This post is a little controversial. However, it is also quite personal.
I trekked out to the Comedy Store at Fox Studios tonight to watch Michael Kosta perform some stand up comedy. I at first saw the flyer for the show at the Taverners Hill Pub in Petersham on Karaoke night, and so I looked it up and thought about going. Some of his youtube work felt to me to be very “college humour” however what sold me to the idea was his appearance on Good News Week.
I really enjoyed myself. There were four preceeding acts which were of varying degrees of hilarity and some of it fell a bit flat because the crowd tonight was very conservative and ambivalent to politics. In some respects, it is a shame because there is so much comedy gold at the moment with the election, but it is an obvious big part of the Australian psyche to not give a stuff.
However I digress from the main point - Michael Kosta.
I found him to be very funny with an insouciant arrogant charm. He was very flirty with the crowd, was all about him being full of his own sense of importance and delivering his act with a strong charisma and energy. His humour – being an international act- was not topical based and thus had a broader audience appeal. His observations about Sydneysiders was very much on the mark and the fact that the humour was not so heavily intellectual made it easier to enjoy yet afterwards you come realise that there are a few clever layers hidden within.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the lack of slapstick humour. That kind of humour has never appealed to me and the lack of it was refreshing. He used his “Arrogant American Male” stance and acted out the stereotype so well, you would not have believed that it was not an integral part of his character.
So I stuck around, bought myself a T-shirt and CD and hung around for drinks at the bar. Then I got to meet Michael Kosta the real person.
Michael is different to his stage persona. He’s friendly and yes, with some tendency to dominate conversation. I was content to listen in on his conversations with other comedians about the industry. What struck me was his absolute dedication to his work. He lives and breathes it. Rather than glowering in arrogance (which he does very well!) he is a very serious thoughtful person, a bit self deprecating and is constantly thinking about his delivery and the crowd that comes to see him.
Heretofore I had not met any professinal comedians when they get off stage having only been really watching the university comedy scene so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But I think that it made me retrospectively appreciate his act a lot more, seeing someone at work – as opposed to being merely entertained.
Michael is still performing in the next couple of days in Sydney at the Comedy Store and then he moves on to Melbourne and Brisbane. So go support the arts and watch him perform! I’ll definitely go watch next time he comes back to Sydney.
17
Jul
Oh look it’s a snake!
And by that I mean PYTHON.
I had to do some data manipulation for work. I started off trying to VBA Macro it up in Excel but it drove me insane so I started from scratch and did it in Python. I spent the same amount of time that I was tearing my hair out in VBA and finished it off. 
I think I had a major nerdgasm once I finished. It’s been years since I’ve done any programming in Python and the internet docs were my best friend, but all in all, it’s sheer elegance just left me completely satisfied. <3
16
Jul
Ingrate Stuffed Animal…
As seen on the ABC website, Spot the dog is apparently a lying plush. He also comes in Large.
In conclusion, do not trust your stuffed animals.
12
Jul
Apple – it makes no sense
For most people who know me, I hate Apple products. Yes they have clever marketing, but that’s all it is. It’s all about selling the product and making you feel like a douche if you don’t own the latest Apple gadget.
Yes, their software is as perfect as God and all his creations.
But I really really really hate it.
I like the flexibility of just installing a hard drive on my computer, and putting more RAM chips in instead of buying a new machine. I like being able to use my mp3 device as a spare hard disk on the go, being able to connect to any computer I want and copying files off it. I also like paying less for the technology I am getting which is usually ahead of the game than the current Apple product.
For example, last year I bought my iRiver E100 for less than $100. It is 8 gigabyte, has FM radio. It even has a mic and recording capability. Also being a USB 2.0 plug, I can plug it in anywhere without carting around it’s stupid cable. And the kicker? If 8 gig isn’t enough then I can put in a Micro SD to get even more space! It ‘just works’ (to quote Apple users) and I got it cheaply and I’ve never had a single problem.
I hate the fact though that because some artists release stuff only on iTunes, I am forced to miss out. I really DO NOT want to install the piece of bloatware to get songs that I can’t listen to on my mp3 player because I don’t have an iPod. And podcasts? Well honey, I’m not going to provide you with an RSS link so you just plug it in anywhere because well, you don’t have iTunes.
It just makes me incredibly angry. Just like Apple’s decision to be a dick about what language your iPhone app is compiled in I feel they are more evil and soul destroying than anything else. A lot of people cite the convenience of the Genius Bar (not that many of those Customer Service Representatives are actually genii) and ease of getting replacement during warranty – but shouldn’t they wonder about the fact that they had to replace it during warranty in the first place? What about hard durability and quality of product?
I just love how they keep releasing new generations of iPods and try to get people to buy them. If they had originally just taken their hundreds of dollars and invested in a product that had all those features in the first place, they wouldn’t feel the need to replace it. I originally had a Samsung p3 player (which died but I loved it to bits) but that was 3 years ago and had almost identical features to an iPod touch but without gameplaying capability. The technology has actually been around for a while, they just wait to release this new ‘feature’ so they can make you buy a new product which is actuality a duplicate of something you already own. Oh, and don’t forget paid a fortune for.
In conclusion, I haven’t found an Apple product that I have really considered worth buying. I’m not buying an Apple computer just so I can use OSX. I’m not buying an iPod that’s twice the price and still slightly behind in technology to an equivalent iRiver product. And I’m not buying an iPhone when my Android phone does the SAME THING and I don’t feel like I have to buy a new product every year to ‘keep up with the times’.
Don’t buy into the Apple temptation people. Even the logo has a bite taken out of the Apple. Look where it got Adam and Eve (sic).