Lets roast a duck Kempton Style – from beginning to end

Lets roast a duck Kempton Style – from Beginning to End is a sequence of four videos showing how I made a simple & easy to make roast duck!

If I can make it, that means you can make it too!

- Lets roast a duck Kempton Style – initial prep – Part 1/4

- Lets roast a duck Kempton Style – Flipping the duck – Part 2/4

Howie Mandel Videobomb Fox LA LIVE Newscast – Why I’m Guilty as an Accessory

Did you see the talented comedian Howie Mandel (@HowieMandel) #videobomb Fox LA LIVE Newscast on Jan 2nd, 2013?! That was an awesome moment! And we (a few friends and I) were guilty as charged in coaxing Howie to make his impromptu LIVE TV appearance! Here is the funny clip of Howie Mandel #videobomb Fox LA LIVE Newscast!

So why are we guilty as charged?! What roles did we play in coaxing Howie? Well, you are in for a special treat! “Crimes/pranks” have never quite been captured like this, from the inception, to the coaxing, to the actual execution, and then the final we laughing our heads off all over a few short minutes! Have a watch of how we created this magical #videobomb moment right in our Fox LA Google+ Hangout!

I just LOVE Howie in his quick witted spontaneity, you just can’t fake stuff like this. I first met and listened to Howie live when he came to the yearly Banff World Media Festival in 2011 to receive an award of distinction.

You can watch this very entertaining non-stop funny “In Conversation with: Award of Distinction Winner, Howie Mandel” (with transcript). Here is an excerpt,

“Everything I’ve ever been punished for, expelled for, hit for, is what I seem to get paid for and now I’m being distinguished for it, but the thing is the people who supported me are the people who love like, and those were few and far between, my family and my friends, but when I got into this business, what’s amazing is it’s such a group effort so any cameraman that I’ve ever worked with, any script writer that I’ve ever worked with, any producer, network executive or anything, they’ve all supported me and made this possible.

All I do really, and this is what Woody Allen says, is “I just show up.” 90% of success is just showing up and I’ve always done that from day one, from when my career started. I didn’t even have a career, I wasn’t pursuing a careers. I’m still not really pursuing a career. I’m not, I showed up at Yuk Yuks in April 1977 I showed up at Yuk Yuks because I don’t dance, and didn’t like going to discos and they’d opened a comedy club in Toronto and I showed up to see a show and I was fascinated [...]“

I can’t speak more highly of Howie as great comedian and as a frank, blunt and honest person willing to talk about his own life challenges. And if you have time, also watch this insightful interview of Howie by Howard Stern which I watched to prepare my Google+ Hangout questions for Howie.

Concluding Thoughts about our Google+ magic

I’m a Google+ Hangout News Consultant and I’ve been using using Google+ Hangout since the beginning in July 2011 and Google+ Hangout On Air (G+ HOA) since its launch in September 2011. To me, G+ HOA is one of the most powerful new broadcasting tools available. But like in the world of cooking, even if you have a great knife, an awesome mixer, etc you still have to have great chefs and first rate ingredients to create magic!

And in our first 2013 Fox LA Google+ Hangout with Howie Mandel, that magic was created because our guest Howie rocked and we rocked! Who are we? We are our host Maria Quiban, and co-hosts Anthony Ramos, DeAno Jackson, Jimmy Louis, Kempton Lam (me), Kim Beasley, Matt Moore, Paul Roustan, Sheila B. DuBois, Stormy Henderson (screen thumbnail order from left to right).

note: This article is cross-posted by me at examiner.

Everything is copy. Everything is material. – New Quote I Love

A new addition to my collection of Quotes I Love,

“Everything is copy. Everything is material. Some day this will be a funny story. Doesn’t seem funny now, but trust me, someday it will be funny.” - Nora Ephron via Conversations at KCTS 9 (YouTube video)

President Obama Jimmy Kimmel being funny at 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

I have been watching these jokes for the last few years now. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I can’t stop laughing after watching the first two minutes of Jimmy Kimmel’s beeping and blurring humour! Have fun.

Apr 30 Update: THR, “Jimmy Kimmel Plays It Safe With White House Correspondents’ Dinner Speech“

President Obama at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Jimmy Kimmel at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

P.S. Jimmy did a great job! If Stephen Colbert’s 2006 WHCD is a 11/10, Jimmy got a 7/10 from me.

