A list of all the Blog Posts in this category.

Ski Wachusetts

This week's media is a montage of a video of Juliana going to Wachusett's Mountain in Palmer Massachusetts. She spent 2 mornings learning how to ski. We spent the third-day free skiing.

Video was shot using a GoPro Hero 9 attached to a ski pole via Gooseneck Clamp mount. The weather was really cold on the third day that the GoPro couldn't warm up to work properly.

Watch Video

Ski Wachusetts

Mount Wachusett's offers 90 minutes of skiing. Students get an opportunity to ski before and after the lesson to practice what they learned.

We arrived early each day so we could get the first lesson of the day. The lessons start at 8 am.

Level 3 start on the Easy trail and end the day on the intermediate trail. Level 4 conductors their classes on the intermediate trail.

Memory Power Infomercial

Back in the 1990s, Infomercials were the late-night filler spot for many networks. I enjoyed watching them as a good way to fall asleep.

When going through my VHS collection, I found the Memory Power by Harry Lorayne infomercial. This is the kind of infomercial that would put me to sleep. It's just a show that will put you to sleep.

Watch this broadcast from 1998:

Order the Tapes on eBay

You can order the Memory Power by Harry Lorayne 5 Cassettes/ 1 VHS Tape Set~1988,1992 for about $20 on eBay.

The funny thing is that some people are selling the 1992 cassettes as new, they ordered the tapes but never bothered to open and listen to them.

Mega Speed Reading Informercial

Is it possible to purchase a training program that can help you read faster? Kevin Mark Trudeau and Howard Stephen Berg think they can.

Watch the first ten minutes of this infomercial from 1998.

Still interested?

You can find the complete package that Howard Stephen Berg was selling on the infomercial on eBay. There are plenty of people that are selling the Mega Speed Reading Course for about $10.

2001 Commercials

This week's feature is a collection of commercials from May 2001 from San Francisco California. These classic commercials are a reminder of how young the internet was.

Hard to believe that these commercials will be 21 years old this year. (That's like watching commercials from the 1980s in 2001.)

Commercial Listings

• Kristi Yamaguchi promoting K101
• California Department of Health Services - Stop smoking campaign
• Pacific Bell - 'What's up with all these companies that aren't focused on customers'?
• Jack in the Box - Play of the Day with the Triple Ultimate Cheeseburger.
• Mitsubishi 'Wake up and Drive' - Catchy tune commercial featuring 'Start the Commotion.' The commercial caused the song to reach the top 40 in the USA in 2001 - four years after it was released.
• Toyota Corolla featuring Steve Young - Not sure why, San Francisco Quarterback, Steve Young was featured in these commercials. Does anyone think that he actually drives a Toyota Corrolla in real life?
• Real Cheese with a cameo by Bob Dole - A fictional presidential candidate mistakes says he doesn't like cheese. So what does Bob Dole think about this?
• onMoney.com - Introducing the ability to have the entire financial world at your fingertips. The company closed in 2004.
• Shopnow.com - Why aren't people going to your website to buy?
• Gateway Country Store - Just as Apple was about to open its first store in Tysons Corner, Virginia, Gateway started promoting its stores on major TV networks. Apple never really considered them a competitor.
• Mother's Cookies - Commercial that features people that have worked at the company for a long time. I wonder how many of those people featured are still working there today?

Medicare Scam

I get a lot of the Medicare Part C scam calls. There's no reason for me to be getting these calls.

I keep telling them I don't qualify for Medicare, yet they keep calling me back.

Every once in a while I will play with them. I challenge them on why I would want to volunteer to give information to an unknown caller.

Listen Into One of the Calls

The video ends abruptly because the audio recording stopped because of another incoming scam call.

Seriously, why do people willing to give personal information to strangers over the phone'

1999 Commercials

This week's media feature is a collection of 1999 Commercials. These aired during the spring months on KRON TV in San Francisco California.

