Having an insane travel schedule takes it’s toll on you. 5am flights and late nights start to catch up with you after 3 non-stop weeks. How do most people deal with this? Many are turning to energy drinks.
Last Saturday after a sleepless night, I packed up the crew and headed for a beach vacation in Port Aransas, TX. After about 50 miles of driving the fatigue set in and I need something to keep me awake. I stopped at the nearest convenience store and picked up my favorite energy drink, Rockstar. About 1/3 of the way through the drink, my heart started going nuts! I was short of breath and I started feeling horrible. The nearest hospital was in Corpus Christi, TX so I put the “hammer down” and got to the ER as quickly as I could.
Yes, I’m a dork who takes my camera everywhere.. Including the ER. After 4 hours of EKG’s and blood tests, the ER doc said that I had an abnormal heart rate and it is very likely that this could have been caused by the energy drink.
After my ER visit, I started talking to various medical professionals that I know and was suprised to find that EVERY SINGLE ONE shared energy drink horror stories. Kids are putting these things away like they were candy and also mixing them with Alcohol! An ER friend of mine said that he sees college kids almost every night with energy drink related heart problems.
Chicago Sun-Times broke the story this morning
“Comedian Bernie Mac died at Northwestern Memorial hospital early Saturday morning, according to Sun-Times Columnist, Stella Foster. He was 50.”
Read the article HERE
For the 43rd time in less than a year, members of the Mexican army crossed the US border. This week a report was released about 4 members of the Mexican army held a US Border Agent at gunpoint on US SOIL!
U.S. Army National Guard Soldiers, members of an entry identification team, watch the U.S./Mexico border near Nogales, Ariz., Jan. 17, 2007. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen participating in Operation Jump Start are acting as the eyes and ears for the Border Patrol in securing the border. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)
The feds claim that they are trying to “protect” us with increased airport security, sneak and peek searches, warrantless wiretaps, etc.. The fact that they make little effort to stop the flood at our southern borders contradicts anything they say about trying to “protect” our country.
Thanks to the National Guard troops that are lending a hand at our borders!
Read the Washington Times article HERE
I hope my blog readers had a chance to watch the web coverage of Criss Angel’s Building Implosion Escape. What a great event. As you may already know, I spend most of my time working with sports leagues, teams, networks, etc.. This was my first opportunity work with someone from the magic business. Have seen a few episodes of Mindfreak, I didn’t really know what to expect coming into the project.
Philip Nelson in front of the soon to be imploded Spy Glass Hotel
From start to finish I was extremely impressed with Criss Angel. He is a true showman and is great to his fans. He showed up early in the day and worked the crowd and spent time signing autographs and taking photos with fans both before and after his show. The crowd of 15,000 that showed up at Clearwater Beach, FL didn’t leave disappointed.
Criss Angel greets his fans before the big show
Observers were given goggles and masks to protect them from the dust and debris.
I’ve been getting questions about the TriCaster setup for the show so I’ll give you guys an inside look into the project.A&E used the TriCaster Broadcast for the project fed by 4 cameras(2 Building Shots and 2 handheld shots) and two audio sources (Natural Sound and Mic from host Joe Monti). The output from the TriCaster was fed to a delay box to allow A&E to have a 5 second buffer incase someone got crazy and started flashing the camera.. The Joys of LIVE! The TriCaster Broadcast was outfitted with both an LC-11 and a TimeWarp (Had to show an instant reply of the building implosion). The output from the delay box was sent to TWO satellite uplink trucks which fed our show back to HQ for encoding and distribution.
The Stream Team - Webcast Producer - Andrew Lipson, Webcast Host/Criss Angel Magic Consultant - Joe Monti & Chief Slacker - Philip Nelson
Webcast host, Joe Monti was AMAZING to work with. He is a guru of magic and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Probably one of the best webcast host that I’ve ever had the honor of working with. This guy can really think on his feet. One classic moment from the webcast was when Criss’ brother JD showed the camera the first brick taken from the collapsed building and Joe grabbed it from him and ran off. Classic!Joe Monti just can’t believe that this little box can be running the entire webcast.
One thing that impressed me about working on this project is Criss Angel and his family. The all seemed like very cool people and the entired team seemed to be very close.
Criss Angel signs autographs for fans after the show
Philip Nelson & Criss Angel. Funny fact one of Criss' brothers is peeking through between us and the other is taking the picture! Rock on!
I couldn’t help but comment on this one. 😉
Answer me this.. Could you identify a “Blue Tit”?
Who wants to see a blue tit? If you do, click HERE
Read the article HERE
Hey kids… Put down the XBox controller and go out side to check out the blue tits.. and no.. i’m not talking about Mystique from the X-Men.. LOL!
Family Safety, World Gone Wild | Philip August 11, 2008 | 
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