Dara O'Briain Talks Funny

Hilarity and skepticism, combined in one spectacular comedy act. Irish comedian Dara O'Briain performs at the Hammersmith Apollo.

On the joys of live comedy:


How to market products for men, and input from the audience:


Part 3, a discourse on homeopathy and psychics:


The wellness industry, rugby, and why comedians hate magicians:


Cobblers, lapdancing clubs and the "turn-down" team:


Hotel underwear sculpting:


Buying a house:


The cobblers chase down a jewelry thief:


The encore, incorporating all the stories he got from the crowd:

Hollywood's VFX Shops: Trouble in Boom Times

Rebecca Keegan has written an interesting article on Time.com describing some of the difficulties facing the Visual effects industry:

"If you want to see the names driving Hollywood's growth, you have to stay for the movie's credits. The very end of the credits. After the actors and electricians — sometimes even after the people who serve the tacos on set — come the visual-effects artists. These are the people who make superheroes fly and cities fall into the ocean, and the effects-reliant films they work on, like Avatar and the Harry Potter franchise, are Hollywood's biggest moneymakers.

Their place in the credits says something about visual effects (VFX) artists' place in the Hollywood pecking order. Ironically, just as they are peaking in creativity and propelling box-office hits, VFX companies are facing a crisis years in the making. Thanks to fierce global competition, the hangover from Hollywood labor unrest and a lack of negotiating power with studios, many VFX firms are closing up shop or outsourcing to stay afloat.

Read more: Hollywood's VFX Shops: Trouble in Boom Times"

Visual effects has now become the most bankable "star" in Hollywood, with FX movies reliably making more money for studios than famous actors. Even so, American artists are being paid less while many jobs are outsourced outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco: ILM has a branch in Singapore; Rhythm & Hues and Sony Pictures Imageworks have both opened their own extensions in India (the latter has also opened a facility in New Mexico where they've transferred a hundred or so jobs, taking advantage of that state's tax incentives); and smaller houses have opened facilities in Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines. Where do we go from here? Will we follow the paths of manufacturing, the auto industry, and corporate call centers? For now at least, the artists in cities like L.A. and London can produce more convincing effects than their south Asian counterparts, but with training and experience the latter will catch up within a few years.

Hopefully by then I will have made my money and retired -- perhaps to Mexico, India, or the Philippines, where I can make a small income training my replacements.

Everybody Draw Muhammed Day

Cheers to the Mail & Guardian for standing up to bullies.

LudoBites 4.0 @ Gram & Papa's

Raspberry Religieuse, Pistachio


Burgundy Escargots, Garlic Flan, Green Jus, Yellow Flowers


Scallop, Almond Puree, Pickled Grapes, Capers & Cauliflower Ice Cream

New Hong Kong photos up on Flickr

Click to view the entire set. Tim's Kitchen (桃花源小廚) in Sheung Wan, Cheung Hing Coffee Shop (祥兴咖啡室) in Happy Valley, DTF (鼎泰豊) in Tsim Sha Tsui, and a last dinner at Fan Tang (飯堂). And if you're not into food porn, there are pics of some other stuff too.

Assholey Pat Robertson comments on Haiti

Now that Jerry Falwell (I do so love it when Christopher Hitchens refers to him as an "ugly little charlatan") is dead and gone, Pat Robertson apparently feels that not enough evil old white men are saying offensive things in the name of religion. He has now cranked up his assholiness level to a new high. I think this one goes to eleven:



Not only is he dead wrong on history (The Haitian revolution took place in 1791, while Napoleon III wasn't even born until 1808) he's encouraging Christians to believe that the Haitian people brought this disaster onto themselves by bargaining with the devil. Similarly, Rush Limbaugh stated on his radio show last week, "...besides, we've already donated to Haiti, it's called the U.S. income tax." So if I were one of the millions of American Republican Christians who hangs on every word uttered by these two demagogues, why then would I want to donate aid to a people who were dumb enough to make a deal with the devil, especially when the government to which I begrudgingly pay taxes has already sent succor to them?

