Video Shoot in Binghamton, NY

I had the opportunity to direct a video shoot today at the McIntosh Labs facility in Binghamton, NY. For those of you unaware, McIntosh is one of the most expensive stereo and home theater brands in the world (try $200k for one of their systems!). We're doing a video shoot for a segment that will appear on a TV show called the "Word's Greatest". My alterior motive is to take all the great B-roll footage and use it for the new McIntosh website that we will be launching in September. As you can see, the current "Mac" website does not do a particularly good job representing this luxury brand. Some sample shots are below. Caution, photos taken with a Palm Treo - quality stinks.

Charlie Randall, McIntosh President, going through the introductory interview and talking points.

The glass cutter guy. McIntosh uses a glass cutting machine (in background) to cut glass for the front faceplates. The machine in this picture ejects a stream of highly pressurized water to cut the glass. The water is ejected at such a high pressure that, if unobstructed, it would end its journey three football fields away.

A Day In The Adirondacks

I journeyed to Chimney Mountain on a beautiful Sunday morning. Chimney Mountain is known for some good rock climbing and spelunking. After a rather intense mile of steep incline, I arrived at the top sooner than I thought. But I was rewarded with some spectacular views.

Here is the "chimney", up close and personal.

View from the chimney.

A view from the chimney: my next objective. This is where some cool cave entrances are.

Now off the main trail and following the foot trail of spelunkers. I had a great view of the camp where I parked my car.

After sitting down to take a Trail Mix break, I was quickly joined by some new friends. Fearlesss and hungry, a pair of chipmunks began to share in my meal. You may notice the little one above...his cheeks are full with trail mix...he's storing the food there.

Here's the other chipmunk. He was 20 yards out when I started eating but quickly sprinted in my direction, let out a high pitched squeak to get my attetion, and proceeded to dine. I ultimately fed the little guys by hand but unfortunately couldn't get the right shot.

Cartoonishly anti-American Canadian interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Not quite parody but dangerously close. How can she be so disgustingly pro-American, he wonders, and yet so stridently anti-Islamic? Doesn’t she see that Islamists and “Christianists” are two sides of the same coin?

Here's a good explanation: On Islamophobia, Christophobia, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the exculpation of the Weak

This Canadian blog deconstructs the interview in entertaining fashion: Deconstructing the Avi Lewis/Ayaan Hirsi Ali Clip

I had the pleasure of speaking with Ayaan during a one hour Q&A session and book signing at the Commonwealth Club.

Online Marketing in Boston

I had the pleasure of participating in the "Big Brands, Big Plans" panel at the Online Marketing Summit in Boston yesterday. While many conferences last too long and have been polluted by agencies and vendors, this series of Online Marketing Summit conferences packs a lot of punch. About 120 marketers showed up to teach and learn from each other. The panel covered a lot of ground including:

• the use of business blogs and forums to engage customers
• web 2.0 within a corporate site (user/customer reviews)
• online marketing trends for 2008

I'll be joining the Summit as a panelist in San Francisco and Los Angles in early August to do my best at imparting additional morsels of online marketing wisdom.

Politically Incorrect Theater in San Francisco

Susan and I just enjoyed a different sort of San Francisco comedy act. While we both felt the first half of Will Franken's show was excruciatingly unfunny, we did have some great laughs during the second half of the show. To borrow a write-up from a San Francisco Chronicle opinion writer, Cinnamon Stillwell, the show touched on the following:

• The flying imams
  
• Woven "anti-war scarves" (keffiyehs) from Urban Outfitters
  
• The cult of "celebrating diversity"
  
• The inspired silliness of the Burning Man festival
  
• San Francisco activists "counter-protesting" Christians in Golden Gate Park
  
• The never-ending obsession with the 1960s
  
• Marketing to the LGBT community
  
• The self-indulgence of therapy culture
  
• "The Final Broadcast of the Christian Faith" (a cautionary tale)
  
• Bush Derangement Syndrome (otherwise known as BDS)
  
• The left's irrational hatred of Israel (otherwise known as IDS)
  
• Using the Crusades to justify Islamist terrorism
  
• Modern-day moral relativism and its intellectual underpinnings(Foucault, Derrida)
  
• The Danish cartoon controversy and the "bravery" of mocking Christianity
  
• Everyone's favorite "political prisoner," cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal
  
• PC-ism running amok at our airports, to the point where a man clutching box cutters and a Koran, and wearing a ski mask, keffiyeh and suicide belt while asking for seat-belt extensions for no apparent reason, is waved cheerfully onto a plane

Best part of the show: knowing that so many members of the San Francisco audience were blissfully unaware that they were the source of Will's parodies.

John Stossel Whips A Kennedy

I love common sense and logic. Maybe this is why I find this video of John Stossel, an Emmy award winner and one of my favorites, so enjoyable. Stossel won me over as a champion of liberty with a great presentation on government growth at a FreedomFest event in Vegas a few years ago. And Susan happens to be a big fan as well and she has a signed book from Stossel to prove it.

At a "Live Earth" global warming alarmism event, Kennedy called Stossel a "flat-earther", "liar" and "traitor". You be the judge:

Mike on the Radio

Here I am on the radio talking about a new Home Theater Makeover promo I just launched for my company. They got my title wrong (they gave me a demotion and ego can be a fragile thing!) but other than that it was a decent interview.

July 4th on the USS Hornet

We took a trip with our French friends to celebrate the 4th in patriotic style. The idea was to go to Alameda, check out an aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, and then take in at least three surrounding fireworks shows from the flight deck. Little did we know that the Oakland show was cancelled last minute while the other shows were too far to really enjoy. Consequently, you won't see any fireworks photos here.


Backup Generator Room #2. One of the many "candid" action shots from the ship. Here we have Susan and Mike adjusting the generator settings. While the red helmets were most likely off limits, they beckoned to these full grown children.

Backup Generator Room #2. The Free French, Nono and Thomas, assisted us with the war effort.

Loading the gun. Susan on her way to becoming the first woman to load a .38 caliber gun on the USS Hornet.

Firing the gun. With a range of 12 miles, Susan will easily hit Berkeley. A patriotic 4th indeed!

San Francisco sunset

Video. Going down