Mixed Mental Arts

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Ep108 - Bobby Lee Mar 13, 2014

Show notes

Bryan sits down with good friend and comedian/actor, Bobby Lee. Bobby Lee is an American actor and comedian best known as a cast member on MADtv from 2001 to 2009 and for his roles in the films Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Pineapple Express and The Dictator. Be sure to rate and comment in iTunes.

Ep107 - Tamim Ansary Mar 10, 2014

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While working on a history textbook for US students, Tamim Ansary found that he and his team of American advisors had a very different sense of the world. The Americans saw history as a long march towards democracy and free-market capitalism in which Islam had no particularly major role to play. On the other hand, Mr. Ansary having been born in Kabul and spent his earliest years learning a Muslim view of history felt a little differently about things. How could a religion with 1.6 billion followers be regarded as a mere footnote? This was just before 9/11. The day after that event Mr. Ansary sent an e-mail to a few friends trying to interpret the Islamic world for people steeped in a Western sense of history and a Western world and that's what he's been doing ever since. Although Mr. Ansary is a fan of democratic society—he lives in the US after all—in his books he sets his personal opinions aside to allow us to really understand the world as Muslims do. Today we talk about two of his books. In the first, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes, Mr. Ansary lays out an entire vision of history as seen and felt by Muslims around the world. In the second, Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan, he lays out for us a history of Afghanistan that helps us make sense of why countless great empires have failed to conquer much less understand his home country. You can visit Mr. Ansary on the web at http://mirtamimansary.com and follow him on twitter @mirtamimansary. Mr. Ansary is the author of many books. Today, we focused on just two of them Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes and Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan. Both available from here to Kabul.

Ep106 - Kira Soltanovich Mar 06, 2014

Show notes

Bryan sits down with comedian, Kira Soltanovich. For the past 8 years, she could be seen as a television corespondent in her own reoccurring segment for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, called Photo Booth. She's also a successful Podcaster at The Network Studios of her very own show about comedians, who are also parents, called "The Kira Soltanovich Show. You can find her online by going to thekirashow.com as well as kiracomedy.com. Be sure to rate and comment in iTunes.

Ep105 - Dan O'Brien Mar 03, 2014

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As the head writer and creative director of video at Cracked.com, Dan O'Brien writes important potentially Pulitzer-prize winning pieces on topics such as Why Spiderman is a Dick and 3 Insane Spider-Man Movies You Won't Believe Almost Got Made. But Dan O'Brien doesn't just write about Spiderman. Over the last few years, he has systematically tackled the most important historical question humanity has ever faced: which US President would be toughest in a fight? In his latest book How to Fight Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country, Dan O'Brien summarizes in just a few pages everything you would need to know to beat not just lesser Presidents like Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce but truly epic Presidents like Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. In this episode, Dan, Bryan and Hunter get into a heated debate about which President would win in a fight. Through Dan's definitive book on the question and occasional use of unreliable internet sources, Dan, Bryan and Hunter draw on historiography, biometric data and their own very limited fighting experience to try and settle this question once and for all. Nature vs Nurture, Which President would win in a fight…all the most important topics are debated on The Bryan Callen Show.Actually, we'd love to hear what you think. Tweet @bryancallen, @huntermaats and @DOB_INC to tell us which President you think would win in a fight.Dan O'Brien is the co-editor of You Might be a Zombie and Other Bad News, the head writer of The De-Textbook and the author of How to Fight Presidents. They're all available in lots of place, but you should buy them by clicking on the Amazon links below if you want to support the show. If you want the show to fail, then you should still buy them…just don't do it through the links below.

Ep104 - Bad Pharma Discussion Feb 24, 2014

Show notes

Dr. Ben Goldacre is the author of two excellent books, Bad Pharma and Bad Science, but he didn't show up for this episode so there's not much point telling you more about him. So, Bryan and Hunter just had a conversation the same way they would if a famous author/doctor wasn't around…because he wasn't. This episode features Bryan and Hunter talking a lot about Bad Pharma—because it really is an excellent book—and then more generally about the scientific method, how much regulation of the pharmaceutical industry is optimal and what exactly is going on inside Bryan's pants. We'd actually really recommend both Bad Pharma and Bad Science. We'd also love to interview Dr. Ben, so send him a tweet and ask him to come on The Bryan Callen Show. @bengoldacre. Paging, Dr. Ben. Paging, Dr. Ben. Your presence is requested on The Bryan Callen Show.

