Twins bathroom mirror prank

This is really hilarious.   I can't believe the self-doubt that people go through so quickly.   Watch in full-screen if you can.

Smack the Pony sing off

One of my all-time fave sketches from British sketch TV show Smack the Pony.  No matter how many times I watch it, it still cracks me up.

Apple's New Tablet?

A prototype video of the kind of iPhone meets MacBook tablet that Apple is (supposedly) about to launch.  I use my iPhone primarily for email, messaging, and apps, and wondered what the advantage would be of a tablet. But I could see using this kind of device now - much better for web surfing, reading (a la Kindle), and obviously a much easier interface for typing emails and documents.   (watch in HQ)

Here are some more cool demos.   Again, this is only to show what's possible on a multi-touch tablet running OS X. We'll see what Apple actually announces in the next quarter (there is a special Apple event on Sept. 9th, but that is probably to announce 1) new iPod line with cameras, 2) iTunes 9 with social integration, and 3) the Beatles catalog finally added to iTunes.)

Awesome Michael Jackson medley

World's first cocaine bar

Check out this story about the awesome Route 36 -- a pop-up cocaine lounge in Bolivia.   You can literally order your coke ("normal" or "strong") along with your drinks, at this very popular (quelle surprise) lounge.  The bar sets up for anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months at various rolling locations.  And at $25 a gram -- well that is just a solid value in these tough economic times.  I love that they have Jenga games set up on the tables...  I think balancing blocks on an unstable tower is just about the last thing I -- err, one might want to do, if one were ever to try cocaine, which is illegal.  OK I'm off to read the Bible (read: check flights to La Paz).

It's Britney, bitch... Sort of

OK this is like shooting untalented singers in a barrel but I'm going to try to start blogging more so I need content. It's Britney's isolated live mic feed from her concert tour.

Now anyone who has a big dance concert has to lip-synch most of it obviously, but what's fascinating to me is that when you zoom out, we pay millions of dollars to watch famous "singers" like Britney, walk around and dance to a soundtrack of their songs (it's also ironic that Britney doesn't sound any better than the talentless YouTube freaks that video themselves singing Britney songs).   I actually like Britney -- she's photogenic, a great dancer, and certainly makes my workouts easier. This view into the reality of trying to sing a dance show is at first horrifying, but then just makes me laugh.   In Britney's defense, she's not really trying to sing here, right?

Mean-spirited Bruno dies on the fence

I wanted to like Bruno. Even though the previews showed a hackneyed gay stereotype, I was hoping that there would be an underlying likability to the character as there was with Borat (which I loved). Unfortunately, Bruno is nothing more than a mean-spirited gay minstrel show. The fact that it grossed $30 million in the first weekend and that so many people will see it after the success of Borat is troubling.

The gratuitous full frontals and sex fetishes may shock some -- to me they felt strategically placed and formulaic (the movie uses the exact same structure as Borat). But having a flamboyantly gay character blatantly making passes at homophobic straight men to try to get a reaction out of them for laughs, is just a comic note the country doesn't need now. I don't understand why critics are suggesting that Bruno is "going after" homophobia, when the movie just re-affirms the stereotypes that create homophobia in the first place.

Like Borat, the character of Bruno is ridiculous and inappropriate. But Borat was also innocent and likable -- the hero we were rooting for.  Bruno is insensitive and despicable -- he is the unlikable villain. As an audience, we naturally want the villain to die -- or at least fail. And that is my biggest problem with Bruno -- the movie gives us a self-absorbed gay stereotype and then spends 90 minutes inviting the audience to despise him for being all the things that many straight people unjustifiably fear about gays (bad parents, sexual predators, etc.) At one point, Bruno lies to Republic presidential nominee Ron Paul to get an interview, tricks him into being alone with him in a hotel room, and makes a pass at him by dropping his pants.  And for that, Paul storms out and calls him a queer.  Does that really show off Paul's homophobia?  Or did he just do what most people would do in the same situation?  What if a straight male character had lured Hillary Clinton into the room under the same circumstances?  Would it illustrate her lack of compassion towards men to see her storm out, offended and calling him names?  

Right now more than half the country thinks gays do NOT deserve the same civil rights as straights, and the State of California just upheld that idea. There are plenty of idiots in this country and around the world that think the Bruno stereotype is real, and they use it to justify not only physically and verbally attacking gays, but also denying our basic civil rights at the polls. 

I certainly don't think Sacha Baron Cohen has any responsibility to create positive gay role models for the gay community.  But for the studio and Cohen to imply that this movie is meant to "skewer" homophobia when it achieves just the opposite effect is ludicrous.

I'm siding with GLAAD on this one. 

Web hits of James Franco

In addition to memorable roles in Milk, Spiderman, and the made-for-TV James Dean movie, James Franco has created one of the funniest web series around for FunnyorDie.  Franco isn't the only star of the family -- I recently met his mother Betsy, who is a successful children's book author, and his equally dreamy brother Tom, a talented sculptor who lives on an ashram in Oakland. Franco's other brother Dave, a funny actor from the series "Do Not Disturb" and "Privileged," also joins him on the Acting with James Franco videos below. 

Franco was scheduled to give the commencement speech at UCLA's graduation ceremony last month, but notoriously cancelled with 10 days' notice citing "scheduling conflicts" (thus the first video below).  His sleeping in class reference makes fun of a now famous photo taken by a fellow classmate of Franco asleep in class at Columbia.  

Check out all 4 videos below:

James Franco's Rejected UCLA Commencement Speech

Acting with James Franco Episode 1: "Sense Memory."

Acting with James Franco Episode 2: "Green Screen"

Acting with James Franco Episode 3: "Scene Work"

Design porn

Check out this truly amazing radially expanding table from DB Fletcher Designs. It would certainly make Thanksgiving easier.

And a cool design from iBar that's a peek at what's coming to bars, restaurants, and kiosks all around the world.

An older and more comprehensive video comes from Microsoft.  Multi-touch technology has a 25-year history, and was made available to consumers first by Apple with the latest trackpads and iPhones. But Microsoft's big-screen version using object recognition technology is killer, albeit expensive.  It's being used by the military, in some AT&T stores, on MSNBC during the elections, on CSI: Miami, and is just beginning to take off in hotels, restaurants, casinos, and retail stores.

Lastly, this incredible video of a Volkswagen production company in Dresden, courtesy of my pal Dan Pallotta.   A look at not only the future of auto design and technology, but its most innovative present.  Why don't we have these kinds of factories in the U.S.?

Mother of the year