When I met Paul Harris at the LVMI a few years ago, he told me about a huge new project he was working on. Dubbed True Astonishment, it was 10-DVD set with performances and explanations of some of the best effects from the AoA series, plus a plethora of awesome new material that he’d come up with in the decade or so since he put out the 3-volume set. In addition to that, he also planned to include material performed and taught by numerous talented magicians all over the world, all of which would cumulatively make True Astonishment one of the most badass magic investments anyone could possibly lay their hands on.
Flash forward two false starts, many many moneys and three years later, and the set is finally here. Turns out it’s 9 DVDs instead of 10, but that’s still a crapload of magic the last time I checked.
From the official descriptions page on trueastonishments.com, the set looks amazing. With effects involving everything leaves and smoking eyeballs as well as guest appearances by such greats as Mac King, David Blaine, Eric Mead and Lord Ammar, I can’t think of any possible way that these DVDs could suck.
There’s also a trailer on the page which you can see embedded below. While most of its five minute playtime consists of spectators going “AaaAAAAaaAAAAaaAAhhHHHHH OH MY GOD!!” (you might want to turn down the volume if you’re wearing headphones), the parts where magic is actually being shown are pretty darn cool. A few items that caught my attention were a really clean-looking handling of the Elevator/Fallen/Riot concept, an ungimmicked version of Zapped!, as well as a truly WTF card-dealing moment at 4.15. Plus, you get to see Paul Harris chillaxin’ in nature, just like any true badass magic guru Zen master would.
In addition to the triple-trilogy of DVDs, you also get a bunch of awesome props and gimmicks that are used in some of the effects, all contained in a God-like wooden box that you saw so lovingly fetishized in the trailer. Plus, if you order by the 13th, Paul Harris will personally autograph the set to you. YOU. Which means that if you wanted him to write “I hereby bequeath all my magical power and knowledge of the last half century to [NAME] in the form of this God-like wooden box. Sincerely yours, Paul Harris“, he’d be contractually bound to do so.
At $300, the cost of the set is a little steep for my current economic situation (not to mention that of the entire world), so it looks like I’ll have to wait until enough of you buy my damned book for me to get it. Nonetheless, the good side to that is that it’ll keep any so-and-so magic nub from just picking up the set, instead leaving only those who really treasure how much of an investment it’ll be to get it. This might very well be the last official product by and with the big PH, so if you’re serious about magic and you have the bones to spare, my advice is to do what I can’t currently afford and get True Astonishment right now.
In the meantime, I’ll go with my original plan to read and take notes on the original AoA book set. It may not be the latest, but it’s still definitely one of the greatest.
For full descriptions of the effects included in True Astonishment, click here.
Wow , big box . Unfortunately it is to expensive for me. Paul is a legend and this dvd collection looks great .
Good plan kevin definitly, if this small machine don't work I will ask Richard Sanders if he could ,,Extreme Burn'' a few dollars for me :P.
regards,
Robin
I love when he deals the card and it shoots back to the deck. Instant replay of four aces between the fingers looked nice too.
I really want to pick this up, but according to my wallet, I am not a real hardcore who deserves this set. Gonna try to conversate with it.
@Erik:
My plan is to just fork out the $15 on one of these, and then feed it my study notes after tomorrow’s final exam.
New Blog Post: Paul Harris’ New 9-DVD Set http://tinyurl.com/6glzce
That box looks awesome.
But Awesomness is too expensive for me now-a-days :(
=D I've ordered this. Too bad I have to wait until January to actually receive it! I would love to perform some tricks for New Years
Awesome! Do let me know how it is once you get it.
WIll do
I GOT IT! IT"S HERE! =D
Awesome! Looking forward to what you have to think about it :D
-Kev, The Virts
[...] make posts on this site about the current online magic/flourish scene (unless it has to do with awesome new releases, of course), but the recent hype over the revelation of Anonymous (a.k.a. Daniel [...]
Well, that seems to be not true. I will get back another time and extend my comment. Hope it will help.
Well, that seems to be not true. I will get back later and explain it. Hope it will help.
Glad to see you both agree.
David Blaine has very good showmanship and his magic tricks are good too.,`*
i like the magic tricks of David Blaine but Chris Angel is much better.~,`