Note: At ~24:00 in Jimmy’s bit, Canada gets an honourable mention! :)

Awesome FollowMeFoodie Mijune – Will vlog for a great meal – Vancouver Sun

(Photo credit: @CoffeeGeek)

Hello foodies, check out this Vancouver Sun article “Will vlog for a great meal” featuring the awesome Mijune (Twitter/Facebook). Here is an excerpt from  ”Will vlog” (emphasis added),

“But when it comes to food vloggers — that is, bloggers who post videos — it’s the new order. Vlogging requires crazy commitment and passion. Sure, cellphones and pocket cameras can easily capture video, but scripting, shooting, editing and uploading is another thing. It takes a sizable bite out of one’s life and exquisite patience. Ouch!

One such local vlogger, Mijune Pak, of Richmond, posts on YouTube and on her blog, Follow Me Foodie. “I know the food blogging community is very saturated right now but vlogging hasn’t been touched,” she says.

Here’s the reason in a nutshell. She and her two-man crew shot for three hours, then edited for six hours to produce a 1.5 minute video. Who’s got that kind of time or expertise?

“We’re doing it because we’re passionate and it’s a good way of getting exposure,” says Pak, 25. One video, The Things Foodies Say [note: see below], “went crazy,” she says. “It’s very challenging because most viewers click off after two or three minutes. To lock in a recipe in two or three minutes is very challenging.”“

Also check out her FollowMeFoodie YouTube channel and this really funny 90 seconds clip. If you love food, I bet you will laugh at recognizing things you or your friends say! Enjoy.

Shit Foodies Say – Episode 1

Disclosure: I’ve known Mijune personally for years and I think she is doing some great creative work with her FollowMeFoodie site and FollowMeFoodie YouTube channel.

Hanging out with William Shatner (if I am lucky) – doing some research

If I am lucky later this morning, I may be able to participate in a Google+ Hangout with the one and only William Shatner! Just in case I have chance to ask Bill a question or two, here are some research materials I found.

[Update: Well, Bill had to rush to another interview so no G+ Hangout yet. May be next time ... Made me treasure even my my opportunity to meet him and Ricky in 2010.]

William Shatner Stars in Shatner’s World (video) See also THR review, “Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It: Theater Review“

William Shatner speaks to students at McGill University (See National Post, “Video: ‘Don’t be afraid of failure,’ Shatner tells McGill students” with full text of speech)

The Captains A Film by William Shatner OFFICIAL TRAILER

EXCLUSIVE: Comic-Con 2011: Preview William Shatner’s ‘The Captains’ (Shatner and Stewart)

William Shatner And The Captains Of Star Trek at Comic Con 2011

William Shatner – It Hasn’t Happened Yet

And if I have time, I will rewatch “William Shatner speaks with ‘The Big Bang Theory’ creator and showrunner Bill Prady @ 2010 Banff” to refresh my memory but I’ve watch the chat live and rewatched it a few times over the years.

Best Defence Against the 50 Cent Army if you support @aiww 帮艾未未时，如何应付五毛党

What is 50 Cent Army (五毛党)? According to Wikipedia, 50 Cent Army/Party is a term for (emphasis added with minor edit),

“Internet commentators (网络评论员)) hired by the government of the People’s Republic of China (both local and central) or the Communist Party to post comments favorable towards party policies in an attempt to shape and sway public opinion on various Internet message boards.“

How did I get myself tangled with the 50 Cent Army (五毛党)? Well, I’ve written about Ai Weiwei (艾未未 @aiww) once in a while since I think he is a great Chinese artist/political activist. Recently, when I tweeted something about Weiwei that got retweeted by @aiww, I would get Twitter mentioned by one of the 50 Cent Army (in this case Twitter user 20uI30a)!

OK, the best defence against the 50 Cent Army (五毛党) is to ignore them. Yes, ignore them! Don’t waste your energy, just ignore them!

In my case, so far I’ve taken one step further to confirm the offending Twitter accounts actually have the telltale signs of 50 Cent Army and I then will block the user and report them for spam. Of course, my act of blocking and reporting the accounts for spam is a complete waste of time! Why? Because these type spam Twitter accounts are disposable accounts! They are automatically created. Once these accounts did their job of wasting your time/energy to read and reply, etc the posters had already moved on to a brand new spam account. The spammers are “smart” and fully expected these accounts to be suspended. So after posting a few tweets (127), they will stop using an account and move on.

