Steven Hawking lecture at USC...

A friend of mine attended the recent Steven Hawking lecture at USC on March 10th. She sent me this video posted on YouTube summarizing the event. It was pretty awesome, but you know... with Hawking you have to be patient because of his speaking aparatus... so bear with it... it's worth it!

Christian Bale Top 10 List...

In case you've been living in a cave for the past 7 days...
Here's a quick recap of all the REALLY important stuff that you might have missed...

Christian Bale, like, totally freaked out and he was, like, totally cursing out this guy, like, on the set of Terminator 4 and now it's, like, totally all over the internet and, like, people have been totally making fun of it all week and it's, like, totally funny now!

There now you're caught up.

It was a pretty jacked up rant, and so it is certainly understanding that it should gain significant attention, but seriously... how much can we really milk this event for comedic content??

Well... it turns out... the mine runs pretty deep!


In just under a week Christian Bale has inspired countless re-enactments, mash-ups with other celebrity rants, re-imaginings involving donuts and Elmo, homage videos by other actors, cable TV comedy skits, network TV comedy skits, a new dance club hit, and he's been Rick-rolled!

In fact... Sony Pictures is even trying to market on this event by running Google search ads AND YouTube search ads saying "Christian Bale... gets all 'Fired Up'!" - but these links just take you to ads for "Fired Up" which is a movie about High School boys trying to bed cheerleaders (I'm not sure I get the Christian Bale connection ... You'd think they'd be driving traffic to something for T4)?!?

Since there is such a plethora of material now available on the subject of Christian Bale's angry tirade, I figured I'd help you out by providing a resource for easily locating the important items.

Here's my Top 10 list:

#10
Maybe this is how it looked on the set?! - Probably not, but its fun to watch someone lipsynch to the audio standing in an industrial park and carrying a massive weapon Terminator style. Not too creative though...

#9
What if he just had a really nasty hankerin' for some donuts?!

#8
Mash-up with Bale and Lilly Tomlin going toe-to-toe - definitely interesting... this one sounds like it just might have happened... though I think they both might've forgotten exactly what it is they're arguing about the dialogue gets kinda circular.

#7
The movie studio responds! - sort of...

#6
Christian Bale berates "David After Dentist" - A quality mash-up! Two internet phenoms in one!

#5
Christian Bale's "sister" freaks out on her dogs - funny stuff!

#4
Now wait... I'm confused... Why is Batman yelling at Elmo while being chased by a midget?? - Oh yeah... because it's REALLY FUNNY!!

#3
Killer dance re-mix by RuPaul's producer RevoLucian - with bonus points for political relevance; the track is titled "Bale Out"!

#2
The Colbert Report goes all Christian Bale on guest Steve Martin

#1
What happens when Christian Bale becomes unemployed - WOW! If you've ever been to Hollywood & Highland and seen the "movie characters" that pose for photos on the street... YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!! BRILLIANT!!



Also ran:

- Michael Cera gets props for his pop culture savvy, but he's just too nice to be believable in this send-up

- "YouTube News" interviews the Bale and the Governator about T4 - This one almost made the list, but I could only take so much of the annoying hosts making faces at the camera... so close.

- Mash-up with Bale and Bill O'Riley going at it - good thought, but not real convincing... ho, hum... yawn...

- Another reenactment/reinterpretation - production quality stinks, but the DP in this is entertaining; he just can't let go of his crappy little light.


Why...
- Christian Bale gets Rick-rolled - Why??... Who started this? Why does anyone continue it? It's stupid. It's not even funny. Give it up. Let it die. Just let it die. Please...


p.s. - For reference... This is the original audio track of Bale's tirade.

HOME ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funky Forest: First Contact on DVD

The Japanese: Imaginations Still as Cute/Deeply Disturbing as Ever

Petition signatures to put the nation of Japan under a plexiglass lid so as to safely observe its culture will now be accepted:

Mindy Kaling. Web Series. That's It.

House Poor: Episode One.


"It's like someone's kicking you in the stomach, but you like it."
LINKS:
Strike TV: House Poor (website)
Things I've Bought That I Love (Mindy Kaling's blog, which does exactly as it says on the tin.)

"In My Soul, I Know I Am Asaad Kelada."

