I ran across Mark Coleran's work recently when reading an article on the new visual workflow manager, Flow. Coleran possesses an incredible portfolio (video below) including movies, books, and media. His latest effort in software is refreshing and inspiring, showing the importance of design to software and amplifying the importance of the application.

Following the elimination of many shows on Revision3 due to cost cutting and the failed attempt for Revision3 beta to create new hit shows, Revision3 has looked out and found a new crop of podcasts to liven up their programming lineup.

Film Riot

Film Riot is focused on the independent filmmaker, video editor, or simply someone who is interested in creating DIY special effects. The show has a good blend of information and entertainment, adding some comedy to the instruction. The show has so far focused on special effects and avoided teaching the basics of video, audio, lighting, etc, but the latest episode has promised a look at the basics in the future. The podcast is well produced, establishing credibility for teaching you how to create videos, and leverages facebook.com/filmriot for a variety of more in depth technical tutorials.

Keep or delete? Film Riot is a great addition to Revision3 and I'm definitely looking forward to more episodes. This one is a keeper and should have a good shelf life with the range of content that can be produced on filmmaking.

JV's World

JV (Jeff Vandergrift) is a radio personality from San Francisco and the storyteller for the new podcast JV's World. The show struggled to find it's audience and personality on the first three episodes, containing rants from his radio show and a skit where JV calls out all of his detractors. My mouse was hovering over the delete button until he released the two part show titled "This Red Bed". The episodes give a closer look into JV's life and career including his tenures in SF and NYC for short-lived radio shows and his attractive wife (which might make people hate him more, but as long as they care... or tune in for his wife). JV's storytelling can be entertaining, funny, and obnoxious, but if it makes you care about what he has to say, then the show has potential.

Keep or delete? This one is a keeper if JV can keep producing interesting stories that blend current events and his personal life much like the king of all media, Howard Stern. The show is only released bi-weekly, so a few unfunny episodes could make this show disappear from my list of podcasts.

ROFL

ROFL is the Sportscenter for grassroots comedy clubs, highlighting some of the best acts and takes from around the country. ROFL is connected to the website rooftopcomedy.com, a site based on, you guessed it, stand-up comedy. With not much interest in sifting through all of the videos on the website, ROFL provides a Digg Reel-like look at the highlights from the site's past week of videos and performances. The format is quick and structured around quick 1-2 minute performances on a specific topic. It's easy to digest media and good for a laugh once in awhile.

Keep or delete? Stays for now, might lose interest on the purely stand-up format, but if the talent and jokes are always there, then I'll keep watching.

CO-OP

This podcast originated as the 1 UP Show from the editors of Electronic Gaming Monthly and 1UP.com. The show is a creative mix of random location shooting and video game reviews. I'm not sure who came first, but it appears that the Totally Rad Show has been influenced by CO-OP's intros that feature a random view into the cast's day while introducing the video games that will be reviewed during the episode. CO-OP definitely gives an in-depth discussion for each review in a non-boring way by mixing in game footage with on-location discussions.

Keep or delete? This one doesn't make the cut as I already get my fair share of video game coverage from TRS. For someone who is more into games, it might be worth keeping around.

The much talked about Death of Autotune song has been released as a music video following Jay-Z's performance at the BET awards. Stylistically, the video reminds me of a cross between Michael Clayton and an updated American Gangster. I wasn't a big fan of the Kanye-produced song after a few listens, but the combination of his BET performance and this video are sparking my excitement for the Blueprint 3.

Oh, and just because Lebron shows up in this video does not mean he is more likely going to New Jersey or New York. This collaboration occurred with Lebron in Cleveland. Sports and music are global, and just as long as Jay-Z continues to make great music and Lebron continues to be the best basketball player in the NBA, they will still be able to increase their global exposure.

I ran across a couple of Joe Buck Live commercials in the past few weeks but missed the opening show without much interest in seeing the show. What I did notice was all of the news from the Howard Stern Show and the New York Times surrounding the controversy that Artie Lange's appearance on the show has created. With HBO protection of the show from InDemand and YouTube, I tuned into the re-broadcast on Wednesday night.

The first segment was a bit awkward as the show is set up like a late night talk show with an opening monologue and small skit, but the problem is that Joe Buck is not a comedian. This issue became a theme for the night, as there was a lot of poor attempts at comedy, except for the side-splitting at the end of the episode.

Buck's impressive first guest was Brett Favre who delivered some insightful commentary on his summer flirtations with Minnesota. Brett mentioned that he has had surgery on his biceps tendon and might play if his arm heals in time for training camp. Brett also said that the Vikings would be the only team he would play for as they run the same offense that he played under in Green Bay.

The show had anumber of taped segments that gave the live presentation a break, including a taped interview with David Wright and a package on athletes' troubles with the law. They mixed in a bland interview with Michael Irvin and Chad Ochocinco, where Michael played the protector for any questions that came Chad's way. I'd like to see this show go to strictly one-on-one interviews as Buck didn't have much of a chance to dig in.

They left about 10 minutes for the main event, a round table interview with Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, and Artie Lange. Artie went on a hilarious rant on the Cowboys which had Michael Irvin and the rest of the audience cracking up. Buck tried deflecting some of the attention to Paul Rudd and Sudeikis, but Artie did jump in to the conversation quite often. This was closer to Artie doing stand-up for the last 10 minutes, but it was funny to see Buck squirm and progressively get angrier and angrier with Artie's antics.

Artie did step over the line in this segment, but he did what this show had no chance of doing, garnering attention. It's a win-win situation, as both Buck and Lange have created national headlines that can translate into ratings for Buck's next show and exposing people to Artie's stand-up talent. He might be crude, but he brings ratings, just like his partner on the radio, Howard Stern.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Japan's equivalent in popularity to Stone Cold Steve Austin, passed away on June 13, 2009 from a heart attack after receiving a belly to back suplex in the ring at the Hiroshima Green Arena. In a strange coincidence, the movie The Wrestler was also released in Japan on the very same day. Mitsuharu died at the age of 46, only 5 days away from his 47th birthday. Below is news coverage from Japan of his death. For anyone who is a fan of Mixed Martial Arts or Pro Wrestling, I'd recommend checking out the forthcoming Wrestling Observer Newsletter on Mitsuharu's death, as Dave Meltzer is known for his exceptional Wrestling Obituaries.