talkmagic.co.uk

I have to confess that I didn't know anything about Ben Train until the last couple of weeks when I started seeing comments on Facebook about the upcoming lecture in Edinburgh.

Well, the lecture was last night and I was impressed. Ben is a very likeable guy, and despite a dodgy throat gave good clear explanations of his effects and thinking.

For someone whose twitter username suggests more than a passing interest in Erdnase, it will come as no surprise that most of the material is card-based. And many of the effects we learned last night were Ben's own take on classic plots - cutting to the aces, an Ace assembly, "Triumph", a card sandwich... I know that if I had heard beforehand that these three took up most of the first half I may not have bothered going, after all I'm not at all short of material in these categories. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't know that beforehand and very glad I did go along. Ben's methods and thinking address some of the inherent problems the effects, and I was happy to get hold of his notes and DVD at the end of the evening as there's plenty in there I can work on. A word on the sandwich plot - the spec does it all (almost!) and the twists are sublime.

I'm not sure of his schedule, but I know there's at least one more UK lecture date coming up (Aberdeen). If he's lecturing near you, I'd recommend you go along.

Ian

I know Ben Train. I have a good mind to review his lecture without even seeing it. Ben knows that I am very good at reviewing things I have not seen. I am psychic after all. I hope he made some money selling his stuff. After all that is the whole idea of an adventure like this. Providing he did not go north of Birmingham too often he might be in with a chance.