Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Rodeo by Garth Brooks

Basically, for $40 bucks you get two DVDs. Frankly, for the most part, I could've done without the second DVD, but I'll get there in a minute.

First, DVD #1:

The audio quality was pretty bad. The volume was extremely high and extremely low, back and forth . . . very annoying, and the overall lighting, audio and video quality was very home-movie ish.

Other than that, however, this DVD is pretty sweet. Great detail is given to explain every step of the preparation. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however. In the presentation, Williams claims that once the label 'penetrates' the bottle it can be handed out for the spectator to open and drink the contents.

While it's true, the bottle appears to never have been opened, in reality, it has, and you've put your fingers in and out of the bottle a couple of times along with the label and even some crazy glue. I would not recommend drinking the contents of the bottle once the full preparation is complete. One other complaint is that we are never shown how to get into the routine. The opening is a bit awkward and isn't something you can just do. You need to walk on 'stage' holding the bottle a certain way. It would have been nice to get some pointers on how to get in this position.

Make sure, however, that you watch the bonus section of the DVD. There is a coin in bottle that you DO NOT want to miss. This, to me, is the most valuable piece in the whole DVD set.

On to DVD #2:

This DVD starts off by lying to you . . . in action. It shows Mr. Williams walking into a gas station and grabbing a bottle off the shelf which he then performs the effect with. This simply cannot be done unless you plant the bottle in the store at an earlier time. If he is going to demo this performance, then he should teach it. I would bet that many people, foolishly, bought the DVD thinking that they could walk into any store and perform this off the shelf.

This is basically a different handling of the same effect. These DVDs can be purchased separately for $30 for the first one and $20 for the second one, or $40 for both together. For the extra ten bucks, you might as well get both DVDs, but if you only have $30 bucks, definitely get #1.

The illusion on this one isn't as clean as DVD #1, but the advantage of this one is that you can have the bottle sitting in full view on the table the whole time. You can then pick it up and do the effect any time you like. However, another downside is that the method is a bit noisy, unlike the original. Also, much of the camera work felt like it was done with a web cam. It was pretty weak.

There are a couple of cool extras, but not much. There's a super boring and not-that-great section on bottle productions. However, on the plus side, we are shown Gregory Wilson's handling as well as a version where the change happens in the spectator's hands. Additionally, we are treated to a couple of clever and novel presentational ideas, and finally, one of the best pieces of the DVD is the work on how to 'magically' put stuff in a sealed Snapple bottle.

Taking the good with the bad . . .

Final Verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of gem with a little 'g.'