Benjamin Earl's Stroke Change

DavidMisner

DavidMisner

Sep 1, 2007
1,529
1
33
San Francisco, CA
So recently I was browsing through random magic sites and I found an advertisement for Benjamin Earl's Past Midnight DVD set.

I watched the three trailers, and was extremely impressed with the Stroke Change. I thought I had an idea of how it was done, but Benjamin's fluidity and skill with the cards made it look even better.

For those of you who own this (meaning the DVD set, or at least the Tricks DVD), what are your thoughts? This is something I'm seriously thinking about buying, and I want to be fully confident before I shell out that kind of cash.

Here is the set.

David
 
V

verifythisnow

Sep 3, 2007
28
0
Honestly? I think this is the best magic related purchases I have made. I can safely say you will not regret buying these. I would say intermediate skill is required for most of the effects, however there are some self working ones and on the other side of that there are ones that require a fairly competent level of audience management and sleight work.

There are also alot of utilities and sleights that are taught, the stroke change being one. Benjamin says himself that the change is very simple in theory and based on an old idea. It is however, his touches and subtleties which elevate this to one of the best changes I have seen. Even after you know how it's done it still looks insane. I've had the set since release, but my stroke change is nothing near the level of Ben's. I am finding it to be one of the harder things on the discs to perfect. It's all about combining many many different touches to achieve the final result.

There is another video showing the effect called 'pluckey' if you can find it.

Hope that helped.
 
DavidMisner

DavidMisner

Sep 1, 2007
1,529
1
33
San Francisco, CA
verifythisnow said:
Honestly? I think this is the best magic related purchases I have made. I can safely say you will not regret buying these. I would say intermediate skill is required for most of the effects, however there are some self working ones and on the other side of that there are ones that require a fairly competent level of audience management and sleight work.

There are also alot of utilities and sleights that are taught, the stroke change being one. Benjamin says himself that the change is very simple in theory and based on an old idea. It is however, his touches and subtleties which elevate this to one of the best changes I have seen. Even after you know how it's done it still looks insane. I've had the set since release, but my stroke change is nothing near the level of Ben's. I am finding it to be one of the harder things on the discs to perfect. It's all about combining many many different touches to achieve the final result.

There is another video showing the effect called 'pluckey' if you can find it.

Hope that helped.
Click to expand...

Thanks Verifythisnow! That really helped. I'll look into picking this up sometime soon.

David
 
N

nymagic

Mar 16, 2008
10
0
i just found a super crappy performance of the stroke change on youtube and easliy figured out how it is executed
 
DavidMisner

DavidMisner

Sep 1, 2007
1,529
1
33
San Francisco, CA
nymagic said:
i just found a super crappy performance of the stroke change on youtube and easliy figured out how it is executed
Click to expand...

That's nice, but that's not something you want to announce. The better thing to do would be to send a message to the performer and ask him if he could upload a better performance.

Learning things off Youtube is bad.

David
 
DavidMisner

DavidMisner

Sep 1, 2007
1,529
1
33
San Francisco, CA
So I just finished watching the first disc, and I have to say that Ben Earl is my new favorite magician. His style is so smooth and fluid, and I want to be just like him.

Kidding. That would be creepy.

The first thing I had to was watch the explanation for the Stroke Change. It's fairly difficult for me, but I think I'll be able to get it down. I've tried it a few times and twice I've fooled myself badly.

As for the rest of the effects in Disc 1, I love most of them. They range from intermediate to advanced, and I suggest making sure you can perform all of the effects from the Trilogy before you get this. Ben explains the effects fairly quickly, and expects you to know things such as copping and the Zarrow Shuffle.

This isn't an actual review. It's just my first thoughts.

David
 
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