I just finished reading T-REX by Ran Pink. Holy crap it's good. How good? Well, the first thing I
did was head to VistaPrint to order 500 business cards so I could start performing this thing ASAP.
I even got them pre-printed with a line on the back...indicating where spectators should write down
their thoughts.
The ripping sequence is flawless. And it's so easy to do. But what really
makes T-REX such a hit is all the additional essays and thoughts from Ran and various other
contributors. There are SO many...but for me, the most useful insight came from...
Rainer
Mees & Thomas HeIne, who write about what NOT to say when doing a center tear
H. Arcana,
who writes about the "Inception Principle," which is a clever way to milk one center tear into like
4 different magical moments
Andrew Gerard, who offers the best "justification" of the paper
I've ever heard
and ColIn McLeod, who offers a clever subtlety such that your spectator
will not even remember that you ever touched the paper.
I can't imagine ever performing my
Soul Paper illusion again without utilizing T-REX to start it off. This might be the best thing I've
ever gotten on Penguin.
4 of 4 magicians found this helpful.
First thing to point out is probably obvious, the price. $60 seems a lot for a tear, and if all you
got was the tear, I would never have gotten T-Rex. However, with your purchase, you obtain a book
that tells you how to do the tear, a variation for pictures, and a variation to tear two cards at
once and accurately read both. The purchase also gives you a DVD, where Ran will show you a special
Peak.
Something I feel the need to point out is that business cards can get pretty tough to
tear if you don't have abnormally strong hands. Ran's method negates this problem, to the point
where you can rip up two cards (hence the two-card tear already mentioned) with surprising ease.
This tear is absolutely beautiful in my opinion, it's well thought out, you *destroy* the
card, leaving only small traces, and disregard it as if it was never important, which allows for
psychology to come into play.
The book itself also has contributions from many experienced
mentalists, giving you routines and methods to expand your performances. One method is even
therapeutic, and only exists to help the writer, not to entertain. This contributions a plentiful
and in depth, and I believe justifies the price.
My biggest, and really only, problem with
T-Rex, is that it is basically limited to Business Cards, which aren't the cheapest thing. So you'll
have to constantly spend money to perform at its peak, and if you perform as a hobbie... That's not
ideal.
The price itself seems justified to me after looking through all the material and
falling in love with the method. Even better though, I purchased this with Penguin's "5 for $99"
Deal, basically lowering the price to $20, at which point it becomes an absolute steal, and I could
t be happier.
The ONLY reason why I rated this 4 stars and not 5 is simply because the
business cards add to the cost a very considerable amount, and I'm a hobbiest (as of now).
Everything else about the material is absolutely perfect.
5 of 7 magicians found this helpful.
If you want the world's best center tear look no further. Ran covers every aspect with this quick
glimpse. If you dont need the best methods then move along, this is pro level magic and might not be
for you.
4 of 5 magicians found this helpful.
The tear itself is nice, and the book is fantastic. The companion DVD makes things very clear. I
highly recommend reading Colin McLeod's Essays in the book, they offer some great subtleties for for
any tear.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
Ran has, with this book; added greatly to my use of billets.
Well written and explained - it
will add many tools to your arsenal. I recommend a reader find one or two effects and repeat the key
tear(s) to the effects -over and over - until you can do them as 'naturally' as they should be done.
Unless your a move-monkey for tears - you probably will never perform all the items....but, you
will find at least one or two that will become your 'go to' tear.
Osterlind, Dr. Bill, et. al. -
have all come up with some great billet tears. Acidus, eclipse, -- many tears.
To be thorough,
research and try them. In this book, Ran presents a double billet read that is pretty cool even when
you know about tears/reads.
Kudo's.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
This is a great impromptu routine you can do immediately with blank business cards. Very convincing
and deceptive. I performed 'Hollywood or Bust' using the basic t-rex tear to a friend who is not
easily fooled by anything, and it stumped him. He thought I peeked what he wrote down by reading the
reflection in his eyeglasses. haha! Very easy convenient way to get the knowledge you need doing a
center tear. My only issue is the price is way too much for the book and 45 minute dvd, but the
knowledge you get is very good. I'll definitely use this again.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
Actually, I take back the part in my last review about the abnormally large piece. I looked at it
again and realized it was just my performance, not his. There really is no disadvantage to this
tear. Sorry for any confusion.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
This hands down has to be one of the best center tears and peeks that has come out in a long time. I
highly recommend this to every Mentalist, Mind Reader, or Magician that wants to be serious about
this art. It is amazing and well detailed.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
Let's first discuss the price, because this seems an issue for many people. I bought this at 80
dollars (shipping included, because I only ordered this item).
You don't order this for
the book, you order this for the idea in the book, first of all. Then it still is an absolute steal.
Consider this: you are in your 20 and will perform mentalism until you are approximately 80 years of
age. That's 60 years of performing. That's 1 dollar per year that you will have to pay for this
book. 1 Dollar for all the great reactions you will get when you use the idea in this book.
How great is the idea in this book? Absolutely terrific and I knew it would be. I read reviews
on the Magic café before I bought this and I saw this compared to the Osterlind Center tear and Dr.
Bill's tear. I didn't like both of 'em because of the fumbling. Also Ran Pink previous tear from
Think pink has a lot of fumbling. This one hasn't. This one is as clean as it gets.
No
fumbling, everything is logical.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
I LOVE the T-Rex Center Tear! Agree with another reviewer that in the past I found the Osterlind
center tear to be the best...until now. Don't get me wrong, the Osterlind Center Tear is very good
too. But I find T-Rex is easier to do, with no fumbling, no worrying about catching the right tail
of the paper, no special paper to buy. It just WORKS. And it's so deceptive. The demo video is
honest. That's how it really looks in performance and how it really works.
Also like the
fact that T-Rex includes both a printed book (with excellent photos) and a companion DVD. I suppose
you could get away with one or the other, but I found both to be useful in quickly learning this
center tear.
Very pleased with this purchase :)
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
Today, when you order "T-REX by Ran Pink", you'll instantly be emailed a Penguin Magic gift certificate. You can spend it on anything you like at Penguin, just like cash. Just complete your order as normal, and within seconds you'll get an email with your gift certificate.
$5 FLAT-RATE SHIPPING TO UNITED STATES. FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $100.
+click to enlarge
INCREDIBLE mentalism
Report this review
More than a Tear
Report this review