This Rachel Maddow clip on the Christian Broadcasting Network's defense of Robertson is priceless:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you are a Christian Republican who is not easily swayed by these two bastards, please consider donating a little of your hard-earned cash that the government hasn't yet stolen from you to the Center For Inquiry's S.H.A.R.E. program. 100% of your donation, with no operating costs retained, will be given to Doctors Without Borders, a secular organization that is at this very moment doing invaluable work saving lives in Port-au-Prince.

Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?

A stimulating Intelligence Squared debate from the beginning of this month, addressing the above question.

The first video features the introduction of the speakers and Archbishop John Onaiyekan, who ineffectively argues for the motion before Christopher Hitchens is introduced and begins his argument against.



In the next video, Hitchens continues arguing forcefully against the motion, and includes a trenchant response to the archbishop:

"I think it will one day be admitted with shame that it might have been in error to say that AIDS is bad as a disease, very bad, but not quite as bad as condoms...I say it in the presence of His Grace and I say it to his face: the preachings of his church are responsible for the death and suffering and misery of millions of his brother and sister Africans and he should apologize for it; he should show some shame."



Next up: Ann Widdecombe, conservative MP, who at least brings a little game to her arguments in favor of the church (her speech overlaps videos 2 & 3). Now it's getting interesting! Will this secular British audience be moved by Widdecombe's sharply acerbic debate skills?



Last comes the gentle Stephen Fry, who talks of the punishments meted out by the Church to progressives and scientists throughout the ages, and the hypocrisy of canonizing Sir Thomas More, who tortured the English for owning Bibles written in their own language. When he mentions that only nine years ago More was named the patron saint of politicians, both the Archbishop and the MP nod enthusiastically -- as if his legacy is something of which to be proud. Fry also delves into the current pope's lies about condoms, his holiness' claim that homosexuals are morally evil and disordered, and contrasts the Church with the object of its affections:

"Do you know who would be the last person ever to be accepted as a prince of the church? The Galilean carpenter; that Jew. They would kick him out before he tried to cross the threshold. He would be so ill at ease in the church. What would he think? What would he think of St. Peter's? What would he think of the wealth, and the power, and the self-justification and the wheedling apologies?"



The questions of the audience and the debaters' closing statements in the final video are definitely worth watching:



In the end, as at the beginning, the audience was polled to see whether they were for or against the motion and we get to see how many viewers were persuaded by the panel. Prior to the debate, 346 were undecided; afterwards, that number dropped to 34. 410 fewer people believed that the motion was true, and 774 more people believed it to be false. In other words, the argument that the Catholic church is NOT a force for good in the world was much more persuasive than its counterargument -- quod erat demonstrandum.

Popularity Contest, part II

Fourteen months ago, I blogged about my most popular photos on my Flickr! photostream, ordered by number of views they've received. I'm revisiting the topic because not only has the list changed a little bit, but I noticed upon looking back at that blog that the overall number of views in general has surged. Plus I like the way Mack lists comparative statistics on his blog.

No change in the first two rankings: Horny Moses and Playboy Socks still garner the most peeks, which I concluded last year was due to internet searchers' religiosity (or religio-curiosity) and prurience, respectively.





In its first year, however, the Moses photo earned what I once deemed a "whopping" 568 views. In its second year it has attracted almost 5 times that amount: 2,807 total views. Fourteen months ago, the photo of the Japanese schoolgirl's bunny-embroidered socks had attracted 343 views; today its total is 1,586.

From this point on there are changes to the top five. Last year's #3 and #4, two pics of Japanese girls garbed in unique fashions, have dropped down to #11 and #13. As Gwen Stefani's popularity recedes into the past, so do internet searches for "Harajuku Girls".

The current #3 is Hong Kong skyline from Victoria Peak (1,276 views). This one has only recently leaped in popularity, bypassing the Chunky Monkey (see below) only a month or two back.



