Category Archives: Rants, Raves, Etc

articles, guides & stories about excellent websites, videos, podcasts, screenplays, recipes, apps, photography, entertainment & humor

Video | Top Ten Funny Babies – when stress levels rise, try a few seconds of these babes for instant relief

By admin | Published 04/12/2012

If you don’t crack a smile watching this clip, check your pulse.

Video---Babies

 

 

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Podcasts | The Culture Gabfest – Slate magazine’s culture critics debate the week in culture from highbrow to pop

By admin | Published 04/12/2012

Slate.com’s cultural critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss the latest movies, television, books and more.

Slate-Culture-Gabfest-thumbConceptually similar to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour is Slate‘s Culture Gabfest. Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens talk about the latest movies, television, and books.

They sometimes cover topics that verge on the esoteric, but they do it in such an engaging and articulate matter that they keep me engaged.

Slate Culture Gabfest - panelMy favorite part of the show each week is a segment called “Endorsements”, where each panel member talks about a pop culture item that is bringing him or her joy in that particular week.

Website of The Culture Gabfest.

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Video | Earth – a look at the fascinating way science and art combine to create images of our home sweet home

By admin | Published 04/12/2012

There’s artistry to creating the world and Rob Simmon, art director of NASA Earth Observatory, shows us how.

Video---Earth-thumbNASA’s collection of Earth-from-space imagery dates back to the Apollo 8 mission, when astronauts snapped a picture of Earth rising over the moon. Simmon and NASA scientist Gene Feldman explain how the modern “Blue Marble” images are made and how they relate to scientific study of the Earth. Video comes from those smart geeks at Science Friday.

 

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Secret Recipes | Houston’s Chicago Style Spinach Artichoke Dip

By admin | Published 04/12/2012

Spinach and artichoke hearts mixed with cheeses and spices, served up hot with chips for dipping.

Recipe---Houston's-Chicago-Style-Spinach-Dip-thumbI’ve made the rounds and tried most of them, and the recipes are nearly identical. That is, except for this one. Houston’s makes their spinach dip special by using a blend of sour cream, Monterey jack cheese and Parmegiano Reggiano — the ultimate parmesan cheese. Parmegiano Reggiano comes from Italy and is usually aged nearly twice as long as other, more common parmesan cheeses. That cheese makes the big difference in this dip. So hunt some down at your well-stocked market or gourmet store, and find out why Houston’s spinach dip is one of the most requested. Recipe is courtesy of  Todd Wilbur.

Recipe - Houston's Chicago Style Spinach Dip

Houston's Chicago Style Spinach Dip recipe

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Apps | GasBuddy – finds the best gas prices

By admin | Published 03/05/2012

This superb free app, GasBuddy, finds the cheapest gas prices on the go or at locales you know. GB is my BFF and he wants to be yours too.

gasBuddy app finds least expensive gasWhen gas prices rise at a rapid rate, large price discrepancies in a region become more prevalent. Right now GasBuddy is showing that there’s over a 40 cent price differential within a couple of miles of me. Fill up a tank and that adds up.

This free app easily finds the lowest prices right where you happen to be, via gps. Or you can plan ahead to where you’re going to be by typing in a zip code. I’ve found it has about a 90% accuracy which ain’t half bad. Give my dear buddy a try and save a buck or ten.

GasBuddy app finds cheap gas prices

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TV | LUCK – a trifecta of great writing, acting & cinemtography makes this HBO series the best thing going by a long shot

By admin | Published 03/05/2012

After getting blown away by the fourth episode, all I can say is–whoa what a show! Although the series can be confusing and wandering in the early episodes, if you give this nag a chance, she’s going to race into your heart.

hbo show luckEven though I never even liked horseracing, this drama, set in that world, has got me hooked and betting the farm. I was a little skeptical and sometimes confused in the early going. It’s tough juggling a big cast of characters, and there’s a lot of racing lingo to decipher, and the plot is almost non-existant.

But it all starts to come together in episode four with an especially stirring race that will send your heart racing and your eyes misting. My TV pal and fave reviewer, Alan Sepinwall (see my post about him here) tipped me off to the show and can describe it much better than I, so I’ll turn the show over to him…

Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte head to the track in HBO’s LUCK

by Alan Sepinwall

One of the great things about art, if you’re good at what you do — and few in TV history have been better at it than David Milch and Michael Mann, the chief writer and director, respectively, behind HBO’s horseracing drama “Luck” — is that you can use your art to take something you care deeply about and make other people care deeply too, even if they never expected to.

