Britain's brightest independent magic magazine

Issue 19 - Mar 08

Review

The Roadrunner Cull DVD and bonus CD-Rom  

Kostya Kimlat
Available from www.kostyamagic.com
Price: $45  

The Roadrunner Cull - sounds like Wile E. Coyote’s perfect night out. What it actually is, is a comprehensive and thorough examination of one very useful card move – the spread cull. The Roadrunner prefix actually refers to US magician Kostya Kimlat’s particular high-speed, multiple-card cull, utilised during a full deck spread, although – curiously - it is never referred to by name during the DVD’s running-time. All that’s ever mentioned is the “cull,” or “culling,” so either Kostya is rather humble and so unfettered by ego that he feels he needn’t constantly label his handling, or he suffers from the complete opposite, in that his move now simply is “The Cull.” I’m being a naughty minx here, because it is quite plainly the former, but just imagine buying the radical new Iridium-Jupiter Change DVD, and during its six-minute running-time, the creator and host only ever refers to a “colour-change.” (The Iridium-Jupiter Change and associated DVD is fictional and any resemblance to actual moves or colour-changes is purely coincidental). The Roadrunner Cull is not like this at all; it is a detailed and well-made examination of a valuable, utilitarian card-move, somewhat disguised as a “one-trick pony” DVD.  

You know you’re in safe hands when you place the disc into your player and up pops Michael Ammar to introduce things. He soon gives way to Kostya, who starts with the very basics, i.e. the best type and condition of playing-cards to use, and he quickly establishes himself as an excellent host and teacher; natural, likeable, and just the right amount of infectious enthusiasm without spilling over into irritating cheese. He fully covers the techniques of the cull; its applications – as a force, a control, and as an out; and, of course, there is a selection of effects utilising the cull – all performed in real-world restaurant settings, and then fully explained.  

The production values are consistently high, with multiple-angles throughout the training chapters – including overhead and underneath the spread – as well as additional L & L style Super Practice inserts. Use is also made of special see-through cards to better aid visualisation of what happens during the spread. Now, after this and the see-through jacket that Rocco used in his recent tapes on sleeving, I am interested to learn where this may go in the future; having said that, I may well hesitate in watching any future Kevin James DVD on body magic.  

There are five different effects taught, most with a strong Triumph element to them. They are all excellent, and as the spread-cull is a move that truly needs to be hidden in plain sight, there are good justifications for the necessary deck-spread as part of the procedures, and encouraging evidence of them all flying right by the spectators. In fact, on the disc there are six different performance sets, with several of the effects appearing several times; and with no real change in the performance conditions during the different sets, there is a little overkill on this part of the disc.  

The bonus CD-Rom contains interviews with Michael Ammar, Adam Rubin, and Vito Lupo; additional performance videos; and a number of PDF files – most notably The Roadrunner Cull companion eBook. To be honest, I think the DVD is strong enough, without the bonus CD-Rom being a necessity.  

This is a great product; well-produced, and crammed full of good stuff to make up its multiplex-busting 140 minutes. That may sound rather formidable, covering as it does just one sleight in one field of magic, but the efforts of Kostya and his production team ensure that it isn’t. As Michael Ammar says in his introduction, “If you engage yourself…then you’re about to become a better magician.” I won’t argue with that. DL  

What’s Hot: All-round quality production
What’s Not: Only the repetition throughout the performance sets
Star Rating: *****  

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