True Astonishments - 9 Disk Set + Gimmicks - Paul Harris

[Lyle Borders]

Here goes my review of the material on each individual disk of True Astonishments (TA) by Paul Harris. I'll tell you what each trick is and my thoughts on it. This may take a while to finish, but I'll give it by best shot.

Twilight Angels: Wayne Houchin performs a beautiful rendition of this classic PH effect. Paul has said repeatedly that this may BE his all time favorite effect.

Classic effect. A bicycle card is selected. The angels on the back are noted to be in their normal position. A shiny object is introduced (A chrome Zippo, mirror, etc.) The reflective object is held on the card so you can see one angel and it's reflection in the "Angel Catcher" so that it looks like in the reflection you are simply seeing half of the card. The angel catcher is pulled away taking an angel with it. The angel catcher is replaced beside the remaining angle, then slide away, visibly placing the other angle next to the first.

This is an old PH effect, with a clever handling from Wayne Houchin. Everything on the DVD is taught extremely well, so I won't comment on the teaching from this point out. This trick requires gimmicked cards (Included in the "bag", as we will refer to it from now on) but is very simple and easy. The "Angel Catcher" is not included, all you need is any reflective flat object. A chrome zippo, a picket mirror, or many other things can be used. I am sure you can find something at home. This trick was kinda forgotten about after it's first release, but DO NOT underestimate it's power. It has good reason to be on this DVD set. You can give these cards out after as a souvenir, but you will need to buy more later, there are only a few included in the set.

Backlash 2: Paul and TA director Bro Gilbert took one of one of the most popular effects from the Art Of Astonishment books tore it apart, rebuilt it from the ground up and pumped up the ending till it explodes.

Cool little effect. Won't fly by another magician but can freak out laypeople. A card is signed by a spectator front and back and clearly inserted into magician's pocket. The card then invisibly jumps to the deck face down by the power of "suggestion." The deck is then re-examined only to discover that the face down card in the deck no longer has a signature on it and the signed card has been in the magician's pocket the whole time. The kicker ending happens when one of the two signatures on the card visually changes from the spectator's signature to the magician's. Card can be handed out.

I have nbot yet used this one, but now that I have looked back on the effect I think I will. There is just a lot of weird stuff going on here, and it will blow a spectator's mind if you present right.

New Leaf: Another ingenious organic piece of strange from Paul and Bro. This new version of Leaf moves into the spectator's hands completely, and with a simple rubbing, everything becomes whole again. The next time you're in the middle of the woods and someone asks to see something magical you've got a lifetime supply of props and a beautiful little moment to share.

Though you will likely not have the chance to use this often, when you do you will love it. You take two leaves, one torn, one whole. You clearly fold the torn leaf into the whole one and hand it to the spectator to hold behind their back. They rub the leaves and bring them to the front, only to discover that the torn leaf that they indeed saw IN THEIR HANDS has been healed. Impromptu so long as you are smart about things. Powerful, simple, beautiful. If you are out where you don't have access to normal magic props, this may be for you.


Cheng's Change: This is mind-blowing. Perform Zapped! with normal cards. Five cards visually morph into fine different cards right under their noses. Did we mention NO GIMMICKS?


Talk about knacky. You show a five card poker hand, worth nothing. With just a flick, and NO COVER, the poker hand visually changes into a winning hand. NO GIMMICKS. All sleight of hand. That said, this is a pain. It looks amazing if you can pull it off though.


Big Tiny: A spectator's signature reassembles itself and multiplies in their hands. They honest-to-god truly mix up the cards and then the ink morphs into their name.

I love this trick. It kills a deck of cards every time, but it brings incredible reactions. A spectator writes their name on the side of the deck. The deck is shuffled and spread to show the mixed up cards. The spectator then divides the deck, at their own choosing, into four piles. The piles are then picked up, one at a time, and when the spectator rubs their finger across the side of each pile the ink morphs into a mini version of their signature. On each of the four piles. Spectators flip. I often use this trick, then do an ACR or some other trick where the card can be signed or torn, because the deck is shot afterwards.



Disk 2

The New Las Vegas Leaper (LVL$): Ok, this is so brilliant and so simple! Basically, you do the original PH routine with some new touches and add a whole new twist to end on. You'll kick yourself for not having thought of it.