Luck - posterI have no sentimental attachment to horseracing and could only vaguely follow many of the show’s early storylines about Pick Six line-ups and claiming races. Yet I became caught up in the world of the track, and the passions of the people who gravitate towards it, thanks to the artistry of Milch (“Deadwood,” “NYPD Blue”), Mann (“Miami Vice,” “Crime Story”) and their many gifted collaborators, including a cast headed by Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte.

“Luck” (which begins its 9-episode season Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO) is a show about a sport that has seen far, far better days. The Santa Anita racetrack where most of the action takes place is usually 3/4 empty. The people who hang around the track — trainers and vets, gamblers and owners, reporters and jockeys — all can tell that they should probably be plying their trade somewhere else, and yet there is nowhere else they would rather be.

(Some mild spoilers follow, but most of them refer to the show’s first episode, which HBO aired as a sneak preview in mid-December and will be airing again on Sunday night.)

Hoffman plays Chester “Ace” Bernstein, legendary fixer who has just emerged from a prison stretch determined to get revenge on the men who robbed him of three years of his life, but only inasmuch as his scheme doesn’t interfere with Pint of Plain, the beautiful, gentle horse he bought to race at Santa Anita.Luck - horse racing

Because Ace is on parole, he’s not legally allowed to own a horse, and we learn that he engineered an elaborate, costly ruse so that his driver/bodyguard Gus Demitriou (Dennis Farina, who was discovered by Mann for “Thief” and later fronted “Crime Story”) could buy Pint of Plain for him. And the longer “Luck” goes on, the more obvious it becomes that most of the people hanging around Santa Anita have contorted themselves in some irrational way to get there and stay there.

When a quartet of degenerate gamblers led by expert handicapper Jerry (Jason Gedrick) and his dyspeptic friend Marcus (Kevin Dunn) wins big one day, they pour their cash into subsidizing a lifestyle that barely acknowledges the world away from the track. Former Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Ronnie (played by real-life champion jockey Gary Stevens, who continues on the promise he showed as an actor in “Seabiscuit”) has turned to booze and painkillers to deal with the countless injuries and heartaches of his profession, but he can’t walk away.Luck - nick nolte

Neither can Walter Smith (Nolte), an aging trainer still tortured by the death of one of his horses, and who has now poured his entire mind, body and soul into getting its son, Gettin’ Up Morning, ready to race. Nolte gets to deliver a number of riveting speeches to the horse (as we saw on “Deadwood,” Milch is fond of characters monologuing to animals, objects and/or people that can’t talk back), and he gives himself over so physically to the role that it appears on a number of occasions that Walter may keel over dead in an instant if things go poorly for his prize animal.

Luck - Rosie on horseIt’s a race involving that horse in the show’s fourth episode that brings the series together. Like a lot of HBO dramas — including the all-time great ones like “Deadwood,” “The Wire” and “The Sopranos” — “Luck” takes a few hours to establish its world, characters and rules, and there are some stumbles in the early chapters.(*) But when Gettin’ Up Morning races in front of the small crowd, “Luck” — and its love of this dirty, obsolete, addictive world — comes to life. The writing, direction, editing and acting all come together to paint a beautiful picture of why these people don’t want to leave, and why you should stay there, too… (more)

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Photography/Video | Secret Life of Ice – photographer zoomed in on ice and discovered a beautiful and fascinating landscape

By admin | Published 03/05/2012

Look at frozen water through cross-polarized light, and zoom in with a macro lens, and you’ll find a colorful and mesmerizing landscape.

ice video photography time lapseEdward Aites submitted this video to NPR’s Science Friday and I’m glad he did. Aites, a photographer and videographer specializing in time-lapse imagery, said he was looking for something to explore in his studio during the winter months and started playing around with ice. His play turned into art and I think what he crated and captured is beautiful and fascinating.

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Recipes | Chili’s Baby Back Ribs recipe with GMA video

By admin | Published 03/05/2012

Chili’s baby back ribs savory flavor is found in the sauce, and the cooking secret is a slow-braising technique prior to grilling that will keep the meat juicy.

