Back in November, Ariella invited us to see a David Sedaris radio show being recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre near Oxford Circus. I’d never heard of Sedaris, but the idea of seeing a radio show recorded sounded like fun. Plus, it was free and so were we.

It was brilliant! Having no idea what to expect, I was blown away by how laugh out loud funny this guy is. He retells stories from his life, capturing the absurdity of moments that a less observant person may not even stop to take in. His delivery is beautifully understated, so you feel as though you’re laughing voluntarily instead of being forced into it.

There are a few quirks about the filming of a radio show though. You feel self conscious about your laughter. Is it loud enough that the overhead microphones will pick up just how much we’re all enjoying this? Oops, was that particular laugh of mine too loud or out of step with everyone elses so that I’ll actually recognise it if I hear this played back on the radio one day?

On the rare occasions that David stumbled over a word, he’d pause for a split second then resume delivery at the last comma or full stop before his error – a bit like listening to a record that keeps jumping back and repeating itself. Then at the end of the night, a dude emerged from the sound booth and handed David a list of sections to reread because they hand’t come through clearly the first time. It’s weird listening to those portions read back, devoid of context, and hearing him deliver it as though perfectly he’s the moment and emotion of that point in the story. And being told to laugh as you did the first time around was a challenge: how did I laugh at that particular line? I think I got it wrong, so hopefully the others covered for me.

Gerrod then cleverly bought me one of Sedaris’ books for Christmas, titled Me talk pretty one day. It’s named after one of the short stories within, about how students of a second language completely fail to grasp grammar and throw their newfound vocabulary all togeher in a jumble.

I’ve now finished it, after lots of bursts of laughter on the tube, and intend to share it around. It’s too funny to leave on the shelf for long. Check our his work at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ which features podcasts from Sedaris along with other segments of good old fashioned story telling.

He’s playing at the Tivoli this Friday night if anybody in Brisbane is interested, then Sydney on Saturday and Melbourne on Monday.

This has made my day. No, my week. I giggle every time I look at it.

If you’d like to purchase some Booty Pop Panties, go here: http://www.bootypoppanties.com/shop/  

I don’t get a commission, but I would get a lot of entertainment out of knowing that my friends were wearing them.

The flagship store for clothing brand Abercrombie and Fitch is on 5th Avenue in New York. One of the tactics they use to lure in the youngsters (and unfortunately, some not-so-youngsters) is to put a shirtless model out the front, who happily poses with passers by for a photo. I had to twist Sami and Dani’s arms pretty hard, but they finally agreed to let me take their photo with our shirtless friend.

Seemingly, the tactic works, as every time I’ve been to A&F, it’s packed to the clappers.

Another company that I’m quite fond of also has their flagship store on 5th Avenue, and seemingly they’ve noticed that putting a typical model of their customer base out the front is a great advertising tactic. I had to twist Kristy’s arm pretty hard, but finally she agreed to take a photo of me with my – thankfully, non-shirtless – genius friend.

Given that the Apple Store is always chaotic with customers, no matter what time of day you visit, it would seem as though copying Abercrombie’s tactic is working wonderfully for them. Well, it’s either that or the free internet access; but I’m fairly certain it’s the genius out the front.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since Nick last moved house, but it actually has, and in true Nick fashion, he held a house-cooling party tonight, on the eve of the day he will be once again relocating. This time however, he’s a little more organised about his move, having already done much of his packing, and having already moved a few of his larger items out. Impressive!

Anyway, his party tonight was a little more laid back than his last one, which suited me just fine. We decided to bail “early” to try and catch the last tube home; I’m not sure if the tube we ended up on was technically the last, but it can’t have been too far off. After a very cold and unpleasant 18 minute wait for a train at Vauxhall, we finally made it to Putney around 12:30 AM.

Walking along the high road, we noticed a gang of youths hanging around our local McDonalds. “Knock-knock!”, one of them shouted at us. We gave him a bit of a confused look, but we didn’t say anything. So he tried again. “Knock-knock… anyone?”

I took the bait.

“Who’s there?”
“Doctor”
“Doctor who?”

The kid laughed. I smirked. I have to admit, it was actually pretty funny.

Kristy came home late tonight. Upon arriving, she informed us that her yoga class (at work) had started late, because the room that they usually use was booked late for a meeting. Because of the late start, only five people showed up.

“Were the people who didn’t turn up too inflexible with their times?” Julian enquired.

“I’m just surprised they let the meeting run so late instead of bending the rules this once.” I remarked.

“Come on,” Julian replied, “that’s a bit of a stretch.”

It’s just a pity that Seinfeld isn’t running any longer, or we could clearly apply to be writers for them.

Their articles are just so well written – succinct, and so darned witty. Check out their commentary on yesterday’s earthquake in California:

… when the fourth angel sounds the trumpet, people will take out their cellphones and start recording a video of the Apocalypse. Except iPhone users, who would only be able to take photos. That and change their Facebook status to “is watching the asteroid falling.”

Classic.

Before Bender and Michelle left the UK, Ben and I had a little bet over the launch date of the 3G iPhone. I’d heard a rumour (from a rather unreliable source) way back at the end of last year which suggested that a mid-year launch was on the cards. Ben, however, thought that was bollocks, and that there was no way that Apple would release a new iPhone before the end of 2008.

To make matters interesting, we decided to lay down some terms for the bet. So, I took the months of May, June, and July, with Ben taking September, October, and November. If the iPhone came out in one of the months we had picked, then the winner would be glorified with the naming rights to the loser’s first child!

Well, the launch of the 3G iPhone has been all but confirmed for June. So, referring back to the terms set out above – I believe that means I am now entitled to pick the name of BaM’s first-born! Sorry, Chellsie!

Now I just need some suggestions for names. I figured that it would be hard to top Phoebe’s name (from Friends – in the episode when she changes her name after marrying Mike); as such, if they have a boy, it will be named, “Princess Consuela Bananahammock”. Any suggestions for a girl?

… what you’d look like, if you had some sort of lip enhancing surgery? Well, wonder no more! Here’s three simple steps that you can do to find out:

1. First, curl your bottom lip down like you’re a kid chucking a tanty.
2. Next, poke your tongue out and press it hard against your top lip. Not too much tongue though – we’re trying to be realistic here!
3. Finally – smile! No doubt anyone who looks gorgeous as you now do would be smiling all the time!

I’ve reviewed the evidence of how I’d look, and decided that I’ll probably give the surgery a miss.

Leopard added support for recording video through photo booth, as Ben discovered tonight.

(Time – 0:09, Size – 760KB)

Well, I still get a lot of spam – around 60 messages a day – but GMail is still doing a good job of filtering it out for me, so most of it skips past my inbox. Today however, one message got through – but it actually made me laugh! Check it:

Of course there was then a bunch of links where I could “read more” about the “outstanding” singer’s death, but I gave them all a miss.