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A few months ago I went to The Laugh Resort for a dangerous evening of amateur comedy. I say dangerous because there are times when I laugh at something and literally can’t stop myself until I’m blue in the face and tearing up.

And I was seriously worried that I’d latch onto someone’s joke and not stop crying of laughter for the rest of the night. This very thing happened when Debra DiGiovanni, the evening’s MC, took the stage, and it didn’t stop until Ron Sparks finished up at the end of the evening. Imagine my delight when I saw both Debra AND Ron appear as guest panelists on the new MuchMusic show Video On Trial. Their observations and commentary can be truly gut-busting.

So tonight I’m heading over to the Laugh Resort for even MORE laughs! I still haven’t fully recovered from quoting the sketches from the last time I went.

I have a bone to pick with Beck. Well, maybe not Beck specifically, but someone who organizes his life has a thing against Toronto and it’s cramping my style. First Beck slights Toronto fans by not giving them a bonafide show on the Guero tour (instead, he’ll be supporting The Rolling Stones at the Rogers Centre in September — I don’t want to see the Stones and probably couldn’t afford a ticket even if I wanted to), and now his Artist Retrospective at ResFest, which will include every video from “Loser” to “Girl”, won’t even include Toronto as a feature date. Ugh! Beck, you anger me!

I am still looking forward to ResFest’s annual “Videos That Rock” feature - this year, among the videos being shown: Lemon Jelly, The Flaming Lips, Bloc Party, The Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem. Something to look forward to for music video fans!

It’s JP’s birthday today and since he’s such a huge Electric Circus fan, the crew are playing the show’s theme song full blast…the whole studio is whooping it up as we speak! Plus, to celebrate, there’s tasty cake!

If you’re a huge fan of music videos, you’re probably really looking forward to the September 13th release of the next four DVDs on the Director’s Label. The first series (which was available as a box set) featured the work of Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry (my all time favourite). The next wave includes DVDs of directors
Anton Corbijn (Depeche Mode, Metallica), Mark Romanek (Beck, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt), Jonathan Glazer (Radiohead, Massive Attack) and Stephane Sednaoui (Tricky, Bjork). Some of my favourite videos of ALL TIME are on these tapes!!

This series has SO much amazing stuff packed into it…more epic videos than ever (almost 100 if you get the whole set), cool commercials, interview clips and “making of” featurettes — you can watch a trailer of what’s to come on the Director’s Label site.

Last night, almost two years exactly to the day of the infamous Blackout of 2003, my entire neighbourhood lost power for THREE HOURS. No joke, I was listening to The Arcade Fire when it happened (admittedly, “Neighbourhood #3″ wasn’t the track that was playing at the moment it happened).

I had to use the light of my iBook to guide me through my pitch black apartment to find a flashlight, and as I wandered downstairs and out onto the lawn, I saw dozens of other seemingly lost people poking around with their own flashlights. It was like a scene out of a David Lynch film…with nothing to really do (cordless phones are rendered useless without electricity to power their base), I just sat in the dark for hours and worked on my laptop until its battery finally died. What do you do when there’s a power outage, without the Internet or a phone connection?

Since my headphones officially broke for the final time a few weeks ago, I have been suffering from hardcore withdrawal during my morning commute - my iPod is giving me the silent treatment while I wait for my new headphones to be arrive via mail.

Take a look at Pinkbelt’s adorable iPod family photo album: “Mr. and Ms. iPod share the pictures of their new arrival, little Shuffle.”

And, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the mp3 file format, CNET has an article about the top five ways that mp3s have changed the world.

Everybody and their mom is eagerly anticipating the hard-earned return of Arrested Development on September 19th…but to sate your appetite in the meantime, you can pre-order Season 2 on DVD on Amazon.com. It doesn’t come out until October, but it’s already #72 on their DVD sales list.

And if you can’t get enough of the Bluth family, check out this mind-bogglingly extensive (and interactive) guide to its characters, and also the Bluthcyclopedia.

Also, it would appear that Tobias Funke has his own website!