Chili’s baby back ribs recipeChili’s smokes their ribs in-house over pecan wood so they’re fall-off-the-bone tender with a bold and savory flavor that’s impossible to resist. Choose from Original BBQ Sauce, Shiner Bock BBQ Sauce or Memphis Dry Rub. This recipe is courtesy of my favorite food spy Todd Wilbur and check out his appearance on GMA with the ribs and other recipes.

 

Todd Wilbur on Good Morning America

 

Chili’s Baby Back Ribs recipe

Chili’s baby back ribs secret recipe

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Photography | Down time with dog

By admin | Published 03/01/2012

laptop,dog,-ocean

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Photography | The Dog Docs

By admin | Published 02/05/2012

Dog Docs - veterinarians in hospital

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Apps | Fido Factor – this app for dog lovers fetches dog-friendly locations where ever you roam–don’t leave home without your best friend again

By admin | Published 01/19/2012

(Special guest post written by my dog Enzo) Think us dogs wanna be left behind while you go have fun? Well we don’t! Not never! So fetch the Fido Factor app and it’ll tell you where you can go with your canine, where ever you happen to go. This app sniffs out pooch-friendly bars, restaurants, hotels, parks, stores, beaches, transportation, and lots of pet services.

Fido Factor app smartphone dogs in bar - thumbThis mighty fine Fido Factor, a free app, digs up and fetches a big user-generated list of dog-friendly locations. Simply get your opposable thumbs tapping, search for a location type (i.e. restaurant) and you’ll find a list of locales which welcome canines, along with ratings, reviews, photos, and a filled-in Google map.

dogs sitting on bench

Enzo with his girlfriend - photo ©GregoryMancuso

It’s a lot like Yelp, but for dog lovers. And we know dog lovers are the best lovers : )

Fido Factor smart phone app screen shots

click to enlarge screenshots

You can browse around by category, name, or do a proximity search for cool canine hotspots right around you.

Recently I was a hound outta town, exploring the Bay Area. So I find myself prancing around San Fran and Greg, my personal valet, (he hates when I call him that, but that’s what he is) wanted a beer. So I told him to take out Fido Factor and find a bar that has the good taste to allow canines in to have a taste too.

This is what we got…

In two shakes of a terrier’s tail, Fido fetched over 47 bars for us to consider. We sorted by ratings–which go from one to five bones. We considered a five-bone rated place, the Dirty Trix Saloon. Fido Factor app - dirty trix bar

My valet read the reviews and I checked out the pics. Fido Factor iPhone app - dirty trix bar, interiorSince we were told it had water bowls and treats and dog-loving owners–I was in. Greg read the reviews, which are from dog fans like your own selves, who have hung out there before.

Greg liked the reviews, free pool and Richmond neighborhood. So off we galloped and we had a barking good time there.

But my Fido friend ain’t just good to use when you’re out of town. It’s works well for exploring and discovering places right in your own neighborhood. I just smacked my paw on “Restaurants” – “Los Angeles” and “3 Square Café + Bakery” jumped up. It’s right in my Venice hood and a reviewer said the three magic words–”Very dog friendly”. Yeah! I’m gonna bark out marching orders to my personal valet, uh, chauffeur, and take off pronto.

Remember Fido Factor also has a big bunch of Pet Services in its brain: Boarding, Dog Daycare, Dog Sitting, Dog Training, Dog Walking, Dog Washing, Grooming, Holistic Health, Pet Food, Pet Photography, Pet Transportation, Shelter/Rescue, Veterinarians. That pretty much covers it, huh?

You can keep track of the best places within the favorites tab and even store pictures of your best beast at those prime locations within the app. The listings on Fido Factor are constantly updated by app users and visitors to the website, FidoFactor.com. I give it four paws up. Bark on!

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Websites | Funny or Die – The Presidential Reunion is a video featuring Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase, Ron Howard, Jim Carrey, Fred Armisen

By admin | Published 01/19/2012

Barack Obama gets a surprise visit in the night from ex-Presidents Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton, Ford, Reagan and Carter to get a few pointers about the Consumer Protection Agency.

funny or die Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase, Ron Howard, Jim CarreyThis amusing video features Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase, Ron Howard, Jim Carrey, Fred Armisen, Darrell Hammond, Dan Aykroyd, Maya Rudolph and Dana Carvey.

