Last month I blogged about the Mentos and Diet Coke phenomenon.  I should have blogged about it in May when I saw the world premier of the Eepybird.com video showing the Mentos and Diet Coke fountain.

When we first saw the video at the Oddfellow Theater in Buckfield, Maine, the Eepybird.com web site wasn’t even operating yet.  Just a simple "coming soon" page was up there.  Now, Fritz and Steve – whom I can say I have met – have been all over the news and on the Today show and Late Night with David Letterman.

Pop Culture Gangster was on the cutting edge of things and didn’t even know!

Like any other holiday, the 4th of July has a number of iconic images associated with it: hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill; spending time in your backyard with family and friends drinking cold beer and/or lemonade; going to watch the fireworks with the kids; the news report of some moron who decided to hold a lit M-80.  For me, one of those icon of Independence Day is the Boston Pops playing at the Hatch Shell.  After years of watching it on television, I finally went and experienced it in person. 

In recent years, Boston’s 4th of July celebration has come to be regarded as one of the best – if not THE best – in the country, but the event has been a 30-year-plus tradition going back to Arthur Fiedler.   Since then, major music stars team up with the Pops to celebrate the country’s birthday and a spectacular fireworks display follows, all shown on national television. 

Even before the national attention, getting a prime spot at the Pops at the Hatch Shell – a free concert – has been a major production.  Since overnight camping isn’t allowed, people start lining up in the wee hours of the morning and stay up all night to get a front row seat. 

While we wanted the experience of celebrating the 4th with the Pops, we didn’t want to go quite that far, so we arrived at around 8:30 in the morning.   That is 12 hours before the the concert starts at 8:30 in the evening!

Approaching the entrance from Storrow Drive (it is always weird to walk on a road that is closed and is usually so busy with traffic), we were deceived by what we thought was a short line.  Turning the corner, we found there were probably around 1,000 people in front of us.  Fortunately, the area in front of the Hatch Shell holds approximately 9,000 people and we were able to get a good pick of locations.

I had been saying all along that we would make some new friends during the day and sure enough, as we are standing in line, we began talking with a group of Texans visiting Boston for the week.  Another group of Texas natives got into the conversation, resulting in a whole "Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech vs. University of Texas vs. etc. etc." thing that we felt VERY left out of.  And to think that moments before they were making fun of we Red Sox fans for being so fanatical…

Once through the gates and with our wristband obtained, we picked an ideal location in the shade – that is all I will say, since we plan on going back and don’t want to give away where we sat, but we think it is the ideal location: shady, near the water, and with a good view of the stage.

The day was spent reading, playing cards, staying hydrated and doing a lot of people watching.  It is frightening what people think they can wear.  And I say this knowing full well that I can’t wear just anything and look good in it, but I also don’t go around in speedos.  Therefore, women who jiggle in the wrong places when they walk shouldn’t be wearing bikinis.  and tube tops are a privilege and not a right…

Speaking of American freedoms, I realize that we all have the ability to speak on cell phones and do what we want when we want, but is it really necessary to keep talking through the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance?  How important can the conversation be (I’m sure its not that important) that you need to disrespect your country and find out what happened last night on The Surreal Life?  For a guidance of what you’re SUPPOSED to do during the National Anthem, see here.

Anyway – for the most part, people at the event were respectful and laid back.  We had no problem leaving our stuff for a while when we started to take shelter from an approaching thunderstorm.  We shared our drinks with our new Texas friends and watched their stuff while they finished up their Boston site-seeing.

A few days before we had gone to Waterfire in Providence, another event unique to this area, and a another unique one in today’s crazy world.  Basically a bunch of fires anchored and floating in a river streaming through downtown Providence and accompanied by hauntingly beautiful music, it is an event that forces people to slow down and stroll, converse, or sit in quiet reflection.  In a world filled with extreme sports, fast-cut editing and 24-hour everything, anything that is capable of getting people to slow down is remarkable.  Spending the day on the Esplanade just reading, playing cards and talking was a great way to spend a holiday.