Next up with 1,173 views is Mingo, the fattest monkey on la isla de Roatán en Honduras. For some reason, there are hundreds of websurfers searching for photos of fat monkeys, and that fact has helped increase the exposure of this pic.



Finally, with 1,083 views, is a photo I took of a bamboo grove in Nara. People like looking at bamboo, I guess. That's more views than last year's top two combined.

The day we rented bicycles in Joigny...

The day we rented bicycles in Joigny, France, originally uploaded by xopherlance.

...and I passed out in the woods. Photo taken in Joigny, France on Monday, August 29, 2005 at 15:39pm.

BACKGROUND: I have a rather high metabolism and usually require sustenance throughout the day, but most especially first thing in the morning. If I don't eat, I get flustered and shaky, and my ability to speak eloquently or do simple math problems rapidly diminishes.

This glorious late summer day in Joigny, a small medieval town in Burgundy, I awoke and, eschewing breakfast, made pâté sandwiches with my mates, which we put into a satchel, and walked across the river to rent bicycles. Alas we were in France, and the bicycle shop didn't open until 11am. We walked to a nearby cafe and sipped espressos and cappuccinos until about half past. When we returned to the shop, not only was I famished, but also trembling from the abundantly caffeinated French coffee (I usually do decaf or tea). I was, however, determined not to break out my sandwich until my friends did, because I knew we'd be riding all day and I didn't want to consume all my nourishment too early. Thus I set myself up for disaster.

As we began pedaling, I felt dizzy and flushed with the heat of the day, slightly nauseous from the overdose of caffeine. I rode on, however, and we came to the bottom of a slight grade that rose upwards into a hill crowned by a verdant wood. I pushed as hard as I could, as I didn't want to fall behind. As we entered the grove, I began to actually feel ill and jumped off the bike. Still, I pretended to be fit and walked my ride around a bend in the road. I was well behind my friends by this time, and no longer feeling the need to keep up my charade I stumbled out of the lane, my knees knocking together, and dropped the bicycle by a tree. It was mid-day by now, and sultry; there were small flies buzzing around my face. My mouth was as hot and dry as the rubber tires. I dropped to one knee and tried calling out to my companions, but I couldn't hear my own voice through the buzzing of the gnats and the hissing of the torrid breeze through the leaves above me. I remember gripping onto the thin trunk as the world spun round, as if I were on the deck of a raft in a typhoon. My ears were roaring though there was no sound. I actually saw my vision go, like an iris-in from a silent film -- blackening from the edges inward towards the center. The forest spun violently and I was forced to let go of my mast, drifting beneath the waves of leaves and insects.

I awoke, by my calculation, only a few minutes later, groggy and sore, feeling swollen as if from a long, uncomfortable nap. I was covered with dead leaves and dirt. I couldn't be bothered to brush myself off. It took quite a few minutes before I could stand and walk again, and I only did so slowly and deliberately, one footstep at a time. I eventually came to the top of the slope and turned out of the wood onto the face of the hill, where my friends were lounging in the long grass, gazing at the rolling vineyards and the Yonne River away to the north.

Ronan: "Oh, look who decided to show up! Where've you been for the last 20 minutes?"
Me: "I felt sick...I think I fainted. You couldn't hear me calling your names?"
Chris: "You swooned? What are you, a teenage girl in a Jane Austen novel?"
Me: "Hey thanks for coming to look for me. I could have been bitten by a snake in that pile of leaves I fell into."
Ronan: "We were just saying that one of us was going to have to go back and look for you eventually -- you've got our sandwiches in your knapsack."

featured on Apartment Therapy

My loft is on ApartmentTherapy.com! Click here to see the post entitled Using Fabric Panels To Separate A Space. Clicking the photos below will take you directly to my flickr photostream.

In a week and a half I'm flying back up to Walnut Creek to pick up a bunch of rosewood furniture that I inherited from my grandmother, so the loft is about to undergo a major redesign. I've already sold the shoji screen, Korean tea table, and Ikea kitchen island. It'll be interesting to see how all the new (old) stuff is going to fit in. I'll upload updated photos in a few weeks.