 

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Recipes | P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps – one of the most popular appetizers ever concocted

By admin | Published 01/19/2012

P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps are wok-seared minced chicken, mushrooms, green onions, and water chestnuts served over crispy rice sticks and served with cool, crisp lettuce cups.

Top Secret Recipe P F Changs Lettuce WrapThis recipe is courtesy of my favorite top secret food spy Todd Wilbur. Check out Todd’s video episode about his undercover adventure sneaking into P.F. Chang’s to uncover their secrets.

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Todd’s Secret Mission To P.F. Chang’s

This week Todd is in Scottsdale, Ariz.,, the home of P.F. Chang’s and one of the most popular appetizers around, Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Todd learns at P.F. Chang’s test kitchen that in Chinese cuisine, you need to have a seasoned wok, which he does not have. He also learns that the biggest secret to the recipe lies in the sauce. Todd decides to try a whole new approach to his detective work this time, and gets himself hired as a waiter at a local P.F. Chang’s, gaining valuable access to the kitchen. Hilarity ensues as Todd tries to balance waiting tables and running back to the kitchen to try and uncover cooking secrets from the master chefs. Todd manages to get a meeting with the restaurant’s founder, Philip Chiang, only to learn that the recipe is Philip’s mother’s. Todd pulls a sneaky move to land her number and actually gets her on the other line. The problem is she only speaks Chinese! Will Todd crack this recipe or be forced to cut thousands of lettuce cups for a restaurant dinner shift?

P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe Top Secret Recipe P F Changs Lettuce Wrap

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Books | Visual Illusions – believing what you don’t see, kinda

By admin | Published 01/18/2012

Here are a couple of books with fascinating collections of visual illusions you’ll enjoy. It’s stunning how our minds can perceive images that actually differ from objective reality.optical illusions

Yes, our own brains seemingly enjoys tricking us sometimes. I think I hear mine snickering at me right now. Or do I?

An optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is characterized by visually perceived images that differ from objective reality.

optical illusionThe information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a percept that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source.

When we experience a visual illusion we may see something that is not there or fail to see something that is there or even see something that’s different from what is there!

optical illusions black dots disappearBecause of this dissociation between perception and reality, visual illusions demonstrate the ways in which the brain can fail to recreate the physical world. By studying these failings, we can learn about the computational methods that the brain uses to construct visual experience.

 

TYPES OF OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
There are 3 main types of optical illusions: Literal Optical Illusions, Physiological Optical Illusions, Cognitive Optical Illusions

LITERAL OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
Literal optical illusions are those illusions that create images that are different from the objects that make them.

PHYSIOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS
Physiological illusions are presumed to be the effects on the eyes or brain of excessive stimulation of a specific type – brightness, tilt, color, movement, etc. The theory is that stimuli have individual dedicated neural paths in the early stages of visual processing, and that repetitive stimulation of only one or a few channels causes a physiological imbalance that alters perception

COGNITIVE ILLUSIONS
Cognitive illusions are assumed to arise by interaction with in-built assumptions or ‘knowledge’ of the world, leading to “unconscious inferences”, an idea first suggested in the 19th century. Cognitive illusions are commonly divided into: Ambiguous Illusions, Distorting Illusions, Paradox Illusions Or Fiction Illusions.

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Video | A Christmas Story – montage of amazing cinematography showcases heartwarming dog and human friendship

By admin | Published 12/07/2011

This video features the stunning nature cinematography of Director of Photography Don Burgess and a stirring soundtrack by Enya.

Video A Christmas StoryA Christmas Story

 

 

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Apps | RedLaser – compares gift prices online or nearby stores, also checks food nutrition and allergens

By admin | Published 12/07/2011

I’ve found RedLaser is the best app for comparing product prices. It also delivers food nutrition and allergen info, finds library books and more.

RedLaser-pricing-check-app,-thumbRedLaser uses your smart phone’s camera to scan the barcode of products that you might buy. It then hits the Internet to pull down a list of prices so you can see if you’re getting a good deal. Better price online? Then, with a few taps, RedLaser lets you jump to a merchant’s online site to close the deal or e-mail yourself the details if you prefer to do your online shopping from a desktop.

