I'll be the axe that clears the forest.

I thought I’d think out loud about wha’s hoppenin’ on TV these days…

I. I am engrossed in Ninja Warrior AND Unbeatable Banzuke. And I have many thanks to Kate R. for the recommendzzhhsshs [a not-so-clever attempt to underscore the stupidity of pseudo-ironic LOLcats overuse. Which annoys me to NO end.] NW and UB are shows not unlike Most Extreme Elimination Challenge [MXC, colloquially] in format, [possibly in part explaining the fascination, as MXC was a huge element of most of my weekends in high school], which means that they are Japanese competition shows in which a bunch of contestants try to complete an obstacle course. In MXC the obstacles and pseudo-translation of commentators and contestants [and pretty much everything] are absolutely ridiculous, and the Americanization eventually made the show so vulgar as to be unwatchable. Ninja Warrior is awesomer for two reasons: they don’t make Orientalist racial and gender-offensive jokes, and the Ninja obstacle course is totally impossible and amazing! Think huge wall scalings, 2 inch ledge crosses, and three story rope climbs in 30 seconds. YouTube it, I’m serious. Unbeatable Banzuke is similar except the obstacle courses are designed for specialists in particular skills. Skills like pogo sticks, stilts, and hands walking. An added bonus of both shows is that the narration is epic and dramatically poetic: The competitor’s face is fraught with angst as he claws the Warped Wall like a wounded mother bear! See the rage in his pupils!

II. The Office is returning April 10. My Office quotes desk calendar makes me laugh every morning, but it can only fill the hole in my soul for so long.

III. New season of America’s Next Top Model. Tyra-tron Banks is still a subhuman cyborg.

IV. Arrested Development is my favorite new thing to watch. It’s one of those instances of eight billion people saying “Dude you NEED to watch this show, you will LOVE it,” and me finally getting around to watching it three years later, when everyone else has already seen every episode 3,000 times. Better late than never, right? I can understand why it was originally cancelled, though—the deadpan humor and bizarre interconnectivity is way ahead of its time, in prime time tv terms. Buster is currently my favorite.

In my attempt to find a fun video clip of Buster, I found the weirdest thing on the internet:

"Dogs at the Movies is an original series starring Beau and Lois, two English bulldogs with a love of DVDs and a desire to grace the World with their opinions. Each week our 2 canine critics provide their legions of fans with a unique and entertaining perspective about a newly released DVD. "

What the-?!?

V. I generally don’t find Saturday Night Live very impressive. Usually I feel like I’m painfully enduring a series of drawn-out awkwardly unfunny skits to get to a cool musical performance that gets cut short by credits [though I think the argument in this article has a lot going for it, too], and last week’s episode was really no exception—EXCEPT for Ellen Page’s monologue, which I think was spot-on. “What the blog are you blogging about, Sonic the Hedgeblog?” I think you should watch it. Here!

Next up? Maybe some Musings on Food that I Like... a.k.a. All I Want To Eat Ever is Shamrock Shakes.