The concert itself was fantastic – great music that swelled with Patriotic pride, from Bernstein’s "Overture to Candide" to the grand finale of the "Stars and Stripes Forever."  Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were the special musical guests, which was the impetus for me going this year in the first place; not only am I a big Aerosmith fan, but it was going to be the first time Steven was going to perform since his throat surgery.  The first time he let out a signature Tyler-style screech, the crowd went wild, knowing that he was back in perfect form.

An interesting factoid: the Boston Pops keep playing during what are commercial breaks at home.  We heard the theme from Rocky, a song from the musical Chicago, and a hilarious sing-along of classic rock tunes led by conductor Keith Lockhart, who really can’t sing at all.  Like bad karaoke with a great backing band…

Second interesting factoid: the area in front of the Pops pretty much clears out during Stars & Stripes, as people rush to get a good spot for the fireworks.  There was no way I was leaving before seeing the American flag drop down from the top of the Hatch Shell, one of the simplest yet dramatic moments of the celebration.

A highlight was seeing the 1812 Overture performed live – we were close enough to the cannons on the riverbank that we could see the sparks fly out when they went off and at the finale had fireworks behind us, cannons to the left and the Pops to our front!

The fireworks were spectacular, perfectly choreographed to a great music soundtrack and reflecting perfectly in the water of the Charles river.

The smartest move of the day however, was the decision to stay in a hotel on Tuesday night.  While everyone else was still trudging to their cars and fighting traffic, we were showered and on a comfy bed watching the 11:00 news and saying "Hey! We were just there!!" which was pretty cool to be able to say.

Well, no it isn’t, but it is a little update of some of the more interesting things I read this week:

Target is embracing the "Tar-zhay" mockery of their name with some serious bling.

The American Dream is changing according to this article from the Boston Globe.  This is a trend I’ve been watching and following for years now.  Older adults mistake it for a desire for instant gratification, but its not that – its a desire to live a full life right from the start, not just at the end of it.

I’ve always found it surprising that there aren’t more "celebrity gamers" given the popularity of video games.  I remember watching a TV show on the USA Network that showed people playing video games way back in the old days of Frogger and Centipede and the like.  However, someone has taken a stab at putting together a list of the most influential gamers in gaming history.

I wasn’t going to blog about this, but it has literally shown up in so many places, I just had to since it keeps popping up.  Its about a new cereal box topper which helps to pour breakfast cereal.

I made a post earlier about the World Cup.  Don’t fret ladies – there’s something there for you… men taking off their pants!

When will adults learn?  You just can’t beat teenagers at their own game with technology!  They invent a tone that will drive teens nuts because they are the only ones who can hear it and now the teens are using it to take phone calls secretly.

If you need proof that some people take the comics a bit too seriously, here it is. (and just for the record, the headline "Spiderman outs himself to the press" scared me at first.  "Spiderman is gay!?!?" I thought, "but Mary-Jayne is hot!!")

Here’s an article about how cuteness has taken over Japan.  I’m glad that in the article someone pointed out that cuteness can border on the disturbing.  Hello Kitty scares the crap out of me. 

And last but certainly not least… if you need this, then you need professional help to get detached from your iPod: the iPod toilet paper dispenser.  I don’t make this stuff up people – I just find it and pass it along to you.

A few health-related newsflashes for you….

First up… downing a cup of coffee after a long night out does more than cure the hangover… it also helps prevent liver damage.

Which works well if you were drinking beer the night before, which you must do since it may prevent prostate cancer.  To the bar!

Last but not least, scientists are trying to track down the bird flu in Alaska.  That is interesting in and of itself, but I wanted to call attention to a food item that is mentioned in this article:

More than 300 Barrow residents show up at the outdoor community festival, called an apugauti, for a bowl of duck soup and some mikigaq, a tangy black viscous mixture of fermented whale blood, blubber and meat that the children gobble up like candy. The elderly in fur-trimmed parkas and youngsters in hooded sweatshirts sit at long tables at a windy community playground.

The words "tangy," "black," "viscous," "fermented," "whale," "blood" and "blubber" should NEVER appear together.  Ever.  Please.

