The Other Side...

A post...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:40:00 +0000

...after ages. Because I found three mindblowing covers of Lady Gaga songs. I'm not her biggest fan, though I'll admit she's quite the marketing miracle.

Here you go, three covers, by Christopher Walken, geek musician Brett Domino and youtube superstars Pomplamoose, whom I'm a big fan of.

I love the Oh-Ah-Oh-Uh parts in Walken's reading of Poker Face.

I discovered this one, Brett Domino, on Mental Floss. These guys are skilled!

And finally, old favourite, Poomplamoose, check them out when you have the time, with Telephone.

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There's a strange relationship...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:44:00 +0000

...between Stephen Pastis (of Pearls Before Swine) and John Glynn (the boss of United Press Syndicate).

Some time back Pastis put up this hilarious video (Scott Adams even put it on his blog) of him visiting and annoying the daylights out of Glynn.

And then.

He does this to Glynn in today's strip. I don't know if Pastis just hates Glynn's guts (he must have rejected Pastis' work) or they're great friends and Pastis loves picking on Glynn. Either way, it makes for a bucket of laughs, thank you.

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Yes Another Neil Gaiman...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:44:00 +0000

...video!

This time, he discusses his upcoming 'China project', a nonfiction work which has something to do with 'Journey to the West'.

Neil Gaiman in Singapore 3 from Dibyo on Vimeo.

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Another of the Neil...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:38:00 +0000

...Gaiman videos.

This one features, among other things, turning 50, having no regrets, his scariest flight (involving Dave McKean and the Black Orchid art), the enthusiasm of Filipino fans, Singapore, the Singaporean snack called 'Stuffed Author', on translating stories across media, the Sandman play, bad adaptations, and the script of Coraline.

Neil Gaiman in Singapore 2 from Dibyo on Vimeo.

Once again, apologies for poor quality, it's hard to make the time to clean this up, these days.

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It was the nineties...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:12:00 +0000

...all over, last night. But before the Sachin-is-a-choker crowd get all worked up, just a reminder of how much ahead of the competition he is.

A tabulation of the top 30 all time ODI runs made.

And before anyone asks, the only person in this list with an average higher than Sachin (44.6) is Jacques Kallis (45.1).

[Data from www.cricinfo.com]

Only Gaiman Fanboys are...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:16:00 +0000

...likely to be interested in this video I made at the Neil Gaiman talk yesterday.

Among other things, he talks about why blogging and journalism are different things. He walls the Marvelman question and then does an outstanding Alan Moore impression while explaining why Moore calls him 'Scary Trousers'.

I wish I had a better camera and better camera skills, but that can't be helped now. If anyone wants to help clean up the audio, please leave a comment.

Neil Gaiman in Singapore from Dibyo on Vimeo.

Neil Gaiman in Singapore, Live Post

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:12:00 +0000

So Neil's signing books right now. The queue was so long that I only took some pics and made a video of the queue and came home to have my lunch. I might go back in a couple of hours to get my copy of Good Omens signed.

Video of the queue:

Neil Gaiman in Singapore: Queue for the Signing from Dibyo on Vimeo.

Pics of the queue: 1,2 and 3.

I'll put some snippets of the talk tonight. Watch this space.

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Bollywood hits back...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:25:00 +0000

...with it's own unique breed of WTFness. Just when you were getting all WTFed by the Japs and Singaporeans.

Here you go, far-out swordplay, if I can call it that.

Of course, it had to be Mithunda, didn't it? Via @skinnylatte. If Mithunda doesn't rock, I don't know who does.

And this is what that word means.

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It's Onam today..

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:49:00 +0000

...and 'ol Aadisht is moaning the lack of a Mellu specialist joint in Delhi.

That entire concept struck me as odd, because my understanding of Mellu-dom is summed up in the below image, which I've seen in countless Mellu messes. This pic is whacked from here, but I have no clue who actually made it.

On other words, someone has to get their shit together. Either Aadisht has to find the Mellu mess around the corner. Or Mellu-dom has to lift their mundu and put a mess in the capital.

Happy Onam, folks.

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Every Single Singaporean woman...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:51:00 +0000

...that I've met ever, is far better-looking, more intelligent and better spoken than the Singapore Miss World 2009 Winner.

I'm sorry to say that, but it's a fact. What were the judges thinking? Take a look for yourselves. And then read the comments.

Sorry, Riz.
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A Blog-post of Mine...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:56:00 +0000

...has turned into a Japanese bulletin board for, I'm guessing, lonely folks. Initially I tried to delete the spam, but then gave up and decided to turn it into a work of urban digital art.

Here you go, a Japanese love board.

I wish I could do some real art from Spam, like this dude, but I don't have the time, sorry.

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Putting Japanese Videos...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 05:49:00 +0000

...on the WTF list is almost cheating, because the Japanese come up with the craziest stuff. In fact, Japanese TV is probably the all-time WTF video-collection ever.

That said, I think I'm allowed one Japanese link a week. This one comes from the ever-vigilant Daddy-san, who has usually his, um, oculus open for WTFness.

Here you go, the Japanese toilet prank. Madness, really. I have a thing for the toilets in Japan, but in a different way.

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The Duckworth-Lewis Method...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:22:00 +0000

...is the name of a band now. Here's a single, Meeting Mr. Miandad.

Heh

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The S-Factor...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 03:10:00 +0000

...is some sort of show, I think. But this video is hilarious. I especially love the third girl, who makes seductive eye-contact. I want her.

Hilarious - might be NFSW if you work in some fundamentalist country. Like India.

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If Lady GaGa...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:14:00 +0000

...has been annoying the daylights out of you by appearing all the time on the music channels, check this out. This is twisted beyond compare. Lady GaGa (really) plays the piano and goes apeshit.

