For quite a while now, we have heard a lot about oddball video experiments that mixed Mentos candies with Coke. Well, we don’t keep Coke in our house (maybe some Diet Coke...not sure), but we have some really old Diet Mountain Dew. So, with the free Mentos candy we got the other day at Costco, we tried putting a Mentos in a jar and then poured some Diet Dew on top.

Yeah, but will they make any money at it?

More news from the world of consumer video.

I just saw Ryan Howard hit his 57th home run, opposite field against the Astros. Little doubt that if the Phillies make the playoffs, Howard will have to be in contention for the MVP award.
This picture was taken in 2004 after the Phoenix Desert Dogs won the Arizona Fall League title. I stood next to this mountain of a man and you know from his radiant smile that great things were coming his way.
Wonder how Johnny Callison, who wore #6 for the Phillies when I was a kid, feels about his number today. Callison, who the game-winning homerun in the 1964 All-Star Game, probably made less money in his entire career that most players make in one season today.

Some thoughts on how the new Fall TV season will be dramatically different. A short commentary/Podcast created using Evoca.

When I started this site back in Dec. 2004, it was my intention to explore the options facing consumer creators and to create videos and Podcasts to experiment with platforms, technologies, and so on. To a large degree, I think I have been successful. Hundreds of thousands of folks have looked my videos and/or listened to Mike and my Podcasts (MADCasts). I am looking forward to continuing that journey. Maybe I will be not be a cheap you-know-what and replace my JVC Everio that was stolen in Amsterdam.

 

My next project takes me in a different direction and will also be chronicled on this blog. I am among those who hate watching long-form video on my PC in my office. Two-three minute clips in my office on my Media Center PC are fine, but watching the hour CSI Miami episode I downloaded from Amazon was a painful experience. I watched it four minutes at a time, so do the math. Also, I just found out about a great New York TV Festival that takes place this week. The event features 30 minute home grown TV shows that may make it to air or might live on the Internet for distribution. AOL will air NBC’s new shows the week before they air on TV. CBS will air its shows after they air, etc…

 

So, I am wondering, how do I get the TV-PC experience outside my office? I have a Media Center PC with extender box, but that has some network limitations and only allows me to watch programs that live inside Microsoft’s Media Center Platform. I want to have a TV-like experience and want to watch anything I want anytime I want. I am lucky enough to have a larger enough home to create a “living room media center” to become a lab or sorts for this experiment.

 

My options under consideration:

 

1. Those TV’s that take streamed content from the PC. I think Sharp makes one. My hunch is it’s costly.
2. A new media center PC with Wi-Fi with a big sucker monitor. Sounds OK, but I cannot find a good monitor larger than 20-inches. This requires further investigation.  
3. A dual-core Apple machine with Front Row. My problem is I don’t know that much about Front Row. Still, these seems like it could provide me the best of all worlds. This requires further investigation.

 

So, I will examine these and other choices and keep you posted. I believe this experiment represents the future of TV consumption, so I am willing to try several approaches. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

On our flight home from London, my wife spent the entire grueling trip glued to her airline-issued headset, listening to "Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio” on XM Radio (as rebroadcast by United Airlines). Aside from the moments when she was pestered by the lunatic seated to her right (no, not me) she sat there smiling and amazed by the eclectic array of songs Dylan hand selects for his shows. Mind you, just a few weeks before, we were at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, marveling over the Bob Dylan exhibit and gained insight into his life as one of music’s greatest artists and influential figures.

 

So, I bought my wife an XM Radio for our anniversary and are taping the Labor Day Weekend Dylan-a-thon in which XM is rebroadcasting all of Dylan’s previous shows. They are 30 minute programs in which Dylan selects a theme “Jail,” “Friends,” “The Weather,” etc.. and then spins off songs related to that theme. He provides narrative between songs with the sort of insight that reminds one of a sports lunatic who rattles off the starting lineup for the 1969 Cubs (Kesssinger, Beckett, Santo, etc..). Dylan will go from The Spaniels to Stevie Wonder to Pop Staples all without skipping a beat and explaining how it all fits together.

 

I have gone on record (on this blog, I think) wondering who on earth and why on earth someone would buy satellite radio. Sure, Dylan could accomplish the same programming effort via a Podcast, but that’s a story for another day. We have XM Radio, and (thanks to Dylan) are hooked.

 

And, speaking of Dylan, his latest “album” “Modern Times” is on heavy airplay rotation in our house. Mike recommended “Time out of Mind” and “Love and Theft” to complement this latest release. Thanks to eBay, they are in our collection. And, we're fixin' to see him on his Fall 2006 Tour...somewhere. We currently have our sights set on Nov. 18th at The Spectrum!

The season for the little-known Arizona League ended with the Peoria Padres and the Tempe Angels battling in a three-game series for the championship. Game one, won by the Padres 5-2, started in a light drizzle at the Peoria Sports Complex, and featured a number of the league’s top stars.

 

For the Padres, Cedric Hunter, a third-round pick out of Georgia, was the league’s MVP while teammates Rayner Contreras and Luis Durango made the league’s year-end all-star team. For the Angels, Matt Sweeney, an eighth round draft pick out of Maryland, made the all-star team as a top-flight third baseman.

 

Also featured in the video are Carlos Lezcano (manager of the Padres, cousin of former major leaguer Sixto Lezcano) and (we think it was) Goose Gossage, former major league relief pitching star. Gossage’s nephew Kevin played for the Rangers in the rookie league this season.