So save yourself the time, just ignore the 50 Cent Army. I’ve wasted my time to write this post so that you don’t have to waste your time. :)

P.S. Part of me is sad for people in the 50 Cent Army but then thinking they get 50 cents per post, it makes me laugh at the topsy turvy world of China.

canada polymer $100 – money “laundering” test – wash and dry

After a detail (with video) and more serious look at the new Canada polymer $100 banknote, I decided to have some fun and put the brand new $100 to a money “laundering” test. I washed & dried it in a dryer to see what happen.

Non-scientific test results:

* The fold marks are not much worst than regular use.

* The polymer $100 feels noticeably softer after heated up in drier but it feels ok and strong.

* The metallic strip and the holograms are still working great.

Conclusion:

* If you accidentally leave your $100 bills in your jeans pocket, they will survive a wash and dry cycle easily!

Happy 10th anniversary The Office (Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant)

Accounting for time difference and a little bit of cheating, I want to wish The Office a happy 10th anniversary! Thanks Ricky and Stephen for being true to your own sense of what is funny and what is not! For breaking path and redefining what is funny! It will definitely be one of the “classics” that I remember.

Check out this very insightful UK Sun article, “Early audiences hated the fact there were no jokes in The Office but we wouldn’t allow the BBC to change it, Says Ricky Gervais“.

Watch my video interview of Ricky in this 2010 Banff World TV Festival report with his funny award acceptance speech.

Here is an excerpt from “Early audiences“,

“Ricky, 50, is still fond of his iconic comedy creation but admits growing Brent’s trademark goatee for these pictures made him instantly recognisable.
He said: “It feels good to be Brent again – although I left the facial hair to the last minute.
“I get spotted more when I’ve got it – it’s like people need that visual aid to work out where they know me from.

[…] “None of my characters have been as much fun to play as David Brent. People say he was a b****** and the ‘boss from hell’, but he wasn’t. He was just a twit.
“He was a man whose biggest mistake was confusing popularity with respect.”
When The Office first aired on BBC2 on July 9 2001, it was panned by several critics.

Ricky Gervais Greenscreens and Pre-Records Conan Interview

This is some funny stuff from Ricky Gervais. Cool to see Conan and Ricky pushing the boundary of comedy, funny stuff. [HT HuffPost]

P.S. If you don’t “get” the following is comedy, then this type of comedy is not really for you. With no disrespect, some people don’t like abstract art, so no one forces them to go see Voice of Fire.

William Shatner speaks with ‘The Big Bang Theory’ creator and showrunner Bill Prady @ 2010 Banff

Last year at Banff 2010, I had a great time attending the insightful and fun “in conversation” between William Shatner and ‘The Big Bang Theory‘ creator and show runner Bill Prady. I just discovered the official Banff team had actually uploaded the full video of the session. I’ve finished watching the 7-part video of the chat again and absolutely loved it. Have fun & enjoy.

William Shatner – Part 1

Part 2

Plans for my day 3 @ Banff World Media Festival

* In Conversation with: Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, EDWARD ASNER 09:00-09:45 Van Horne C  [Kempton's Note: Last night, I got the great pleasure to meet Ed and listened to Ed's achievements over the years. Wow, what a great and accomplished man. I told Ed after the award ceremony that I would be a happy man even if I could achieve only 1/100th of what Ed has achieved in his long and ongoing career even he is almost 82 years young already.]

* nextMEDIA Keynote: In Conversation with Ted Sarandos – The Netflix Effect In Canada 09:45-10:30 Van Horne C [Kempton: This can be a really interesting session. Will see.]

* Master-Class: Arnold Shapiro, Beyond Scared Straight AOL Canada Theatre 10:00-11:00

* Networking Break 11:00-11:30

* Tech Hub: Nokia Case Study Crump Room 11:30-12:00

* Online Video Lunch Conservatory 12:30-13:30

* Access to Hollywood Digital Buyers Baron Shaughnessy 13:45-14:45

* In Conversation With: Award of Excellence in Digital Media Award Winner, LISA KUDROW AOL Canada Theatre 14:45-15:30 [Kempton: I am very much looking forward to this session as I found 's Web Therapy very funny (see this earlier posting).]