LINK:
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Second Season

Laugh Riot - Laugh Yoga

Dr. Madan Kataria, M.D. started a new kind of yoga called "Laugh Yoga." He was always a man who preached that laughter is the truly best medicine. For someone who wanted to be able to practice what he preached, he started a group to do just that. Every morning in India crowds of people meet with the doctor before their day begins in order to make silly faces, talk in gibberish... and laugh.

Here is a video of the man himself:

Hillary Kimblin, a Vedic healer and massage therapist studied under Dr. Kataria to obtain her certificate in order to be a Laugh Yoga teacher. Once a month she leads what she calls a "networking party" where people from all over California come to participate in her guided Laugh Yoga. The session lasts about an hour, is free of charge, and there are always little nibbles beforehand.

I recently went last week and found the experience to be as fun and rewarding as the website promises. People of all ages and colors were there and the atmosphere was warm, fun, and... funny. As a comedian I was very doubtful that these strangers were gonna get into my funny bone, but the yoga is not about jokes, it's about silly. And the silly works! By the end of the session I was crying from laughing so hard.

Even John Cleese agrees that laughter is the best medicine. Check out this video where he visits Dr. Kataria in India.

For more information on the monthly meeting/ Hilary/ and how you can attend,
visit: http://yogaunderthetrees.com/laughter.html

Jim Henson's Surprisingly Violent Wilkins Coffee Ads

As alluded to in Sunday's episode of Mad Men, in 1958 a pre-Muppet Jim Henson designed a series of short commercials featuring puppets hawking coffee. Unremarked upon in that episode, however, is their inherent violence, which would undoubtedly raise the ire of parental advocacy groups everywhere were they to air today:

Uncle Jay Explains the conventions!

For those of you who don't know my Uncle Jay...

My Uncle Jay is a really great person. I like Uncle Jay really a lot. He's a really, really great grown-up person. Anytime I am confused about stuff he does a really, really good job to explain it to me good so it all makes sense. He's the bestest. I like Uncle Jay.

Uncle Jay has his website and he makes video stories for me to learn all about the news each week. I really like my Uncle Jay! You can see him too at UncleJayExplains.com!

I like my Uncle Jay.

And I like his story this week about the conventionses.



p.s. - In case you are dense... this is not really my uncle, but I wish he were! I highly recommend visiting Uncle Jay's website every Monday to get caught up on the week's important news! If you're too lazy to go to the website, you can just subscribe to his video podcast and have it download automatically!

p.p.s. - You definitely need to go view his episode from July 2nd, 2007! This is Uncle Jay at his BEST!

Enjoy!

White House press conference... VAMPIRES EXIST!!!

Urgent News Flash!!!

The White House announces to the press that VAMPIRES ARE REAL!
And... the President is meeting with top officials of a VAMPIRE rights group!

If you don't believe me... Watch it!



And...
Now that the word is out, Vampires are all over the place!

They are now openly dating... see LoveBitten.net!
Openly selling blood alternative beverages... see TruBeverage.com!
Have their own alternative news source... see BloodCopy.com!
And have their own Washington lobbyists... see AmericanVampireLeague.com!

Not that this movement for acceptance is without opposition...
The Fellowship of the Sun is trying to fight back by preserving "the strength and purity of the human race"... organizing an oposition movement and aiming to expose false claims on the part of vampire activists! (see FellowshipoftheSun.org)

I don't want to play politics...
but I think Vampires are AWESOME!

Interview With a Vampire... AWESOME!
Underworld... AWESOME!
Blade... AWESOME!
Night Watch... AWESOME!
And Joss Whedon even made Buffy the Vampire Slayer AWESOME!

In more esoteric fare I also loved... Nadja (produced by David Lynch), and Ultraviolet (the AWESOME British mini-series not the crappy Milla Jovovich movie)


So I'm totally in! Who's with me!



OK....
Confession time...
In case you haven't figured it out yet...
All that stuff at the beginning about Vampires being real...

All lies.

In truth, all the videos and websites noted up front are all just "viral advertising" for a new HBO series coming in the fall. And you may have come across other sly advertisements for these products and services cleverly run in magazines, on Myspace/Facebook/Twitter, or on TV. These ads all seem normal enough ... unless you're really paying attention.

The series called True Blood is based on a series of novels called Southern Vampire, by Charlaine Harris. HBO is also publishing a graphic novel to promote the show. You can find the official HBO website here, or a very helpful fansite at True-Blood.net!

I'm stoked!

Sesame Street de-constructed

If you thought The Count just loved counting... try watching this!