This is tight. A spectator counts out in their hands 10 playing cards. They then place them in their back pocket. You count out 10 cards and one at a time 3 of them vanish. The spectator then counts the cards in her pocket and finds 13. You then display 5 bills of any denomination. With just a quick fold one of them disappears and ends up, like the extra cards, in the spectator's pocket. This trick kills.

VERY simple. It is yet another principal you will hate yourself for not knowing before hand. It's too good. This trick is gold.
Tubular: Paul's impromptu miracle where two signed bills impossibly morph into one bill with both names... all in the spectator's hands.
A bill is borrowed from a spectator, and a bill of the same value is produced by the performer. The spectator signs the performer’s bill on one edge, the performer signs the spectators bill on one edge. The performer and the spectator each roll their bills tight and the spectator pinches the two rolled bills between their fingers. The two bills “fuze” into one that have both signatures on it.
Not the best effect IMO. I won’t likely use it. Simple, direct, just not my kind of trick. Maybe I’ll change my mind one day.

Cheng's Riser: The card visually and slowly rises towards the top. Then with barely a wave of the hand it melts right through to the very top. No gimmicks, just beautiful methodology.
Simple but a little knacky. A gimmick free, very visual rising card. Uses an old but not very well utilized principal. Learn this to be able to have a very visual impromptu rising card wherever you go.

SS2 – Seductive Switch 2
A card switch of impossible nature. 3 cards are used. One is taken and folded into fourths. It is held in the performer’s hand while the other two cards are placed securely in the spectator’s hands. Under impossible conditions, the card switches places with one of those in the spectator’s hands. I laugh every time I think about the method. Very deceptive.


Growing Card by Tomoyuki Shimmura: This bizarre piece of strange happens in full view. A card visibly squishes out of shape as it slowly stretches and grows to twice its size in full view. Beautifully performed and taught by Robert Smith.
Gimmicked to the max, but very powerful none the less. A playing card visually appears to grow and stretch between two other cards. I may use this someday, but not yet.


Disk 3 Review

Casanova Inc.
Done with business cards. A simply drawn boy on one, a simply drawn girl on the other. Both cards are signed by the spectator and they hold the boy between their hands. A quick ambitious card routine is done with the girl and a stack of other business cards. The trick ends when the girl is placed in a second spectator’s hand and, with no funny movements, the signed girl and boy cards transpose.
Simple and crafty concept taught by Bro Gilbert. Its applications may be somewhat limited, but as a trick it works awesome. It’s all about being able to do this with both cards clearly signed. The signature is clearly seen the entire time. Not my favorite trick in the world, but definitely a keeper.

Half Moon Trading Company
A card is selected and separated from the deck. A spectator is shown. It is then lost into the deck. The card is “signed” by imagination and a spectator’s finger and then “thrown” into the tuck box. The card is shown to have vanished from the deck. It ends up inside the tuck box, signed.
Clever concept for forcing a card and making it reappear under impossible conditions. It takes some getting used to, but it is very clever. For this to work, you need to secretly learn someone’s name, but that is never hard. I need to work more on this one, it is a very cool idea.

Half Moon Voodoo
Relies again on the “Half Moon Principle.” A card is selected, it’s “twin” is found face up in the face down deck. A corner is torn off of the selected car and the same corner vanishes from the twin. Something is written on the selection, the same thing is found on the twin. Cool trick. Freaks people out. I don’t do it often, but only because I haven’t had the time to devote to the half-moon principle.

Pack of Lies
I love this. The magician demonstrates amazing pick-pocketing skills. A deck of cards is placed in a spectator’s coat pocket. In a failed first attempt, where the spectator feels the magician stealing cards. He only ends up with two cards. The magician gathers courage and, without any apparent moves pulls the deck from his own pocket. The spectator finds their pocket empty.
This trick is based on the PH Vanishing Deck principle from years and years ago. It is not as well utilized as it should be. If you don’t know this idea, it’s the same concept as the PH project of Dan Hauss’ Riot. Utterly impossible, nobody can reverse engineer this. Nobody knows that such a simple gimmick exists. The gimmick included is brand new, high quality plastic instead of paper like it used to be.