RedLaser price check

RedLaser nutrition check

RedLaser stores nearby check

RedLaser electronis check

RedLaser code check

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Podcasts | Marc Maron’s WTF – a thoughtful, talented comedian interviews other comedians

By admin | Published 12/07/2011

I’ve enjoyed over 50 of Marc Maron’s WTF podcasts. This smart comedian has a talent for coaxing surprisingly revealing and interesting things from his comedic guests which results in excellent and unique interviews not usually obtained by others.

WTF podcast Marc Maron comedianHere’s what Jonah Weiner of Rolling Stone wrote: Acid-tongued, rage-prone satirist Marc Maron has been a stand-up-circuit fixture since the Eighties, hosting Comedy Central shows and befriending guys like Judd Apatow and Conan O’Brien along the way. But his new podcast, “WTF,” may be his greatest achievement yet: a series of unvarnished shit-shoots with comedians that move from laugh-geek joke anatomy to quasi-therapeutic venting (Louis C.K. wept during his epic two-part interview). “The podcast began in desperation,” Maron says.WTF podcast Marc Maron comedian photo

“I was broke, in the middle of a divorce, and I decided I needed to talk to my peers.” Maron’s guests range from comedians’ comedians like Todd Barry to hip young acts like Aziz Ansari to megastars like Ben Stiller.

The podcast has been good for his career — fans in the industry have approached him about developing other projects — but Maron says that’s just a happy byproduct. “I’m doing exactly what I want to do,” he says. “That’s rare.”

WTF – Chris Rock talks about his early days with Eddie Murphy

Here’s a good New York Times article: The Comic Who Explores Comedy’s Darkest Side by Dan Saltzstein

HERE’S a riposte you’re not likely to hear in an interview by Jay Leno or Charlie Rose: “You’ve got to have rage, man. Because I see the posture — your posture is built for rage.” That’s Marc Maron talking to Dane Cook, the popular but bland comedian, on an episode of Mr. Maron’s twice-weekly podcast.

On his show, whose title includes an exclamation that can’t be printed here, Mr. Maron, a stand-up comic by trade, has cast himself as an unlikely celebrity interviewer — one who is angry, probing, neurotic and a vulnerable recovering addict. And somehow he’s able to elicit from his guests, mostly other comedians like Sarah Silverman and Ben Stiller, the same level of vulnerability.

The interviews, usually taped in his garage in Los Angeles, often end up feeling more like therapy sessions. Take, for example, Robin Williams talking to Mr. Maron about the dark side of dealing with audiences: “I guess it’s that fear that they’ll recognize — as you know — how insecure are we really? How desperately insecure that made us do this for a living?”

WTF podcast Marc Maron comedian interview photo
Thanks to moments like these the podcast has, over the last year or so, become a cult hit and a must-listen in show business and comedy circles. The success of the show has everything to do with its perceptive, prickly host and his ability to coax surprisingly revealing things from his guests.

Comedians, Mr. Maron said, are temperamentally complicated — otherwise they probably wouldn’t be comedians.

“Most of them live difficult lives,” he said. “So that was always more in the forefront than ‘Let’s talk about the business of comedy.’ ”

WTF Live with Seth Meyers

Each hourlong episode begins with Mr. Maron riffing in the style that has characterized his comedy over the years: unscripted banter layered with humor, narcissism and anger, directed both outward and inward. But after about 10 or 15 minutes he turns to a long-form interview. And that’s when the show really takes off.

“People say stuff to him that you can’t imagine them saying to anyone else,” said Ira Glass, host of the public radio show (and podcast) “This American Life,” and a recent guest of Mr. Maron’s. “And they offer it. They want to give it to him. Because he is so bare, he calls it forward.”

WTF – Rainn Wilson talks about his faith

After the show goes up on Mondays and Thursdays, it regularly appears on the iTunes Top 10 podcasts list. According to Brendan McDonald, the producer of the podcast, which is free, the show averages 230,000 downloads a week from iTunes and the podcast’s Web site.

In a recent interview in New York City, where he was performing a series of stand-up shows and recording interviews for his podcast, Mr. Maron talked in his usual manner: candidly, verbosely, intensely. At 47 he is lean (though he obsesses over his weight and eating habits) and sports ever-changing facial hair. (He obsesses over that too, theorizing that the lack of a consistent look has held his career back. “I don’t think Jon Stewart’s changed his hair in 25 years,” he said.) He lives in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles — just across town from Hollywood, but a world away — and has three cats. He calls his house “the cat ranch.”

