Today I got a comment on this very blog from a guy called Jim asking whether I was an introvert or an extrovert. He cited characteristics that would fit into both categories and offered to conduct a “thousand-question-strong Voigt-Kampff test“.
I’m going to politely decline the polygraph, Jim, but I thought the broader topic of extroversion and introversion was rather interesting, and decided to reply via video. Here is some talk about personality, authenticity, social personas and an unnerving encounter at a dinner party. Oh, and Rolf Harris pops up during a gratuitous divergence near the end.
(By the way, I now upload videos to YouTube pretty regularly, so if you fancy seeing each one as soon as the ones and zeroes have whizzed up the tubes, please subscribe to my channel. Cheers!)
Lately I’ve been amassing a collection of online videos that are guaranteed to make a bad day better. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to share your own favourites in the comments!
Benedick and Beatrice getting tricked in Much Ado About Nothing
This wondrous film was released in 1993. It’s the sunniest, liveliest, most gorgeous Shakespeare adaptation I’ve seen. Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh — who were married at the time — are the perfect Beatrice and Benedick, and this is the best scene in the movie. Even if you’re not into Shakespeare (Why? Why are you not into Shakespeare?!) you should watch this.
Lea Salonga auditioning for Miss Saigon
It’s 1989, and the producers of Les Miserables, best musical everrrr, are looking for an actress for their new musical, Miss Saigon. 17-year-old Lea Salonga walks into the room. They teach her the audition song. She opens her mouth and sings. Angel wings and unicorns and tiny delicate wisps of gold leaf flutter into the air and everyone dies from the beauty of it all. Or something very close to that, anyhow.
Conan O’Brien on Inside the Actor’s Studio
Poor Coco is having a rough time at the moment. His show is being taken away from him after only seven months, due to circumstances beyond his control. This interview with seasoned thesp interrogator James Lipton shows just how naturally funny he is. Sigh.
Between Two Ferns: Jon Hamm
Zach Galiafanakis. Whatta guy. His wilfully awkward web series, Between Two Ferns, is a brilliant antidote to the celebrity butt-kissing that goes on during your standard TV talk show. Zach is unimpressed by his guests’ accomplishments, occasionally antagonising them to the point of physical combat. This installment, featuring Jon “Don Draper and the guy Liz Lemon called a cartoon pilot” Hamm, is my favourite.
Josh Lawson on Thank God You’re Here Thank God You’re Here is Australia’s contribution to the improv-on-TV landscape. People who appear on the show walk through a door into a particular situation — say, a picnic in the 1920s or a police raid — and have to convincingly bluff their way through the scene alongside professional improvisers. It’s consistently giggleworthy, and the shining star is Josh Lawson. Here he is making stuff up with admirable ease in a submarine scene.
That’s five, but as a sneaky plug I’m going to append the latest Elegant Guide, just because it was so fun to shoot, and the young actress whose mouth I taped shut with gaffa tape was such a trooper.
Many months ago I had an idea for an online comedy series. I scribbled various influences — Amy Sedaris, Shaun Micallef — and fragmentary ideas — etiquette instruction; a fallible, deranged host — into various notebooks and wondered how on earth I was going to shoot it when I had no money, no camera, [...]
Sesame Street celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit the set of the show to the shoot an episode of Rocketboom.
Here are the interviews with Elmo and Cookie Monster. I think you can tell from my permasmile that it was pure joy to meet [...]
Lately I’ve gotten a wee bit obsessed with the notion of names, and how they influence our personalities, identities and relationships.
In The Crucible, Daniel Day-Lewis John Proctor chucks a major fit when asked to sign a false confession of witchcraft. Why? It was all about the name. Check his reasons for [...]
Our lives are highly visible in these here Noughties. They’re documented in the form of Facebook status updates, photo uploads, wall posts and Tweets. But these are mere fragments of the narrative. If you were writing your autobiography, aged 98 and equipped with shiny new bionic limbs, could your desiccating [...]
Mark Twain has this great quote about Jane Austen that has graced my Facebook info tab for quite some time:
“I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read ‘Pride [...]
