Recent Work

Mixtape.Me Playlist

A hot playlist from a cool new website!

Teenage Angst Has Paid Off Well

Yesterday, I was at the reception for the Peter E. Haas Public Service Award (Congratulations Jody!) when someone tapped my shoulder and informed me that I was having a wardrobe malfunction,

"Dude there's a large hole in your pants."

"No problem" I said, "I'll just put on my coat..."

"No dude, there is a seriously large hole in your pants."

Walking home with my coat tied around my waist (my first idea was actually, where's a stapler?) and ripped pants, I couldn't help but think, "Man, this is so grunge." It must be karma related to playing too much Nirvana lately.

The problem isn't isolated to that pair of pants. I pulled the next pair of pants out of the closet, and realized I needed to sew up the bottom of the left pant leg to make them wearable, the pair after that had a hole in the pocket big enough for my wallet to fall through, etc.

It looks like I either need to buy some more flannel or a new pair of pants...

Where's my SAG card?

So, I just got back from a trip to Death Valley, complete with canyoneering, hidden petroglyphs, a land-speed record-setting attempt across a playa, and a journey from 200 feet below sea level (sleeping with the fishes) to 11,000 feet above sea level all in one day. While I was off on my vision quest, KQED (the local public television station was on a "quest" of their own.

Their quest, should they choose to accept it, was to film a special about nanotechnology at the University of California Berkeley and the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. As part of their special, they needed shots of scientists being scientisty. In the clip below you can watch the video featuring the Zettl lab's best and brightest giving one-hundred and ten percent. Look closely and you can spot yours truly opening a furnace.





And yes, those purple gloves were absolutely necessary for the task at hand, I definitely did not put them on just because they look more futuristic.

Good Day Sunshine

This past Wednesday, I found myself in front of the television during the middle of the day. A raging cold had me laying low on my couch drinking tea and slurping chicken noodle soup. Those of you with that Tivo gadget may not realize just how bleak the television landscape is, especially at one in the afternoon. Just tell me which of these shows you would watch:

a) An episode of the Cosby Show where Raven Simone lip syncs to a sassy blues song
b) An episode of Even Stevens where some high school kids trick the principal into becoming a male model, only to realize that his replacement is worse
c) An episode of Maury Povich entitled "I'm cheating on my blind husband... with another women" where the cheating is revealed and the blind husband wants to walk off the set, but can't find his way

If you answered d) all of the above, then you probably had as much of a blast on Wednesday as I did!

Total World Domination

China is going to take over the world. What? You don't believe me? Well, I didn't believe that you could ride a unicycle on top of an umbrella before last night. But then I saw the Peking Acrobats. And they finally settled the question; yes, you can ride a unicycle on an umbrella.


So, what else did I see. I saw a man balance on one end of a teeter totter and use the other end to fling not one, not two, not three, but four bowls into the air and land in a stack on top of his head.

I saw one girl stand on top of two girls heads, while two other girls walked underneath. Not impressed? Oh, did I mention everyone was spinning six plates at the same time.


I saw people bend in ways that I'm pretty sure are illegal in most states. I saw more people ride on one bike than can comfortably fit in my living room.



I heard more audience members mutter, "Oh, hell no" than any time besides when I watched Black Knight at Steve Wilkens' place.

If the Peking Acrobats come to your town, you should check them out. Or you can just wait till they take over the world and see them then. Its really your call.

SF Sketchfest 2007

Where are you going to be this Friday?

That wasn't a rhetorical question...

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you should be at the Eureka Theatre checking out "Growing up is Tough" by Neil Campbell and Paul Rust at SF Sketchfest 2007.


As an added bonus, you'll get to see that dude from the Daily Show. No, not Craig Kilborn, that other guy, what's his name? oh, yeah, Bob Corddry.