I think she kind of just bangs the piano at random (occasionally taking care to hit the right chord) and singing away. Either that, or she's a secret genius pianist and I have no taste.

Especially the part where she puts her heel on the piano. She might actually be on crack, as one of the comments pointed out.

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Politically Incorrect...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:11:00 +0000

...and hilarious. Today's WTF video is a classic - 'We are the World' by the Japanese, in blackface!

It's an outstanding video - they actually take the effort to look and sound like the originals - this is taking karaoke to new levels of WTFness.

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Spoken Word...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:41:00 +0000

...is a form of art I'm not very familiar with. It's some sort of a cross between plain old-fashioned music, stand up comedy and poetry, thinks I.

But enough jabbering. Here's Benjamin Zephaniah Talking Turkeys. Check it maan.

Respect.

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Jobless Video...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:36:00 +0000

...for y'all. Goodness Gracious Me does Top Gear.

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WTF of the Day #3

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:37:00 +0000

This video is hilarious. I ain't seen Bruno yet, but it's good to see old-school Sacha Baron in action.

"...monkeys are still having babies, why don't they have a human then?...", goes one of the creationists.

And the debate about the 'floater' is effin' mad.

Respect Yo.

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Random Comic

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:50:00 +0000

...from Manjula Padmanabhan, featuring Jai Arjun Singh.

From Ms. Padmanabhan's blogpost.

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WTF of the Day #1

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:15:00 +0000

I found out, two years too late, that Michael Schumacher drove a taxi to the airport to make it on time. Here, thanks to Appu.[1]

However, the more fun WTF is this ad, which I found at the bottom of the same page. A Brazilian Green-group is encouraging folks to pee while showering to save water. Brilliant, I say. The ad is kinda funny too. Watch.

I don't have any Portuguese, but I think you can save 12 litres of water or something. Unless they're talking about 12 Michael Jordans being good enough to kick King Kong's butt. There's also a hilarious Gandhiji lookalike at 0:21. Hahaha, I hope no one goes and gets offended and spoils all the fun. Pee in the shower already, folks.

[1] Please don't jump on me for being behind the times at F1 - I used to watch it in the 90s and then got bored of it. Let's just randomly blame it on the lack of television in some parts of Bihar, ok?

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I have been encouraged to...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:06:00 +0000

...either blog or unleash rediffcommentdom. Aadisht was responsible for such encouragement (yes, that line's in the passive voice, Mrs George).

Given that I have no lasting serious interest in anything, or rather, any lasting interest in anything serious, I've decided to do a WTF of the Day thing. Bet 365 has my permission to hand out odds on how many days it'll last - but they better fix their site first - I can't pay them by Paypal, right now. How's that for a WTF? In this day and age, and especially since I'm in a land where it's legal finally.

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The 20Q Engine On...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:35:00 +0000

...the Internets blew my mind at the first go. I read an article on 20Q logic over at Mental Floss and was impressed enough to try my hand at it. Shyam and I used to be reasonably good at 20 Questions in high school and won ourselves the odd prize in school fests. I thought we had a decent system worked out. We have nothing on a neural network.

So, I went to the online 20Q engine and it asked me some questions like age, gender and country. (FWIW, I did not enter India). I then thought up a place.

The Internets started with, 'Is it good for fishing' and went downhill from there (or so I thought). Going by the questions that it asked me, I gave it a very distant chance of guessing the right answer. But it did, by the 25th question (which makes it officially a victory for me). I also come away knowing that 'Is it good for fishing?' is not necessarily a worse first question than 'A-cons?' (A-cons for continents with A) or 'Asia?'. For the record, it asked the 'Asia' question at Q5.

Take a look at the questions, in the order that was put to me, and (my) answers and decide for yourself if you'd have guessed it. It asked some seemingly random questions, and then suddenly comes up with the answer out of nowhere. Awesome stuff.

01. Is it a good place for fishing? Sometimes.
02. Is it in the tropics? Yes.
03. Does it have a large population? Probably.
04. Was it built after the year 2000? No.
05. Is it located in Asia? Yes.
06. Is it located in Scotland? No.
07. Is it known for volcanic activity? No.
08. Is it controversial? No.
--. Does it have a high crime rate? Unknown.
09. Is it a capital city? No.
10. Does it have a farming community? Yes.
11. Is it a honeymoon destination? Sometimes.
12. Is it known for authentic cuisine? Yes.
13. Is it popular with teenagers? No.
14. Was it built before 1975? Yes.
15. Is it associated with war? Yes.
16. Is it an island? No.
17. Does it sell something? No.
18. Is it part of a democracy? Yes.
19. I guessed that it was Malaysia? Wrong.
20. I guessed that it was Turkey? Wrong.
21. Does it have wild animals? Yes.
22. Is it on the Pacific coast? No.
23. Does it have multiple official languages? No.
24. Is it a country? No.

And then bam! The answer's in the comments below - see if you can guess it (and get your head checked if you can). I definitely would have come nowhere close with this much information. I'd have guessed Mysore in 20questions on my own, but with mostly geographical targeting and some last-mile thinking.

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I've never been to...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:39:00 +0000

...a comic-con, and San Diego's the biggest. This year is the 40th edition, and here's some of the stuff from there.

Here's the clip of Johhny Depp's surprise appearance with Tim Burton - watch the crowd go crazy.

And here's a Time magazine slide show.

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Flash Mobs...

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. D) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:24:00 +0000

...have become common enough, but this has to be one of the better videos that I've seen recently. And I'm not saying that because MJ just passed on, or anything.

I had no idea how many people would join in - impressive smoothness, this.

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