Mike Farah, President of Production, Funny or Die, interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I had a great time and learned a lot from attending Mike Farah, President of Production Funny or Die, and his teammates Jake and Chris’ Banff World Media Festival 2011 panel discussion. Afterwards, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike.

It will take me some time to write the article and process & upload the video after Banff. Stay tune.

June 18th update: Done! Check out my article and video interview with Mike here.

Ricky Gervais on David Letterman

Big fan of Ricky Gervais. Here is Ricky on David Letterman (2011.04.12), chatting about some of Ricky‘s Golden Globe jokes, and promoting “Talking Funny with Ricky Gervais, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock“. Also have a read of Esquire’s “Ricky Gervais: What I’ve Learned”.

Talking Funny: Ricky Gervais, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock – Really funny (and insightful) stuff

Four funny comedians: Ricky Gervais, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, and Chris Rock in a room talking about the business of being funny. I enjoy the show very much even it has some serious discussions about being a comedian and being funny. The four men definitely had lots of fun. And I think there are a few things worth thinking over, enough that I mentioned the show to a comedian friend and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.

Here is a short clip, Talking Funny – April 22

Talking Funny “We’re Pros” Tease (HBO)

You may find the full program here, “Once in a lifetime? Ricky Gervais, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld & Chris Rock talk comedy. [Video]“.

HuffPost, “HBO’s ‘Talking Funny’ Roundtable Of Gervais, Rock, Seinfeld & CK Discuss Draining Jokes (VIDEO)“

This reviewer doesn’t like the show but I beg to differ, “‘Talking Funny’ Isn’t Quite The Same As Being Funny”

WSJ, “Stand-Ups Sitting Around“. Here is an excerpt,

“The tone of their armchair summit is informative, but it’s clear the comics’ main agenda is to crack each other up, and the material is decidedly blue.

Among their gleanings: Mr. Seinfeld used the F-word in one bit—a decade ago—before expunging it from his act. Mr. Rock believes jokes often fail simply because the audience doesn’t get the premise, hence his trademark repetition. (“You can be married and bored, or single and lonely. Married and bored, single and lonely.”) Mr. C.K. forced himself to write newer, stronger material by replacing his opening joke with his closer. And Mr. Gervais got into stand-up because he needed to prove himself to other comedians after his instant success with “The Office.”

Mr. Gervais assembled the group. “It was an easy pitch,” Mr. C.K. says. The one-hour show was edited down from nearly five hours of conversation.“

Ricky Gervais on The View

Ricky Gervais on The View. Fun to watch in a very strange way. Enjoy.

Softball Team Wins Canadian Election

Softball Team Wins Canadian Election. Funny.

VOTE Mob: Rick Mercer on CTV’s Question Period talking about young people involvement in election

Highly recommend you watch this short video clip, “CTV’s Question Period: Rick Mercer on involvement”

“The veteran political comedian says it is refreshing young people are taking action in a brand new way, and explains how the recent ‘vote mobs’ show the kids are alright and getting engaged.“

Rick Mercer: Vote Mobs

Behind the Scenes at The Daily

For anyone who cares about the future of digital publish, check out Adam C. Engst April 1st, 2011 “Behind the Scenes at The Daily” and the linked article. A must read today!

May the Farce be with Roger Abbott (1946-2011)

Very sad day. Roger will be dearly missed by Canadians. News of friends and fans honouring Roger (with a 20+ minutes radio tribute on Q).

Here is a tribute to Roger Abbott (1946-2011) from his friends and colleagues at Royal Canadian Air Farce.

A 2008 QTV interview of Roger.

Air Farce founder Roger Abbott dies at age 64

Published On Sun Mar 27 2011 (Toronto Star)

Lesley Ciarula Taylor
Staff Reporter
Actor and comedian Roger Abbott, one of the founders of Canada’s long-running beloved comedy troupe the Royal Canadian Air Farce, has died after a 14-year battle with leukemia. He was 64.

“I’m heartbroken to tell you that our beloved friend, Roger Abbott, died last night at Toronto General Hospital, 14 years after being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a progressive disease that he kept secret from all but a few close friends and family until a week ago,” friend and co-star Don Ferguson said on the show’s website on Sunday.

“Roger was the guiding light of Royal Canadian Air Farce since it began in 1973, and all of us who have had the honour of working with him and the pleasure of knowing him will dearly miss his kindness, generosity, integrity, leadership and wonderful sense of humour.”