Mainiacs
By now, most everyone has seen the video of the Mentos and Diet Coke homage to the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas. (See it here; read how it was done here.)
What I learned yesterday is that the two Mentotechnicians, Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, are from Maine. (I heard them interviewed on NPR, reminding me simultaneously that my membership dollars aren’t going to waste, and that they aren’t afraid to take on the tough stories of the day.) The fact that these two guys are from Maine just warmed my cockles. They possessed not only the epic vision to see the artistic possibilities in the humble Mentos parlor trick, but also the (perhaps disturbing) intensity of focus it takes to master the delicate balance between creativity and engineering it took to pull the whole thing off. That’s not the first thing I think of when I think of Maine—but it works for me.
Comments
I too heard the interview about the Mentos fountain display. What's more, I recall hearing an earlier NPR interview with one of these guys before the whole fountains stunt was performed. The were explaining how exactly Mentos and Diet Coke achieve the desired effect.
Posted by howard on June 9, 2006 at 8:09 AM
The just had a VH1/Webjunk clip showing a variation of this - I found it here: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2733459?ns=1
Posted by Ellen on June 10, 2006 at 7:46 PM