Solid (With a happy ending)
Clever idea, not something I have done yet. A signed card from a previous trick is found in the deck. An experiment with static electricity leads the spectator to cause her half of the deck to go solid. Building up an opposite kind of charge, the spectator causes the solid deck to become normal again.

Dr. Fun
A spectator’s happy thoughts are predicted, written on a card on the deck before the trick begins. The spectator’s card is visible the entire routine. A standard prediction trick. Clever concept to know. Not something I perform yet.

Name Dropper
Performer causes the letters of a person’s name to appear on the backs of previously blank cards, one at a time, by rubbing the cards against another card with wet ink.
Again, something I have not gotten around to using, but I will be looking into this in the future. You must secretly learn someone’s name ahead of time.


Lubor’s Lens
A clear “credit card protector” is introduced from performer’s wallet. A pen is held in a spectator’s hand and the spectator views the pen through the protector. The protector is turned to one side and the pen appears to have disappeared. It’s turned back to normal. The protector is then slowly twisted back and forth until the pen actually “twists.” The pen can be examined to have melted and twisted.
I LOVE this. You have to have pro audience management skills, or you will be foiled. You need to keep the spectators attention where it belongs. This trick can also be used to knot a straw or un-burn a burnt match from a match book. The gimmick (Lubor’s Lens) is included. People freak because this trick looks to be nothing more than an optical illusion at first.

Naked Strange
Naked because it is a gimmick-free version of PH’s strange traveler’s, made famous by David Blaine. Very cool. A merely thought of card, placed with others in a spectator’s hand, travels invisibly to another spectator’s stack of cards. Very easy sleight of hand. You need to be familiar with Biddle steals and false counts, but nothing should be hard. I am employing this one today for the first time since now that I have been reminded that it exists.

Stapled Ward
My favorite trick to do so far. It is MESSED UP. Even more impossible variation on the classic card warp effect. Two cards are selected. One is folded length wise, signed and initialed in the corners, and placed inside a card folded widthwise. The card inside is stapled shut, the card on the outside is stapled shut as well. In a series of crazy warps, the card is shown face (and signature) outside, then inside again, and then in a weird, paradoxical way, both inside and outside at the same time. The anomaly is torn in half and the cards are pushed one last time through the outside cards and (though they actually do nothing, this even fooled PH and Bro) they psychologically warp one more time in front of their eyes.
The teaching method of this trick on the DVD is legendary. When Andrew Gerrard teaches the end of the trick, which is nothing but psychological, Bro (who is filming) gets upset, swearing that the cards ended up warping one last time. He is ticked about it. On camera they call up PH and PH has the same idea. Bro and PH are baffled and stumped, both swearing that AG had done something different. This trick, if you do it right, kills. I keep a tear up deck and a mini-stapler in my backpack at all times simply for this trick.

Transcendental Bar Bet
Not practical, but very visual. Great for drunks. A card is vanished off of the top of the deck by a spectator and ends up somewhere unique (In Bro’s case, in his beer.) Very knacky set up, but it sure looks cool. I got caught the only time I tried this, it is not easy. Not likely to make it into my list of tricks.

Extraordinary Proof
A spectator simply deals to the card a magician has been dreaming of… And he has that card written on his hand which has been under a spectator’s hand the entire time.
A simple but effective force is taught here. It’s one of those things that before you perform it you don’t think you will be able to get away with, but it works. Good material to have in your arsenal.

Tensegrity
A deck of cards is balanced unimpressively on the top of a bottle. To try to make it more amazing it is slid slightly to the side. Still nothing special. Two cards are introduced. One is balanced, at an angle, on top of the deck, the other angling far over the deck of cards from the side of the first card. Things suddenly look pretty weird. To top things off, a pencil is laid on top of the outstretched card even farther over the already gravity defying sculpture.
VERY COOL LOOKING. Not terribly practical though. It is HARD CORE gimmicked, but you can do this completely surrounded. Cannot be handled before or after. The entire gimmick is contained before the trick in the box. Part of the gimmick is very durable, part is very fragile, but nothing costs much. You make it all yourself, everything you need to create the gimmick but a deck of cards is contained in the package.

