was switched.
There are much more great material on the set but theese were my favourites, but i will use most of the other material aswell.
The great thing with this set is that it moves away from the technical and flashy magic that is the big trend in magic right now.
Paul talks about that on some of the interviews on the dvds. He talks about that there is a big difference between an astonished audience (which is where most magicians wants to get their audience, to make them astonished but most have a hard time getting there) And an audience that is impressed with you and your skill.
Because is there really something astonishing about most of the flashy "look at me" Magic? Because if your showing that you have allot of skills with flashy moves and tricks, no matter how good the trick is, the method is obviously you and your skilled hands.
This will really make you think about what you performe and how you present your magic.
The dvds are also full of interviews with some of the greatest magicians in the world that is amazing. The theme in allot of the interviews is about finding your character and what YOU wants to do with your magic and not to always listen to other magicians no matter how great they are and how much you look up to them and do what you feel is right.
I think this set is so much more then just amazing magic effects, in some way i feel it is more about finding yourself as a performer and who you wants to be, but thats just the way i feel.
This set has really changed how i look at magic.
So excited. 