However, I foolishly went searching for more information and a Google search came up with this page.  This page explained mikigaq as being "whale meat taken from the head, neck, and tongue, perhaps with some maktak (whale blubber with skin attached) thrown in, and allowed to ferment for two weeks in the whale’s own blood."

I am going to stop now before you all claw your eyeballs out.

I’m going to the World Cup next time:

Swedish girls making out

Hot German tuckus

A few things that have caught my attention in the last week:

First of all, thank you Fox network, THANK YOU!  I just saw an updated fall schedule in Entertainment Weekly, and they are moving American Dad in between the Simpsons and Family Guy, putting the idiotic and terrible "War At Home" show at 9:30 after the animated series.  I’m not a huge fan of American Dad in comparison to The Simpsons and Family Guy, but I’ll take it over War At Home and I think it is a good show to put between them.  Kind of a palette cleanser.

Also in exciting TV news, Pee-Wee is back!  And not in a porn theater!  I need to start watching Adult Swim more often.  I hope they get their own network soon.

Equality has gotten the better of some of those who  fought the hardest to achieve it: there might be no more "ladies nights" in Europe!

Get drunk, save a leopard.

The link with the video is blocked at work, but I can’t wait to watch it, and I just thought it was interesting that viral video is spreading across all cultures.

How much longer until $20 bills have "Just Do It" on them now that companies can put their logo on postage stamps?

Disney has started to put their characters on fruit.  I think that’s a great way to get kids to eat healthier – fruit needs something to combat the cute mascots of the junk food industry.

However, Disney is also going to start selling "Old Yeller" dog food.  Old Yeller DIED in the movie.  Who would feed their dog food named after a dog who DIED? 

At the other end of the spectrum, McDonalds is selling a special burger for the World Cup that is 40% bigger than the Big Mac and weighs in at 669 calories.   There’s an interesting quote in there about McDonald’s success with healthier products and the President of McDonald’s UK saying that "It’s time to be proud, to say ‘We’re a good burger company."  Very interesting.   

Cool idea of the week: a service that helps to facilitate chipping in for a present called.. umm.. ChipIn!

A detox clinic for video game addicts.  Where were they when I was playing Tetris so often I would be dissapointed with anythign less than 500 lines?

Last but not least: forget online shopping – in-home parties are all the rage.  How wonderfully retro.  I’ll bring the collins mix!

I came across a few news items this morning that I wanted to share with everyone:

First of all, Australia is using Barry Manilow to fight loud cars.  How do you think that makes Barry feel?  I mean really: "Rockdale councilors believe Manilow is so uncool it might just work" is a direct quote.  Plus, has Barry become so uncool that he’s cool? 

666 baby!!  Get out the sacrificial altar, find a virgin and put on some Iron Maiden!!  Tomorrow is 6/6/06, which is why the remake of The Omen is coming tomorrow, but also why casual Satan worshipers everywhere will be dancing around bonfires naked at midnight tonight.

Thank god I’ll be able to watch TV while filling my gas tank now.  I know I hated having 5 minutes to myself to actually just… you know… what’s that thing?  Umm… "think"! The sad thing is that if you’re filling up a SUV, your cable bill will be cheaper than your gas bill!

Schilling goes evil to benefit ALS.  Good for him.  ’nuff said.

Deadwood is one of my all-time favorite shows, and after last night’s uber-disappointing season finale of the Sopranos, it is definitely my all-time favorite cable TV show.  Looks like they will be making some changes, by way of a few TV movies to help speed things up and have more flexibility.  I didn’t know that this season was supposed to be the last.  I’m glad that we’ll have a few more hours out of this fine drama.

Speaking of the Sopranos, can I just say that I was really disappointed in last night’s season finale?  The last eight episodes that will be airing next year have a LOT of work to do, since we have no cliffhanger to get us going into next season.

Here’s what I found interesting out there this week:

There’s something smelly about this story – hotels using signature scents.

Not sure what to say about this.

"Beanz Meanz Heinz" is the most memorable ad in Scotland.  Apparently they have really crappy commercials there.