Featuring

• McDondalds - featuring Eddie the Echo. In this commercial spot, he doesn't have any lines.
• KSFO - The morning talk show hosts Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan try to convince people to listen to their conservative morning show. They did have a great program!
• The San Francisco Chronicle - this commercial spot featured Adair Lee and her writing style. This was a creative way to sell newspapers.
• Prodigy Internet - This commercial featured the Prodigy Online service convincing people to switch away from America Online.
• California Great America - A local commercial about the Great America Theme park in Santa Clara, California.
• MCI Worldcom - Commercial features Michael Jordon with the looney tunes characters. This came about 2 years after the Space Jam movie.
• 1800Collect - This commercial featured Steve Austin - who was at his peak winning the WWF Championship.
• Saturn - This funny commercial promotes how college students can order a car delivered just like a pizza. The company would no longer exist ten years later.
• ESPN SportsCenter - Featuring Mark McGwire giving up his winning 62 home run ball to Dan Patrick.

Watch The Commercials

Panasonic DC-FZ80

This week's media is a change-up from the standard media feature. This week I am focusing on how to get the most out of my Panasonic DC-FZ80.

The Panasonic DC-FZ80 is an excellent camera at a very affordable price. I use it every week to take videos of a local church service. The only thing is that the video colors don't match up to the Nikon 7500 camera.

I am not saying a $299 camera should have the same results as a $3000 camera. I do think that I am not getting the best use from the Panasonic DC-FZ80 camera. After all it has gotten great reviews from experts and consumers.

Four Ways to get the best Video

Shoot at 4K - Shooting at 4K comes with a time penalty. At 1080p I can shoot up to 30-mins of video. When shooting a 4K the max limit is 15-mins. The advantage of going 4K is you maximize the quality of the picture.

Adjust ISO Before Shooting - Set the ISO settings before clicking the record button. Make sure the picture is good before the video starts.

Use Movie Mode for recording - While you can record video at any time by clicking on the record button, you are better off using the movie mode to get the most configurations to get the best shot.

Check Metering Mode - One reason that colors may be off is that the wrong metering mode is being used. Used the quick menu setting to set the proper metering mode.

Medicare Benefits Phone Scam

Jeff Anderson from Medicare Benefits called me last week. Not exactly sure why I got the call seeing that I am many many years away from collecting Medicare Benefits.

Jeff really wanted my age.
I wasn't going to volunteer information.

Here's how the call went,,,,

Best Media Files of 2021

These are the best media files of 2021 - based on hit stats.

The Laura Ingraham Show (October 18, 2021) - This audio clip takes you back to the 2004 President's election. What were the biggest issues for the first major election after the September 11, 2001 attacks?

Phone Call went Wrong (April 19, 2021) - The person that called me wasn't paying attention and thought I said something different.

Car Warranty Calls (August 23, 2021) - Sometimes I get cold calls about my car warranty being expired. They don't even know the car that I have.

The Morton Downey Jr. Show (August 2, 2021) - This is a great clip of the Morton Downey Jr. Show featuring Doctor Fad.

Rich Little Answering Machine (May 31, 2021) - There was a time when people were trying to be clever on the answering machine messages. Listen to this Radio Shack classic.

Video Professor (April 26, 2021) - Part of the classic Video Professor Infomercial. This is a nice walk down memory lane on how people would learn popular software programs.

Goals for 2022

I'll be working on increasing my YouTube subscribers from 50 to 150 by this time next year. In order to do that, I'll have to post a lot more creative videos.

I have bins of VHS tapes that I haven't gotten to yet. I am sure that I'll find some great clips to share.

BluBlockers

In the late 1990s, BluBlockers ran a bunch of Tv Infomercials. One of those featured the "Rapper" guy. I don't know why, but this part of the infomercial seems so memorable.

You can buy BluBlockers online just about anywhere including Amazon and eBay.