Ep103 - Dan Coyle, David Epstein Feb 17, 2014

Show notes

For 150 years, we've been taught that we had to choose sides when understanding where top-level performance comes from. Is it nature? Or, is it nurture? In this episode, two of our favorite guests of all time Dan Coyle—author of The Talent Code—and Dave Epstein—author of The Sports Gene—join us on the show to discuss what the latest science really shows about where talent comes from. Is it nature vs nurture or is it more accurate to say nature plus nurture? One of the mankind's most enduring questions. We think we can pretty much wrap it up in an hour. Well, maybe not wrap it up but with Dan Coyle and Dave Epstein onboard we can get about as close as humanly possible. You can follow them on Twitter at @DavidEpstein and @DanielCoyle. Their blogs are http://thesportsgene.com/blog/ and http://www.thetalentcode.com. The Sports Gene, The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent are available from all good booksellers. You can also get them by clicking below. To listen to Bryan and Hunter interviewing them one-on-one, check out the following episodes: http://bryancallen.com/2013/12/23/ep87-daniel-coyle/ http://bryancallen.com/2013/11/18/ep77-david-epstein/

Ep102 - John Gurche Feb 14, 2014

Show notes

When Steven Spielberg was looking for a dinosaur expert for Jurassic park, he chose John Gurche. Steven Spielberg kind of gets to pick whoever he wants, so that's a pretty good sign that John Gurche is the best in the world at what he does. As a paleoartist, Gurche works closely with the world's foremost paleontologists to figure out from fossils that are often millions of years old what the creatures that left them behind would have looked like. In Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins, Gurche explains the work he did for the Smithsonian Institution's Hall of Human Origins. Commissioned to make fifteen sculptures covering six million years of human evolution, Gurche explains how a hole in the base of the skull tells us which ancestors walked upright and why we currently think our ancestors' eyes might have turned white. In this interview, we explore how through accidental finds and scientific missteps we have teased out our present understanding of human evolution and in the end through Mr. Gurche's work and words we develop a shared connection with a past before recorded history.For more of Mr. Gurche's work, visit http://www.gurche.com/. His work is amazing.Shaping Humanity: How Science, Art, and Imagination Help Us Understand Our Origins is available on Amazon. It's one of the most beautiful, fascinating books you'll ever own.

Ep101 - Andrew Lih Feb 10, 2014

Show notes

Perhaps nothing demonstrates the power of the internet and thereby the power of a democratic approach to problem solving like Wikipedia. In The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created The World's Greatest Encyclopedia, Andrew Lih lays bare for us the tremendous power of ordinary people to do something truly incredible when they come together. While traditional encyclopedias like Encylopedia Britannica have relied on Nobel Laureates and other highly-respected professionals to write their articles, Wikipedia has placed its faith in ordinary people and the wisdom of the crowds. In just over a decade, the results have been astounding. With over 30 million articles in 287 languages, Wikipedia dwarfs all other encyclopedias and a 2005 investigation by the highly-respected journal Nature found that Wikipedia's accuracy was almost exactly the same as Encyclopedia Britannica. In this interview, Andrew Lih shares with us how he became fascinated by the site, how the site has developed and what the success of Wikipedia means for everything from government spying to democracy to digital protectionism in China. More than a lens into the world's future, this interview will restore your faith in humanity.The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created The World's Greatest Encyclopedia is available on Amazon.Andrew Lih's website is http://www.andrewlih.com and you can follow him on twitter @fuzheado.

Ep100 - Dave Asprey & Jimmy Burke Feb 06, 2014

Show notes

Bryan sits down with the founder of The Bullet Proof Executive, Dave Asprey. Long time friend, Jimmy Burke. Be sure to Rate and Comment on iTunes.

Ep99 - Seal Team 6 Feb 03, 2014

Show notes

Bryan has a very exclusive conversation with one of America's finest military veterans and a former member of Seal Team 6. Be sure to Rate and Comment on iTunes.

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