Many of the comedians he came up with have passed him by. In 1995 he shared a photo spread in New York magazine with Dave Attell, Louis C. K. and Ms. Silverman, all of whom went on to have TV projects. He never got that sitcom, those major movie roles, a spot on “Saturday Night Live.” (He famously showed up stoned to an interview with Lorne Michaels; he didn’t get the gig.)

His personal life was — and still is — tumultuous. He has battled addictions to alcohol, cocaine and nicotine. He’s twice divorced, and has consistently included details about his relationships in his stand-up and on the podcast. During the first of four shows last month at Union Hall in Brooklyn, which were being recorded for a CD, he talked about changing the locks on his house because of a fight with a girlfriend.

Over the years he’s also struggled with jealousy and hostility toward other comics. Many of the podcasts begin with an apology from Mr. Maron — or at least a half-hearted attempt at one. And conflicts that have developed over the years crop up regularly, most notably during a recent two-hour interview with Louis C. K.

The two had drifted apart in the last few years, and Mr. Maron expressed envy — though also enormous respect — toward his old friend, who has his own show on FX. “If you see me doing something, and you’re having a hard time coming to terms with it ’cause of your feeling about your own life,” Louis C. K. said toward the end of the interview, “what’s really happening is you’re letting me down as a friend.”

Mr. Maron began doing comedy in the early 1980s as a student at Boston University. Over the next decade or so he performed at small clubs. He moved between the East and West Coasts in these years before settling in New York in 1993. There he helped lay the groundwork for what became known as the alt-comedy scene (a term he says he’s never really understood), alongside Louis C. K., Mr. Stewart, Janeane Garofalo and others.

“He really was the real deal,” said Mr. Attell, who began sharing stages with Mr. Maron more than 15 years ago in New York. “He truly did hate himself.”

But Mr. Attell added: “He turned it into gold. Nobody does angry and bitter better than him.”

Mr. Maron had a few short-lived TV jobs, including comedy specials. He had a minor role in the film “Almost Famous.” In 2000 he had a modestly successful one-man show, “The Jerusalem Syndrome,” Off Off Broadway. He appeared several times on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and more than 40 times on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.”

But, as he put it, “America didn’t notice.”

In 2004 he found a temporary home at Air America, the left-leaning radio network that went off the air last January. It didn’t work out. “I really began to believe that the struggles of most people are existential, not political,” he said, “and my biggest struggles were existential.”

He was canceled by Air America — twice.

A third project with the network, a Web-based show with the comedian Sam Seder, also failed. In September 2009, after that show was canceled, he and Mr. McDonald began to sneak into the Air America studios after hours to record his podcast, bringing guests up in the freight elevator. Soon, he moved from Astoria, Queens, to Los Angeles, where he had spent time on the comedy circuit. And so his garage became the new home of the podcast.

On the early episodes he interviewed — sometimes awkwardly, thanks perhaps to all that hostile jealousy — old friends and comedy personalities he had intersected with over the years: Zach Galifianakis, Bob Odenkirk, Mr. Attell.

Last April he interviewed Robin Williams at Mr. Williams’s home in Marin County, Calif. (Using a technique repeated in later episodes, on the drive up he talked through and recorded his anxieties about the interview.) Mr. Williams, usually an unstoppable riff machine, mostly laid off the jokes, and the discussion was notably raw and real.

The Williams show “put the thing on the map,” Mr. Maron said. “It was unlike any other interview with him. We talked about addiction, divorce, joke theft, about his reputation, about his career.”

So how does Mr. Maron create the space that allows for comics to finally open up?

“What helps him,” said Judd Apatow, the director and producer, and another recent guest, “is the fact that people mistakenly think that no one is going to listen to it, when in fact a ton of people listen to it, and it will last forever.”

The do-it-yourself quality of the podcast — his setup includes only a laptop computer or digital recorder, a mixer and two microphones — puts guests at ease. As Mr. Apatow put it, “You kind of feel like he might lose the tape on the way home.”

Another breakthrough occurred in May: Mr. Maron interviewed Carlos Mencia, a popular comedian who has been repeatedly accused of stealing jokes and bullying his peers. Mr. Maron, though, approached the interview with empathy.