Again, a little help to those of you living under a rock: an article about youtube.com

In-home parties are on the rise.  I just like the idea of a bunch of women sitting around playing with sex toys

Speaking of sex toys, why can’t they make some that are controlled by brain waves?

Back in college I did research that basically developed the hypothesis that the Internet would be beneficial to the music industry.  I guess they should have listened.

I really don’t know what is up with the sex toy theme in this post, but apparently that industry is trying to cash in on the World Cup.  And who knew that Germany had a "thriving sex shop industry"?  Must be all the sausage…

Martha Stewart’s version of MySpace allowing "women aged 25 to 45 to share photographs, scrapbooks, recipes and similar projects with one another." Her version of MySpace, my version of hell.

I suppose plain white t-shirts are better than the ones the girls are wearing that say "slut" on them.

A few things that I’ve seen in the news lately that I wanted to call attention to:

Here in tranquil New England, there’s apparently a problem with t-shirts illustrating Sesame Street characters as gangsters.  What’s really funny about this is that someone came to this blog based on a search for these shirts.  Is nothing sacred?

Dan Brown joked that his book couldn’t undermine the entire Catholic Church.  He may have underestimated the power of the DaVinci code and the marketing juggernaut its become.

You know we’re officially living in the age of electronics when an online game where reality is re-created ends up creating a game that becomes so popular it ends up becoming tangible reality.  Welcome to the Matrix?  Or are we out of it? Even Neo would be confused by this.

In a much more basic down-to-earth story, USA Today tells the tale of how "premium beers" are declining and how some companies are trying to counter it with new marketing.  I use the quotation marks around premium beer not because I’m quoting the article, but because I think the funniest part of this article is that they think that Budweiser and MGD are premium beers.  Funny, or horrifying – one of the two.

Speaking of beer, I hope I get an update on this in a few months, but apparently Budweiser is going to be sold at the soccer World Cup in Germany, and the Krauts aren’t none too happy.  I can’t blame them!  I hope they all drink Riesling instead.

I’m not sure what to say about this, other than I think that "My Bling Bling" is the funniest name for anything I’ve ever heard.  Do you think that Barbie and Bratz are gonna rumble or what?  My money is on Barbie, since I think she’s a mean bitch deep down inside and is really pissed off over having no room for a stomach or intestinal tract in her body for 50 years.

Apple hooked up with Nike to introduce a neat bit of technology that targets those who use their iPods while exercising.  In a counter move of sorts, Bill Gates finally gets fed up not controlling 100% of an electronics market and is gonna do his own thing with MTV using Windows Media Player.   Let’s hope they stabilize WMP and make it a bit – no, A LOT – more intuitive to use before they take over the world.

Who says innovation is dead?  Here’s a company who wants to trademark the smell of pizza.  Umm… In Lithuania.

Another example of how technology has affected not only marketing but everyday life.  I think it is ironic that a show called "24" that has everything happening in real-time ends up being the TV show that is watched time-delayed most often.

Last but not least…  HEY! Nas declared hip-hop dead.  Has he been reading my blog?

I haven’t been around much to do much blogging, but as I have a fairly quiet couple of weeks coming up, I’m hoping that I can make up for lost time.   To begin with, I wanted to a share a few interesting links I came across recently.

Google launched Google Trends, which is simply fun rather than useful for most people.  My favorite is that the first example they give is "Red Sox, Yankees."

For my birthday a few weeks ago I was given a mesquite flavored cologne, which drew a good laugh out of everyone.  Little did we know that the perfume manufacturers of the world were dreaming up Play-Doh brand fragrance.

As a marketer, sometimes you hear about marketing efforts that make you wish you were a part of them.  The other times, you’re glad you’re not, like this debacle for Mission Impossible 3.

Speaking of marketing, Wal-Mart continues its quest to dominate all aspects of our culture, including the smiley face.

Clearly marketing is the true one power in our world today, and musicans are starting to realize it, as they whore themselves out.  Good for them!  Its still better than listening to Britney hawk Pepsi with crappy music.

Barbecue means beer, right?  Of course.  So why not be straight forward about it?

Last but not least: if you need further proof that the world is shrinking and that we are living in a global economy, here it is.