When someone has a fantastic and original idea, sometimes you just want to kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself. I, a longtime aficionado of the mix music tape and CD, had never once thought I could capitalize on my creativity by utilizing one of my favorite pastimes: TV watching.

Imagine spending a rainy day recording talk show appearances by cool bands, authors, athletes, artists and actors; funny commercials; choice cartoon clips; sketch comedy skits; yummy cooking shows; cute animal bloopers; oddball cable access folks and history-making news. Creating and watching such a tape make for an entertainment experience that requires neither bong nor bottle to send you into paroxysms of TV-watching ecstasy.

Paul Moroz, drummer for Pagan Saints, gave birth to this wonderful brainchild. He told me about his mix video process when he made a tape for a woman he was dating. Lucky gal.

He says, "The basic premise here is to take a blank six-hour videotape and fill it with clips of some of the favorite music, comedy, drama, etc., of the person you're making it for."

Moroz calls the finished product a "stream of unconsciousness tape" because "the source of this material is the boob tube, after all."

Here are Moroz's handy tips:

1. Know his or her tastes. Remember, the idea is to make a tape the person in question will enjoy. Putting things on the tape you enjoy but the recipient won't is not the point of this exercise. Of course, include plenty of their favorite stuff, but also add things he or she hasn't seen but will likely dig.

2. Know your sources. Keep in mind the reality of this project: to find six hours of material you know they'll love, you're going to have to watch about 100-plus hours of TV. That's why it's good to know your sources. For example, if you're watching an old Saturday Night Live, it helps to know it's the episode with the Phil Hartman skit that person found to be hysterical, or that it has that Rage Against the Machine performance that rocked their world. Just be quick with the record button on the remote when that moment comes.

3. Mix it up and keep the segments brief. Here's why: a) Everyone's part of the short-attention-span, raised-on-TV generation. b) The idea is to get relatively rare TV moments. Let them go to a rental store for a movie. Live music performances and comedy skits are staples of this format. The longest thing you should include is half-hour sitcoms.

4. Have fun with bad material and segues. Here's where making these tapes gets even more fun. Bad material has its own unintentional laugh value, so 10 seconds here and there of mind-blowingly bad stuff really works, especially when you segue that into related things the viewer will really like. A 10-second clip of Barry Manilow singing has more impact when you segue it right into a Stevie Wonder live performance.

5. Make a list. Very important. You've got hours of 20-second to 20-minute clips on this tape. Your recipient will need a list of what material is included, with an indication of where it is chronologically on the tape. But forget the practical aspect. The list is big fun to make, if you include comments as to why you put certain things on tape. Personal comments about how the material relates to the recipient are a great addition. Paul's example: "I made a tape for a woman who knows how much I enjoy dancing. At one point I've got 45 seconds of a Vanilla Ice live clip. My comment was, "Here's a guy I dance better than.' That clip segued right into a 45-second clip of Usher performing live. My comment to that was, "Here's a guy I don't dance better than.'"

6) One last thing: It helps to have cable!

This article appears in May 15-21, 2002.