Reswindled
A complex cheating routine. The jacks are placed under a napkin under a glass. One by one the performer switches the cards in his junk hand for the jacks. The cards are, in a flash, switched back. The performer shows the jacks under the glass and then, in one last display, instantly transposes the jacks for aces.
Not terribly inspectable, but no gimmicks. Very clever. Get people drunk before you do this and you are a freaking wizard. Show a sober person and you are a card shark.

Disk 6 Review

Smoking i
A spectator writes the initials of someone important in the side of a match from a book of matches, and then on the other side. The match is burned completely. The match is discarded. Another match is selected and then examined by the spectator. It is lit and waved under the spectator’s hand. As the flames die the initials appear on the match.
Cool reactions, not hard to do. You need to learn the routine, but once you have that down you are good to go. No gimmicks, just a little advanced preparation and good old sleight of hand.

The Weirdling
Cool to carry around for when someone asks to see something. A punch card from a coffee stand is introduced from a wallet. It is signed and folded. The card is partially torn and folded on itself. The card is shown to look slightly bizarre. It is unfolded only to find that half of the print on the printed side of the card has transferred to the unprinted side of the card. It is left for the spectator.
Easy, practical. It is just weird. The spectator handles the card before the trick, and it is normal. They even sign it. What they take home is just unexplainable. Normal and gimmicked cards are included. Easy trick to just have in your wallet at all times.

Ripped and Fryed
Awesome torn and restored card. Uses a gimmick that you create DURING the routine. It looks UNBELIEVABLE. I have not done this yet due to lack of time to learn it well and practice. This is not one you just pick up, it takes lots of work.

Cell Mates
This one I HAVE used. Simple idea. You are trying to find the soul mate for your spectator. They shuffle the deck, and then they deal off several cards. One is placed in their back pocket and never mentioned again (With your name and phone # on it. The rest of the cards’ values are interpreted to be a phone number, that of the spectator’s soul mate. The spectator is instructed to call the number and, imagine that, the performer’s cell phone inconveniently goes off… Guess who? Easy, no gimmicks, just a little set up.

[joe black]

wow man was it worth the cash?

[Brandon Pomeroy]

Lyle won the contest for meeting with Paul Harris, but could not attend, so he traded it to someone for the DVD set. I do not believe that Lyle bought the set. However, based on his raving about it previously, I'm going to guess that he'll say it would be worth the cash.

[joe black]

WOW what compettion was it SOUNDS SWWET!! i want to meet micheal ammar or yigel meiska

[Lyle Borders]

I bought the set for the $300, and that is how I won the PH contest. I could not go so I swapped the spot at the PH dinner for $150 and the full set of Art of Astonishment books. I still paid, but basically got it for free.


If I had to do it all over again, I would still buy it.

[joe black]

cool u are lucky i woulded traded for somthing else personally

[Lyle Borders]

Like what? I wasn't trying to rip people off, and that was the next best prize available. I love my AoA books.

[joe black]

nah your choice was great! but i wouldnt be able to read all those books

[magicadam24]

Hey, a book is better than a dvd. At least from my point of view, because it seems like it would be less likely to be exposed to laymen. With these magic dvd's coming out, magicians are buying them, ripping them, and posting for EVERYONE to download. Most of the time, those "magicians" are people who are too lazy to read magic books.

[joe black]

lol yer
i find a dvd more hands on
btw if they didnt charge (here in australia) 70$$ for a dvd there would be less ripping off, in america its probaly about 50 of your dollars for a dvd in australia...
any way paul harris is a legend so it'll all be good

[Will Thong]

I've bought it. It is utterly worth it. Like, completely and utterly. The amount of magic there is enough to keep me happy for years. Plus, there's that *nice* feeling because I actually bought it, which is strange for me
And yes, I would have bought it again if I had the chance. It took my birthday, Chinese New Year and Christmas money from all of my family members combined to pay for it, but it was really worth it.

[Lyle Borders]

Reviews soon. I have disks 1-6 done, just need to find time to upload.

[Jacob Hatfield]

Lyle. I decided to invest into the set as well. I am working my way through nice and slow.

[Lyle Borders]

It's a great investment Seeker. Even if you will never use the material, it will make you think in ways that will inspire you.


Just put up reviews for disks 3-6. More soon.

[Jacob Hatfield]

I agree Lyle. I look at magic in a whole new light now. I feel...enlightened by the whole DVD set. The interviews (cookies) are amazing.