“In my mind this was a guy that obviously paid his dues,” he said. “And so I wanted to talk to him about the accusations — the little I knew about them — but more so just to say, ‘How do you deal with this burden?’ ”

They taped the interview, and Mr. Maron said he immediately knew that Mr. Mencia hadn’t answered the criticism leveled at him. “It was a snow job,” he said.

After reaching out to a handful of Latino comics who had worked with Mr. Mencia, Mr. Maron spoke to two of them, Willie Barcena and Steve Trevino, on a second show. They spoke very bluntly and negatively about Mr. Mencia. Mr. Barcena said that he would not go on in front of Mr. Mencia when working on new material. Mr. Trevino, who for years opened for Mr. Mencia, said of his alleged joke-stealing: “I think he doesn’t know. I think he’s ill.”

Soon after, Mr. Maron called Mr. Mencia, who agreed to a follow-up interview.

“I’m literally frightened on a few levels, ’cause I’ve never been in this position,” Mr. Maron recalled. “I don’t know him enough to know whether I can handle what’s about to happen.”

On the second episode Mr. Maron relentlessly confronted Mr. Mencia with what the other comics said. Mr. Mencia was defensive, but admitted, “I’ve cared so much about what people think about me that it has led me to negative behavior.” Later he apologized for bumping performers at comedy clubs, another criticism.

The interview was widely praised.

“All of a sudden I’m a journalist,” Mr. Maron said. “I have no idea how to be a journalist.”

For his part Mr. Mencia does not see the incident as a negative one and credits Mr. Maron for creating a “familial” environment.

“Had it been anyone else, I would have said, ‘I answered that question a million times,’ ” Mr. Mencia said. “But he’s a comedian, he’s a friend.”

He added that the podcast’s influence on the comedy world is real. “He’s got power, man,” Mr. Mencia said.

The show is unscripted. Mr. Maron does simple outlines before his interviews and relies heavily on his abilities as a conversationalist to carry the interviews.

“He’s a much better talker than me,” Mr. Glass, the radio host, said. “As a performer he’s incredibly bare. And then to bring that bareness to a journalism setting gives you this secret weapon that’s immensely powerful.”

The podcast may be a success, but financially it about breaks even. Mr. Maron solicits donations from listeners, and the show has occasional sponsors.

“I’m getting by,” Mr. Maron said. “But I’m not making a living.”

Mr. Maron said he was working with a production company on a TV project that would combine his interviews and some of the back stories around them. But because the podcast is the perfect format for what he’s doing, allowing for all that intimacy and depth (and raw language), it’s easy to imagine some of the appeal being lost in the translation. For now, though, he’s content — or at least as content as he ever gets — with doing the podcast.

Backstage at Union Hall, he conceded that he can be his own worst enemy. “I’m wired to destroy myself,” he said, “so fighting that wiring is always challenging

 

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Recipes | Holiday recipe – Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar – with how-to video

By admin | Published 12/06/2011

Bring a little bliss to your holiday gatherings with Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar.  A blondie cake base, topped with sweet cream cheese icing and tart dried cranberries, garnished with white orange drizzle.

holiday recipe starbucks cranberry bliss barIf there are fruits for every season, cranberries might just be it for the holidays. Say hello to our Cranberry Bliss Bar. The sweet cream cheese icing and tart dried cranberries go perfectly with the hints of orange zest in the white drizzle. Give one to a friend or enjoy a bar all to yourself. We know you’ll just love it. Courtesy of my favorite food spy Todd Wilbur.

holiday recipe Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar

top secret holiday recipe starbucks cranberry bliss bar

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Wishing you and yours a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving

By admin | Published 11/18/2011

click card or link to begin animation http://bit.ly/rvmCum

Wishing you and yours a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving

Best regards,
Greg

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Photography | Light comes out at night

By admin | Published 11/10/2011

Photographs of Los Angeles nightscapes.

los angeles photographerBasically, photography is a medium that captures light reflected off a subject. When moving light itself is the subject, sometimes an almost magical transformation occurs. This has always fascinated me. Sometimes the resulting creation is both abstract and hyper-real at the same time. If that even makes sense?

Here are a few of my favorite light sculpting images from a shoot I did for the LAX business district.

please click images to enlarge

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los angeles traffic photography by photographer in la

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LAX airport photos created by los angeles photographers

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